Root Verses
Title[edit]
Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra—An Analysis of the Jewel Disposition, A Treatise on the Ultimate Continuum of the Mahāyāna
Oṃ namaḥ Śrī Vajrasattvāya—Oṃ I pay homage to Glorious Vajrasattva[1]
Verse I.1[edit]
- Buddha, dharma, assembly, basic element,
- Awakening, qualities, and finally buddha activity—
- The body of the entire treatise
- Is summarized in these seven vajra points. I.1
Verse I.2[edit]
- In accordance with their specific characteristics {P76a}
- And in due order, the [first] three points of these [seven]
- Should be understood from the introduction in the Dhāraṇirājasūtra
- And the [latter] four from the distinction of the attributes of the intelligent and the victors. I.2
Verse I.3[edit]
- From the Buddha [comes] the dharma and from the dharma, the noble saṃgha.
- Within the saṃgha, the [tathāgata] heart leads to the attainment of wisdom.
- The attainment of that wisdom is the supreme awakening that is endowed with
- The attributes such as the powers that promote the welfare of all sentient beings. I.3
Chapter 1
The Three Jewels and the Tathāgata Heart[edit]
Verse I.4[edit]
- You awakened to peaceful buddhahood without beginning, middle, or end.
- Upon your self-awakening, you taught the fearless everlasting path so that the unawakened may awake.
- I pay homage to you who wield the supreme sword and vajra of wisdom and compassion, cut the sprouts of suffering to pieces,
- And break through the wall of doubts concealed by the thicket of various views. I.4
Verse I.5[edit]
- Being unconditioned, effortless,
- Not being produced[2] through other conditions,
- And possessing wisdom, compassion, and power,
- Buddhahood is endowed with the two welfares. I.5
Footnotes[edit]
- DP "I pay homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas." Throughout this translation of RGVV, numbers preceded by J, D, and P in "{ }"indicate the page numbers of Johnston’s Sanskrit edition and the folio numbers of the Tibetan versions in the Derge and Peking Tengyur, respectively. In my translation, I have relied on the corrections of the Sanskrit in Takasaki 1966a, 396–99; Kano 2006, 545; de Jong 1968; and Schmithausen 1971; as well as on most of the latter two’s corrections of Takasaki’s and Obermiller’s (1984) English renderings. In the notes on my translation, D and P without any numbers refer to the Tibetan translation of RGVV in the Derge and Peking Tengyur, respectively, while C indicates its version in the Chinese canon.
- DP 'rtogs. RGVV makes it clear that this means "awakened" or "realized" (the same goes for udaya in I.7a).