Verse II.20

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse II.20

Verse II.20 Variations

समाधिसंस्पर्शसुखानुभूतिषु
स्वभावगाम्भीर्यनयावबोधने
सुसूक्ष्मचिन्तापरमार्थगव्हरं
तथागतव्योम निमित्तवर्जितम्

E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.^[1]

samādhisaṃsparśasukhānubhūtiṣu
svabhāvagāmbhīryanayāvabodhane
susūkṣmacintāparamārthagavharaṃ
tathāgatavyoma nimittavarjitam

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

རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་ཟབ་པའི་ཚུལ། །
རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱུར་གྱུར་ཞིབ་མོར་བསམས་པ་ན། །
དོན་དམ་བདེ་མཛད་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ནི། །
ནམ་མཁའ་བཞིན་དུ་རྒྱུ་མཚན་རྣམས་དང་བྲལ། །

Dege, PHI, 125

For the pleasurable touch of samādhi’s being relished,
And for the principle that is profound by nature being realized,
The Tathāgata, being the ultimate depth of very subtle thinking,
Is free from [being] a cause, just as space.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 419 ^[3]^[4]

D’éprouver les délices du tangible pendant l’absorption méditative

Et de réaliser le mode profond en son essence même.

Quand on y réfléchit plus précisément, le tathāgata qui procure

Le bonheur absolu est dépourvu de causes comme l’espace.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse II.20

Tibetan
English
Sanskrit
Chinese

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

།གནས་ཡོངས་སུ་གྱུར་པ་འཇིག་རྟེན་ལས་འདས་པ་རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་པ་དང་། དེའི་རྗེས་ལ་ཐོབ་པ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་རྒྱུ་ཅན་བྲལ་བའི་འབྲས་བུའི་མིང་ཅན་གནས་ཡོངས་སུ་གྱུར་པའི་རྒྱུ་ཡིན་ལ། དེའི་ལས་ནི་རང་དང་གཞན་གྱི་དོན་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་གང་ཡིན་པར་བརྗོད་དོ། །དེ་ལ་རང་དང་གཞན་གྱི་དོན་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་གང་ཞེ་ན། གང་ཞིག་བག་ཆགས་དང་བཅས་པའི་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་དང་ཤེས་བྱའི་སྒྲིབ་པ་ལས་ཐར་བའི་ཕྱིར་དང་། སྒྲིབ་པ་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ་ཐོབ་པ་འདི་ནི་རང་

གི་དོན་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པར་བརྗོད་ལ། གང་ཞིག་དེའི་སྟེང་དུ་འཇིག་རྟེན་ཇི་སྲིད་པར་ལྷུན་གྱིས་གྲུབ་པ་སྐུ་གཉིས་ཀྱིས་ཀུན་དུ་སྟོན་པ་དང་། བསྟན་པ་ལ་དབང་འབྱོར་པ་གཉིས་ཀྱིས་འཇུག་པ་འདི་ནི་གཞན་གྱི་དོན་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་དེ་ལ་ལས་ཀྱི་དོན་ལས་བརྩམས་ཏེ་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ་གསུམ་སྟེ། ཟག་པ་མེད་ཁྱབ་འཇིག་མེད་ཆོས་ཅན་ཏེ། །བརྟན་ཞི་རྟག་པ་འཕོ་བ་མེད་པའི་གནས། །དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་མཁའ་བཞིན་དག་པ་ཡི། །དབང་པོ་དྲུག་དོན་ཉམས་སུ་མྱོང་བའི་རྒྱུ། །དབང་འབྱོར་གཟུགས་དོན་ལྟ་དང་གཏམ་བཟང་ནི། །གཙང་མ་ཉན་དང་བདེ་གཤེགས་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི། །དྲི་གཙང་སྣོམ་དང་འཕགས་ཆེན་དམ་ཆོས་རོ། །མྱང་དང་ཏིང་འཛིན་རེག་བདེ་ཉམས་མྱོང་དང་། །རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ཟབ་པའི་ཚུལ། །རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱུར་གྱུར་ཞི་བ་མོར་བསམས་པ་ན། །དོན་དམ་བདེ་མཛད་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ནི། །ནམ་མཁའ་བཞིན་དུ་རྒྱུ་མཚན་རྣམས་དང་བྲལ།

Other English translations[edit]

Obermiller (1931) ^[12]

And the cognition of the subject profound by its very nature.

But, if closely investigated,

The Buddha who grants thus the true and highest bliss

Is (in his Cosmical Essence) uncaused and unconditioned.

Takasaki (1966) ^[13]

In the enjoyment of the pleasurable touch of meditation,

And in the cognition of doctrine, profound by its nature;

[But], being the Highest Truth, the thicket of quite subtle thinking,

The Tathāgata himself, like space, is of no visible mark.

Fuchs (2000) ^[14]

for the blissful touch of samadhi to be felt,

and for the mode [of the Dharma], which is by essence deep, to be realized.

When reflected upon in a very fine way, a sugata bestowing true bliss

is like space, devoid of any reasons.

Textual sources[edit]

Commentaries on this verse[edit]

Academic notes[edit]

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input
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.
Due to variations in syntax, some of the English translation present in this verse actually translates lines from the previous verse (and vice versa).
DP gnas yongs su gyur pa ’jig rten las ’das pa rnam par mi rtog pa dang / de’i rjes la thob pa ye shes kyi rgyu can bral ba’i ’bras bu’i ming can gnas yongs su gyur ba’i rgyu yin. The general Buddhist abhidharma lists five types of results: (1) matured results, (2) dominated results, (3) results that accord with their cause, (4) results caused by persons, and (5) results of freedom (or separation). The latter is defined as "the exhaustion or relinquishment of the specific factors to be relinquished through the force of the remedy that is prajñā." Thus, in the general abhidharma, a result of freedom is defined as an absence of factors to be relinquished and thus is an unconditioned nonentity (while the other four results are conditioned entities). A nonentity is defined as "what is not able to perform a function,"but here as well as elsewhere in the Uttaratantra and RGVV, it is made clear many times that buddhahood, despite being unconditioned and a result of freedom, is able to perform the functions of accomplishing the welfare of all sentient beings and so on. The entire fourth chapter is ample testimony to that, representing the detailed answer to the question in RGVV’s introduction to IV.13ff (J99), "It has been declared that buddhahood is characterized by being without arising and without ceasing. How is it then that from this unconditioned buddhahood, which has the characteristic of lacking functionality, effortless, uninterrupted, and nonconceptual buddha activity manifests functionality for as long as the world lasts?"In addition, Uttaratantra II.18– 20 describes enlightened activity in terms of eternal space-like buddhahood’s being the cause for others experiencing pure objects of their six sense faculties. II.38–41 on the topic "manifestation"speaks about the undifferentiable space-like dharmadhātu’s making efforts in accomplishing the liberation of beings through all kinds of appearances, thus being the cause for introducing beings to the path and maturing them. When introducing this topic, RGVV (J85) says, "Now, this tathāgatahood manifests as being inseparable from its unconditioned qualities, just like space. Nevertheless, since it is endowed with unique attributes, one should see that it, through its particular applications of inconceivable great means, compassion, and prajñā and by way of the three stainless kāyas (svābhāvika[kāya], sāmbhogika[kāya], and nairmāṇika[kāya]), manifests as the cause that brings about the benefit and happiness of beings in an uninterrupted, endless, and effortless manner for as long as [saṃsāric] existence lasts."RGVV on I.7 (J8) explicitly affirms that unconditioned buddhahood entails enlightened activity: "Even though it is unconditioned and has the characteristic of being inactive, from tathāgatahood all activities of the perfect Buddha unfold without effort in an unimpeded and uninterrupted manner until the end of saṃsāra." In this regard, it is noteworthy that the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra repeatedly emphasizes that the full revelation or manifestation of the tathāgata heart as buddhahood automatically entails the performance of buddha activity as its main characteristic, thus "describing a tathāgata primarily in terms of dynamic activity" (Zimmermann 2002, 65). Furthermore, SM 8c says that "suchness operates in accordance (anuvṛtti) with the welfare [of beings]."Yamabe (1997, n. 32) also refers to "the Hsien-yang sheng-chiao lun (Taishō 31, 581c5–8), which states that all the actions of the buddhas arise on the basis of the *asaṃskṛta-dharmakāya."
VT (fol. 14r4) glosses "just as space" as representing the function of one’s own welfare and the remainder of lines II.18cd as representing the function of the welfare of others, with "the wise"being bodhisattvas on the ten bhūmis and wise persons (satpuruṣa).
VT (fol. 14r4–5) glosses "powerful form" (vibhūtirūpaṃ) as "the excellence or accomplishment of his own form" (svarūpasaṃpatti) and "objects" (artha) as "buddha realms and so on."DP dbang ’byor gzugs don corresponds to the Sanskrit vibhūtirūpārtha but Ut (D) has ’byung med gzugs don ("nonelemental forms and objects"), which is also found in the versions in most Tibetan commentaries (such as GC, HLS, and JKC) and commented on accordingly. Rongtön’s commentary (Rong ston shes bya kun gzigs 1997, 160) says that vibhūti can mean either "powerful" or "nonelemental,"but that it here means the former.
VT (fol. 14r5) glosses this as "the stainless speech of the victor."
According to VT (fol. 14r5), discipline is described as fragrance because it is the cause of a buddha’s fragrance.
Skt. naya, DP tshul, C dharma.
Skt. susukṣmacintāparamārthagahvaraṃ, DP "who, when one reflects [about this] in a subtle manner, is the one who brings ultimate happiness" (zhib mor bsams pa na don dam bde mdzad).
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.

[1] Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input

[2] Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input

[3] 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.

[4] Due to variations in syntax, some of the English translation present in this verse actually translates lines from the previous verse (and vice versa).

[5] DP gnas yongs su gyur pa ’jig rten las ’das pa rnam par mi rtog pa dang / de’i rjes la thob pa ye shes kyi rgyu can bral ba’i ’bras bu’i ming can gnas yongs su gyur ba’i rgyu yin. The general Buddhist abhidharma lists five types of results: (1) matured results, (2) dominated results, (3) results that accord with their cause, (4) results caused by persons, and (5) results of freedom (or separation). The latter is defined as "the exhaustion or relinquishment of the specific factors to be relinquished through the force of the remedy that is prajñā." Thus, in the general abhidharma, a result of freedom is defined as an absence of factors to be relinquished and thus is an unconditioned nonentity (while the other four results are conditioned entities). A nonentity is defined as "what is not able to perform a function,"but here as well as elsewhere in the Uttaratantra and RGVV, it is made clear many times that buddhahood, despite being unconditioned and a result of freedom, is able to perform the functions of accomplishing the welfare of all sentient beings and so on. The entire fourth chapter is ample testimony to that, representing the detailed answer to the question in RGVV’s introduction to IV.13ff (J99), "It has been declared that buddhahood is characterized by being without arising and without ceasing. How is it then that from this unconditioned buddhahood, which has the characteristic of lacking functionality, effortless, uninterrupted, and nonconceptual buddha activity manifests functionality for as long as the world lasts?"In addition, Uttaratantra II.18– 20 describes enlightened activity in terms of eternal space-like buddhahood’s being the cause for others experiencing pure objects of their six sense faculties. II.38–41 on the topic "manifestation"speaks about the undifferentiable space-like dharmadhātu’s making efforts in accomplishing the liberation of beings through all kinds of appearances, thus being the cause for introducing beings to the path and maturing them. When introducing this topic, RGVV (J85) says, "Now, this tathāgatahood manifests as being inseparable from its unconditioned qualities, just like space. Nevertheless, since it is endowed with unique attributes, one should see that it, through its particular applications of inconceivable great means, compassion, and prajñā and by way of the three stainless kāyas (svābhāvika[kāya], sāmbhogika[kāya], and nairmāṇika[kāya]), manifests as the cause that brings about the benefit and happiness of beings in an uninterrupted, endless, and effortless manner for as long as [saṃsāric] existence lasts."RGVV on I.7 (J8) explicitly affirms that unconditioned buddhahood entails enlightened activity: "Even though it is unconditioned and has the characteristic of being inactive, from tathāgatahood all activities of the perfect Buddha unfold without effort in an unimpeded and uninterrupted manner until the end of saṃsāra." In this regard, it is noteworthy that the Tathāgatagarbhasūtra repeatedly emphasizes that the full revelation or manifestation of the tathāgata heart as buddhahood automatically entails the performance of buddha activity as its main characteristic, thus "describing a tathāgata primarily in terms of dynamic activity" (Zimmermann 2002, 65). Furthermore, SM 8c says that "suchness operates in accordance (anuvṛtti) with the welfare [of beings]."Yamabe (1997, n. 32) also refers to "the Hsien-yang sheng-chiao lun (Taishō 31, 581c5–8), which states that all the actions of the buddhas arise on the basis of the *asaṃskṛta-dharmakāya."

[6] VT (fol. 14r4) glosses "just as space" as representing the function of one’s own welfare and the remainder of lines II.18cd as representing the function of the welfare of others, with "the wise"being bodhisattvas on the ten bhūmis and wise persons (satpuruṣa).

[7] VT (fol. 14r4–5) glosses "powerful form" (vibhūtirūpaṃ) as "the excellence or accomplishment of his own form" (svarūpasaṃpatti) and "objects" (artha) as "buddha realms and so on."DP dbang ’byor gzugs don corresponds to the Sanskrit vibhūtirūpārtha but Ut (D) has ’byung med gzugs don ("nonelemental forms and objects"), which is also found in the versions in most Tibetan commentaries (such as GC, HLS, and JKC) and commented on accordingly. Rongtön’s commentary (Rong ston shes bya kun gzigs 1997, 160) says that vibhūti can mean either "powerful" or "nonelemental,"but that it here means the former.

[8] VT (fol. 14r5) glosses this as "the stainless speech of the victor."

[9] According to VT (fol. 14r5), discipline is described as fragrance because it is the cause of a buddha’s fragrance.

[10] Skt. naya, DP tshul, C dharma.

[11] Skt. susukṣmacintāparamārthagahvaraṃ, DP "who, when one reflects [about this] in a subtle manner, is the one who brings ultimate happiness" (zhib mor bsams pa na don dam bde mdzad).

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

[13] 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.

[14] 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.

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