Verse I.19

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.19

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Verse I.19 Variations

शास्तृशासनशिष्यार्थैरधिकृत्य त्रियानिकान्
कारत्रयाधिमुक्तांश्च प्रज्ञप्तं शरणत्रयम्

śāstṛśāsanaśiṣyārthairadhikṛtya triyānikān
kāratrayādhimuktāṃśca prajñaptaṃ śaraṇatrayam

E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.

སྟོན་པ་བསྟན་པ་བསླབ་དོན་གྱིས། །
ཐེག་པ་གསུམ་དང་བྱེད་གསུམ་ལ། །
མོས་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་དབང་བྱས་ནས། །
སྐྱབས་གསུམ་རྣམ་པར་བཞག་པ་ཡིན། །

Dege, PHI, 110

For the purpose of the teacher, the teaching, and the disciples,
The three refuges are taught
With regard to those in the three yānas
And those who have faith in the three activities.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 348.

依能調所證 弟子為三乘
信三供養等 是故說三寶

http://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/en/T31n1611_p0825c23

On a instauré le triple refuge en considération

Du maître, de l’enseignement et des disciples,

Du point de vue des adeptes des trois véhicules

Et des aspirations aux trois activités.

Charrier, Christian and Patrick Carré. Traité de la Continuité suprême du Grand Véhicule. Plazac: Éditions Padmakara, 2019.

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.19

Tibetan
English
Sanskrit
Chinese

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Full Tibetan Commentary
Full English Commentary
Full Sanskrit Commentary
Full Chinese Commentary

Now, for what purpose and based on what did the Bhagavān teach the three refuges?

For the purpose of the teacher, the teaching, and the disciples,

The three refuges are taught

With regard to those in the three yānas

And those who have faith in the three activities. I.19

{J18} [The instruction that] "the Buddha is a refuge because of being the highest among humans" is taught and discussed for the purpose of demonstrating the qualities of the teacher, with regard to the persons in the bodhisattvayāna who are suitable to [attain] the state of the Buddha, and those who have faith in the supreme activities related to the Buddha. [The instruction that] "the dharma is a refuge because of being the highest among what is free from attachment" is taught and discussed for the purpose of demonstrating the qualities of the teaching of the teacher, with regard to the persons in the pratyekabuddhayāna who are suitable to realize the profound dharma of dependent origination by themselves, and those who have faith in the supreme activities related to the dharma. [The instruction that] "the saṃgha is a refuge because of being the highest among assemblies" is taught and discussed for the purpose of demonstrating the qualities of the disciples who have well entered the teaching of the teacher, with regard to the persons in the śrāvakayāna who are suitable to realize the discourses that they heard from others, and {P85b} those who have faith in the supreme activities related to the saṃgha. {D84a}

In brief, through this, the Bhagavān taught and discussed these three refuges for those three purposes and with regard to the [above] six [kinds of] persons by distinguishing them from the standpoint of seeming [reality] so that sentient beings enter this [dharma] system in successive order.

tatra kenārthena kimadhikṛtya bhagavatā śaraṇatrayaṃ prajñaptam//

śāstṛśāsanaśiṣyārthairadhikṛtya triyānikān/

kāratrayādhimuktāṃśca prajñaptaṃ śaraṇatrayam//19//

buddhaḥ śaraṇamagryatvād dvipadānāmiti śāstṛguṇodbhāvanārthena buddhabhāvāyopagatān bodhisattvān pudgalān buddhe ca paramakārakriyādhimuktānadhikṛtya deśitaṃ prajñaptam/

dharmaḥ śaraṇamagryatvādvirāgāṇāmiti śāstṛḥ śāsana guṇodbhāvanārthena svayaṃ pratītya gambhīradharmānubodhāyopagatān pratyekabuddhayānikān pudgalān dharme ca paramakārakriyādhimuktānadhikṛtya deśitaṃ prajñaptam/

saṃghaḥ śaraṇamagryatvādgaṇānāmiti śāstuḥ śāsane supratipannaśiṣyaguṇodbhāvanārthena parataḥ śravaghoṣasyānugamāyopagatān śrāvakayānikān pudgalān saṃghe ca paramakārākriyādhimuktānadhikṛtya deśitaṃ prajñaptam/ ityanena samāsatastrividhenārthena ṣaṭ pudgalānadhikṛtya prabhedayo bhagavatā saṃvṛtipadasthānena sattvānāmanupūrvanayāvatārārthamimāni trīṇi śaraṇāni deśitāni prajñaptāni/

問曰依何等義為何等人諸佛如來說此三寶答曰偈言

依能調所證 弟子為三乘 信三供養等 是故說三寶

此偈明何義略說依三種義為六種人故說三寶何等為三一者調御師二者調御師法三者調御師弟子偈言依能調所證弟子故六種人者何等為六一者大乘二者中乘三者小乘四者信佛五者信法六者信僧偈言

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為三乘信三供養等故初釋第一義第一第四人歸依兩足中最勝第一尊佛示現調御師大丈夫義故偈言依能調故為取佛菩提諸菩薩人故偈言為大乘故為信供養諸佛如來福田人故偈言信佛供養故以是義故說立佛寶偈言是故說佛寶故已釋第一義第一第四人次釋第二義第二第五人歸依離煩惱中最勝第一法示現調御師所證功德法故偈言依所證故為自然知不依他知深因緣法辟支佛人故偈言為中乘故為信供養第一妙法福田人故偈言信法供養故以是義故說立法寶偈言是故說法寶故已釋第二義第二第五人次釋第三義第三第六人歸依諸眾中最勝第一諸菩薩僧示現調御師弟子於諸佛如來所說法中如實修行不相違義故偈言依弟子故為從他聞聲聞人故偈言為小乘故為信供養第一聖眾福田人故偈言信僧供養故以是義故說立僧寶偈言是故說僧寶故是名略說依三種義為六種人故諸佛如來說此三寶偈言依能調所證弟子為三乘信三供養等是故說三寶故又為可化眾生令次第入以是義故依於世諦示現明說立三歸依此明何義

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931)

In order to make known the virtues

Of the Teacher, the Teaching, and the Disciples,

For the sake of (the adherents of) the 3 Vehicles

And those devoted to the 3 forms of religious observance, —

The 3 Refuges have been proclaimed (by the Lord ).

Takasaki (1966)

In order to show [the virtues of]

The Teacher, the Teaching and Disciples,

With reference to those who belong to 3 Vehicles

And to those who devote themselves to religious observance

Three Refuges were taught [by the Lord].

Fuchs (2000)

There being the teacher, his teaching, and his disciples

leads to respective aspirations towards three vehicles

and to three different activities [of veneration].

Viewing this, the refuge is shown as threefold.

Textual sources

Commentaries on this verse

Academic notes

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩