Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse IV.73
Verse IV.73 Variations
निष्किंचने निराभासे निरालम्बे निराश्रये
चक्षुष्पथव्यतिक्रान्तेऽप्यरूपिण्यनिदर्शने
चक्षुष्पथव्यतिक्रान्तेऽप्यरूपिण्यनिदर्शने
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[1]
niṣkiṃcane nirābhāse nirālambe nirāśraye
cakṣuṣpathavyatikrānte'pyarūpiṇyanidarśane
cakṣuṣpathavyatikrānte'pyarūpiṇyanidarśane
E. H. Johnston as input by the University of the West.[2]
ཅུང་ཟད་མེད་ཅིང་སྣང་བ་མེད། །
དམིགས་པ་མེད་ཅིང་རྟེན་མེད་ལ། །
མིག་གི་ལམ་ལས་རབ་འདས་པ། །
གཟུགས་མེད་བསྟན་དུ་མེད་པ་ཡི། །
དམིགས་པ་མེད་ཅིང་རྟེན་མེད་ལ། །
མིག་གི་ལམ་ལས་རབ་འདས་པ། །
གཟུགས་མེད་བསྟན་དུ་མེད་པ་ཡི། །
Though it is insubstantial, without appearance,
Without support, without basis,
Beyond the pathway of the eyes,
Formless, and indemonstrable,
Without support, without basis,
Beyond the pathway of the eyes,
Formless, and indemonstrable,
Immatériel, inapparent,
Introuvable, sans appui, Bien au-delà du visible, Sans forme, impossible à montrer,
Charrier, Christian and Patrick Carré. Traité de la Continuité suprême du Grand Véhicule. Plazac: Éditions Padmakara, 2019.
RGVV Commentary on Verse IV.73
Tibetan
English
Sanskrit
Chinese
Full Tibetan Commentary
Full English Commentary
Full Sanskrit Commentary
Full Chinese Commentary
Other English translations
Obermiller (1931) [6]
- Immaterial, invisible,
- Inaccessible to the senses,
- Without support and without foundation,
- Formless and incapable of being pointed to—such is space.
Takasaki (1966) [7]
- Being immaterial and invisible,
- Without support and without foundation,
- Surpassing the way of eye-sight,
- Formless and incapable of being shown,
Fuchs (2000) [8]
- Space is nothing at all and does not appear.
- It is neither an object [of the senses] nor a support.
- It is totally beyond being a path for the eye.
- It has no form and is not to be demonstrated.
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.
- Jñānālokālaṃkārasūtra, D100, fols. 288b.4–289a.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").
- 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.
།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།