Verse I.86

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.86

Verse I.86 Variations

बुद्धधर्माविनिर्भागस्तद्‍गोत्रस्य तथागमः
अमृषामोषधर्मित्वमादिप्रकृतिशान्तता

buddhadharmāvinirbhāgastadgotrasya tathāgamaḥ
amṛṣāmoṣadharmitvamādiprakṛtiśāntatā

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

སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་དབྱེར་མེད་པ་དང་། །
དེ་རིགས་དེ་བཞིན་ཐོབ་པ་དང་། །
བརྫུན་མེད་བསླུ་མེད་ཆོས་ཉིད་དང་། །
གདོད་ནས་རང་བཞིན་ཞི་ཉིད་དོ། །

Dege, PHI, 116

[They] are the inseparability of the buddha attributes,
The disposition for that having been obtained just as it is,
Its true nature’s being without falsity and deception,
And its being natural primordial peace.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 388 ^[2]

佛法不相離及彼真如性
法體不虛妄自性本來淨

http://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/en/T31n1611_p0835b25

[L’immensité non contaminée], c’est la bouddhéité

indissociable de ses qualités,

La filiation obtenue telle quelle,

L’essence du réel qui ne ment ni ne trompe

Et la paix naturelle des origines.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.86

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What are these four meanings?

[They] are the inseparability of the buddha attributes,

The disposition for that having been obtained just as it is,

Its true nature’s being without falsity and deception,

And its being natural primordial peace. I.86

With regard to the meaning of the inseparability of the buddha attributes [from the tathāgata heart], {P108a} [the Śrīmālādevīsūtra] says:

Bhagavan, the tathāgata heart is not empty of the inconceivable buddha attributes that are inseparable [from it], [can]not be realized as being divisible [from it], and far surpass the sand grains in the river Gaṅgā [in number].^[3]

With regard to the meaning of the disposition for that [buddhahood] (that is, the nature [of the mind])^[4] having been obtained in an inconceivable manner, it is said:

The distinctive feature of the six āyatanas has been obtained through [the nature of] phenomena since beginningless time and is continuing as such [up through the present].^[5]

With regard to the meaning of [its true nature’s] being without falsity and deception, it is said:

Here, ultimate reality is the nirvāṇa whose nature it is to be without deception. For what reason [is that so]? This disposition is permanent by virtue of its true nature of being peaceful.^[6]

With regard to the meaning of its being absolute peace, [the Jñānālokālaṃkārasūtra] says:

The Tathāgata Arhat, the completely perfect Buddha, who has passed into parinirvāṇa from the very beginning is without arising and without ceasing.^[7]

{J56} For these four meanings, in due order, there are four synonyms, namely, dharmakāya, tathāgata, ultimate reality, and nirvāṇa. For [the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta] says:

Śāriputra, "tathāgata heart" is a designation for the dharmakāya.^[8]

[The Śrīmālādevīsūtra states:]

Bhagavan, it is not that the Tathāgata is other and {D104b} the dharmakāya is other. Bhagavan, that very dharmakāya is the Tathāgata.^[9]

And:

Bhagavan, the name "cessation of suffering" indicates the dharmakāya of the Tathāgata, which is . . . endowed with such qualities.^[10]

And:

Bhagavan, "the dhātu of nirvāṇa" is a designation for the dharmakāya of the Tathāgata.^[11]

Other English translations[edit]

Obermiller (1931) ^[12]

(It is the Cosmical Body, since)

The properties of the Buddha are indivisible (manifesting themselves in all that exists).

(It is the Buddha)—

Because the Germ has developed in him into the Absolute.

(It is the Highest Truth), being neither error nor illusion,

(And it is Nirvāṇa), being by nature quiescent from the outset.

Takasaki (1966) ^[13]

It is indivisible from the Buddha's Properties,

Its Germ has been perfected as it is,

It is not of false, deceptive nature,

And it is quiescent from the very outset.

Fuchs (2000) ^[14]

Buddha qualities are indivisible.

The disposition is attained as it is.

The true state is [always] free from any fickleness and deceit.

Since beginningless time the nature has been peace itself.

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.
D45.48, fol. 272a.7–272b.1.
Skt. prakṛteḥ can be understood as an apposition to "disposition." It could also be read as "the nature of the disposition."DP "by nature" (rang bzhin gyis, though this could just be a common misprint for a genitive gyi).
According to C, this quote is from a Ṣaḍāyatanasūtra or Ṣaḍindriyarāśisūtra (neither the Pāli, nor the Tibetan, nor the Chinese canons contain sūtras of that name). Both the Pāli and the Chinese canons contain the Saḷāyatanavibhangasutta (Majjhima Nikāya 137), Mahāsaḷāyatanikasutta (Majjhima Nikāya 149), and Saḷāyatanasaṃyutta (Saṃyutta Nikāya 35), but none of them contains this passage. It is however found in the Bodhisattvabhūmi (Wogihara ed., 3.4–6; D4037, fol. 2b.4) and, almost identically, in the Śrāvakabhūmi (D4036, fol. 2a.2–3).
There is a partly similar passage in the Śrīmālādevīsūtra (D45.48, fols. 272b.7–273a.1).
D100, fol. 283a.3.
Taishō 668, 467a.
D45.48, fol. 269a.2–3.
Ibid., fol. 272a.2–5.
Ibid., fol. 269a.1–2.
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] 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] D45.48, fol. 272a.7–272b.1.

[4] Skt. prakṛteḥ can be understood as an apposition to "disposition." It could also be read as "the nature of the disposition."DP "by nature" (rang bzhin gyis, though this could just be a common misprint for a genitive gyi).

[5] According to C, this quote is from a Ṣaḍāyatanasūtra or Ṣaḍindriyarāśisūtra (neither the Pāli, nor the Tibetan, nor the Chinese canons contain sūtras of that name). Both the Pāli and the Chinese canons contain the Saḷāyatanavibhangasutta (Majjhima Nikāya 137), Mahāsaḷāyatanikasutta (Majjhima Nikāya 149), and Saḷāyatanasaṃyutta (Saṃyutta Nikāya 35), but none of them contains this passage. It is however found in the Bodhisattvabhūmi (Wogihara ed., 3.4–6; D4037, fol. 2b.4) and, almost identically, in the Śrāvakabhūmi (D4036, fol. 2a.2–3).

[6] There is a partly similar passage in the Śrīmālādevīsūtra (D45.48, fols. 272b.7–273a.1).

[7] D100, fol. 283a.3.

[8] Taishō 668, 467a.

[9] D45.48, fol. 269a.2–3.

[10] Ibid., fol. 272a.2–5.

[11] Ibid., fol. 269a.1–2.

[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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