Verse I.22

From Buddha-Nature
Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.22

Verse I.22 Variations

रत्नानि दुर्लभोत्पादान निर्मलत्वात् प्रभावतः
लोकालंकारभूतत्वादग्रत्वान् निर्विकारतः
ratnāni durlabhotpādāna nirmalatvāt prabhāvataḥ
lokālaṃkārabhūtatvādagratvān nirvikārataḥ
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
འབྱུང་བ་དཀོན་ཕྱིར་དྲི་མེད་ཕྱིར། །
མཐུ་ལྡན་ཕྱིར་དང་འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི། །
རྒྱན་གྱུར་ཕྱིར་དང་མཆོག་ཉིད་ཕྱིར། །
འགྱུར་བ་མེད་ཕྱིར་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཉིད། །
They are jewels because their appearance is difficult to encounter,
Because they are stainless, because they possess power,
Because they are the ornaments of the world,
Because they are supreme, and because they are changeless.
真寶世希有 明淨及勢力

能莊嚴世間 最上不變等

Les « Joyaux » sont ainsi nommés
Pour leur rareté, leur pureté et leurs pouvoirs,
Parce qu’ils sont les ornements du monde
Et parce qu’ils sont suprêmes et immuables.

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.22

Other English translations[edit]

Listed by date of publication
Obermiller (1931) [4]
They appear rarely, they are immaculate,
Are powerful, are an ornament of this world,
Are the highest (point of excellence), and cannot change,—
Therefore they have the character of jewels.
Takasaki (1966) [5]
[They are called] ' Jewels ', because
Their appearance is difficult to obtain,
They are immaculate and powerful,
And because of their being the ornament of the world,
And being the highest and unchangeable.
Holmes (1985) [6]
'Rare and supreme' because of being
a most rare occurrence, stainless,
powerful, the ornament of the world,
the best possible thing and changeless.
Holmes (1999) [7]
Rare and Supreme' because their occurrence is most rare,
they are stainless, powerful, the ornament of the world,
the best possible thing and changeless.
Fuchs (2000) [8]
Their occurence is rare, they are free from defilement,
they possess power, they are the adornment of the world,
they are sublime, and they are unchanging.
Thus [they are named] "rare and sublime."

Textual sources[edit]

Commentaries on this verse[edit]

Academic notes[edit]

  1. Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input
  2. 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.
  3. J śobha, which can also mean "brilliant," "lustrous," or "beautiful"; DP "virtuous" (dge ba). Thus, from a Buddhist point of view, "splendid or beautiful intentions"are those that are virtuous.
  4. Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
  5. 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.
  6. Holmes, Ken & Katia. The Changeless Nature. Eskdalemuir, Scotland: Karma Drubgyud Darjay Ling, 1985.
  7. Holmes, Ken & Katia. Maitreya on Buddha Nature. Scotland: Altea Publishing, 1999.
  8. 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.