Verse III.23

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse III.23

Verse III.23 Variations

नीलोत्पलश्रीवृषपक्ष्मनेत्र-
सितामलोर्णोदितचारुवक्त्रः
उष्णीषशीर्षव्यवदातसूक्ष्म-
सुवर्णवर्णच्छविरग्रसत्त्वः

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

nīlotpalaśrīvṛṣapakṣmanetra-
sitāmalorṇoditacāruvaktraḥ
uṣṇīṣaśīrṣavyavadātasūkṣma-
suvarṇavarṇacchaviragrasattvaḥ

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

།སྤྱན་བཟང་ཨུཏྤལ་ཁྱུ་མཆོག་རྫི་འདྲ་དང་།
།ཞལ་མཛེས་དྲི་མེད་མཛོད་སྤུ་དཀར་ལྡན་དང་།
།གཙུག་ཏོར་དབུ་ལྡན་དག་ཅིང་སྲབ་པ་དང་།
།པགས་པ་གསེར་གྱི་མདོག་འདྲ་སེམས་ཅན་མཆོག

Dege, PHI, 132

His eyes are beautiful like blue water lilies, with eyelashes like a bull,
His face is handsome, endowed with the white immaculate ūrṇā hair,
His head [is crowned by] an uṣṇīṣa, and the skin
Of the supreme of beings is pure, delicate, and has a golden hue.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 433 ^[3]

Il a de beaux yeux pareils à des lotus bleus

et les cils de la reine des vaches ne valent pas les siens. Son beau visage sans défauts s’orne d’un poil-trésor blanc. Le haut de son crâne se pare d’un apex et sa peau, fine et pure, A la couleur de l’or : n’est-il pas suprême entre tous les êtres ?

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse III.23

Tibetan
English
Sanskrit
Chinese

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

།སྐྱེས་བུ་ཆེན་པོའི་མཚན་སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གཉིས་དང་ལྡན་པའི་གཟུགས་མངའ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ནི། ལེགས་གནས་འཁོར་ལོས་མཚན་པ་དང་། །ཡངས་དང་ཞབས་ལོང་མི་མངོན་དང་། །སོར་མོ་རིང་དང་ཕྱག་ཞབས་རིང་། །དྲ་བ་ཡིས་ནི་འབྲེལ་བ་དང་། །པགས་འཇམ་གཞོན་ཤ་ཅན་ལེགས་ཉིད། །སྐུ་ནི་བདུན་དག་མཐོ་བ་དང་། །བྱིན་པ་ཨེ་ན་ཡ་འདྲ་གསང་། །གླང་པོ་བཞིན་དུ་སྦུབས་སུ་ནུབ། །རོ་སྟོད་སེང་གེ་འདྲ་བ་

དང་། །ཐལ་གོང་བར་མེད་རྒྱས་པ་དང་། །དཔུང་པ་ལེགས་ཟླུམ་ཕྱག་འཇམ་རིང་། །ཟླུམ་ཞིང་མཐོན་དམན་མེད་པ་དང་། །ཕྱག་རིང་ཡོངས་སུ་དག་པ་ཡི། །འོད་ཀྱི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་དག་དང་ལྡན། །མགྲིན་པ་དྲི་མེད་དུང་འདྲ་དང་། །འགྲམ་པ་རི་དགས་རྒྱལ་པོ་འདྲ། །ཚེམས་ནི་བཞི་བཅུ་མཉམ་པ་དང་། །རབ་དངས་ཚེམས་ཐགས་བཟང་བ་དང་། །རྣམ་དག་ཚེམས་མཉམ་ཉིད་དང་ནི། །མཆེ་བ་རབ་མཆོག་དཀར་བ་ཉིད། །ལྗགས་རིང་མཐའ་མེད་བསམ་མེད་པ། །རོ་བྲོ་བ་ཡི་མཆོག་ཉིད་དང་། །རང་བྱུང་ཀ་ལ་པིང་ཀ་ཡི། །སྒྲ་དང་ཚངས་པའི་དབྱངས་ཉིད་དང་། །སྤྱན་བཟངས་ཨུཏྤལ་ཁྱུ་མཆོག་རྫི་འདྲ་དང་། །ཞལ་མཛེས་དྲི་མེད་མཛོད་སྤུ་དཀར་བར་ལྡན། །གཙུག་ཏོར་དབུ་ལྡན་དག་ཅིང་སྲབ་པ་དང་། །པགས་པ་གསེར་གྱི་མདོག་འདྲ་སེམས་ཅན་མཆོག །བ་སྤུ་ལེགས་ཕྲ་འཇམ་ཞིང་རེ་རེ་ནས། །སྐུ་ཡི་གྱེན་དུ་གཡས་ཕྱོགས་འཁྱིལ་བ་དང་། །དབུ་སྐྲ་དྲི་མེད་རིན་ཆེན་མཐོན་མཐིང་བཞིན། །ནྱ་གྲོ་རྫོགས་པའི་ལྗོན་ཤིང་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་འདྲ། །ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་དཔེ་མེད་དྲང་སྲོང་ཆེ། །སྲེད་མེད་བུ་ཡི་སྟོབས་མངའ་མཁྲེགས་པའི་སྐུ། །བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་པར་སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གཉིས་པོ། །འདི་དག་སྟོན་པས་མི་དབང་མཚན་དུ་གསུངས།

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) ^[14]

His eyes are beautiful like a lotus with eyelashes like those of a bull,

His face is handsome and has the immaculate hair of treasure,

His head is adorned with a crest, and the skin

Of the highest of beings is delicate and gold-like.

Takasaki (1966) ^[15]

He, the highest of living beings, is of beautiful eyes, like a blue-lotus, with eyelashes like those of a bull,

Of handsome face, endowed with the immaculate Urṇa-hair,

Of a head adorned with the Uṣṇīṣa, and of skin,

Purified, subtle and of golden colour;

Fuchs (2000) ^[16]

His pure eyes are like blue lotuses, his eyelashes [dense]

as those of an ox. He has the stainless white uma hair

embellishing his face and the ushnisha crowning his head.

His skin is pure and delicate and of the color of gold.

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.
VT (fol. 15v1) adds that the hands are likewise marked with wheels.
Skt. aṅguli means both fingers and toes, and the following phrase "hands and feet" indicates both.
According to VT (fol. 15v1), "shoulders"refers to both arms and legs, thus obviously to shoulders and hips.
Skt. anunnāma, DP mtho dman med pa.
According to VT (fol. 15v2), the throat has lines like a conch.
According to VT (fol. 15v2), there are twenty teeth each in the upper and lower jaws.
According to VT (fol. 15v2), none are longer or shorter (lit. "high and low").
Ordinarily, kalaviṅka is a name of the red-green Indian sparrow and the Indian cuckoo alike. In Buddhist texts, however, it is usually considered as a mythical bird with the head of a human (a bodhisattva) and the body of a bird, which already sings marvelously before it breaks its shell. It is often said to live in Amitabha’s pure land Sukhāvatī.
In Hindu cosmology, this is the son of Mahāpuruṣa, the latter being the primeval man as the soul and original source of the universe. Also, Nārāyaṇa is variously identified as Brahmā, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa.
Obviously, the numerical breakdown of the marks into thirty-two in these verses is far from being clear, so different commentaries give different numberings and combine certain features into one (for the list of thirty-two and their causes in GC and RYC, which is based on the Ratnadārikāsūtra, see the note on III.17–25 in CMW). Note also that this list here is just one from among a considerable number of more or less differing lists of the thirty-two marks that are found in various sūtras and treatises (for comprehensive lists, see Xing 2002, 27 and Tan 2011, 146–62). Also, the comments on them and their causes vary in different texts. Despite claims to the contrary, there is no evidence that the major marks (or the minor marks) are of Brahmanic origin or even of early Buddhist origin (all Buddhist sources are quite late; see Tan 2011). As indicated below in the Uttaratantra, its list of the thirty-two major marks (which includes some marks that the Abhisamayālaṃkāra presents as minor marks) is based on the Ratnadārikāparipṛcchāsūtra (Taishō 397, 37b–c) and is also contained in the Anuttarāśrayasūtra (Taishō 669, 474a–b). Except for minor differences in counting, this list is also found in TOK (see Brunnhölzl 2011b, 457–58). For the different list of these marks and their causes in Abhisamayālaṃkāra VIII.13–17, which is based on the prajñāpāramitā sūtras, see Brunnhölzl 2011b, 117–21 (for the eighty minor marks, see 121–25) and Brunnhölzl 2012a, 378–84 and 531–33 (for the minor marks, see 384–88 and 533–37). Except for a few minor changes in the order and some additional features, the Abhisamayālaṃkāra ’s list is basically repeated in Nāgārjuna’s Ratnāvalī II.77–96, and II.98 adds that cakravartins also possess these marks but that their purity, beauty, and clarity matches not even a fraction of those of buddhas. Except for differences in the numbering, chapter 8 of the *Prajñāpāramitāśāstra (Taishō 1509, 90a–91a) ascribed to Nāgārjuna also follows the list in the Abhisamayālaṃkāra¨. For a comparison of the list in the Uttaratantra with the lists in Haribhadra’s Abhisamayālaṃkārālokā and the Mahāvyutpatti, see the notes in Takasaki 1966a on the translation of Uttaratantra III.17–25. For the most detailed presentations of the major marks apart from the prajñāpāramitā sūtras, see the Lakkhaṇasutta (Dīgha Nikāya III.142–79; translated in Walshe 1995, 441–60 and Tan 2011, 180–213; the latter also provides an overview of mainly Pāli sources of both the major and minor marks and discusses the potential Babylonian origin of the former) and the Arthaviniścayasūtra (Samtani 2002, 205–16), which however lists thirty-three marks. See also the Lalitavistarasūtra ([Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1983], 1:155–56), the Mahāvyutpatti (section 17, nos. 236–67; translated in Thurman 1976, 156), and Pawo Tsugla Trengwa’s commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra (Dpa’ bo gtsug lag phreng ba n.d., 720–23).
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] VT (fol. 15v1) adds that the hands are likewise marked with wheels.

[5] Skt. aṅguli means both fingers and toes, and the following phrase "hands and feet" indicates both.

[6] According to VT (fol. 15v1), "shoulders"refers to both arms and legs, thus obviously to shoulders and hips.

[7] Skt. anunnāma, DP mtho dman med pa.

[8] According to VT (fol. 15v2), the throat has lines like a conch.

[9] According to VT (fol. 15v2), there are twenty teeth each in the upper and lower jaws.

[10] According to VT (fol. 15v2), none are longer or shorter (lit. "high and low").

[11] Ordinarily, kalaviṅka is a name of the red-green Indian sparrow and the Indian cuckoo alike. In Buddhist texts, however, it is usually considered as a mythical bird with the head of a human (a bodhisattva) and the body of a bird, which already sings marvelously before it breaks its shell. It is often said to live in Amitabha’s pure land Sukhāvatī.

[12] In Hindu cosmology, this is the son of Mahāpuruṣa, the latter being the primeval man as the soul and original source of the universe. Also, Nārāyaṇa is variously identified as Brahmā, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa.

[13] Obviously, the numerical breakdown of the marks into thirty-two in these verses is far from being clear, so different commentaries give different numberings and combine certain features into one (for the list of thirty-two and their causes in GC and RYC, which is based on the Ratnadārikāsūtra, see the note on III.17–25 in CMW). Note also that this list here is just one from among a considerable number of more or less differing lists of the thirty-two marks that are found in various sūtras and treatises (for comprehensive lists, see Xing 2002, 27 and Tan 2011, 146–62). Also, the comments on them and their causes vary in different texts. Despite claims to the contrary, there is no evidence that the major marks (or the minor marks) are of Brahmanic origin or even of early Buddhist origin (all Buddhist sources are quite late; see Tan 2011). As indicated below in the Uttaratantra, its list of the thirty-two major marks (which includes some marks that the Abhisamayālaṃkāra presents as minor marks) is based on the Ratnadārikāparipṛcchāsūtra (Taishō 397, 37b–c) and is also contained in the Anuttarāśrayasūtra (Taishō 669, 474a–b). Except for minor differences in counting, this list is also found in TOK (see Brunnhölzl 2011b, 457–58). For the different list of these marks and their causes in Abhisamayālaṃkāra VIII.13–17, which is based on the prajñāpāramitā sūtras, see Brunnhölzl 2011b, 117–21 (for the eighty minor marks, see 121–25) and Brunnhölzl 2012a, 378–84 and 531–33 (for the minor marks, see 384–88 and 533–37). Except for a few minor changes in the order and some additional features, the Abhisamayālaṃkāra ’s list is basically repeated in Nāgārjuna’s Ratnāvalī II.77–96, and II.98 adds that cakravartins also possess these marks but that their purity, beauty, and clarity matches not even a fraction of those of buddhas. Except for differences in the numbering, chapter 8 of the *Prajñāpāramitāśāstra (Taishō 1509, 90a–91a) ascribed to Nāgārjuna also follows the list in the Abhisamayālaṃkāra¨. For a comparison of the list in the Uttaratantra with the lists in Haribhadra’s Abhisamayālaṃkārālokā and the Mahāvyutpatti, see the notes in Takasaki 1966a on the translation of Uttaratantra III.17–25. For the most detailed presentations of the major marks apart from the prajñāpāramitā sūtras, see the Lakkhaṇasutta (Dīgha Nikāya III.142–79; translated in Walshe 1995, 441–60 and Tan 2011, 180–213; the latter also provides an overview of mainly Pāli sources of both the major and minor marks and discusses the potential Babylonian origin of the former) and the Arthaviniścayasūtra (Samtani 2002, 205–16), which however lists thirty-three marks. See also the Lalitavistarasūtra ([Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1983], 1:155–56), the Mahāvyutpatti (section 17, nos. 236–67; translated in Thurman 1976, 156), and Pawo Tsugla Trengwa’s commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra (Dpa’ bo gtsug lag phreng ba n.d., 720–23).

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

[15] 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.

[16] 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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