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The ''Ratnagotravibhāga'', commonly known as the ''Uttaratantra'', or ''Gyü Lama'' in Tibetan, is one of the main Indian scriptural sources for buddha-nature theory. Comprised of verses interspersed with prose commentary, it systematizes the buddha-nature teachings that were circulating in multiple sūtras such as the ''[[Tathāgatagarbhasūtra]],'' the ''[[Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra]],'' and the ''[[Śrīmālādevīsūtra]].'' It was likely composed during the fifth century. The Tibetan tradition attributes the verses to the Bodhisattva Maitreya and the commentary to [[Asaṅga]], and treats the two as separate texts, although this division is not attested to in surviving Indian versions. The Chinese tradition attributes the text to *[[Sāramati]] (娑囉末底), but the translation itself does not include the name of the author, and the matter remains unsettled. It was translated into Chinese in the early sixth century by [[Ratnamati]] and first translated into Tibetan by [[Atiśa]], although this does not survive. [[Ngok Loden Sherab]] and the Kashmiri Pandita [[Sajjana]] translated it a second time, and theirs remains the standard translation. It has been translated into English several times, and recently into French.
[https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP105-2-1-1 See a manuscript version of the text at the British Library]
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<p class="clipped-3-lines m-0 ">Comparative edition of the root verses</p>
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<div class="bottom-label " style="left: 9px;">Root Verses</div>
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<p class="clipped-3-lines m-0 ">Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā</p>
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<div class="bottom-label " style="left: 9px;">Main Commentary</div>
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Ayang Thubten Rinpoche’s ''Rays of Sunlight'' is a commentary on Zhedang Dorje’s ''The Heart of the Mahayana Teachings'' ''([https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Texts/Theg_chen_bstan_pa%27i_snying_po%27i_gzhung Theg chen bstan pa'i snying po'i gzhung])'', a detailed guide to the stages of the path to awakening. Containing all of the Drikung Kagyu tradition’s essential teachings on sutra and tantra, ''Rays of Sunlight'' is one of the most treasured works in the Drikung Kagyu tradition.
Like Gampopa's ''Jewel Ornament of Liberation'', the text ''Rays of Sunlight'' begins with a discussion of Buddha-nature, the nascent buddha within all beings, before presenting the sequential practices we must cultivate to fully awaken its transcendent qualities. With its lucid explanation of how a single individual can uphold the pratimoksha vows, bodhisattva precepts, and tantric samaya without contra-diction, ''Rays of Sunlight'' is sure to be of interest to dedicated practitioners of all traditions. And for those with an affinity for the profound path of meditation, the text closes with an extraordinary explanation of “The Fivefold Path of Mahamudra.” (Source: [https://www.garchen-stiftung.de/en/edition-garchen-stiftung-49.html Edition Garchen Stiftung]) +
In the Tibetan tradition, which parses out the root verses and refers to that as the treatise (''bstan bcos'', ''śāstra''), this title references the full text complete with the root verses and the accompanying prose commentary (''rnam par bshad pa'', ''vyākhyā''). While the earlier Chinese tradition attributes authorship of both aspects of the text to the as of yet still mysterious figure of Sāramati, the Tibetan tradition attributes the treatise to the Bodhisattva Maitreya and this commentary to the illustrious founder of the Yogācāra school, Asaṅga. However, unlike the Chinese tradition which delineates different aspects of the text into the basic verses, the commentarial verses, and the prose commentary, the Tibetan tradition actually preserves two separate versions of the text we know as the ''Ratnagotravibhāga''.
The first, made up entirely of the so-called root verses, corresponds to the Sanskrit title ''Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra'', though it is known in this tradition only by the Tibetan equivalent of the latter subtitle, ''Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos'', which is commonly rendered into English as the ''Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Great Vehicle'' and is abbreviated as RGV. This version is likely a Tibetan redaction, in that thus far there is no evidence of a Sanskrit version written entirely in verse that excludes the commentarial sections that explain them.
The second, which combines the verses with their accompanying prose commentary, corresponds to the *''Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā'' as it has become known in academic circles where it is referenced with the abbreviation RGVV. However, in Tibetan the subtitle is merely appended with the equivalent of ''vyākhyā'', i.e. ''Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa'', and thus a translation of the Tibetan title of the complete text would be something akin to the ''Explanatory Commentary on the Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Great Vehicle''. However, the extant Sanskrit recension of the ''Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra'' directly corresponds to the Tibetan version known as the ''*Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā'', in that it contains both the root verses and the prose commentary. Though, again, lacking a Sanskrit work entitled the ''Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā'', we can surmise that its corresponding Tibetan title was likely manufactured in order to delineate it from the streamlined verse redaction, while the Sanskrit title ''*Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā'' was in turn a product of modern scholars. On the surface it would seem that this title is a combination of the Chinese title back translated into Sanskrit as the ''Ratnagotraśāstra'' and the one found in the Tibetan editions, which state the Sanskrit title as the ''Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhya''. Nevertheless, in terms of content, the Sanskrit RGV corresponds to the Tibetan RGVV, in that the ''Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra'' is the same text as ''Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa''.
For more on this issue see below for Karl Brunnhölzl's Description from When the Clouds Part.
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<p class="clipped-3-lines m-0 ">Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra</p>
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<div class="bottom-label " style="left: 9px;">Root Text</div>
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<p class="clipped-3-lines m-0 ">On the Ratnagotravibhāga</p>
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<div class="bottom-label " style="left: 9px;">Recent Essay on Text</div>
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The primary commentary to the ''Uttaratantra'' used in Nyingma monastic colleges. +
The ''[[Treatise on the Awakening of Faith]]'' was written in China in the middle of the sixth century, heavily influenced by Indian Yogācāra and ''tathāgatagarbha'' teachings. It provides a scriptural foundation for both buddha-nature theory and the doctrine of original enlightenment. +
Yuanren lun. (J. Genninron; K. Wǒnin non 原人論). In Chinese, "Treatise on the Origin of Humanity"; by the eminent Huayan and Chan scholiast Guifeng Zongmi. A preface to this relatively short treatise was prepared by Zongmi, as was another by his lay disciple Pei Xiu (787?-860). The treatise largely consists of four chapters: exposing deluded attachments, exposing the partial and superficial, directly revealing the true source, and reconciling root and branches. In his critique of deluded attachments, Zongmi offers a response to the different Confucian and Daoist theories of the way (dao), spontaneity (ziran), primal pneuma (yuanqi), and the mandate of heaven (tianming). Zongmi then briefly summarizes the teachings of the different vehicles of Buddhism, such as hīnayāna and Mahāyāna, and expounds their different approaches to reality. Relying on the teachings of the Avataṃsakasūtra, Zongmi finally offers a Buddhist alternative to the theories of the Confucian and Daoist critics: the tathāgatagarbha as the origin of humanity. (Source: "Yuanren lun." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 1041. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
In Tibetan religious literature, its ten books stand out as a unique masterpiece embodying the entire range of Buddhist teachings as they were preserved in Tibet. In his monumental work, Jamgön Kongtrul presents an encyclopedic account of the major lines of thought and practice that comprise Tibetan Buddhism. Also see [[The Treasury of Knowledge Series]]. +
