Verse I.43

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.43

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Verse I.43 Variations

धर्मकायजिनज्ञानकरुणाधातुसंग्रहात्
पात्ररत्नाम्बुभिः साम्यमुधेरस्य दर्शितम्

dharmakāyajinajñānakaruṇādhātusaṃgrahāt
pātraratnāmbubhiḥ sāmyamudherasya darśitam

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

ཆོས་སྐུ་རྒྱལ་བའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་དང་། །
ཐུགས་རྗེའི་ཁམས་ནི་བསྡུས་པའི་ཕྱིར། །
སྣོད་དང་རིན་ཆེན་ཆུ་ཡིས་ནི། །
རྒྱ་མཚོ་དང་ནི་མཚུངས་པར་བསྟན། །

Dege, PHI, 112

Since the basic element consists of the dharmakāya,
As well as the wisdom and the compassion of the victor,
It is taught to be like the ocean
In terms of a vessel, jewels, and water.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 369

佛法身慧定 悲攝眾生性

海珍寶水等 相似相對法

http://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/en/T31n1611_p0831b14

Comme [cet Élément] inclut les domaines du corps absolu,

De la sagesse des Vainqueurs et de la compassion,

L’enseignement le compare à l’Océan

Sous le rapport du réceptacle, des joyaux et de l’eau.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.43

Tibetan
English
Sanskrit
Chinese

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

What is taught by the first half of this verse here?

Since the basic element consists of the dharmakāya,

As well as the wisdom and the compassion of the victor,

It is taught to be like the ocean

In terms of a vessel, jewels, and water. I.43

In the due order of [the following] three points, {P98a} the tathāgata element resembles the great sea in three ways. By virtue of that, the topic of endowment is to be understood in terms of [the tathāgata element’s] being associated with [certain] causes. Which are these three points? They consist of [being associated with] (1) the cause of the purity of the dharmakāya, (2) the cause of the attainment of buddha wisdom, and (3) the cause of a tathāgata’s great compassion’s engaging [all beings]. {J38} (1) Here, the cause of the purity of the dharmakāya is to be regarded as the cultivation of faith in the mahāyāna [dharma]. {D95a} (2) The cause of the attainment of buddha wisdom is to cultivate the doors of prajñā and samādhi. (3) The cause of a tathāgata’s great compassion’s engaging [all beings] is a bodhisattva’s cultivation of great compassion. Here, the cultivation of faith in the mahāyāna [dharma] resembles [the ocean’s] being a [big] vessel because the jewels of prajñā and samādhi as well as the water of compassion, [all of which] are immeasurable and inexhaustible, are assembled in it. The cultivation of the doors of prajñā and samādhi resembles the jewels [in this ocean] because it is nonconceptual and is endowed with qualities of inconceivable power. A bodhisattva’s cultivation of compassion resembles the water [in this ocean] because it possesses the characteristic of the single taste that is its nature of supremely moistening [the mind streams of] all beings. [Here, the fact of] these three dharmas’ being associated with the three kinds of causes [mentioned above, that is], their being connected with them, is called "endowment."

tatra pūrveṇa ślokārthena ki darśitam/

dharmakāyajinajñānakaruṇādhātusaṃgrahāt/

pātraratnāmbubhiḥ sāmyamudherasya darśitam//43//

trayāṇāṃ sthānānāṃ yathāsaṃkhyameva trividhena mahāsamudrasādharmyeṇa tathāgatadhātorhetusamanvāgamamadhikṛtya yogārtho veditavyaḥ/ katamāni trīṇi sthānāni/ tadyathā dharmakāyaviśuddhihetuḥ/ buddhajñānasamudāgamahetuḥ/ tathāgatamahākaruṇāvṛttiheturiti/ tatra dharmakāyaviśuddhiheturmahāyānādhimuktibhāvanā draṣṭavyā/ buddhajñānasamudāgamahetuḥ prajñāsamādhimukhabhavanā/ tathāgatamahākaruṇāpravṛttiheturbodhisattvakaruṇābhāvaneti/ tatra mahāyānādhimuktibhāvanāyā bhājanasādharmyaṃ tasyāmaparimeyākṣayaprajñāsamādhiratnakaruṇāvārisamavasaraṇāt/ prajñāsamādhimukhabhāvanāyā ratnāsādharmyaṃ tasya nirvikalpatvādacintyaprabhāvaguṇayogācca/ bodhisattvakaruṇābhāvanāyā vārisādharmyaṃ tasyāḥ sarvajagati paramasnigdhabhāvaikarasalakṣaṇaprayogāditi/ eṣāṃ trayāṇāṃ dharmāṇāmanena trividhena hetunā tatsaṃbaddhaḥsamanvāgamo yoga ityucyate/

此初半偈示現何義偈言

佛法身慧定 悲攝眾生性 海珍寶水等 相似相對法

此偈明何義以有三處故次第有三種大海相似相對法於如來性中依因畢竟成就相應義應知何等三處一者法身清淨因二者集佛智因三者得如來大悲因法身清淨因者信修行大乘器相似相對法以彼無量不可盡故偈言佛法身故海相似相對法故集佛智因者般若三昧珍寶相似相對法偈言慧定故珍寶相似相對法故得如來大悲因者大慈悲心水相似相對法偈言悲攝眾生性故水相似相對法故又修行智慧三昧門寶相似相對法以彼無分別不可思議有大勢力功德相應故又修行菩薩大悲水相似相對法以於一切眾生柔軟大悲得一味等味相行故如是彼三種法此三種因和合畢

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竟不相捨離故名相應

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931)

As it contains the sources

Of the Cosmical Body, of the Buddha’s Wisdom and Commiseration,

It appears as being akin to the ocean,

Since (the causes of purity to which it relates

Bear a resemblance) with a receptacle, with jewels, and with water.

Takasaki (1966)

Because it consists of the sources of the Absolute Body,

Of the Buddha's Wisdom and Compassion,

There is shown the similarity of the Germ with the ocean,

Through being receptacle, jewels and water.

Fuchs (2000)

Unifying the elements of dharmakaya,

a victor's wisdom, and great compassion,

it is shown as being similar to the sea

by the vessel, the gems, and the water.

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