Verse IV.70

From Buddha-Nature
Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse IV.70

Verse IV.70 Variations

इह शुभमणिप्राप्तिर् यद्वज् जगत्य् अतिदुर्लभा जलनिधिगतं पातालस्थं यतः स्पृहयन्ति तम्
अन् सुलभम् इति ज्ञेयं तद्वज् जगत्य् अतिदुर्भगे मनसि विविधक्लेशग्रस् ते तथागतदर्शनम्
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
iha śubhamaṇiprāptir yadvaj jagaty atidurlabhā jalanidhigataṃ pātālasthaṃ yataḥ spṛhayanti tam
an sulabham iti jñeyaṃ tadvaj jagaty atidurbhage manasi vividhakleśagras te tathāgatadarśanam
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[2]
།གང་ཕྱིར་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ས་འོག་གནས་དེ་ལ་འདོད་པས།
ཇི་ལྟར་ནོར་བུ་བཟང་པོ་འགྲོ་འདིར་རབ་རྙེད་དཀའ། །
དེ་བཞིན་འགྲོ་བ་ཤིན་ཏུ་སྐལ་ངན་ཉོན་མོངས་ཟིན། །
ཡིད་འདིར་བདེ་གཤེགས་མཐོང་བ་རྙེད་དཀར་ཤེས་པར་བྱ། །
Just as it is very hard in this world here to obtain a pure gem,
Be it located in the ocean or resting below the earth, which makes [people] yearn for it,
So the sight of a tathāgata should be understood as something not easily found
In the minds of very unsuitable beings who are in the grip of all kinds of afflictions.
De même que, pour qui le désire en ce monde,
Il est difficile de trouver le bon Joyau dans l’océan ou sous la terre,
Il faut de même savoir que, pour l’infortuné
dont l’esprit est pris par les affections,
La vision du Bouddha est chose difficile.

RGVV Commentary on Verse IV.70

།དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་འབྱུང་བ་རྙེད་པར་དཀའ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ནི། གང་ཕྱིར་རྒྱ་མཚོར་ས་འོག་གནས་དེ་ལ་འདོད་པས། །ཇི་ལྟར་ནོར་བུ་བཟང་པོ་འགྲོ་འདིར་རབ་རྙེད་དཀའ། །དེ་བཞིན་འགྲོ་བ་ཤིན་ཏུ་སྐལ་ངན་ཉོན་མོངས་ཟིན། །{br}ཡིད་འདིར་བདེ་གཤེགས་མཐོང་བ་རྙེད་དཀའ་ཤེས་པར་བྱ།

Other English translations[edit]

Obermiller (1931) [5]
Just as precious jewels, concealed
Under the ground or in the depths of the ocean,
Are hard to be obtained here by those who are desirous of them;
Similarly we know that with the living beings
Who are unworthy and overpowered by the passions
The perception of the Buddha by their mind
Is exceedingly hard to be secured.
Takasaki (1966) [6]
Here, in this world, it is quite rare
To obtain the pure gem, even though the people so much
Long for it in the depth of the ocean or under the ground;
Similarly, the sight of Buddha should be known as
Not easily achieved in this luckless world
By those whose mind is afflicted by various passions.
Fuchs (2000) [7]
The good jewel lying underground or in the ocean
is very hard to find for beings wanting it.
Likewise, one should understand that beings held in the grip of the poisons,
and whose karmic gifts are poor, will hardly see the Sugata in their minds.

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 MA durlabhaprādurbhāvās (corresponding to DP ’byung ba rnyed par dka’ ba) against J durlabhaprāptabhāvās.
  5. Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.