Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.19

Verse I.19 Variations

शास्तृशासनशिष्यार्थैरधिकृत्य त्रियानिकान्
कारत्रयाधिमुक्तांश्च प्रज्ञप्तं शरणत्रयम्
śāstṛśāsanaśiṣyārthairadhikṛtya triyānikān
kāratrayādhimuktāṃśca prajñaptaṃ śaraṇatrayam
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
སྟོན་པ་བསྟན་པ་བསླབ་དོན་གྱིས། །
ཐེག་པ་གསུམ་དང་བྱེད་གསུམ་ལ། །
མོས་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་དབང་བྱས་ནས། །
སྐྱབས་གསུམ་རྣམ་པར་བཞག་པ་ཡིན། །
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.
依能調所證 弟子為三乘
信三供養等 是故說三寶
On a instauré le triple refuge en considération

Du maître, de l’enseignement et des disciples, Du point de vue des adeptes des trois véhicules Et des aspirations aux trois activités.

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.19

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) [6]
In order to make known the virtues
Of the Teacher, the Teaching, and the Disciples,
For the sake of (the adherents of) the 3 Vehicles
And those devoted to the 3 forms of religious observance, —
The 3 Refuges have been proclaimed (by the Lord ).
Takasaki (1966) [7]
In order to show [the virtues of]
The Teacher, the Teaching and Disciples,
With reference to those who belong to 3 Vehicles
And to those who devote themselves to religious observance
Three Refuges were taught [by the Lord].
Fuchs (2000) [8]
There being the teacher, his teaching, and his disciples
leads to respective aspirations towards three vehicles
and to three different activities [of veneration].
Viewing this, the refuge is shown as threefold.

Textual sources

Commentaries on this verse

Academic notes

  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. J dvipada (lit. "one with two legs").
  4. I follow MB bodhisattvayānikān against J bodhisattvān.
  5. That is, by ascending from taking the saṃgha as refuge to taking the dharma and finally the Buddha as the highest refuge as well as ascending from the śrāvakayāna to the pratyekabuddhayāna and then the bodhisattvayāna. The same goes for having faith in the three activities related to the saṃgha, the dharma, and the Buddha. DP read yāna (the pa) for nay (which can also mean "method," "principle," and "doctrine").
  6. Obermiller, E. "The Sublime Science of the Great Vehicle to Salvation Being a Manual of Buddhist Monism." Acta Orientalia IX (1931), pp. 81-306.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.