Verse III.4

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse III.4

Verse III.4 Variations

बलत्वमज्ञानवृतेषु वज्रव-
द्विशारदत्वं परिषत्सु सिंहवत्
तथागतावेणिकतान्तरीक्षवन्
मुनेर्द्विधादर्शनमम्बुचन्द्रवत्

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

balatvamajñānavṛteṣu vajrava-
dviśāradatvaṃ pariṣatsu siṃhavat
tathāgatāveṇikatāntarīkṣavan
munerdvidhādarśanamambucandravat

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

སྟོབས་ཉིད་མ་རིག་སྒྲིབ་ལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་བཞིན། །
མི་འཇིགས་ཉིད་ནི་འཁོར་དུ་སེང་གེ་བཞིན། །
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་མ་འདྲེས་མཁའ་བཞིན་ཏེ། །
ཐུབ་པའི་བསྟན་པ་རྣམ་གཉིས་ཆུ་ཟླ་བཞིན། །

Dege, PHI, 130

The powers are like a vajra for the obscurations of ignorance,
The fearlessnesses amid the retinue resemble a lion,
The unique [qualities] of the Tathāgata are similar to space,
And the sage’s two kinds of display are like the moon [reflected in] water.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 429 ^[3]

Si les forces sont comparables aux vajras [lancés]

contre le voile de l’ignorance,

Les intrépidités évoquent le lion dans l’assemblée [des animaux],

Les [qualités] exclusives des tathāgatas ressemblent à l’espace

Et la double apparence du Sage tient [du reflet] de la lune dans l’eau.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse III.4

Tibetan
English
Sanskrit
Chinese

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

།{br}འདི་མན་ཆད་ཀྱི་གཞུང་ནི་སྟོབས་ལ་སོགས་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དང་། ཇི་ལྟར་རྟོགས་པར་བྱས་པ་དེ་ལྟར་དེའི་དབང་དུ་བྱས་པའོ། །སྡོམ་ནི། སྟོབས་ཉིད་མ་རིག་བསྒྲིབས་ལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་བཞིན། །མི་འཇིགས་པ་ནི་འཁོར་དུ་སེང་གེ་བཞིན། །དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་མ་འདྲེས་མཁའ་བཞིན་{br}ཏེ། །ཐུབ་པའི་བསྟན་པ་རྣམ་གཉིས་ཆུ་ཟླ་བཞིན།

Other English translations[edit]

Obermiller (1931) ^[6]

The Powers (of the Buddha) are like a thunderbolt,

Breaking the impediments caused by ignorance;

His intrepidity in the circle of hearers is like that of a lion;

The Buddha’s exclusive properties are like space,

And the corporeal forms of the Lord are like

The moon and its reflection in the water.

Takasaki (1966) ^[7]

The Powers [of the Buddha] are like a thunderbolt,

In [breaking] the hindrance caused by ignorance,

His Intrepidity in the assemblage is like that of a lion,

The Buddha's exclusive properties are like space,

And the two kinds of corporeal forms of the Lord are

Like the moon and its reflection in the water.

Fuchs (2000) ^[8]

Power is like a vajra against the veil of unknowing.

Fearlessness acts like a lion amidst [any] assembly.

Like space are the unmixed features of the Tathagata,

like a water-moon the two facets of the Muni's teaching.

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.
I follow MB tathā tān adhikṛtya against J tathatām adhikṛtya. After this sentence, DP and C add "[First, there is] a synopsis" (uddānam).
According to VT (fol. 15r7), "the two kinds of display"refers to the Buddha’s appearance through his unique or uncommon qualities and through his common qualities (the thirty-two marks of a great being), which are explained in detail in verses III.11–26 (see in particular III.15 and III.26).
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] I follow MB tathā tān adhikṛtya against J tathatām adhikṛtya. After this sentence, DP and C add "[First, there is] a synopsis" (uddānam).

[5] According to VT (fol. 15r7), "the two kinds of display"refers to the Buddha’s appearance through his unique or uncommon qualities and through his common qualities (the thirty-two marks of a great being), which are explained in detail in verses III.11–26 (see in particular III.15 and III.26).

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

[7] 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.

[8] 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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