Verse I.87
Verse I.87 Variations
बुद्धत्वमथ निर्वाणमद्वयं परमार्थतः
buddhatvamatha nirvāṇamadvayaṃ paramārthataḥ
དྲི་མ་བག་ཆགས་བཅས་སྤངས་པ། །
སངས་རྒྱས་མྱ་ངན་འདས་པ་ནི། །
དམ་པའི་དོན་དུ་གཉིས་མེད་ཉིད། །
And the removal of [all] stains and their latent tendencies,
Buddhahood and nirvāṇa
Ultimately are not two.
佛及涅槃體 不離第一義
- Éveil manifeste et parfait à toutes choses
- Et élimination des souillures avec leurs imprégnations –
- Le bouddha et le nirvāṇa
- Au sens sacré ne sont pas deux.
RGVV Commentary on Verse I.87
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Other English translations[edit]
Obermiller (1931) [8]
- The Perfect Supreme Enlightenment,
- And the rejection of all defilement with its residues,—
- The Buddha and his Nirvāṇa
- Are one in the aspect of the Absolute.
Takasaki (1966) [9]
- Being the Perfect Enlightenment in all aspects,
- And being the removal of pollutions along their root,
- Buddhahood and Nirvāṇa
- Are one and the same in the highest viewpoint.
Fuchs (2000) [10]
- Direct perfect enlightenment [with regard to] all aspects,
- and abandonment of the stains along with their imprints
- [are called] buddha and nirvana respectively.
- In truth, these are not two different things.
Textual sources[edit]
Commentaries on this verse[edit]
Academic notes[edit]
- Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input
- 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.
- With Schmithausen, I follow MA sahābhisaṃbodhāt and DP lhan cig mngon par rdzogs par byang chub pas against J mahābhisaṃbodhāt.
- Modern scholars usually do not consider this verse as part of the Uttaratantra but as part of RGVV. That this verse is not part of the Uttaratantra but a quote from some other text is suggested by the fact that it is followed by iti in the Sanskrit of RGVV and by the corresponding zees bya ba in DP. By contrast, such is never the case for any of the verses of the Uttaratantra in RGVV. Still, RGVV provides some comments on this verse (as it does with certain other verses not from the Uttaratantra) and in its explanation of I.88–92. Maybe due to that or based on a different manuscript, Ut (DP) and all Tibetan commentaries consider this verse to be part of the Uttaratantra. For further comments on it, see CMW (491–92). According to C, this verse is from the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, but, as Takasaki already remarks, it is not found there. Maybe C was referring to a partly similar passage in that sūtra: "This [nirvāṇa] is liberation. Liberation is the experience that is most everlasting, immovable, blissful, and permanent. What is this liberation is the Tathāgata" (D120, fol. 78a.1). The Aṅgulimālīyasūtra (D213, fol. 189a.2) also contains two similar lines: "What is nirvāṇa is liberation. What is liberation is the Tathāgata."
- D45.48, fol. 264a.5.
- Ibid., fol. 264a.5–264b.2. The text’s compound sarvāprameyācintyaviśuddhiniṣṭhāgataguṇasamanvāgatā is not found in the sūtra, but its four components sarvāprameyācintyaviśuddhi° are contrasted in four separate sentences with the lack of such qualities in śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.
- As Takasaki does, this could also be read as "have inseparable qualities" (which is also true), but, as already explained at length, the point here is that buddhahood and nirvāṇa are inseparable.
- Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
- 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.
- 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.