Verse II.52

From Buddha-Nature
m (Text replacement - "།(.*)།" to "$1། །")
 
(2 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown)
Line 11: Line 11:
 
}}{{VerseVariation
 
}}{{VerseVariation
 
|VariationLanguage=Tibetan
 
|VariationLanguage=Tibetan
|VariationOriginal=།ཇི་ལྟར་ཚོན་ནི་སྣ་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས།<br>།ནོར་བུ་དེ་དངོས་མིན་སྣང་ལྟར།<br>།དེ་བཞིན་འགྲོ་རྐྱེན་སྣ་ཚོགས་པས།<br>།ཁྱབ་བདག་དེ་དངོས་མིན་པར་སྣང་།
+
|VariationOriginal=ཇི་ལྟར་ཚོན་ནི་སྣ་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས། །<br>ནོར་བུ་དེ་དངོས་མིན་སྣང་ལྟར། །<br>དེ་བཞིན་འགྲོ་རྐྱེན་སྣ་ཚོགས་པས། །<br>ཁྱབ་བདག་དེ་དངོས་མིན་པར་སྣང་། །
 
|VariationOriginalSource=[https://adarsha.dharma-treasure.org/kdbs/degetengyur/pbs/2916184 Dege, PHI, 128]
 
|VariationOriginalSource=[https://adarsha.dharma-treasure.org/kdbs/degetengyur/pbs/2916184 Dege, PHI, 128]
 
|VariationTrans=Due to the variety of conditions of [different] colors,<br>A jewel does not [appear] in its actual state.<br>Likewise, due to the variety of conditions of [different] sentient beings,<br>The lord does not [appear] in his actual state.
 
|VariationTrans=Due to the variety of conditions of [different] colors,<br>A jewel does not [appear] in its actual state.<br>Likewise, due to the variety of conditions of [different] sentient beings,<br>The lord does not [appear] in his actual state.
 
|VariationTransSource=[[When the Clouds Part]], [[Brunnhölzl, K.|Brunnhölzl]], 424-425 <ref>[[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.</ref>
 
|VariationTransSource=[[When the Clouds Part]], [[Brunnhölzl, K.|Brunnhölzl]], 424-425 <ref>[[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.</ref>
 
}}
 
}}
 +
|EnglishCommentary=Now, the summarized meaning of these four verses is to be understood through the [following] twenty verses.
 +
 +
::'''What is called "buddhahood"'''
 +
::'''Is the omniscience of the self-arisen ones''',
 +
::'''The highest nirvāṇa,<ref> VT (fol. 14v1) glosses ''nirvṛtiḥ/nirvāṇa'' (lit. "extinction") as "the extinction of the afflictive and cognitive obscurations."</ref> and the inconceivable'''
 +
::'''Personal attainment of the arhats.'''<ref>I follow MB ''paramācintyaprāptiḥ pratyātmam arhatām'' (confirmed by VT, fol. 14v1–2) against J ''paramācintyaprāptiḥ pratyātmaveditā'' (DP ''mchog tu mya ngan ’das bsam med / dgra bcom so so’i bdag gyur pa'' /). Schmithausen’s suggested reading ''paramācintyā prāptiḥ'' (or ''praptā'') due to DP’s connecting acintya with ''nirvṛtiḥ'' not only contradicts both MB and VT but it is also inconclusive as far as DP goes. For it is not definite that "inconceivable"in DP has to go with "nirvāṇa,"which is clearly shown by JKC and GC taking "inconceivable" as a characteristic of its own (as does C). VT relates both "highest" and "inconceivable"to attainment, speaking of "the arhats’ attainment of the highest inconceivable dharma,"which is then glossed as "buddhahood."</ref> II.42
 +
 +
::'''Its division is its manifestation as three'''
 +
::'''Kāyas, such as the svābhāvika[kāya]''',
 +
::'''Which are characterized by the attributes that are the qualities'''
 +
::'''Of profundity, vastness, and magnanimity'''. II.43
 +
 +
::'''Here, the svābhāvikakāya of the buddhas''' (D118b)
 +
::'''Is to be understood, in brief,
 +
::'''As having five characteristics'''
 +
::'''And being endowed with five kinds of qualities'''. II.44
 +
 +
::'''It is unconditioned, undifferentiable''',
 +
::'''Free from the two extremes''',
 +
::'''And liberated from the three obscurations'''—
 +
::'''Afflictive, cognitive, and those of meditative absorption'''. II.45 (J87)
 +
 +
::'''Because of being stainless, because of being nonconceptual''', P123b)
 +
::'''And because of being the sphere of yogins''',
 +
::'''It is pure and luminous by virtue of'''
 +
::'''Having the nature of the dharmadhātu.'''<ref>Schmithausen suggests ''dharmadhātusvabhāvataḥ'' instead of MB ''dharmadhātoḥ svabhāvataḥ''. DP "it is luminous because it is pure by virtue of having the nature of the dharmadhātu" (''chos dbyings ngo bo nyid kyis / dag pa’i phyir ni ’od gsal ba'' /). Verses II.45–46 comment on II.38 and II.44ac, so the five characteristics of the svābhāvikakāya are its being (1) unconditioned, (2) undifferentiable from its qualities, (3) free from the two extremes, (4) liberated from the three obscurations, and (5) pure and luminous. Verses II.47–48 explain the five qualities of the svābhāvikakāya, verses II.49–51 the five characteristics of the sambhogakāya, and verses II.52–59 the features of the nirmāṇakāya.</ref> II.46
 +
 +
::'''The svābhāvika-body is endowed with'''
 +
::'''The qualities of being immeasurable,'''
 +
::'''Innumerable, inconceivable, unequaled''',
 +
::'''And having reached the perfection of purity'''. II.47
 +
 +
::'''By virtue of being vast, not enumerable''',
 +
::'''Not the sphere of dialecticians,'''
 +
::'''Absolutely unique, and the elimination of latent tendencies,'''
 +
::'''It is, in due order, immeasurable and so on.''' II.48
 +
 +
::'''By way of appearing as the dharma [due to]'''
 +
::'''Enjoying all kinds of dharma and [due to] form''',<ref>VT (fol. 14v2–3) divides the compound ''vicitradharmasaṃbhogarūpadharmāvabhasataḥ'' into ''vicitrasaṃbhogadharmāvabhasaḥ'' (glossing it as "teaching the dharma") and rūpadharmāvabhasaḥ (glossing it as "the display of form"). However, DP read ''rang bzhin'' for °''rūpa''°, and the Tibetan commentaries usually take this compound to mean "By way of enjoying all kinds of dharma and by way of appearing through its natural attributes."Both interpretations come down to the same meaning, referring to the first two characteristics of the sambhogakāya—dharma instructions and the display of a sambhogakāya form with its major and minor marks (as briefly repeated in II.51a). The remaining three characteristics of the sambhogakāya are listed in II.49cd–50c, and all five are briefly repeated in II.51.</ref>
 +
::'''By way of the welfare of sentient beings being uninterrupted'''
 +
::'''[Due to] its being the natural outflow of pure compassion,''' II.49
 +
 +
::'''By way of fulfilling [all aims] as wished'''
 +
::'''In a nonconceptual and effortless manner,'''
 +
::'''And by way of [resembling] the miraculous power of a wish-fulfilling jewel''',
 +
::'''The sambhoga [kāya] is presented'''. II.50
 +
 +
::'''In terms of instruction, display''',
 +
::'''Uninterrupted activity, effortlessness''',
 +
::'''And appearing [in these ways but] not having their nature''',<ref>VT (fol. 14v3) glosses "not having their nature" (''atatsvabhāva''°) as "the dharmadhātu’s lack of nature" (''dharmadhātvasvabhāvatā'').</ref>
 +
::'''Its variety is described as being fivefold.''' II.51
 +
 +
::'''Due to the variety of conditions of [different] colors,'''
 +
::'''A jewel does not [appear] in its actual state.'''
 +
::'''Likewise, due to the variety of conditions of [different] sentient beings''',
 +
::'''The lord does not [appear] in his actual state'''. II.52
 +
 +
::'''With great compassion, the knower of the world'''
 +
::'''Beholds the world in its entirety.'''
 +
::'''Without moving away<ref>With DP ''ma g.yos par, aviralaṃ'' is to be read as ''avicalan''.</ref> from the dharmakāya'''
 +
::'''And through various emanated forms''', II.53
 +
 +
::'''[He assumes his previous] births, appears'''
 +
::'''In Tuṣita, descends from there''',
 +
::'''Enters the womb [of his mother], is born''',
 +
::'''Becomes skilled in the field of arts and crafts''',<ref>Schmithausen suggests ''śilpasthānātikauśalam'' for ''śilpasthānāni kauśalam''.</ref> II.54 (J88)
 +
 +
::'''Enjoys entertainments in the circle of his queens''',
 +
::'''Renounces [all of it], practices asceticism''',
 +
::'''Reaches the seat of awakening''',
 +
::'''Vanquishes the armies of Māra''', II.55
 +
 +
::'''Becomes completely awakened, [turns] the wheel of dharma''',
 +
::'''And passes into nirvāṇa. [All] these deeds'''
 +
::'''He demonstrates in impure worlds'''
 +
::'''For as long as [saṃsāric] existence lasts.''' II.56 (D119a)
 +
 +
::'''Through the words "impermanence," "suffering,"'''
 +
::'''"Lack of self," and "peace," the knower of the means'''
 +
::'''Creates weariness of the three realms in sentient beings''' P124a)
 +
::'''And makes them cross over into nirvāṇa.''' II.57
 +
 +
::'''Those who have entered the path of peace'''
 +
::'''And think that they have attained nirvāṇa,'''
 +
::'''Through his teachings about the true reality of phenomena''',
 +
::'''Such as in the ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīka[sūtra]''''', II.58
 +
 +
::'''He turns away from their former clinging<ref>DP ''ngar ’dzin'' ("ego-clinging"), which is an obvious misreading of ''sngar ’dzin'' since arhats of course lack ego-clinging.</ref> and''',
 +
::'''Through embracing them with prajñā and means,'''
 +
::'''Matures them in the supreme yāna'''
 +
::'''And prophesies their highest awakening.''' II.59
 +
 +
::'''By virtue of subtlety, by virtue of the perfection of power,'''<ref>Ut (D) ''phun tshogs'' DP ''sna tshogs'' ("various"). </ref>
 +
::'''And by virtue of the guidance that [serves] the welfare<ref>Skt. ''sārtha'' can also mean " (travel) company" (see Takasaki) or "assembly," but DP ''don mthun pa'' confirms the more likely meaning here.</ref> of naive beings''',
 +
::'''In due order, [the buddhakāyas] are to be understood'''
 +
::'''As profundity, vastness, and magnanimity for them'''.<ref>VT (fol. 14v3–4) glosses "for them" (eṣu) as "for sentient beings."</ref> II.60
 +
 +
::'''Here, the first one is the dharmakāya'''
 +
::'''And the latter two are the two rūpakāyas'''.
 +
::'''Just as form abides in space,'''
 +
::'''The latter dwell in the first one'''.<ref>As mentioned before, the first six topics that explain the fourth and the fifth vajra points have the same names (nature, cause, fruition, function, endowment, and manifestation). In terms of their contents, the fourth vajra point refers to the tathāgata heart with stains (the cause) and the fifth one to the very same tathāgata heart without stains (the fruition). Therefore, the six topics in each of these two vajra points are naturally related in terms of cause and fruition or in terms of what buddha nature is like while it is still obscured by adventitious stains versus what it is like when it is completely unobscured. For a detailed comparison of the contents of the first six topics of the fourth and fifth vajra points, see appendix 7.</ref> II.61
 +
|OtherTranslations=<h6>Obermiller (1931) <ref>Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.</ref></h6>
 +
:Just as if a precious stone,
 +
:Being dyed with various colours,
 +
:Does not make manifest its real essence,
 +
:In a like way (the Buddha), pervading all that lives in various forms,
 +
:Is not perceived in his true nature.
 +
 +
<h6>Takasaki (1966) <ref>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.</ref></h6>
 +
:Just as a gem, being dyed with various colours,
 +
:Does not make manifest its real essence;
 +
:Similarly, the Lord never shows its real nature,
 +
:Though it appears in various forms, according to the conditions of the living beings.
 +
 +
<h6>Fuchs (2000) <ref>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.</ref></h6>
 +
:Due to the various colors [of its background] a gem appears [in manifold colors],
 +
:[but] is not a thing fulfilling their function.
 +
:Likewise the All-Pervasive [Ones] appear due to the manifold conditions [set by beings]
 +
:without being a thing fulfilling their function.
 
}}
 
}}

Latest revision as of 12:21, 18 August 2020

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse II.52

Verse II.52 Variations

रङ्गप्रत्ययवैचित्र्यादतद्‍भावो यथा मणेः
सत्त्वप्रत्ययवैचित्र्यादतद्‍भावस्तथा विभोः
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
raṅgapratyayavaicitryādatadbhāvo yathā maṇeḥ
sattvapratyayavaicitryādatadbhāvastathā vibhoḥ
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[2]
ཇི་ལྟར་ཚོན་ནི་སྣ་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས། །
ནོར་བུ་དེ་དངོས་མིན་སྣང་ལྟར། །
དེ་བཞིན་འགྲོ་རྐྱེན་སྣ་ཚོགས་པས། །
ཁྱབ་བདག་དེ་དངོས་མིན་པར་སྣང་། །
Due to the variety of conditions of [different] colors,
A jewel does not [appear] in its actual state.
Likewise, due to the variety of conditions of [different] sentient beings,
The lord does not [appear] in his actual state.
De même que sur un fond coloré
La pierre précieuse apparaît telle qu’elle n’est pas,
De même, du fait de la diversité des êtres,
L’Omniprésent est perçu tel qu’il n’est pas.

RGVV Commentary on Verse II.52

།ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ་བཞི་པོ་འདིའི་དོན་ནི། ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ་ཉི་ཤུས་རིག་པར་བྱ་སྟེ། རང་འབྱུང་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན། །སངས་རྒྱས་ཉིད་ཅེས་གང་བརྗོད་པ། །{br}མཆོག་ཏུ་མྱ་ངན་འདས་བསམ་མེད། །དགྲ་བཅོམ་སོ་སོའི་བདག་གྱུར་པ། །དེ་དབྱེ་ཟབ་དང་རྒྱ་ཆེ་དང་། །བདག་ཉིད་ཆེན་པོའི་ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི། །ཆོས་ཀྱིས་རབ་ཕྱེ་རང་བཞིན་ལ། །སོགས་པའི་སྐུ་གསུམ་དག་གིས་འཇུག །དེ་ལ་སངས་རྒྱས་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ནི། །ངོ་

བོ་ཉིད་སྐུ་མཚན་ཉིད་ལྔ། །མདོར་ན་ཡོན་ཏན་ལྔ་དང་ནི། །ལྡན་པ་ཉིད་དུ་རིག་པར་བྱ། །འདུས་མ་བྱས་ཤིང་རྣམ་དབྱེར་མེད། །མཐའ་གཉིས་དག་ནི་རྣམ་པར་སྤང་། །ཉོན་མོངས་ཤེས་བྱའི་སྙོམས་འཇུག་གིས། །སྒྲིབ་གསུམ་ལས་ནི་ངེས་གྲོལ་ཏེ། །དྲི་མེད་རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་དང་། །{br}རྣལ་འབྱོར་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་ཡིན་ཕྱིར། །ཆོས་དབྱིངས་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི། །དག་པའི་ཕྱིར་ནི་འོད་གསལ་བ། །གཞལ་མེད་གྲངས་མེད་བསམ་མེད་པ། །མཉམ་མེད་དག་པའི་མཐར་ཐུག་པ། །ཡོན་ཏན་རྣམས་དང་ཡང་དག་པར། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་སྐུ་ལྡན་ཏེ། །རྒྱ་ཆེའི་ཕྱིར་དང་གྲངས་{br}མེད་ཕྱིར། །རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་ནི་མིན་ཕྱིར་དང་། །འབའ་ཞིག་བག་ཆགས་བཅས་སྤངས་ཕྱིར། །གཞལ་མེད་ལ་སོགས་གོ་རིམས་བཞིན། །སྣ་ཚོགས་ཆོས་ལ་རྫོགས་ལོངས་སྤྱོད། །རང་བཞིན་ཆོས་ནི་སྣང་ཕྱིར་དང་། །ཐུགས་རྗེ་དག་པའི་རྒྱུ་མཐུན་པ། །འགྲོ་དོན་རྒྱུན་མི་འཆད་ཕྱིར་{br}དང་། །རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་པར། །འདོད་པ་ཇི་བཞིན་ཡོངས་སྐོང་ཕྱིར། །ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུའི་རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་གྱིས། །རྫོགས་པར་ལོངས་སྤྱོད་རྣམ་པར་གནས། །བརྗོད་སྟོན་མཛད་རྒྱུན་མི་འཆད་དང་། །མངོན་པར་འདུ་བྱེད་མེད་པ་དང་། །དེ་ཡི་ངོ་བོ་མི་སྟོན་ལ། །{br}འདིར་ནི་སྣ་ཚོགས་རྣམ་ལྔར་བརྗོད། །ཇི་ལྟར་ཚོན་ནི་སྣ་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས། །ནོར་བུ་དེ་དངོས་མི་སྣང་ལྟར། །དེ་བཞིན་འགྲོ་རྐྱེན་སྣ་ཚོགས་པས། །ཁྱབ་བདག་དེ་དངོས་མིན་པར་སྣང་། །ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོས་འཇིག་རྟེན་མཁྱེན། །འཇིག་རྟེན་ཀུན་ལ་གཟིགས་ནས་ནི། །ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ་{br}ལས་མ་གཡོས་པར། །སྤྲུལ་པའི་རང་བཞིན་སྣ་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས། །སྐྱེ་བ་མངོན་པར་སྐྱེ་བ་དང་། །དགའ་ལྡན་ནས་ནི་འཕོ་བ་དང་། །ལྷུམས་སུ་འཇུག་དང་བལྟམས་པ་དང་། །བཟོ་ཡི་གནས་ལ་མཁས་པ་དང་། །བཙུན་མོའི་འཁོར་གྱིས་དགྱེས་རོལ་དང་། །ངེས་འབྱུང་{br}དཀའ་བ་སྤྱོད་པ་དང་། །བྱང་ཆུབ་སྙིང་པོར་གཤེགས་པ་དང་། །བདུད་སྡེ་འཇོམས་དང་རྫོགས་པར་ནི། །བྱང་ཆུབ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་དང་། །མྱ་ངན་འདས་པར་གཤེགས་མཛད་རྣམས། །ཡོངས་སུ་མ་དག་ཞིང་རྣམས་སུ། །སྲིད་པ་ཇི་སྲིད་གནས་པར་སྟོན། །མི་

རྟག་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བདག་མེད་དང་། །ཞི་བའི་སྒྲ་ཡིས་ཐབས་མཁྱེན་པས། །སེམས་ཅན་སྲིད་གསུམ་སྐྱོ་བསྐྱེད་ནས། །མྱ་ངན་འདས་ལ་རབ་འཇུག་མཛད། །ཞི་བའི་ལམ་ལ་རབ་ཞུགས་པ། །མྱ་ངན་འདས་ཐོབ་འདུ་ཤེས་ཅན། །དམ་ཆོས་པདྨ་དཀར་ལ་སོགས། །{br}ཆོས་ཀྱི་དེ་ཉིད་བསྟན་པ་ཡིས། །དེ་དག་ངར་འཛིན་ལས་བཟློག་སྟེ། །ཐབས་དང་ཤེས་རབ་ཡོངས་བཟུང་བས། །ཐེག་པ་མཆོག་ལ་སྨིན་མཛད་དེ། །བྱང་ཆུབ་མཆོག་ཏུ་ལུང་སྟོན་ཏོ། །ཟབ་དང་མཐུ་ནི་སྣ་ཚོགས་དང་། །བྱིས་པ་དོན་མཐུན་རབ་འདྲེན་ཕྱིར། །འདི་དག་གྲངས་བཞིན་{br}ཟབ་པ་དང་། །རྒྱ་ཆེའི་བདག་ཉིད་ཆེར་ཤེས་བྱ། །འདི་ནི་དང་པོའི་ཆོས་སྐུ་སྟེ། །ཕྱི་མ་དག་ནི་གཟུགས་ཀྱི་སྐུ། །ནམ་མཁའ་ལ་ནི་གཟུགས་གནས་བཞིན། །དང་པོ་ལ་ནི་ཐ་མ་གནས།

Other English translations[edit]

Obermiller (1931) [16]
Just as if a precious stone,
Being dyed with various colours,
Does not make manifest its real essence,
In a like way (the Buddha), pervading all that lives in various forms,
Is not perceived in his true nature.
Takasaki (1966) [17]
Just as a gem, being dyed with various colours,
Does not make manifest its real essence;
Similarly, the Lord never shows its real nature,
Though it appears in various forms, according to the conditions of the living beings.
Fuchs (2000) [18]
Due to the various colors [of its background] a gem appears [in manifold colors],
[but] is not a thing fulfilling their function.
Likewise the All-Pervasive [Ones] appear due to the manifold conditions [set by beings]
without being a thing fulfilling their function.

Textual sources[edit]

Commentaries on this verse[edit]

Academic notes[edit]

  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. VT (fol. 14v1) glosses nirvṛtiḥ/nirvāṇa (lit. "extinction") as "the extinction of the afflictive and cognitive obscurations."
  5. I follow MB paramācintyaprāptiḥ pratyātmam arhatām (confirmed by VT, fol. 14v1–2) against J paramācintyaprāptiḥ pratyātmaveditā (DP mchog tu mya ngan ’das bsam med / dgra bcom so so’i bdag gyur pa /). Schmithausen’s suggested reading paramācintyā prāptiḥ (or praptā) due to DP’s connecting acintya with nirvṛtiḥ not only contradicts both MB and VT but it is also inconclusive as far as DP goes. For it is not definite that "inconceivable"in DP has to go with "nirvāṇa,"which is clearly shown by JKC and GC taking "inconceivable" as a characteristic of its own (as does C). VT relates both "highest" and "inconceivable"to attainment, speaking of "the arhats’ attainment of the highest inconceivable dharma,"which is then glossed as "buddhahood."
  6. Schmithausen suggests dharmadhātusvabhāvataḥ instead of MB dharmadhātoḥ svabhāvataḥ. DP "it is luminous because it is pure by virtue of having the nature of the dharmadhātu" (chos dbyings ngo bo nyid kyis / dag pa’i phyir ni ’od gsal ba /). Verses II.45–46 comment on II.38 and II.44ac, so the five characteristics of the svābhāvikakāya are its being (1) unconditioned, (2) undifferentiable from its qualities, (3) free from the two extremes, (4) liberated from the three obscurations, and (5) pure and luminous. Verses II.47–48 explain the five qualities of the svābhāvikakāya, verses II.49–51 the five characteristics of the sambhogakāya, and verses II.52–59 the features of the nirmāṇakāya.
  7. VT (fol. 14v2–3) divides the compound vicitradharmasaṃbhogarūpadharmāvabhasataḥ into vicitrasaṃbhogadharmāvabhasaḥ (glossing it as "teaching the dharma") and rūpadharmāvabhasaḥ (glossing it as "the display of form"). However, DP read rang bzhin for °rūpa°, and the Tibetan commentaries usually take this compound to mean "By way of enjoying all kinds of dharma and by way of appearing through its natural attributes."Both interpretations come down to the same meaning, referring to the first two characteristics of the sambhogakāya—dharma instructions and the display of a sambhogakāya form with its major and minor marks (as briefly repeated in II.51a). The remaining three characteristics of the sambhogakāya are listed in II.49cd–50c, and all five are briefly repeated in II.51.
  8. VT (fol. 14v3) glosses "not having their nature" (atatsvabhāva°) as "the dharmadhātu’s lack of nature" (dharmadhātvasvabhāvatā).
  9. With DP ma g.yos par, aviralaṃ is to be read as avicalan.
  10. Schmithausen suggests śilpasthānātikauśalam for śilpasthānāni kauśalam.
  11. DP ngar ’dzin ("ego-clinging"), which is an obvious misreading of sngar ’dzin since arhats of course lack ego-clinging.
  12. Ut (D) phun tshogs DP sna tshogs ("various").
  13. Skt. sārtha can also mean " (travel) company" (see Takasaki) or "assembly," but DP don mthun pa confirms the more likely meaning here.
  14. VT (fol. 14v3–4) glosses "for them" (eṣu) as "for sentient beings."
  15. As mentioned before, the first six topics that explain the fourth and the fifth vajra points have the same names (nature, cause, fruition, function, endowment, and manifestation). In terms of their contents, the fourth vajra point refers to the tathāgata heart with stains (the cause) and the fifth one to the very same tathāgata heart without stains (the fruition). Therefore, the six topics in each of these two vajra points are naturally related in terms of cause and fruition or in terms of what buddha nature is like while it is still obscured by adventitious stains versus what it is like when it is completely unobscured. For a detailed comparison of the contents of the first six topics of the fourth and fifth vajra points, see appendix 7.
  16. Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.