Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra/Root Verses/Verse I.20

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.20

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Verse I.20 Variations

त्याज्यत्वान् मोषधर्मत्वादभावात् सभयत्वतः
धर्मो द्विधार्यसंघश्च नात्यन्तं शरणं परम्

tyājyatvān moṣadharmatvādabhāvāt sabhayatvataḥ
dharmo dvidhāryasaṃghaśca nātyantaṃ śaraṇaṃ param

E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.

སྤང་ཕྱིར་བསླུ་བའི་ཆོས་ཅན་ཕྱིར། །
མེད་ཕྱིར་འཇིགས་དང་བཅས་པའི་ཕྱིར། །
ཆོས་རྣམས་གཉིས་དང་འཕགས་པའི་ཚོགས། །
གཏན་གྱི་སྐྱབས་མཆོག་མ་ཡིན་ནོ། །

Dege, PHI, 110

Because of being abandoned, because of having a deceptive nature,
Because of being nonexistent, and because of being fearful,
The twofold dharma and the noble saṃgha
Are not the ultimate supreme refuge.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 349.

可捨及虛妄 無物及怖畏

二種法及僧 非究竟歸依

http://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/en/T31n1611_p0826a24

Ni le Dharma sous ses deux aspects ni la sublime assemblée

Ne sont de suprêmes refuges promis à durer.

L’un parce qu’il faudra le laisser derrière soi,

parce qu’il est trompeur et qu’il n’existe pas ;

Et l’autre parce qu’on y trouve encore de la peur.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.20

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Full Tibetan Commentary
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Because of being abandoned, because of having a deceptive nature,

Because of being nonexistent, and because of being fearful,

The twofold dharma and the noble saṃgha

Are not the ultimate supreme refuge. I.20

The dharma is twofold: the dharma as teaching and the dharma as realization. Here, the dharma as teaching refers to reading [or reciting] the teachings, such as the sūtras, and it consists of the collections of the names, words, and letters [of the sūtras and so on]. [This dharma] is said to be like a raft, because it comes to its end through being clearly realized on the path.

The dharma as realization is twofold through being divided into cause and result. That is, [it consists of] the reality of the path and the reality of cessation, {J19} which refers to that through which it is realized and that which [is realized]. Here, the path is included in what has the characteristic of being conditioned. What is included in what has the characteristic of being conditioned has a deceptive and false nature; what has a deceptive and false nature is unreal; what is unreal is impermanent; and what is impermanent is not a [lasting] refuge. Also, according to the system of the śrāvakas, the cessation realized by that path consists of the mere nonexistence of afflictions and suffering, just like the extinction of a lamp. But a nonexistence is not suitable to be either a refuge or a nonrefuge. {P86a}

"The saṃgha" is a term for the assemblies of those in the three yānas. They are always fearful because they take refuge in the Tathāgata, search for final deliverance, [still] have to learn [more] and have [many more] things to do, and are [only] approaching unsurpassable completely perfect awakening. How are they fearful? Even the arhats, who have terminated further existences [in saṃsāra], {D84b} did not destroy their latent tendencies and therefore are always and continuously immersed in a strong sense of fear of all formations [of saṃsāra], as if [being afraid] of an executioner with raised sword. Therefore, even they have not attained the ultimate and blissful final deliverance. [In general, what constitutes a genuine] refuge does not seek refuge [elsewhere]. Just as sentient beings without a refuge are frightened by this or that fear and consequently seek deliverance from those [fears], likewise, arhats have their [kind of] fear and, being frightened by that fear, consequently take refuge in the Tathāgata. Thus, since they have fear, they take refuge and undoubtedly seek for deliverance from that fear. Since they seek for deliverance from fear, they [still] have [more] to learn and have [many more] things to do with regard to destroying the basis of that fear. Since they [still] have [more] to learn, {J20} they are [only] approaching the attainment of the fearless supreme state, that is, unsurpassable completely perfect awakening. Therefore, since the [saṃgha] too is [only] a refuge that is a branch of the [ultimate refuge], it is not the ultimate refuge. Thus, these two refuges [the dharma and the saṃgha] are called "temporary refuges."

tyājyatvān moṣadharmatvādabhāvāt sabhayatvataḥ/

dharmo dvidhāryasaṃghaśca nātyantaṃ śaraṇaṃ param//20//

dvividho dharmaḥ/ deśanādharmo'dhigamadharmaśca/ tatra deśanādharmaḥ sūtrādideśanāyā nāmapadavyañjanakāyasaṃgṛhītaḥ/ sa ca mārgābhisamayaparyavasānatvāt kolopama ityuktaḥ/ adhigamadharmo hetuphalabhedena dvividhaḥ/ yaduta mārgasatyaṃ nirodhasatyaṃ ca/ yena yadadhigamyata iti kṛtvā/ tatra mārgaḥ saṃskṛtalakṣaṇaparyāpannaḥ/ yat saṃskṛtalakṣaṇaparyāpannaṃ tan mṛṣāmoṣadharmi/ yan mṛṣāmoṣadharmi tadasatyam/ yadasatyaṃ tadanityam/ yadanityaṃ tadśaraṇam/ yaśca tena mārgeṇa nirodho'dhigataḥ so'pi śrāvakanayena pradīpocchedavat kleśaduḥkhābhāvamātraprabhāvitaḥ/ na cābhāvaḥ śaraṇamaśaraṇaṃ vā bhavitumarhati/

saṃgha iti traiyānikasya gaṇasyaitadadhivacanam/ sa ca nityaṃ sabhayastathāgataśaraṇagato niḥsaraṇaparyeṣī śaikṣaḥ sakaraṇīyaḥ pratipannakaścānuttarāyāṃ samyaksaṃbodhāviti/ kathaṃ samayaḥ/ yasmādarhatāmapi kṣīṇapunarbhavānāmaprahīṇatvādvāsaṃnāyāḥ satatasamitaṃ sarvāsaṃskāreṣu tīvrā bhayasaṃjñā pratyupasthitā bhavati syādyathāpi nāmotkṣiptāsike vadhakapuruṣe tasmātte'pi nātyantasukhaniḥsaraṇamadhigatāḥ/ na hi śaraṇaṃ śaraṇaṃ paryeṣate/ yathaivā śaraṇāḥ sattvā yena tena bhayena bhītāstatastato niḥsaraṇaṃ paryeṣante tadvadarhatāmapyasti tadbhayaṃ yataste bhayādbhītāstathāgatameva śaraṇamupagacchanti/ yaścaivaṃ sabhayatvāccharaṇamupagacchatyavaśyaṃ bhayānniḥsaraṇaṃ sa paryeṣyate/ niḥsaraṇaparyeṣitvācca bhayanidānaprahāṇamadhikṛtya śaikṣo bhavati sakaraṇīyaḥ/ śaikṣatvāt pratipannako bhavatyabhayamāryabhasthānamanuprāptuṃ yadutānuttarāṃ samyaksaṃbodhim/ tasmātso'pi tadaṅgaśaraṇatvānnātyantaṃ śaraṇam/ evamime dve śaraṇe paryantakāle śaraṇe ityucyete/

偈言

可捨及虛妄 無物及怖畏 二種法及僧 非究竟歸依

此偈明何義法有二種何等為二一所說法二所證法所說法者謂如來說修多羅等名字章句身所攝故彼所說法證道時滅如捨船栰偈言可捨故所證法者復有二種謂依

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二種差別以依何法證何法故此明何義所謂有道有為相攝若為有為相所攝者彼法虛妄偈言及虛妄故若虛妄者彼法非實若非實者彼非真諦非真諦者即是無常若無常者非可歸依又復若依彼聲聞道所得滅諦彼亦無物猶如燈滅唯斷少分諸煩惱苦若如是者則是無物若無物者云何為他之所歸依偈言無物故僧者凡有三乘之人三乘人中依聲聞僧常有怖畏常求歸依諸佛如來求離世間此是學人所應作者未究竟故猶進趣向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提故所言怖畏者云何怖畏以阿羅漢雖盡有漏而不斷一切煩惱習氣彼於一切有為行相極怖畏心常現在前是故聖者勝鬘經言阿羅漢有恐怖何以故阿羅漢於一切無行怖畏想住如人執劍欲來害己是故阿羅漢無究竟樂何以故世尊依不求依如眾生無依彼彼恐怖以恐怖故則求歸依如是阿羅漢有怖畏以恐怖故歸依如來故彼若如是有怖畏者彼人畢竟為欲遠離彼怖畏處求無畏處以是義故依遠離彼怖畏之處名為學者當有所作欲得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提無畏之處是故聲聞法僧二寶是少分歸依非究竟歸依偈言二種法及僧非究竟歸依故

Other English translations

Listed by date of publication

Obermiller (1931)

The Doctrine in its two forms and the Congregation of the Saints

Are not by themselves the highest, absolute Refuge.

Indeed, (the former) is (ultimately) given up, is illusionary and

of a negative character,

(And the latter) is not devoid of fear (and error).—

Takasaki (1966)

As being abandoned, being of deceptive nature,

Being non-existence and being possessed of fear, [respectively],

The two kinds of Doctrine and the Community

Are ultimately not the highest Refuge.

Holmes (1985)

Neither both aspects of dharma

nor the deeply-realised sangha

constitute a supreme refuge

that will last forever -

because they are to be abandoned,

one is an inconstant and

one nothing whatsoever

and because they have fear.

Holmes (1999)

Neither both aspects of dharma nor the deeply-realised saṃgha

constitute a supreme refuge which will last for ever,

because they are to be abandoned, one is inconstant,

one is nothing whatsoever and they (the saṃgha) fear.

Fuchs (2000)

[The Dharma] will be abandoned and is of an unsteady nature.

It is not [the ultimate quality], and [the Sangha] is still with fear.

Thus the two aspects of Dharma and the Assembly of noble ones

do not represent the supreme refuge, which is constant and stable.

Textual sources

Commentaries on this verse

Academic notes

kleśa - Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind. Skt. क्लेश Tib. ཉོན་མོངས་ Ch. 煩惱

bodhi - Enlightenment or awakening. In Tibetan it is translated as "purified" (byang) and "perfected" (chub), which corresponds to Siddhartha Gautama's achievement of purifying all obscurations and perfecting or attaining all qualities associated with a buddha. Skt. बोधि Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་ Ch. 菩提,悟,覺

Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.