Verse I.87.1

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.87.1

First Verse

Last Verse

Verse I.87.1 Variations

རྣམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་གྲངས་མེད་པ། །
བསམ་མེད་དྲི་མེད་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་། །
དབྱེར་མེད་མཚན་ཉིད་ཐར་པ་སྟེ། །
ཐར་པ་གང་དེ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས། །

Liberation has the characteristic of being inseparable
From its qualities, which are of all kinds,
Innumerable, inconceivable, and stainless.
What is this liberation is the Tathāgata.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 390 ^[1]

सर्वाकारैरसंख्येयैरचिन्त्यैरमलैर्गुणैः
अभिन्नलक्षणो मोक्षो यो मोक्षः स तथागत इति

sarvākārairasaṃkhyeyairacintyairamalairguṇaiḥ
abhinnalakṣaṇo mokṣo yo mokṣaḥ sa tathāgata iti

E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.^[2]

La libération a pour caractéristique

D’être inséparable de ses qualités – complètes,

Innombrables, inconcevables et immaculées.

Cette libération est le tathāgata.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.87.1

Tibetan
English
Sanskrit
Chinese

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

No Tibetan commentary defined.

Other English translations[edit]

Obermiller (1931) ^[3]

The properties complete, innumerable,

Inconceivable and immaculate，

All of which are of an indivisible character, represent Salvation,

And this Salvation is (no other but) the Buddha.

Fuchs (2000) ^[4]

Liberation is distinguished by indivisibility

from qualities present in all their aspects:

innumerable, inconceivable, and unpolluted.

Such liberation is [also called] "tathagata."

Textual sources[edit]

Commentaries on this verse[edit]

Academic notes[edit]

Karl Brunnholzl

Karl Brunnhölzl

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 1093, nt. 1407 ^[5]

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."

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.
Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input
Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
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.
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.

[1] 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.

[2] Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input

[3] Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.

[4] 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.

[5] 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.

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