Root Verses

From Buddha-Nature

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

Verse I.6[edit]

It is unconditioned because its nature
Is to be without beginning, middle, and end.
It is declared to be effortless
Because it possesses the peaceful dharma body. [3] I.6

Verse I.7[edit]

It is not produced through other conditions
Because it is to be realized personally. {D78a}
Thus, it is wisdom because it is threefold awakening.
It is compassion because it teaches the path. I.7

Verse I.8[edit]

It is power because it overcomes suffering
And the afflictions through wisdom and compassion.
One’s own welfare is by virtue of the first three qualities
And the welfare of others by virtue of the latter three. I.8

Verse I.9[edit]

Inscrutable as neither nonexistent nor existent nor [both] existent and nonexistent nor other than existent and nonexistent,
Free from etymological interpretation, to be personally experienced, and peaceful—{J11}
I pay homage to this sun of the dharma, which shines the light of stainless wisdom
And defeats passion, aggression, and [mental] darkness with regard to all focal objects.[4] I.9

Verse I.10[edit]

By virtue of its being inconceivable, free from the dual, nonconceptual,
Pure, manifesting, and a remedial factor,[5]
It is what is and what makes free from attachment, respectively—
The dharma that is characterized by the two realities. I.10

Verse I.11[edit]

Freedom from attachment {P81a} consists of
The two realities of cessation and the path.
In due order, these two are to be understood
Through three qualities each. I.11

Verse I.12[edit]

Because of being inscrutable, because of being inexpressible,
And because of being the wisdom of the noble ones, it is inconceivable.
Because of being peaceful, it is free from the dual and without conceptions.
[In its] three [qualities] such as being pure, it is like the sun. I.12

Verse I.13[edit]

They perfectly realize that the endpoint of the identitylessness of the entire world is peace
Because they see that, by virtue of the natural luminosity of the minds in this [world], the afflictions are without nature. {D82a}
I pay homage to those who see that perfect buddhahood is allpervading, whose intelligence is unobscured,
And whose wisdom vision has the purity and infinitude of beings as its objects. I.13

Verse I.14[edit]

By virtue of the purity of the inner
Wisdom vision of suchness and variety,
The assembly of the irreversible intelligent ones
Is [endowed] with unsurpassable qualities. I.14

Verse I.15[edit]

[The wisdom of] suchness[6] by virtue of
Realizing the world’s true nature of peace
Is due to the natural complete purity [of the mind]
And due to seeing the primordial termination of the afflictions. I.15

Verse I.16[edit]

[The wisdom of] being variety is due to
The intelligence that encompasses the entire range of the knowable
Seeing the existence of the true nature
Of omniscience in all sentient beings. I.16

Verse I.17[edit]

Such a realization is the vision
Of one’s own personal wisdom.
It is pure in the stainless basic element
Because it lacks attachment and lacks obstruction. I.17

Verse I.18[edit]

By virtue of this purity of the vision of wisdom,
The noble ones, who are irreversible[7]
From unsurpassable buddha wisdom,[8]
Are the refuge of all that lives. I.18

Verse I.19[edit]

For the purpose of the teacher, the teaching, and the disciples,
The three refuges are taught
With regard to those in the three yānas
And those who have faith in the three activities. I.19

Verse I.20[edit]

Because of being abandoned, because of having a deceptive nature,
Because of being nonexistent, and because of being fearful,
The twofold dharma and the noble saṃgha
Are not the ultimate supreme refuge. I.20

Footnotes[edit]

  1. 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.
  2. DP 'rtogs. RGVV makes it clear that this means "awakened" or "realized" (the same goes for udaya in I.7a).
  3. śāntadharmaśarīra.
  4. VT (fol. 11v.1) glosses "all objects" as "cognitive obscurations," "passion and aggression" as "afflictive obscurations," and "darkness" as bewilderment.
  5. J vipakṣa/pratipakṣa, which literally means "opponent" or "adversary,"but for stylistic reasons, I follow the Tibetan gnyen po.
  6. I follow MB yathāvattvaṃ jagac° (confirmed by DP ji lta nyid) against J yathāvat taj jagac°.
  7. I follow Takasaki’s and Schmithausen’s emendation of MB and J avaivartyād to avaivartyā, which is confirmed by VT (fol. 11v5) avivartyā.
  8. The translation of I.18bc follows Schmithausen’s relating buddhajñānād anuttarāt to avaivartyā, which is confirmed by VT (fol. 11v5) anuttarād buddhajñānād avivartyā āryā bhavanti. However, lines I.18bc could also be read as "Buddha wisdom is unsurpassable. Therefore, the irreversible noble ones . . . ,"which is suggested by DP sang rgyas ye shes bla med phyir / ’phags pa phyir mi ldog pa ni / and RGVV’s comments on these lines.