Verse I.42

Ratnagotravibhāga Root Verse I.42

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Verse I.42 Variations

महोदधिरिवामेयगुणरत्नाक्षयाकरः
प्रदीपवदनिर्भागगुणयुक्तस्वभावतः

mahodadhirivāmeyaguṇaratnākṣayākaraḥ
pradīpavadanirbhāgaguṇayuktasvabhāvataḥ

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

རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཆེ་བཞིན་དཔག་མེད་པའི། །
ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་ཆེན་མི་ཟད་གནས། །
དབྱེར་མེད་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་ལྡན་པའི། །
ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཕྱིར་མར་མེ་བཞིན། །

Dege, PHI, 112

Just like the ocean, [the disposition of the victors] is an inexhaustible source
Of immeasurable jewels [in the form of its] qualities.
Just like a lamp, it is endowed with
Inseparable qualities by its nature.

When the Clouds Part, Brunnhölzl, 369 ^[2]

大海器寶水無量不可盡

如燈明觸色性功德如是

http://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/en/T31n1611_p0831b11

Source inépuisable de joyaux aux qualités infinies,

[L’Élément] ressemble au Grand Océan. On le compare aussi à une lampe car, en essence, Il possède d’indissociables qualités.

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

RGVV Commentary on Verse I.42

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།དེ་ལ་ལྡན་པའི་དོན་ལས་བརྩམས་ཏེ་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ། {br}རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཆེ་བཞིན་དཔག་མེད་པའི། །ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་ཆེན་མི་ཟད་གནས། །དབྱེར་མེད་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་ལྡན་པའི། །ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཕྱིར་མར་མེ་བཞིན།

Other English translations

Obermiller (1931) ^[4]

(The Essence of the Buddha) is like the Great Ocean

Being the inexhaustible repository of jewels—its sublime properties;

It is (moreover) like a light, since, by its nature

It is endowed with properties indivisible (from it).

Takasaki (1966) ^[5]

Being the inexhaustible storage of jewels of immeasurable virtues,

[The Germ of the Buddha is] like the Ocean;

It is akin to the lantern, because of its nature of

Being endowed with properties indivisible [from it].

Fuchs (2000) ^[6]

Like the great sea it holds qualities

immeasurable, precious, and inexhaustible.

Its essence holds indivisible properties.

Thus [the element] is similar to a lamp.

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.
The translation follows Schmithausen’s suggestion to understand °guṇayuktasvbhāvataḥ as a predicative ablative that qualifies "disposition of the victors" (jinagarbhaḥ) in I.45c. Takasaki 1966a (400ff.) already pointed out that verses I.30, 35, 42, and 45, though interrupted by several commentarial verses, are to be considered as a unit, with jinagarbhaḥ in I.45c being the subject that is common to all four verses. As mentioned above, the six topics of nature, cause, fruition, function, endowment, and manifestation in these four verses are described in a similar way in verses IX.56–59 of the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra (which are also found as concluding verses in the Buddhabhūmisūtra), where they pertain to the purity of the dharmadhātu as the common subject. As for Takasaki’s different rendering of I.42cd ("because of its nature of being endowed with properties indivisible [from it]"), it seems to correspond exactly to DP dbyer med yon tan dang ldan pa’i / ngo bo nyid phyir.
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] The translation follows Schmithausen’s suggestion to understand °guṇayuktasvbhāvataḥ as a predicative ablative that qualifies "disposition of the victors" (jinagarbhaḥ) in I.45c. Takasaki 1966a (400ff.) already pointed out that verses I.30, 35, 42, and 45, though interrupted by several commentarial verses, are to be considered as a unit, with jinagarbhaḥ in I.45c being the subject that is common to all four verses. As mentioned above, the six topics of nature, cause, fruition, function, endowment, and manifestation in these four verses are described in a similar way in verses IX.56–59 of the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra (which are also found as concluding verses in the Buddhabhūmisūtra), where they pertain to the purity of the dharmadhātu as the common subject. As for Takasaki’s different rendering of I.42cd ("because of its nature of being endowed with properties indivisible [from it]"), it seems to correspond exactly to DP dbyer med yon tan dang ldan pa’i / ngo bo nyid phyir.

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

[5] 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.

[6] 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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