Verse I.87

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.87

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Verse I.87 Variations

सर्वाकाराभिसंबोधिः सवासनमल्लोद्धृतिः
बुद्धत्वमथ निर्वाणमद्वयं परमार्थतः

sarvākārābhisaṃbodhiḥ savāsanamalloddhṛtiḥ
buddhatvamatha nirvāṇamadvayaṃ paramārthataḥ

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

།རྣམ་ཀུན་མངོན་རྫོགས་བྱང་ཆུབ་དང་།
།དྲི་མ་བག་ཆགས་བཅས་སྤངས་པ།
།སངས་རྒྱས་མྱ་ངན་འདས་པ་ནི།
།དམ་པའི་དོན་དུ་གཉིས་མེད་ཉིད།

Dege, PHI, 116

Being the fully perfect awakening in all aspects
And the removal of [all] stains and their latent tendencies,
Buddhahood and nirvāṇa
Ultimately are not two.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 389 ^[2]

Éveil manifeste et parfait à toutes choses

Et élimination des souillures avec leurs imprégnations – Le bouddha et le nirvāṇa Au sens sacré ne sont pas deux.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.87

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Now, what is taught by the latter half of verse [I.84]?

Being the fully perfect awakening in all aspects

And the removal of [all] stains and their latent tendencies,

Buddhahood and nirvāṇa

Ultimately are not two. I.87

Those four synonyms for the uncontaminated basic element are contained in the single undifferentiated meaning of the tathāgata element. Therefore, since those [four] are one in their meaning, by way of the principle of the dharma of nonduality, the two called "buddhahood" (due to its being the fully perfect awakening in all aspects with regard to all phenomena) and "nirvāṇa" (due to its being the relinquishment of [all] stains and their latent tendencies immediately upon this fully perfect awakening)^[3] are to be regarded as not being two in the uncontaminated basic element, [that is,] not being different and being inseparable. It is said:

Liberation has the characteristic of being inseparable

From its qualities, which are of all kinds,

Innumerable, inconceivable, and stainless.

What is this liberation is the Tathāgata.^[4]

With regard to the parinirvāṇa of arhats and pratyekabuddhas, [the Śrīmālādevīsūtra] says:

Bhagavan, what is called "nirvāṇa" is [just] a means of the tathāgatas.^[5]

This [passage] explains that, just like a city in the middle of the jungle that is magically created for [travelers] who are tired by their long path, this [nirvāṇa of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas] is a means [used] by the completely perfect buddhas, who are the supreme lords of dharma, [so that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas] do not turn back. [On the other hand, that sūtra] says: {D105a}

Bhagavan, because they have attained nirvāṇa, {J57} the tathāgata arhats, the completely perfect buddhas, are endowed with the qualities that have finally reached their entirety . . . immeasurability . . . inconceivability . . . . and . . . purity.^[6]

This [passage] explains that, having attained the nirvāṇa that is characterized by being inseparable from the accomplishment of these four kinds of qualities, {P109a} the completely perfect buddhas have the character of that [nirvāṇa]. Thus since both buddhahood and nirvāṇa have the quality of being inseparable,^[7] there is no one who attains nirvāṇa without buddhahood.

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) ^[8]

The Perfect Supreme Enlightenment,

And the rejection of all defilement with its residues,—

The Buddha and his Nirvāṇa

Are one in the aspect of the Absolute.

Takasaki (1966) ^[9]

Being the Perfect Enlightenment in all aspects,

And being the removal of pollutions along their root,

Buddhahood and Nirvāṇa

Are one and the same in the highest viewpoint.

Fuchs (2000) ^[10]

Direct perfect enlightenment [with regard to] all aspects,

and abandonment of the stains along with their imprints

[are called] buddha and nirvana respectively.

In truth, these are not two different things.

Textual sources

Commentaries on this verse

Academic notes

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.
With Schmithausen, I follow MA sahābhisaṃbodhāt and DP lhan cig mngon par rdzogs par byang chub pas against J mahābhisaṃbodhāt.
Modern scholars usually do not consider this verse as part of the Uttaratantra but as part of RGVV. That this verse is not part of the Uttaratantra but a quote from some other text is suggested by the fact that it is followed by iti in the Sanskrit of RGVV and by the corresponding zees bya ba in DP. By contrast, such is never the case for any of the verses of the Uttaratantra in RGVV. Still, RGVV provides some comments on this verse (as it does with certain other verses not from the Uttaratantra) and in its explanation of I.88–92. Maybe due to that or based on a different manuscript, Ut (DP) and all Tibetan commentaries consider this verse to be part of the Uttaratantra. For further comments on it, see CMW (491–92). According to C, this verse is from the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, but, as Takasaki already remarks, it is not found there. Maybe C was referring to a partly similar passage in that sūtra: "This [nirvāṇa] is liberation. Liberation is the experience that is most everlasting, immovable, blissful, and permanent. What is this liberation is the Tathāgata" (D120, fol. 78a.1). The Aṅgulimālīyasūtra (D213, fol. 189a.2) also contains two similar lines: "What is nirvāṇa is liberation. What is liberation is the Tathāgata."
D45.48, fol. 264a.5.
Ibid., fol. 264a.5–264b.2. The text’s compound sarvāprameyācintyaviśuddhiniṣṭhāgataguṇasamanvāgatā is not found in the sūtra, but its four components sarvāprameyācintyaviśuddhi° are contrasted in four separate sentences with the lack of such qualities in śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.
As Takasaki does, this could also be read as "have inseparable qualities" (which is also true), but, as already explained at length, the point here is that buddhahood and nirvāṇa are inseparable.
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] With Schmithausen, I follow MA sahābhisaṃbodhāt and DP lhan cig mngon par rdzogs par byang chub pas against J mahābhisaṃbodhāt.

[4] Modern scholars usually do not consider this verse as part of the Uttaratantra but as part of RGVV. That this verse is not part of the Uttaratantra but a quote from some other text is suggested by the fact that it is followed by iti in the Sanskrit of RGVV and by the corresponding zees bya ba in DP. By contrast, such is never the case for any of the verses of the Uttaratantra in RGVV. Still, RGVV provides some comments on this verse (as it does with certain other verses not from the Uttaratantra) and in its explanation of I.88–92. Maybe due to that or based on a different manuscript, Ut (DP) and all Tibetan commentaries consider this verse to be part of the Uttaratantra. For further comments on it, see CMW (491–92). According to C, this verse is from the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, but, as Takasaki already remarks, it is not found there. Maybe C was referring to a partly similar passage in that sūtra: "This [nirvāṇa] is liberation. Liberation is the experience that is most everlasting, immovable, blissful, and permanent. What is this liberation is the Tathāgata" (D120, fol. 78a.1). The Aṅgulimālīyasūtra (D213, fol. 189a.2) also contains two similar lines: "What is nirvāṇa is liberation. What is liberation is the Tathāgata."

[5] D45.48, fol. 264a.5.

[6] Ibid., fol. 264a.5–264b.2. The text’s compound sarvāprameyācintyaviśuddhiniṣṭhāgataguṇasamanvāgatā is not found in the sūtra, but its four components sarvāprameyācintyaviśuddhi° are contrasted in four separate sentences with the lack of such qualities in śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.

[7] As Takasaki does, this could also be read as "have inseparable qualities" (which is also true), but, as already explained at length, the point here is that buddhahood and nirvāṇa are inseparable.

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

[9] 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.

[10] 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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