Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse IV.74

Verse IV.74 Variations

यथा निम्नोन्नतं व्योम्नि दृश्यते न च तत्तथा
बुद्धेष्वपि तथा सर्व दृश्यते न च तत्तथा
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
yathā nimnonnataṃ vyomni dṛśyate na ca tattathā
buddheṣvapi tathā sarva dṛśyate na ca tattathā
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[2]
མཁའ་ལ་ཇི་ལྟར་མཐོ་དང་དམའ། །
མཐོང་ཡང་དེ་ནི་དེ་ལྟ་མིན། །
དེ་བཞིན་ཐམས་ཅད་སངས་རྒྱས་ལ། །
མཐོང་ཡང་དེ་ནི་དེ་ལྟ་མིན། །
Highs and lows are seen in space,
But it is not like that at all.
Likewise, everything can be seen in the buddhas,
But they are not like that at all.
Et pourtant vu là-haut ou là-bas,

L’espace n’est ni haut ni bas. De même, le Bouddha n’est pas Comme tout ce que l’on peut voir de lui.

RGVV Commentary on Verse IV.74

།ནམ་མཁའ་བཞིན་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ནི། ཅུང་ཟད་མེད་ཅིང་སྣང་བ་མེད། །དམིགས་པ་མེད་ཅིང་རྟེན་མེད་ལ། །མིག་གི་ལམ་ལས་རབ་འདས་པ། །གཟུགས་མེད་{br}བསྟན་དུ་མེད་པ་ཡི། །མཁའ་ལ་ཇི་ལྟར་མཐོ་དང་དམའ། །མཐོང་ཡང་དེ་ནི་དེ་ལྟར་མིན། །དེ་བཞིན་སངས་རྒྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ། །མཐོང་ཡང་དེ་ནི་དེ་ལྟར་མིན།

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) [6]
Although it is experienced (as divisible)
In higher and in lower (parts),
This is not its true nature,
Which is that of being one whole.
Similarly, though the Buddha is seen in all his different forms,
He is not such as we perceive him
(Being unique and undifferentiated).
Takasaki (1966) [7]
Though being so, the sky is seen as low and high,
But, in reality, it is not like that;
Similarly, all kinds of forms are seen in the Buddha,
But, in reality, the Buddha is not like that.
Fuchs (2000) [8]
Nevertheless it is seen as being high and low,
but it is not at all like that.
Likewise all [his appearances] are seen as Buddha,
but he is not at all like that.

Textual sources

Commentaries on this verse

Academic notes

  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. Jñānālokālaṃkārasūtra, D100, fols. 288b.4–289a.5.
  5. Skt. niṣkiṃcane nirābhāse nirālambe nirāśraye / cakṣuṣpathavyatikrānte ’py arūpiṇy anidarśane /. Note that this list is very similar to the list of the characteristics of non-conceptual wisdom in the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga and Vasubandhu’s commentary on it (arūpy anidarśanam apratiṣṭham anābhāsam avijñaptikam aniketam), which is also found in the Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇī (Matsuda 1996, 96.5–6; D142, fol. 3b.4) and the Kāśyapaparivarta (Friedrich Weller, trans., Zum Kāśyapaparivarta [Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1965], 2:97). The Tibetan versified version of the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga and all versions of Vasubandhu’s commentary read brtag tu med pa for arūpi, thus indicating that term’s meaning "ungraspable." The same may apply here too for arūpiṇi (thus, "formless"would be "ungraspable").
  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.