Verse I.160

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.160

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Verse I.160 Variations

पूर्वमेवं व्यवस्थाप्य तन्त्रे पुनरिहोत्तरे
पञ्चदोषप्रहाणाय धात्वस्तित्वं प्रकाशितम्

pūrvamevaṃ vyavasthāpya tantre punarihottare
pañcadoṣaprahāṇāya dhātvastitvaṃ prakāśitam

E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.^[1]

སྔར་ནི་དེ་ལྟར་རྣམ་བཞག་ནས། །
སླར་ཡང་བླ་མའི་རྒྱུད་འདིར་ནི། །
ཉེས་པ་ལྔ་དག་སྤང་བའི་ཕྱིར། །
ཁམས་ཡོད་ཉིད་ཅེས་བསྟན་པ་ཡིན། །

Dege, PHI, 123

It was presented in this way before
But later in this ultimate continuum here
It is explained that the basic element exists
In order to relinquish the five flaws.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 413 ^[2]

先已如是說此究竟論中
為離五種過說有真如性

http://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/en/T31n1611_p0840b27

En plus des premiers exposés,

La Continuité suprême enseigne La présence de l’Élément spirituel Pour éliminer les cinq défauts.

Charrier, Christian and Patrick Carré. Traité de la Continuité suprême du Grand Véhicule. Plazac: Éditions Padmakara, 2019.

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.160

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།ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ་གཉིས་པོ་འདིའི་དོན་ནི་མདོར་བསྡུས་ཏེ་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ་བཅུས་རིག་པར་བྱ་སྟེ། ཡང་དག་མཐའ་ནི་འདུས་བྱས་ཀྱིས། །རྣམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དབེན་པ་སྟེ། །ཉོན་མོངས་ལས་དང་རྣམ་སྨིན་དོན། །སྤྲིན་{br}ལ་སོགས་པ་བཞིན་དུ་བརྗོད། །ཉོན་མོངས་སྤྲིན་འདྲ་བྱ་བ་ཡི། །ལས་ནི་རྨི་ལམ་ལོངས་སྤྱོད་བཞིན། །ཉོན་མོངས་ལས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་སྨིན། །ཕུང་པོ་སྒྱུ་མ་སྤྲུལ་པ་བཞིན། །སྔར་ནི་དེ་ལྟར་རྣམ་གཞག་ནས། །སླར་ཡང་བླ་མའི་རྒྱུད་འདིར་ནི། །ཉེས་པ་ལྔ་དག་སྤང་བའི་ཕྱིར། །ཁམས་ཡོད་ཉིད་{br}ཅེས་བསྟན་པ་ཡིན། །འདི་ལྟར་དེ་ནི་མ་ཐོས་པས། །བདག་ལ་བརྙས་པའི་ཉེས་པ་ཡིས། །སེམས་ནི་ཞུམ་པ་འགའ་ཞིག་ལ། །བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ནི་སྐྱེ་མི་འགྱུར། །གང་ལ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་པས། །བདག་ནི་མཆོག་ཅེས་རློམ་པ་ན། །བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་མ་སྐྱེས་པ་ལ། །དམན་{br}པའི་འདུ་ཤེས་རབ་ཏུ་འཇུག །དེ་ལྟར་སེམས་པ་དེ་ལ་ནི། །ཡང་དག་ཤེས་པ་མི་སྐྱེ་བ། །དེས་ན་ཡང་དག་མི་འཛིན་ཞིང་། །ཡང་དག་དོན་ནི་རིག་མི་འགྱུར། །བཅོས་མ་གློ་བུར་པ་ཉིད་ཕྱིར། །སེམས་ཅན་སྐྱོན་དེ་ཡང་དག་མིན། །ཡང་དག་ཉེས་དེ་བདག་མེད་པ། །ཡོན་ཏན་རང་བཞིན་དག་པ་{br}ཡིན། །ཡང་དག་མིན་པའི་ཉེས་འཛིན་ཞིང་། །ཡང་དག་ཡོན་ཏན་སྐུར་འདེབས་པ། །བློ་ལྡན་བདག་དང་སེམས་ཅན་ནི། །མཚུངས་མཐོང་བྱམས་པ་ཐོབ་མི་འགྱུར། །འདི་ལྟར་དེ་ནི་ཐོས་པ་ལས། །སྤྲོ་དང་སྟོན་པ་བཞིན་གུས་དང་། །ཤེས་རབ་ཡེ་ཤེས་བྱམས་ཆེན་སྐྱེ། །ཆོས་ལྔ་སྐྱེ་ཕྱིར་དེ་{br}ལ་ནི། །ཁ་ན་མ་ཐོ་མེད་མཚུངས་ལྟར། །སྐྱོན་མེད་ཡོན་ཏན་ལྡན་པ་དང་། །བདག་དང་སེམས་ཅན་མཚུངས་བྱས་ཏེ། །སངས་རྒྱས་ཉིད་ནི་མྱུར་དུ་འཐོབ།

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) ^[7]

So has it been ascertained before.

Then, subsequently, in this Highest of Teachings,

In order to remove the 5 kinds of defects (in a living being),

It is shown that the Essence of the Buddha exists.

Takasaki (1966) ^[8]

So has it been ascertained 'before';

But now, in this 'ultimate' Doctrine,

In order to remove the 5 defects [caused by the previous teaching],

It is shown that the Essence of the Buddha exists.

Fuchs (2000) ^[9]

For the time being it was thus expounded.

Additionally in this unsurpassable continuity

it was then taught: "The element is present,"

so that the five evils would be abandoned.

Textual sources

Commentaries on this verse

Academic notes

Notes On the Gloss of the Title of the Text in this Verse:

Obermiller, E.

Eugène Obermiller

1901 ~ 1935

The Uttaratantra of Maitreya, Obermiller, p. 368, nt. 3

Or "the latest Teaching" (Uttaratantra = the Scripture of the latest period).

Jikido Takasaki

A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra): Being a Treatise on the Tathāgatagarbha Theory of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Takasaki, pp. 306-307, nt. 18

uttara tantra, T. bla-maḥi rgyud. This is the word which gives this work its title. Here the term tantra... has nothing to do with Tantric Buddhism. The meaning is simply ' doctrine ' or ' philosophy '. Significance lies more in the word ' uttara ' than in ' tantra ' since by the term ' uttara ', the author of the Ratna declared his aim and the position of this theory in the currency of Buddhist philosophy. In one sense, this theory is opposite to that of ' pūrva ', by which is meant here clearly the doctrine of the Prajñāpāramitā and of the Mūlamadhyamaka, since the ' former ' one emphasizes ' śūnyatā ', i.e. unreality of things, while this ' latter ' one emphasizes ' astitva ' of buddhadhātu. In another sense, however, this doctrine is not against the former, but a real successor of the former, as being the ' answer '—giver to the problem which has never been explained ' before '; in other words, as we had already known by previous passages, this ' buddhadhātvastivāda ' is a synthetic śūnyavāda of śūnya and aśūnya, and hence it is the ' ultimate '. T. ' bla-ma ' shows this sense.

Karl Brunnhölzl

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, p. 1106, nt. 1507

Skt. tantre punar ihottare. As mentioned before, this phrase uses the title of the present text (Uttaratantra) in the sense of the teachings on buddha nature being the latest and also highest teachings of the Buddha. [Vairocanarakṣita’s Mahāyānottaratantraṭippaṇī] (fol. 14r1–2) glosses this phrase as "latest text" or "latest section" (uttaragrantha).

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input
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.
I follow Schmithausen in taking bhūtakoṭiṣu to mean "in myriads of beings" (though bhūta for "sentient beings" is not so common in mahāyāna texts) rather than DP’s rendering yang dag mtha’ ni, which ignores the plural and locative ending of the Sanskrit (thus reading "the true end is devoid of conditioned phenomena in all aspects"). Interestingly, the translations by Takasaki, de Jong, and Ui (as referenced in de Jong 1968, 48) all agree with DP’s reading of bhūtakoṭi in the singular. Since I.158 is an explanation of I.156ab, with "void" corresponding to "empty," "conditioned phenomena"to "all (knowable objects)," and "in all aspects"to "in every respect," bhūtakoṭiṣu most likely corresponds to "here and there." However, this is where the problem lies, since Schmithausen takes "here and there"to be related to "in each sentient being"in I.156d. Though not impossible, this is not only somewhat strange in this context but, more importantly, contradicted by VT’s above gloss and virtually all Tibetan commentaries, which take "here and there"to mean "in the (prajñāpāramitā) sūtras." If one still accepts that bhūtakoṭiṣu takes up "here and there" (which is likely, given the other correspondences between I.156ab and I.158), C’s rendering "in [myriads of] sūtras" (sūtra [koṭi] ṣu, with "sūtra"in transcription!) instead of bhūtakoṭiṣu seems to make much more sense. Also, if bhūtakoṭiṣu referred back to "in each sentient being,"it would pick up a phrase in I.156d, whereas all other correspondences with I.158 are only to I.156ab. Thus, I would prefer to read I.158ab as "It has been stated in myriads of sūtras that conditioned phenomena are void in all aspects." However, since the Sanskrit and DP as well as all Tibetan commentaries agree on bhūta°, while C is the only exception, I reluctantly follow the former in reading bhūta°.
Skt. tantre punar ihottare. As mentioned before, this phrase uses the title of the present text (Uttaratantra) in the sense of the teachings on buddha nature being the latest and also highest teachings of the Buddha. VT (fol. 14r1–2) glosses this phrase as "latest text" or "latest section" (uttaragrantha).
VT (fol. 14r2) glosses "what is unreal" (abhūtaṃ) as "all flaws" and "what is real" (bhūtaṃ) as "all qualities."
With Schmithausen, I follow MA taddoṣanairātmyaśuddhiprakṛtayo against J and VT (fol. 14r2) taddoṣanairātmyaṃ śuddhiprakṛtayo.
Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
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.
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.

[1] Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input

[2] 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.

[3] I follow Schmithausen in taking bhūtakoṭiṣu to mean "in myriads of beings" (though bhūta for "sentient beings" is not so common in mahāyāna texts) rather than DP’s rendering yang dag mtha’ ni, which ignores the plural and locative ending of the Sanskrit (thus reading "the true end is devoid of conditioned phenomena in all aspects"). Interestingly, the translations by Takasaki, de Jong, and Ui (as referenced in de Jong 1968, 48) all agree with DP’s reading of bhūtakoṭi in the singular. Since I.158 is an explanation of I.156ab, with "void" corresponding to "empty," "conditioned phenomena"to "all (knowable objects)," and "in all aspects"to "in every respect," bhūtakoṭiṣu most likely corresponds to "here and there." However, this is where the problem lies, since Schmithausen takes "here and there"to be related to "in each sentient being"in I.156d. Though not impossible, this is not only somewhat strange in this context but, more importantly, contradicted by VT’s above gloss and virtually all Tibetan commentaries, which take "here and there"to mean "in the (prajñāpāramitā) sūtras." If one still accepts that bhūtakoṭiṣu takes up "here and there" (which is likely, given the other correspondences between I.156ab and I.158), C’s rendering "in [myriads of] sūtras" (sūtra [koṭi] ṣu, with "sūtra"in transcription!) instead of bhūtakoṭiṣu seems to make much more sense. Also, if bhūtakoṭiṣu referred back to "in each sentient being,"it would pick up a phrase in I.156d, whereas all other correspondences with I.158 are only to I.156ab. Thus, I would prefer to read I.158ab as "It has been stated in myriads of sūtras that conditioned phenomena are void in all aspects." However, since the Sanskrit and DP as well as all Tibetan commentaries agree on bhūta°, while C is the only exception, I reluctantly follow the former in reading bhūta°.

[4] Skt. tantre punar ihottare. As mentioned before, this phrase uses the title of the present text (Uttaratantra) in the sense of the teachings on buddha nature being the latest and also highest teachings of the Buddha. VT (fol. 14r1–2) glosses this phrase as "latest text" or "latest section" (uttaragrantha).

[5] VT (fol. 14r2) glosses "what is unreal" (abhūtaṃ) as "all flaws" and "what is real" (bhūtaṃ) as "all qualities."

[6] With Schmithausen, I follow MA taddoṣanairātmyaśuddhiprakṛtayo against J and VT (fol. 14r2) taddoṣanairātmyaṃ śuddhiprakṛtayo.

[7] Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.

[8] 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.

[9] 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.

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