Texts/Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra/Root Verses/Verse I.31

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.31

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Verse I.31 Variations

प्रभावानन्यथाभावस्निग्धभावस्वभावतः
चिन्तामणिनभोवारिगुणसाधर्म्यमेषु हि

prabhāvānanyathābhāvasnigdhabhāvasvabhāvataḥ
cintāmaṇinabhovāriguṇasādharmyameṣu hi

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

མཐུ་དང་གཞན་དུ་མི་འགྱུར་དང་། །
བརླན་པའི་ངོ་བོའི་རང་བཞིན་ཕྱིར། །
འདི་དག་ནོར་བུ་རིན་ཆེན་མཁའ། །
ཆུ་ཡི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཆོས་མཐུན་ཉིད། །

Dege, PHI, 111

By virtue of its nature of power,
Being unchanging, and being moist,
It resembles the qualities
Of a wish-fulfilling jewel, space, and water.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 358

自在力不變 思實體柔軟

寶空水功德 相似相對法

http://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/en/T31n1611_p0828b24

Comme elle est puissante, immuable,

Et de nature humide,

Elle est analogue

Au précieux joyau, à l’espace et à l’eau.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.31

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Full Tibetan Commentary
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Full Sanskrit Commentary
Full Chinese Commentary

What is taught by the first half of this verse here?

By virtue of its nature of power,

Being unchanging, and being moist,

It resembles the qualities

Of a wish-fulfilling jewel, space, and water. I.31

Now, these three [points] were already mentioned above. According to the order of these three, the tathāgata element should be understood to resemble the qualities of the purity of a wish-fulfilling jewel, space, and water in terms of its specific characteristics and its general characteristics. To begin with the dharmakāya of the Tathāgata here, in terms of its specific characteristic that is its nature of [having] the power to fulfill what one wishes for and so on, {D89a} it is to be understood as resembling a wishfulfilling jewel. As for suchness, in terms of its specific characteristic that is its nature of being unchanging, it is to be understood as resembling space. As for the tathāgata disposition, in terms of its specific characteristic that is its nature of moistening sentient beings [through its] compassion, it is to be understood as resembling water. As for all [three points] here, in terms of the general characteristic [of the tathāgata element] that is its natural purity of always being absolutely unafflicted by nature, it is to be understood as resembling the quality that is the [natural] purity of a wish-fulfilling jewel, space, and water.

tatra pūrveṇaṃ ślokārthena kiṃ darśayati/

prabhāvānanyathābhāvasnigdhabhāvasvabhāvataḥ/

cintāmaṇinabhovāriguṇasādharmyameṣu hi//31//

ya ete trayo'tra pūrvamuddiṣṭā eṣu triṣu yathāsaṃkhyameva svalakṣaṇaṃ sāmānyalakṣaṇaṃ cārabhya tathāgatadhātościntāmaṇinabhovāriviśuddhiguṇasādharmyaṃ veditavyam/ tatra tathāgatadharmakāye tāvaccintitārthasamuddhayādi prabhāvasvabhāvatāṃ svalakṣaṇamārabhya cintāmaṇiratnasādharmyaṃ veditavyam/ tathatāyāmananyathābhāvasvabhāvatāṃ svalakṣaṇamārabhyākāśasādharmyaṃ veditavyam/ tathāgatagotre sattvakaruṇāsnigdhasvabhāvatāṃ svalakṣaṇamārabhya vārisādharmya veditavyam/ sarveṣāṃ cātra sadātyantaprakṛtyanupakliṣṭatāṃ prakṛtipariśuddhiṃ sāmānyalakṣaṇāmārabhya tadeva cintāmaṇinabhovāriviśuddhiguṇasādharmyaṃ veditavyam/

此初半偈示現何義偈言

自在力不變 思實體柔軟 寶空水功德 相似相對法 此偈明何義向說三種義彼三種義次第依於自相同相如來法身三種清淨功德如如意寶珠虛空淨水相似相對法應知此明何義思者依如來法身所思所修皆悉成就故

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931)

Being essentially powerful,

Unalterable and moist by nature,

It has a resemblance, in its distinctive features,

With the wish-fulfilling gem, with space, and water.

Takasaki (1966)

Because of its own nature of power,

Identity, and being moist; in these [three points]

[The Essence of the Tathāgata has] a resemblance

To the quality of the wish-fulfilling jewel, the sky and water.

Fuchs (2000)

[Wielding] power, not changing into something else,

and being a nature that has a moistening [quality]:

these [three] have properties corresponding

to those of a precious gem, the sky, and water.

Textual sources

Commentaries on this verse

Academic notes

dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt. धर्मकाय Tib. ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch. 法身

tathatā - Suchness itself, absolute reality, or thusness, as in the ultimate state of being of phenomena. Skt. तथता Tib. དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་

gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

svabhāva - The nature or essence of a thing, which originates only from itself and is not dependent on any external entities, causes, or conditions. Skt. स्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་ Ch. 自性

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.