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Why is Every Living Being a Tathāgatagarbha? A Translation of the Twenty-Seventh Verse of the First Chapter in the Ratnagotravibhāga

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Abstract

In modern Buddhist scholarship, J. Takasaki’s English and Japanese translations of the Ratnagotravibhāga in 1966 and 1989 have been read as an exemplary one until now without any meaningful revision. This paper critically reviews his translations of the twenty-seventh verse in the first chapter of the work, which explicates the key doctrine in the Tathāgatagarbha thought that every living being is a tathāgatagarbha. The method is to clarify the ambiguity of expressions appeared in the verse by changing its nominal style into a general one. After resolving the problems that occur due to vague phrasing, it attempts to investigate the doctrine on the basis of the concepts of buddhakāya, tathatā and gotra, which respectively consist in the first, the second, and the third pāda of the twenty-seventh verse. This paper, thus, provides a new translation of the verse: “Since the Buddha’s wisdom is inherent in all living beings; since the immaculateness of living beings and that of the Buddha are essentially non-dual; and since a buddha is figuratively expressed to be the effect of the buddha-nature with which all living beings are endowed; all body-possessors [=living beings] are by their nature buddhas.”

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Notes

  1. Note the twenty-eighth verse which is co-related to the twenty-seventh (RGV 26,5‒6: saṃbuddhakāyaspharaṇāt tathatāvyatibhedataḥ | gotrataś ca sadā sarve buddhagarbhāḥ śarīriṇaḥ ||28||). See also the commentary to these two verses, RGVV 26,7‒10.

  2. See RGVV 26,7‒9: yad uta sarvasattveṣu tathāgatadharmakāyaparispharaṇārthena tathāgatatathatāvyatibhedārthena tathāgatagotrasaṃbhavārthena ca. When Takasaki translates this passage of RGVV, he is aware that sarvasattveṣu is connected to all below three meanings (Takasaki 1989, p. 45). However, he does not actually apply sattvarāśes to the second and the third pādas in his translations of the twenty-seventh verse.

  3. RGVV 25,18‒19: tatra samalāṃ tathatām adhikṛtya yad uktaṃ sarvasattvās tathāgatagarbhā iti tat kenārthena.

  4. See the previous footnote 2.

  5. Takasaki (1966, p. 195). In order to express the meaning of sattvarāśes in the ablative case, Takasaki adds the word, ‘therefore’ after translating the first three pādas.

  6. Takasaki (1989, p. 44).

  7. Saito translates the first pāda: “Because a multitude of living beings is within the Buddha’s wisdom,” (Saito 2020, p. 2). On the other hand, Shimoda translates it: “仏の智慧が衆生の聚うちに滲透しているから [Because the Buddha’s wisdom is inherent in the multitude of living beings],” (Shimoda 2014, p. 29).

  8. Sattvarāśes can be, of course, the ablative case as well. But this case is not fit for the context of the twenty-seventh verse.

  9. For the instance of a passage consisting of two genitive and one ablative cases, see the Brahmasūtra 2.4.4: tatpūrvakatvād vācaḥ. Here, the compound, tatpūrvakatvād is analyzed into teṣām and pūrvakatvād; and so the passage consists of one ablative case of pūrvakatvād and two genitive cases of teṣām and vācaḥ. For more, see Date (1973, p. 68).

  10. See RGV(t) 49,9: sangs rgyas ye shes sems can tshogs zhugs phyir. Fuchs translates this Tibetan pāda: “Since buddha wisdom is always present within the assembly of beings,” (Fuchs 2000, p. 117).

  11. See Takasaki (1966, p. 47).

  12. Note FL 796,a11‒12: 所言藏者 一切衆生悉在如來智內故 名為藏. As far as I know, the idea that “all living beings are within the Tathāgata/Buddha’s wisdom.” first appears in the FL in East Asian Buddhism.

  13. Following Paramārtha’s interpretation, other East Asian Buddhist scholars such as the well-known Korean monk, Wonhyo (元曉, ca. 617‒686) cite this passage from the FL when they interpret sarvasattvās tathāgatagarbhāḥ. For instance, see DJ 69,c3‒5: 如佛性論云 一切衆生皆在如來智內 皆為如來之所攝持故 說所攝衆生為如來藏.

  14. RGVV 70,18‒19: na hi sa kaścit sattvaḥ sattvadhātau saṃvidyate yas tathāgatadharmakāyād bahir ākāśadhātor iva rūpam.

  15. Takasaki (1966, p. 286). Even though there are various meanings of bahis, such as ‘outside,’ ‘apart,’ and ‘beside’ (Sir Monier-Williams 1960, p. 726), Takasaki takes ‘outside’ as its meaning. In this sentence, however, the word has the meaning of ‘apart’ in connection with tathāgatadharmakāyād.

  16. For instance, Fazang (法藏, ca. 643‒712), the putative third patriarch of the Huayan school, also cites this interpretation of Paramārtha in order to show that the Buddha’s wisdom embraces all living beings. Note HTJ 118,c15‒19: 又佛性論第二如來藏品云 一切眾生悉在如來智內故 名為藏 以如如智稱如如境故 一切眾生決定無有出如如境者 並為如來之所攝持故 名所藏眾生為如來藏 是故離佛心智無一法可得.

  17. See RGV 41,10‒11: tad doṣaguṇaniṣṭhāsu vyāpi sāmānyalakṣaṇam | hīnamadhyaviśiṣṭeṣu vyoma rūpagateṣv iva ||50|| and its commentary RGVV 41,12‒14: yāsau pṛthagjanāryasaṃbuddhānām avikalpacittaprakṛtiḥ sā tisṛṣv avasthāsu yathākramaṃ doṣeṣv api guṇeṣv api guṇaviśuddhiniṣṭhāyām api sāmānyalakṣaṇatvād ākāśam iva mṛdrajatasuvarṇabhājaneṣv anugatānupraviṣṭā samā nirviśiṣṭā prāptā sarvakālam.

  18. RGVV 22,10‒11: na sa kaścit sattvaḥ sattvanikāye saṃvidyate yatra tathāgatajñānaṃ na sakalam anupraviṣṭam. Note also DHJ 623,c24–25: 無有衆生無衆生身 如來智慧不具足者.

  19. See RGVV 71,1‒4: yathāmbaraṃ sarvagataṃ sadā mataṃ tathaiva tat sarvagataṃ sadā matam. yathāmbaraṃ rūpagateṣu sarvagaṃ tathaiva tat sattvagaṇesu sarvagam iti. This passage is in the same context with DZhL 603,a27–28: 如空遍一切 彿亦一切遍 虛空遍諸色 諸佛遍衆生.

  20. RGV 60,12‒13: yathā vivarṇāmbujagarbhaveṣṭitaṃ tathāgataṃ dīptasahasralakṣaṇam |

  21. RGV 61,14‒15: … anāsravaṃ madhunibhaṃ jñānaṃ tathā dehiṣu kleśāḥ kṣudranibhā ... ||104||

  22. RGVV 61,16: bahistuṣasadṛśāḥ kleśāḥ, antaḥsāravat tathāgatadhātur iti.

  23. Takasaki (1966, p. 197).

  24. Takasaki (1989, p. 44).

  25. See Takasaki (1989, p. 253): “ここで A · Bに当たるのは, 如來の眞如と衆生の眞如と解せられる.”

  26. Buswell and Lopez (2014, p. 899).

  27. See Mathes (2008, p. 20).

  28. See RGV 43,9‒10: cittasya yāsau prakṛtiḥ prabhāsvarā na jātu sā dyaur iva yāti vikriyām | This passage explicates the premise of the Tathāgatagarbha theory that “the mind is essentially immaculate” (cittaprakṛtiprabhāsvara). The term, prabhāsvara has a dictionary meaning of ‘bright,’ ‘brilliant,’ and ‘shining.’ But in this case, it has the meaning of ‘immaculate.’

  29. See RGVV 21,8: tatra samalā tathatā yo dhātur avinirmuktakleśakośas tathāgatagarbha ity ucyate. See also Ogawa (1969, pp. 80‒82).

  30. See RGVV 21,9‒10: nirmalā tathatā sa eva buddhabhūmāv āśrayaparivṛttilakṣaṇo yas tathāgatadharmakāya ity ucyate.

  31. Shimoda translates the second pāda as follows: “その [衆生聚の煩惱から解放される時点での] 無垢なることが 本性として [仏と] 不二であるから [since the immaculateness (at the time when) the (multitude of living beings is free from defilements) is by nature non-dual with (the Buddha)],” (Shimoda 2014, p. 29). Regardless of whether or not living beings are free from defilements, however, their mind is always immaculate by nature. So, the parts that Shimoda inserts are unnecessary.

  32. See RGVV 26,8: tathāgatatathatāvyatibhedārthena.

  33. RGVV 71,14: yā cātmaviśuddhir yā ca sattvaviśuddhir advayaiṣādvaidhīkāreti; FDRZhJ 261,b24–25: 由我淸淨故 即彼一切衆生淸淨 若一切衆生淸淨 即法無二無二種類.

  34. Edgerton (1985, p. 216), Seyfort Ruegg (1976, p. 354). For more on the concept of gotra, see Seyfort Ruegg (1976), Takasaki (1989b, pp. 203‒208), Shimoda (2014, pp. 47‒51).

  35. Seyfort Ruegg (1976, p. 344).

  36. The Tibetan translation takes ‘rigs’ for gotra. See RGV(t) 49,10: sangs rgyas rigs la de ’bras nyer btags phyir. Fuchs translates the third pāda: “Since the disposition in buddhahood has been named after its fruit,” (Fuchs 2000, p. 117). The term, rigs has the meaning of ‘family’ as well, and so sangs rgyas rigs can be also translated as Buddhist lineage.

  37. See Shimoda (2014, pp. 39‒44), Cha (2016, pp. 72‒73). When Ratnamati makes a Chinese translation of the RGV, he takes the buddha-nature (佛性) for bauddhagotra. Note JYBL 828,a29: 皆實有佛性.

  38. See RGV 71,18‒19: gotraṃ tad dvividhaṃ jñeyaṃ nidhānaphalavṛkṣavat | anādiprakṛtisthaṃ ca samudānītam uttaram ||149||

  39. Note RGV 72,1‒2: buddhakāyatrayāvāptir asmād gotradvayān matā | prathamāt prathamaḥ kāyo dvitīyād dvau tu paścimau ||150||

  40. See RGV 86,14: tatprabhedas tribhiḥ kāyair vṛttiḥ svābhāvikādibhiḥ | In this verse, the pronoun, ‘tat’ refers to buddhatvam in the previous forty-second verse. See also RGVV 85,7‒10: tathāgatatvam … amalais tribhiḥ svābhāvikasāṃbhogikanairmāṇikaiḥ kāyair … pravartata iti draṣṭavyam. The buddhatva/tathāgatatva here is identical with buddhadhātu/tathāgatadhātu. For details on identifying bauddhagotra with the buddha-nature, see Seyfort Ruegg (1976, p. 346), Shimoda (2014, p. 48).

  41. See RGVV 72,11‒12: tatra ca sattve sattve tathāgatadhātur utpanno garbhagataḥ saṃvidyate na ca te sattvā budhyanta iti.

  42. The realm of living beings itself is essentially the true mode of a buddha’s existence, i.e. dharmakāya. Note RGVV 41,15‒17: tasmāc chāriputra nānyaḥ sattvadhātur nānyo dharmakāyaḥ. sattvadhātur eva dharmakāyaḥ. dharmakāya eva sattvadhātuḥ. advayam etadarthena. vyañjanamātrabheda iti; FBJ 467,b16‒19: 是故 舍利弗 不離眾生界有法身 不離法身有眾生界 眾生界即法身 法身即眾生界 舍利弗 此二法者義一名異. According to Zimmermann, the TGS also states that all living beings are essentially equal to tathāgatas (Zimmermann 2002, p. 62).

  43. Note RGVV 72,9–10: trividhabuddhakāyaprabhāvitatvaṃ hi tathāgatatvam. atas tatprāptaye hetus tathāgatadhātur iti.

  44. Takasaki (1966, p. 197).

  45. Takasaki (1989, p. 44).

  46. In the Tathāgatagarbha thought, all living beings are the lineage of the Buddha. Since sattvarāśes in the first pāda is syntactically linked to the third, there is already, in this pāda, a term that expresses the lineage of the Buddha. Hence, bauddhagotra here should be understood as the meaning of the buddha-nature. Note RGVV 71,18‒73,8. See also Saito (2020, pp. 9–10).

  47. See Takasaki (1989, pp. 251‒252, no. 3).

  48. For the various ways of analyzing the compound, tathāgatagarbhāḥ, see Zimmermann (2002, pp. 39‒46), Zimmermann (2014, pp. 116‒122).

  49. Takasaki (1966, p. 197).

  50. Takasaki (1989, p. 44).

  51. See Takasaki (1974, pp. 20‒22), Takasaki (1989a, 7).

  52. Zimmermann also does not accept the concept of embryo. See Zimmermann (2002, pp. 42; 44, no. 69).

  53. Takasaki (1989a, p. 7).

  54. See Saito (2020, p. 2), Kim (2009, pp. 111‒112). In the cases of analyzing tathāgatagarbhāḥ as a tatpuruṣa compound, there is another interpretation of sarvasattvās tathāgatagarbhāḥ: “All living beings are the matrix/womb of a tathāgata.” For instance, Matsumoto translates tathāgatagarbhāḥ as ‘the container of a tathāgata’ (Matsumoto 1994, 498ff.). Zimmermann deals with Matsumoto’s interpretation and criticizes it. For details, see Zimmermann (2002, pp. 42‒43). Later, Matsumoto himself discards his own interpretation (Matsumoto 2014, p. 198, no. 49).

  55. See Zimmermann (2002, p. 41).

  56. Zimmermann (2002, p. 43).

  57. See Zimmermann (2002, p. 43; 106); etc.

  58. The verbal root of garbha is ambiguous. Sir Monier-Williams’s Sanskrit-English Dictionary suggests that its root is √grabh=√grah (Sir Monier-Williams 1960, p. 349). When using √grah, Zimmermann’s translation accords with the following analysis of tathāgatagarbhāḥ: tathāgataṃ gṛhṇanti ye te tathāgatagarbhāḥ.

  59. In the sense that Zimmermann takes ‘contain’ as the meaning of garbha, his understanding of sarvasattvās tathāgatagarbhāḥ agrees with the way of interpreting this compound in East Asian Buddhist tradition. For instance, Paramārtha employs the Chinese term ‘隱覆藏’ for the first analysis, the ‘能攝藏’ for the second, and the ‘所攝藏’ for the third. See FL 795,c23‒24: 如來藏義有三種應知 何者爲三 一所攝藏 二隱覆藏 三能攝藏.

  60. Strictly speaking, the interpretation through the third analysis is that “living beings are those who contain a tathāgata.”

  61. All these nine similes, though they each emphasize different aspects of this tertium comparationis, are meant to illustrate the same basic situation (Zimmermann 2002, p. 35).

  62. For more on the first simile in the TGS, see Zimmermann (2002, pp. 105‒109). Note also RGVV 60,11‒61,2.

  63. See Zimmermann’s following statement: “Just as these tathāgatas are found inside the lotuses, completely unaffected by their abhorrent surroundings, so too do sentient beings contain fully developed tathāgatas within themselves.” (Zimmermann 2002, p. 36). See also the passage: “However, the other parts of the first simile clearly demonstrate that it is not an embryonic seed or such that is contained in living beings but a tathāgata itself.” (Zimmermann 2002, p. 44).

  64. See RGVV 60,11: kutsitapadmakośasadṛśāḥ kleśāḥ, buddhavat tathāgatadhātur iti.

  65. Note RGVV 41,15‒17: tasmāc chāriputra nānyaḥ sattvadhātur nānyo dharmakāyaḥ. sattvadhātur eva dharmakāyaḥ. dharmakāya eva sattvadhātuḥ. advayam etadarthena. vyañjanamātrabheda iti. See also Zimmermann (2014, p. 123).

  66. Note TGS 253,6‒7: rigs kyi du de ltar de bzhin gshegs pa mig bzang po de bzhin gshegs pa’i mig des sems can thams cad de bzhin gshegs pa’i snying por mthong ngo; RGV(t) 49,10: ’gro kun sangs rgyas snying po can du gsungs. This Tibetan translation corresponds to the well-known passage in the MPNMS: 一切眾生悉有佛性. The passage appears many times in various contexts in this sūtra. For instance, see MPNMS 573,c21‒22: 一切眾生悉有佛性 煩惱覆故不能得見. See also Shimoda (2014, p. 29).

  67. See Radich (2015, pp. 30‒31), Jones (2020, p. 60), Zimmermann (2020, pp. 51‒53).

  68. For the affix, tva/tā in the meaning of essence/essential state, see P 5.1.119: tasya bhāvas tvataLau (Katre 1989, p. 545).

  69. For instance, the passage, pratyakṣanimittatvāc cendriyārthayoḥ saṃnikarṣasya pṛthagvacanam (Nyāyasūtra 2.1.25) is converted into yataś cendriyārthayoḥ saṃnikarṣaḥ pratyakṣanimittaṃ tataḥ pṛthag ucyate.

  70. The passage, sarvasattvānāṃ tathāgatagarbhaḥ, which appears in the MPNMS as a Sanskrit fragment, corresponds to sarvasattvāḥ tathāgatagarbhāḥ. Kanō argues that tathāgatagarbhaḥ in this fragment should be analyzed as a bahuvrīhi compound (Kanō 2017, p. 15; 31). This compound is, however, not a bahuvrīhi but a tatpuruṣa. Together with another passage, sarvasattveṣu tathāgatagarbho ’sti which also appears in the MPNMS as a fragment (Radich 2015, pp. 29‒30), all these three express the same meaning that “all living beings have a tathāgatagarbha;” that is, “all living beings are tathāgatas.” when taking garbha as the meaning of nature/essence.

  71. See Zimmermann (2020), Zimmermann (2002, pp. 39‒46), Kanō (2020, pp. 26‒35).

  72. Saito (2020, p. 12).

  73. This point is same in the MPNMS. In this sūtra too, the compound, tathāgatagarbhāḥ is interpreted differently in accordance with its contexts. See Kanō (2017, pp. 14‒16 and 39‒42).

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Acknowledgements

I want to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Ludo Rocher who taught me Sanskrit nominal style. I would also like to thank Prof. Tim Cahill (Loyola University) and Ven. Seung-haeng (Dongguk University) for their valuable comments.

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  1. Department of Buddhist Studies, Dongguk University, 30 Phildong-ro, 1 gil, Junggu, Seoul, 04620, South Korea

    Jeson Woo

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Woo, J. Why is Every Living Being a Tathāgatagarbha? A Translation of the Twenty-Seventh Verse of the First Chapter in the Ratnagotravibhāga. J Indian Philos 51, 197–213 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-022-09531-3

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