Verse V.4 Variations
द्धीमान् बोधिमनुत्तरामभिलषन् कल्पाननेकानपि
यश्चान्यः शृणुयादितः पदमपि श्रुत्वाधिमुच्येदयं
तस्माच्छीलमयाच्छुभाद्बहुतरं पुण्यं समासादयेत्
ddhīmān bodhimanuttarāmabhilaṣan kalpānanekānapi
yaścānyaḥ śṛṇuyāditaḥ padamapi śrutvādhimucyedayaṃ
tasmācchīlamayācchubhādbahutaraṃ puṇyaṃ samāsādayet
ལུས་ངག་ཡིད་ཀྱི་འབད་པ་མེད་པར་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་དྲི་མེད་སྲུང་བྱེད་ལ། །
གཞན་གང་འདི་ལས་ཚིག་ཙམ་ཐོས་ཤིང་ཐོས་ནས་ཀྱང་ནི་མོས་ན་འདི། །
ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ལས་བྱུང་དགེ་བ་དེ་ལས་བསོད་ནམས་ཆེས་མང་ཐོབ་པར་འགྱུར། །
Were to effortlessly maintain immaculate discipline with body, speech, and mind for many eons,
While some others were to hear [just] one word of this [dharma] and, upon hearing it, would have faith in it—
The latter would attain far more merit than the virtue arising from such discipline.
- Il y a des êtres intelligents qui, aspirant à l’Éveil suprême,
- observent sans effort,
- Durant d’innombrables ères, une parfaite discipline
- du corps, de la parole et de l’esprit ;
- Et il y en a d’autres qui n’entendent qu’un seul mot
- [du présent traité] et qui, l’entendant, y croient
- Ces derniers en tireront beaucoup plus de mérites
- qu’on en tirera de la vertu de discipline [ci-dessus évoquée].
RGVV Commentary on Verse V.4
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Obermiller (1931) [10]
- One, wise and striving for Supreme Enlightenment
- During numerous æons, without effort,
- Preserves body, speech and mind in stainless chastity,—
- Another, if he hears but a word of this teaching
- And through this comes to faith, can reap
- Merit, greater than that of the purest morals.
Takasaki (1966) [11]
- Suppose a wise man, being desirous of the Highest Enlightenment,
- Would keep pure moral conduct by his body, speech and mind,
- Without effort, in course of innumerable aeons;
- Another, if he hear but one word of this teaching,
- After hearing of it, would have faith in this Doctrine;
- The latter would reap merits far more than the merits of morality.
Fuchs (2000) [12]
- An intelligent person wishing for enlightenment may by body,
- speech, and mind
- guard a flawless moral conduct and do so effortlessly, even through
- many eons.
- Another may just hear a word of this, and upon hearing it become
- filled with devotion.
- He will attain merits far greater and more manifold than the virtue
- sprung from this discipline.
Textual sources
Commentaries on this verse
Academic notes
- Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input
- Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input
- Brunnhölzl, Karl. When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sūtra and Tantra. Boston: Snow Lion Publications, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, 2014.
- I follow VT (fol. 16v7) caturṣu sthāneṣv (supported by DP and C) instead of just sthāneṣv. These four points are vajra points 4 through 7—the tathāgata heart, awakening, its qualities, and its activity.
- DP "those with pure minds" (dagga pa’i seems).
- Instead of °buddhi, DP read "buddha qualities" (snags rgyas yon tan) in the next line.
- VT (fol. 16v7) glosses "this" as "the discussion of the doctrine that explicitly speaks of the buddha element and so on."
- "The meditative states of the gods"refers to the four dhyānas and the four formless absorptions, while the four brahmāvihāras are the four immeasurables of love, compassion, rejoicing, and equanimity that lead to rebirth as the god Mahābrahmā.
- With Schmithausen, I follow MB and J saṃbodhyupāyācyutaḥ (supported by DP rdzogs pa’i byang chub ’pho med thabs bsgoms la) against MA saṃbodhyupāyāc cyutaḥ, whose meaning is also found in C.
- Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
- Takasaki, Jikido. A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra): Being a Treatise on the Tathāgatagarbha Theory of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Serie Orientale Roma 33. Roma: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (ISMEO), 1966.
- Fuchs, Rosemarie, trans. Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra. Commentary by Jamgon Kongtrul and explanations by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso. Ithaca, N. Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2000.