Verse I.50

From Buddha-Nature
Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.50

Verse I.50 Variations

तद्दोषगुणनिष्ठासु व्यापि सामान्यलक्षणम्
हीनमध्यविशिष्टेषु व्योम रूपगतेष्विव
taddoṣaguṇaniṣṭhāsu vyāpi sāmānyalakṣaṇam
hīnamadhyaviśiṣṭeṣu vyoma rūpagateṣviva
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
དེ་སྤྱིའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཉེས་པ་དང་། །
ཡོན་ཏན་མཐར་ཐུག་ཁྱབ་པ་སྟེ། །
གཟུགས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པ་དམན་པ་དང་། །
བར་མ་མཆོག་ལ་ནམ་མཁའ་བཞིན། །
[Its] general characteristic is that it pervades
Flaws, qualities, and perfection,
Just as space [pervades] inferior, middling,
And supreme kinds of forms.
過功德畢竟 遍至及同相

下中勝眾生 如虛空中色

Ce caractère général imprègne
Les défauts, les qualités et l’ultime,
À l’image de l’espace [qui pénètre] toute forme
Inférieure, moyenne ou supérieure.

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.50

Other English translations[edit]

Listed by date of publication
Obermiller (1931) [4]
It penetrates, in its general essence,
The defective, the virtuous, and the ultimate point (of perfection),
Just as space embraces all visible forms,
The base, the intermediate, and the sublime.[5]
Takasaki (1966) [6]
It pervades with common feature
The defective, the virtuous and the ultimate,
Just as space occupies all the visible forms,
Either inferior, middle, or superior.
Holmes (1985) [7]
This, the general characteristic of all,
permeates the good, the bad and the ultimate,
like space permeates all forms
whether lesser, mediocre or perfect.
Holmes (1999) [8]
This, the general characteristic of all,
permeates the faulty, the noble and the ultimate,
just as space permeates all forms
whether lesser, mediocre or perfect.
Fuchs (2000) [9]
As the general feature [of everything], it embraces [those with]
faults,
[those with] qualities, and [those in whom the qualities are]
ultimate
just as space [pervades everything] visible,
be it of inferior, average, or supreme appearance.

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. Ibid., 467b.
  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. This is verse 49 in Obermiller's translation
  6. 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.
  7. Holmes, Ken & Katia. The Changeless Nature. Eskdalemuir, Scotland: Karma Drubgyud Darjay Ling, 1985.
  8. Holmes, Ken & Katia. Maitreya on Buddha Nature. Scotland: Altea Publishing, 1999.
  9. 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.