Verse III.28
Verse III.28 Variations
वज्रसिंहाम्बरस्वच्छदकचन्द्रनिदर्शनम्
vajrasiṃhāmbarasvacchadakacandranidarśanam
མཚུངས་པ་མེད་ཕྱིར་གཡོ་མེད་ཕྱིར། །
རྡོ་རྗེ་སེང་གེ་མཁའ་དག་པའི། །
ཆུ་ཡི་ཟླ་བའི་དཔེས་བསྟན་ཏོ། །
At ease, exclusive, and effortless, respectively,
They are illustrated by a vajra, a lion,
Space, and the moon [reflected in] clear water.
- Elles sont indestructibles, audacieuses,
- Inégalables et inamovibles,
- Si bien qu’on les compare respectivement
- Au vajra, au lion, à l’espace et au [reflet de] la lune dans l’eau pure.
RGVV Commentary on Verse III.28
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Other English translations[edit]
Obermiller (1931) [11]
- (Being respectively) unbreakable, knowing no failure,
- Incomparable and unchangeable,
- (The Buddha's properties) are illustrated
- By the examples of the thunderbolt, the lion,
- Of space, and of the moon with her reflection in the water.
Takasaki (1966) [12]
- Being [respectively] impenetrable, with no misery,
- Perfectly unique and indifferent,
- [The Buddha's Properties] are illustrated
- By the examples of the thunderbolt, the lion, the space
- And of the clear moon with her reflection in the water.
Fuchs (2000) [13]
- Being unchangeable and never weakened,
- dissimilar and unmoving, they are taught
- by the examples of the vajra, the lion,
- space, and the moon in sky and water.
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 Schmithausen’s suggestion of linking balādiṣu at the beginning of III.29 with III.28.
- Skt. nirvedhikatva. Though DP mistakenly has "impenetrable" (mi phyed pa), as confirmed by VT (fol. 15v3) nairvedhikatvena and C, the point here is that a vajra penetrates other materials, not that it is itself impenetrable.
- Since this verse obviously refers back to and comments on III.16ab, with Schmithausen, I follow C pañcadhātu versus J pañcadhā tu. Thus, the qualities of worldly people, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas ("the intelligent") are compared with earth, water, fire, and wind, respectively, while the buddhas ("the self-arisen") with their unique qualities are like space.
- As mentioned above, III.36 is the commentarial verse on III.16cd. VT (fol. 15v5– 6) explains here that earth, water, fire, and wind in III.36c exemplify the qualities of worldly people, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas, respectively, which are to be enjoyed by all. On the other hand, the unique buddha qualities are completely beyond even the supramundane—the qualities of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas—and therefore resemble space. Note that Schmithausen refers to the following two passages in RGVV to support his reading that the subject of the entire verse III.36 is nothing but the unique buddha qualities: (a) A verse in RGVV (J17.10f) says:
- Those who gave rise to supreme compassion for others
- And adopted discipline support the livelihood of others,
- Just like fire, wind, water, and earth.
- They [truly] possess discipline, [but] others are [only] a likeness of that.
- (b) RGVV’s quote from the Avataṃsakasūtra (J23.14 ad 24.8) says, "tathāgata wisdom, the immeasurable wisdom that is the wisdom that sustains all sentient beings, pervades the mind streams of all sentient beings in its entirety . . . this immeasurable tathāgata wisdom becomes what sustains the entire world." However, it is clear from the context that (a) refers to bodhisattvas and not buddhas. Also, (b) does not refer specifically to the unique buddha qualities as they are discussed in III.16 and III.36 but to buddha wisdom in a very general way.
- I follow Schmithausen’s emendation °lakṣaṇākhyā ye or lakṣaṇāhvā ye (supported by DP gang / sum cu rtsa gnyis zhes bya ba) of J lakṣaṇāḥ kāye.
- MB dvidhā tu darśanaṃ, J dvidhā taddarśanaṃ (following DP de mthong ba ni rnam pa gneiss). However, DP thong ba for darśanaṃ means "seeing"instead of "display," as the term was used so far in relation to the rūpakāyas. Thus, in DP, III.39ab reads, "For those who dwell far from and close to purity, the seeing of these [kāyas occurs] in two ways."
- I follow Schmithausen’s emendation śuddhavāri° of J śuddhaṃ vāri°, which accords with C and °svacchadakacandra° in III.28d. Also, DP chu dang means "clear/pure water" and not "water and . . ." The most straightforward reading of this verse is that the nirmāṇakāya appears to those distant from purity (ordinary beings, śrāvakas, and pratyekabuddhas), which is just like the reflection of the moon in water, while the sambhogakāya appears to those close to purity (bodhisattvas on the bhūmis), which is just like the actual moon in the sky. However, VT (fol. 15v7) seems to relate III.39d only to "in the maṇḍala of the victor,"saying that "the manifestation in the maṇḍala of the victor for those who are far from purity [occurs] in the form of the nirmāṇa[kāya], which is like [the reflection of] the moon in water, while the manifestation for those who are close to purity is the sambhoga[kāya], which is like the moon in the sky."On this reading, the nirmāṇakāya and sambhogakāya appear only to those in the retinue of a buddha. By contrast, the ways in which a buddha appears "in the world" (that is, outside of his retinue) could implicitly be understood as the appearances of the other two types of nirmāṇakāyas beyond the actual form of a nirmāṇakāya buddha such as Buddha Śākyamuni—artistic nirmāṇakāya forms (such as great artists, healers, and musicians) and incarnate nirmāṇakāya forms (appearing as anything that is beneficial for beings, be it animate or inanimate, such as ordinary beings, animals, or medicine).
- 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.