Verse III.4

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse III.4

Verse III.4 Variations

बलत्वमज्ञानवृतेषु वज्रव-
द्विशारदत्वं परिषत्सु सिंहवत्
तथागतावेणिकतान्तरीक्षवन्
मुनेर्द्विधादर्शनमम्बुचन्द्रवत्

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

balatvamajñānavṛteṣu vajrava-
dviśāradatvaṃ pariṣatsu siṃhavat
tathāgatāveṇikatāntarīkṣavan
munerdvidhādarśanamambucandravat

E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.^[2]

སྟོབས་ཉིད་མ་རིག་སྒྲིབ་ལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་བཞིན། །
མི་འཇིགས་ཉིད་ནི་འཁོར་དུ་སེང་གེ་བཞིན། །
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་མ་འདྲེས་མཁའ་བཞིན་ཏེ། །
ཐུབ་པའི་བསྟན་པ་རྣམ་གཉིས་ཆུ་ཟླ་བཞིན། །

Dege, PHI, 130

The powers are like a vajra for the obscurations of ignorance,
The fearlessnesses amid the retinue resemble a lion,
The unique [qualities] of the Tathāgata are similar to space,
And the sage’s two kinds of display are like the moon [reflected in] water.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 429 ^[3]

Si les forces sont comparables aux vajras [lancés]

contre le voile de l’ignorance, Les intrépidités évoquent le lion dans l’assemblée [des animaux], Les [qualités] exclusives des tathāgatas ressemblent à l’espace Et la double apparence du Sage tient [du reflet] de la lune dans l’eau.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse III.4

Tibetan
English
Sanskrit
Chinese

Full Tibetan Commentary
Full English Commentary
Full Sanskrit Commentary
Full Chinese Commentary

།{br}འདི་མན་ཆད་ཀྱི་གཞུང་ནི་སྟོབས་ལ་སོགས་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་དང་། ཇི་ལྟར་རྟོགས་པར་བྱས་པ་དེ་ལྟར་དེའི་དབང་དུ་བྱས་པའོ། །སྡོམ་ནི། སྟོབས་ཉིད་མ་རིག་བསྒྲིབས་ལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་བཞིན། །མི་འཇིགས་པ་ནི་འཁོར་དུ་སེང་གེ་བཞིན། །དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་མ་འདྲེས་མཁའ་བཞིན་{br}ཏེ། །ཐུབ་པའི་བསྟན་པ་རྣམ་གཉིས་ཆུ་ཟླ་བཞིན།

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) ^[6]

The Powers (of the Buddha) are like a thunderbolt,

Breaking the impediments caused by ignorance;

His intrepidity in the circle of hearers is like that of a lion;

The Buddha’s exclusive properties are like space,

And the corporeal forms of the Lord are like

The moon and its reflection in the water.

Takasaki (1966) ^[7]

The Powers [of the Buddha] are like a thunderbolt,

In [breaking] the hindrance caused by ignorance,

His Intrepidity in the assemblage is like that of a lion,

The Buddha's exclusive properties are like space,

And the two kinds of corporeal forms of the Lord are

Like the moon and its reflection in the water.

Fuchs (2000) ^[8]

Power is like a vajra against the veil of unknowing.

Fearlessness acts like a lion amidst [any] assembly.

Like space are the unmixed features of the Tathagata,

like a water-moon the two facets of the Muni's teaching.

Textual sources

Commentaries on this verse

Academic notes

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Unicode Input
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 MB tathā tān adhikṛtya against J tathatām adhikṛtya. After this sentence, DP and C add "[First, there is] a synopsis" (uddānam).
According to VT (fol. 15r7), "the two kinds of display"refers to the Buddha’s appearance through his unique or uncommon qualities and through his common qualities (the thirty-two marks of a great being), which are explained in detail in verses III.11–26 (see in particular III.15 and III.26).
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] 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 MB tathā tān adhikṛtya against J tathatām adhikṛtya. After this sentence, DP and C add "[First, there is] a synopsis" (uddānam).

[5] According to VT (fol. 15r7), "the two kinds of display"refers to the Buddha’s appearance through his unique or uncommon qualities and through his common qualities (the thirty-two marks of a great being), which are explained in detail in verses III.11–26 (see in particular III.15 and III.26).

[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.

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