Verse III.35

From Buddha-Nature
(Created page with "{{Verse |OriginalLanguage=Sanskrit |VerseNumber=III.35 |MasterNumber=275 |Variations={{VerseVariation |VariationLanguage=Sanskrit |VariationOriginal=लौकिकश्र...")
 
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|VariationTransSource=[[When the Clouds Part]], [[Brunnhölzl, K.|Brunnhölzl]], 435 <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]], 435 <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>
 
}}
 
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|EnglishCommentary=Also, four examples were stated [above] for these [four] points [the powers, the fearlessnesses, the unique qualities, and the marks of a great being] in due order—a vajra, a lion, space, and the moon [reflected in] water. The summarized meaning of these is to be understood through the [following] twelve verses.
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::'''As for the powers and so on,<ref>I follow Schmithausen’s suggestion of linking ''balādiṣu'' at the beginning of III.29 with III.28.</ref> due to being penetrating''',<ref>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.</ref>
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::'''At ease, exclusive, and effortless, respectively''',
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::'''They are illustrated by a vajra, a lion''',
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::'''Space, and the moon [reflected in] clear water'''. III.28
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::'''Through six powers, three,'''
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::'''And one, in due order,'''
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::'''All stains in terms of what is to be cognized, meditative absorption, '''
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::'''And [the afflictions] including their latent tendencies are eliminated.''' III.29
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::'''Therefore since these [three stains] are pierced, broken, and cut down'''
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::'''Like an armor, a wall, and a tree, respectively''',
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::'''The powers of the seer are like a vajra''',
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::'''Being weighty, firm, strong, and unbreakable'''. III.30 P127a)
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::'''Why are they weighty? Because they are firm.'''
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::'''Why are they firm? Because they are strong.'''
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::'''Why are they strong? Because they are unbreakable'''.
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::'''Since they are unbreakable, they are like a vajra'''. III.31
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::'''Because of being unafraid, because of being indifferent''',
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::'''Because of being firm, and because of being supremely powerful''',
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::'''The lion of sages resembles a lion''',
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::'''Being fearless amid the assemblies of his retinue'''. III.32 (J97)
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::'''By virtue of possessing all supernatural knowledges''',
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::'''He abides independently without being afraid of anything'''.
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::'''He is indifferent because he sees that he is by nature'''
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::'''Not equal even to pure sentient beings'''. III.33
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::'''He is firm because his mind is always'''
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::'''In samādhi with regard to all phenomena'''.
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::'''He is powerful because he has supremely transcended'''
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::'''The ground of the latent tendencies of ignorance'''. III.34
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::'''As for worldly people, śrāvakas, those who live in solitude''',
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::'''The intelligent, and the self-arisen,'''
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::'''Their insight is increasingly more subtle'''.
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::'''Therefore, they are illustrated by the five elements'''.<ref>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.
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</ref> III.35
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::'''Since [the first four] sustain all the worlds''',
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::'''They are like earth, water, fire, and wind.'''
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::'''Since [the fifth] is characterized by being beyond the mundane'''
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::'''And the supramundane, it resembles space'''.<ref>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:
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::Those who gave rise to supreme compassion for others
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::And adopted discipline support the livelihood of others,
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::Just like fire, wind, water, and earth.
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::They [truly] possess discipline, [but] others are [only] a likeness of that.
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:(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.</ref> III.36
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::'''These thirty-two qualities mentioned'''
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::'''[Here] make up the dharmakāya'''
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::'''Because they are undifferentiable [from it]''',
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::'''Just as its radiance, color, and form are [inseparable from] a precious jewel'''. III.37
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::'''What are called "the thirty-two marks"'''<ref>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''.</ref>
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::'''Are the qualities that delight upon being seen'''
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::'''And are based on the two rūpakāyas—'''
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::'''The nirmāṇa[kāya] and the one enjoying the dharma'''. III.38
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::'''For those who dwell far from and close to purity''',
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::'''In the world and in the maṇḍala of the victor''',
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::'''They display in two ways,<ref>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."</ref> just as [does] the form'''
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::'''Of the moon in pure water and in the sky'''.<ref>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).</ref> III.39 (D122a)
 
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Revision as of 16:28, 6 February 2020

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse III.35

Verse III.35 Variations

लौकिकश्रावकैकान्तचारिधीमत्स्वयंभुवाम्
उत्तरोत्तरधीसौक्ष्म्यात् पञ्चधा तु निदर्शनम्
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
laukikaśrāvakaikāntacāridhīmatsvayaṃbhuvām
uttarottaradhīsaukṣmyāt pañcadhā tu nidarśanam
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[2]
།འཇིག་རྟེན་ཉན་ཐོས་མཐའ་གཅིག་ཏུ།
།སྤྱོད་དང་བློ་ལྡན་རང་བྱུང་རྣམས།
།གོང་ནས་གོང་དུ་བློ་དག་ནི།
།ཕྲ་ཕྱིར་དཔེ་ནི་རྣམ་པ་ལྔ།
Dege, PHI, 133
As for worldly people, śrāvakas, those who live in solitude,
The intelligent, and the self-arisen,
Their insight is increasingly more subtle.
Therefore, they are illustrated by the five elements.
When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 435 [3]
Les êtres ordinaires, les auditeurs, les bouddhas-par-soi,
Les sages bodhisattvas et les bouddhas nés d’eux-mêmes,
Atteignent des états de compréhension de plus en plus subtils
Qu’illustrent cinq comparaisons :
Charrier, Christian and Patrick Carré. Traité de la Continuité suprême du Grand Véhicule. Plazac: Éditions Padmakara, 2019.

RGVV Commentary on Verse III.35

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།གནས་འདི་དག་ལ་གོ་རིམས་བཞིན་དུ་རྡོ་རྗེ་དང་། སེང་གེ་དང་། ནམ་མཁའ་དང་། ཆུ་ཟླའི་དཔེ་བརྗོད་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དེའི་བསྡུས་པའི་དོན་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ་བཅུས་རིག་པར་བྱ་སྟེ། མི་ཕྱེད་པ་དང་མི་ཞན་དང་། །མཚུངས་པ་མེད་དང་གཡོ་{br}མེད་ཕྱིར། །རྡོ་རྗེ་སེང་གེ་མཁའ་དག་དང་། །ཆུ་ཡི་ཟླ་བའི་དཔེས་བསྟན་ཏོ། །སྟོབས་སོགས་རྣམས་ལས་སྟོབས་དྲུག་དང་། །གསུམ་དང་གཅིག་གིས་རིམ་པ་བཞིན། །ཤེས་བྱ་སྙོམས་པར་འཇུག་པ་དང་། །བག་ཆགས་བཅས་པ་ཀུན་བསལ་བས། །གོ་ཆ་རྩིག་པ་ཤིང་བཞིན་དུ། །{br}ཕུག་དང་བཤིག་དང་བཅད་ཕྱིར་རོ། །གླིང་དང་སྙིང་བརྟན་མི་ཕྱེད་པས། །དྲང་སྲོང་སྟོབས་ནི་རྡོ་རྗེ་འདྲ། །གང་ཕྱིར་བརླིང་བ་སྙིང་པོའི་ཕྱིར། །གང་ཕྱིར་སྙིང་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་ཕྱིར། །གང་ཕྱིར་བརྟན་པ་མི་ཕྱེད་ཕྱིར། །མི་ཕྱེད་ཕྱིར་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ་བཞིན། །འཇིགས་མེད་ཕྱིར་དང་ལྟོས་མེད་ཕྱིར། །{br}བརྟན་ཕྱིར་རྩལ་ནི་ཕུན་ཚོགས་པས། །ཐུབ་པ་སེང་གེ་སེང་གེ་བཞིན། །འཁོར་གྱི་ཚོགས་སུ་འཇིགས་མི་མངའ། །ཀུན་མངོན་མཁྱེན་པས་གང་ལས་ཀྱང་། །འཇིགས་མེད་པར་ནི་རྣམ་པར་གནས། །དག་པའི་སེམས་ཅན་དང་ཡང་བདག །མི་མཉམ་གཟིགས་ཕྱིར་ལྟོས་པ་མེད། །{br}ཐུགས་ནི་ཆོས་རྣམས་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ། །རྩེ་གཅིག་ཕྱིར་ན་བརྟན་པ་ཉིད། །མཆོག་ཏུ་མ་རིག་བག་ཆགས་ཀྱི། །ས་ལས་རྒལ་ཕྱིར་རྩལ་ལྡན་ནོ། །འཇིག་རྟེན་ཉན་ཐོས་མཐའ་གཅིག་པུ། །སྤྱོད་དང་བློ་ལྡན་རང་བྱུང་རྣམས། །གོང་ནས་གོང་དུ་བློ་དག་ནི། །ཕྲ་ཕྱིར་དཔེ་ནི་རྣམ་པ་ལྔ། །འཇིག་{br}རྟེན་ཀུན་གྱི་ཉེར་འཚོའི་ཕྱིར། །ས་ཆུ་མེ་རླུང་རྣམས་དང་མཚུངས། །འཇིག་རྟེན་འཇིག་རྟེན་འདས་པ་ཡི། །མཚན་ཉིད་ལས་འདས་ནམ་མཁའ་བཞིན། །དེ་དག་ཡོན་ཏན་སུམ་ཅུ་ནི། །གཉིས་འདི་ཆོས་སྐུས་རབ་ཕྱེ་སྟེ། །ནོར་བུ་རིན་ཆེན་འོད་མདོག་དང་། །དབྱིངས་བཞིན་དབྱེ་བ་མེད་ཕྱིར་རོ། །{br}མཐོང་ན་ཚིམ་བྱེད་ཡོན་ཏན་གང་། །སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གཉིས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། །སྤྲུལ་པ་ཆོས་ལ་རྫོགས་པར་ནི། །ལོངས་སྤྱོད་རྫོགས་སྐུ་གཉིས་ལ་བརྟེན། །དག་ལས་རིང་དང་ཉེ་རྣམས་ལས། །འཇིག་རྟེན་རྒྱལ་བའི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་དུ། །ཆུ་དང་ནམ་མཁའ་ཟླ་གཟུགས་བཞིན། །དེ་མཐོང་བ་ནི་རྣམ་པ་
གཉིས།

Other English translations[edit]

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. I follow Schmithausen’s suggestion of linking balādiṣu at the beginning of III.29 with III.28.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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."
  10. 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).

ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

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

avidyā - Literally "unknowing," it refers to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the nature of reality. As such, it is considered to be the root cause of suffering and the basis for the arising of all other negative mental factors. Skt. अविद्या Tib. མ་རིག་པ་ Ch. 無明

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

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā - This is the title of Asaṅga's commentary to the Gyü Lama that is given by Tibetan sources instead of the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā. Skt. महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्रव्याख्या Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།

According to the Tibetan tradition this is Asaṅga's commentary to the Uttaratantra.

RGVV - Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā

nirmāṇakāya - An fully enlightened Buddha is said to have the power to manifest in many forms in order to help the sentient beings. The emanation body of a buddha, as the third of the three bodies of a buddha, refers to the many forms in which a buddha can manifest and which are accessible to ordinary sentient beings. Buddhist scholars present four types of emanation bodies: emanation as supreme being, emanation as rebirth, emanation as artisan and emanation in diverse forms. Skt. निर्माणकाय Tib. སྤྲུལ་སྐུ། Ch. 化身

bhūmi - A plateau of spiritual development. Skt. भूमि Tib. ས་

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