Verse I.48

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.48

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Verse I.48 Variations

स्वभावादिभिरित्येभिः षड्‍भिरर्थेः समासतः
धातुस्तिसृष्ववस्थासु विदितो नामभिस्त्रिभिः

svabhāvādibhirityebhiḥ ṣaḍbhirartheḥ samāsataḥ
dhātustisṛṣvavasthāsu vidito nāmabhistribhiḥ

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

ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ལ་སོགས་པའི་དོན། །
འདི་དྲུག་གིས་ནི་བསྡུས་པ་ཡི། །
ཁམས་ནི་གནས་སྐབས་གསུམ་དག་ཏུ། །
མིང་གསུམ་གྱིས་ནི་བསྟན་པ་ཡིན། །

Dege, PHI, 112

The basic element that consists of these
Six topics, such as [its] nature,
Is taught through three names
In its three phases.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 372

體等六句義 略明法性體

次第三時中 說三種名字

http://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/en/T31n1611_p0832a14

On ramène l’Élément à son essence

Et aux cinq autres points

Pour l’enseigner en fonction

Des trois états et de leurs trois noms.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.48

Tibetan
English
Sanskrit
Chinese

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

What is taught by this?

The basic element that consists of these

Six topics, such as [its] nature,

Is taught through three names

In its three phases. I.48

Any instructions on the uncontaminated basic element that the Bhagavān taught in detail in various dharma specifications are all contained, in brief, in these six topics of its nature, cause, fruition, function, endowment, and manifestation. [This basic element] is to be understood [here] as being taught by way of teaching it, in due order, through three names in its three phases. That is, in its phase of being impure, it is [called] "the basic element of sentient beings." In its phase of being both pure and impure, it is [called] "bodhisattva." In its phase of being completely pure, it is [called] "tathāgata." As the Bhagavān said [in the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta]:

Śāriputra, this very dharmakāya, [when] covered by infinite millions of cocoons of afflictions, {D96b} carried away by the stream of saṃsāra, and circling through [all kinds of] births and deaths in the realms of saṃsāra without beginning and end, is called "the basic element of sentient beings." Śariputra, this very dharmakāya, [when] weary of the suffering in the stream of saṃsāra, free from all objects of desire, and {J41} engaging in conduct for the sake of awakening through the eighty-four thousand dharma collections that are contained in the ten pāramitās, is called "bodhisattva." Śāriputra, this very same dharmakāya, [when] liberated from all cocoons of afflictions, {P100a} having gone beyond all suffering, and being free from all stains of proximate afflictions, has become pure, completely pure, and abides in the supremely pure nature of phenomena. It has ascended to the level to be looked upon by all sentient beings, has attained the power over all levels of knowable objects that belongs to the person who is second to none, and has obtained the strength of mastering all phenomena, which has the nature of being unobscured and is unhindered. This is called "the Tathāgata Arhat, the completely perfect Buddha."

anena kiṃ darśitam/

svabhāvādibhirityebhiḥ ṣaḍbhirartheḥ samāsataḥ/

dhātustisṛṣvavasthāsu vidito nāmabhistribhiḥ//48//

iti ye kecidanāsravadhātunirdeśā nānādharmaparyāyamukheṣu bhagavatā vistareṇa nirdiṣṭāḥ sarveta ebhireva samāsataḥ ṣaḍbhiḥ svabhāvahetuphalakarmayogavṛttyarthaḥ saṃgṛhītāstisṛṣvavasthāsu yathākramaṃ trināmanirdeśato nirdiṣṭā veditavyāḥ/ yadutāśuddhāvasthāyāṃ sattvadhāturiti/ aśuddhaśuddhāvasthāyāṃ bodhisattva iti/ suviśuddhāvasthāyāṃ tathāgata iti/ yathoktaṃ bhagavatā/ ayameva śāriputra dharmakāyo'paryantakleśakośakoṭigūḍhaḥ/ saṃsārastrotasā uhmamāno'navarāgrasaṃsāragaticyutyupapattiṣu saṃcaran sattvadhāturityucyate/ sa eva śāriputra dharmakāyaḥ saṃsārastrotoduḥkhanirviṣṇo viraktaḥ sarvakāmaviṣayebhyo daśapāramitāntargataiścaturaśītyā dharmaskandhasahasrairbodhāya caryā caran bodhisattva ityucyate/ sa eva punaḥ śāriputra dharmakāyaḥ sarvakleśakośaparimuktaḥ sarvaduḥkhatikrāntaḥ sarvopakleśamalāpagataḥ śuddho viśuddhaḥ paramapariśuddhadharmatāyāṃ sthitaḥ sarvasattvālokanīyāṃ bhūmimārūḍhaḥ sarvasyāṃ jñeyabhūmāvadvitīyaṃ pauruṣaṃ sthāma prāpto'nāvaraṇadharmāpratihatasarvadharmaiśvaryabalatāmadhigatastathāgato'rhan samyaksaṃbuddha ityucyate/

自此以下即依此行餘四種義廣差別說應知又復即依彼三種人依時差別故說一偈

有不淨有淨 及以善淨等 如是次第說 眾生菩薩佛 此偈示現何義偈言

體等六句義 略明法性體 次第三時中 說三種名字

此偈明何義謂向所明無漏法性如來廣說種種法門彼諸法門略說依於六種句義所謂攝聚體因果業相應及行偈言體等六句義略明法性體故於三時中次第依彼三種名字畢竟應知偈言次第三時中說三種名字故此以何義謂不淨時名為眾生偈言有不淨故不淨淨時名為菩薩偈言有淨故於善淨時名為如來偈言及以善淨故以是義故不增不減經言舍利弗即此法身過於恒沙無量煩惱所纏從無始來隨順世間生死濤波去來生退名為眾生舍利弗即此法身厭離世間生死苦惱捨一切欲行十波羅蜜攝八萬四千法門修菩提行名為菩薩舍利弗即此法身得離一切煩惱使纏過一

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切苦離一切煩惱垢得淨得清淨得住彼岸清淨法中到一切眾生所觀之地於一切境界中更無勝者離一切障離一切礙於一切法中得自在力名為如來應正遍知故偈言如是次第說眾生菩薩佛故

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931)

The Germ (of the Buddha) considered

From the 6 points of view beginning with (its) essence,

Is, in accordance with its 3 states,

Designated by 3 different names.

Takasaki (1966)

The Essence [of the Buddha], [hitherto briefly explained]

By these six subjects, beginning with ' own nature ',

Is, in accordance with its 3 states,

Designated by 3 different names.

Fuchs (2000)

The element as contained

in the six topics of "essence" and so on

is explained in the light of three phases

by means of three names.

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

One of the sūtra sources for the Ratnagotravibhāga, which is only extant in its Chinese translation.

arhat - A person who has reached nirvāṇa by eliminating the three poisons of attachment, hatred and ignorance having followed the path of seeking individual liberation as a Śrāvaka or a Pratyekabuddha. An arhat, thus, is a person who has overcome the cause of rebirth in the cycle of existence and will not take an ordinary birth again. Skt. अर्हत् Tib. དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ། Ch. 阿羅漢