Ratnagotravibhāga


The Ratnagotravibhāga and its vyākhyā commentary, also known as the Uttaratantraśāstra, are a compendium of the tathāgatagarbha literature. The text was originally composed in Sanskrit, likely between the middle of the third century and no later than 433 CE. Authorship is uncertain, the Tibetan tradition states it was taught by the Bodhisattva Maitreya and transmitted via Asanga, while the Chinese tradition states it was written by a certain Sāramati. Modern scholarship favors Sāramati. The text and its commentary are also preserved in Tibetan and Chinese translations.
The Ratnagotravibhāga describes the gotra or "lineage" of the buddhas, which is the buddha-nature present in all beings. It is a Yogacara text particularly popular in East Asian Yogacara.

History

Authorship

The text is attributed to a certain Sāramati in the earlier Chinese tradition, while the Tibetan tradition considers the verse portion to have been composed by Maitreya-nātha and the prose commentary by Asanga. Ruegg suggests that the Chinese and Tibetan traditions may be reconciled by understanding the name given in Chinese sources as an epithet for Maitreya.
The case for the involvement of Maitreya-nātha is also strengthened by the discovery of a Sanskrit fragment of the Ratnagotravibhāga in Saka script which mentions Maitreya-nātha as the author of the 'root' verses. The question of authorship may possibly be resolved by an analysis of the structure of this multi-layered text. Takasaki is certain that the author of the embedded commentary is Sāramati through his comparison of the RGV with the Dharmadhātvaviśeṣaśāstra.
Peter Harvey finds the attribution to Asanga less plausible.

Title

Gotras

Sanskrit gotra is a figurative term for family or lineage. It later came to have the meaning of "destiny", particularly in Yogacara literature. "Another division of lineage is into prakṛtisthagotra and samudānītagotra. According to the Yogācārabhūmiśāstra, the former refers to one's innate potential for spiritual achievement; the latter refers to the specific individual habits one can develop that will help speed the mastery of that potential." The Ratnagotravibhāga describes the gotra of the buddhas, which is the buddha-nature present in all beings.
Nugteren contextualizes the Buddhist 'inheritance' of the term gotra from the wider tradition, where Sanskrit gotra literally means "cowshed". Gotra evolved in Buddhism to first different spiritual lineages one of which according to their spiritual predisposition and constitution were doomed to cycle endlessly in the wheel of saṃsāra without the intervention of a bodhisattva, that is they would never attain bodhi of their own volition, that doctrine in turn eventually evolved into the doctrine of Jina.

''Uttaratantraśāstra''

A secondary title for this work is Uttaratantraśāstra "Treatise on the Supreme Continuum", by which name it is known in the Tibetan tradition, and in translations from that tradition's literature and commentaries.
The 14th Dalai Lama conveys that tantra in the Tibetan title to specifically refers to the "everlasting continuum of the mind", the translation by Berzin of mindstream in English:

Transmission

Hookham affirms that there are precious few records of the RGV or RGVV in India and that their traditional recorded history commences with their 'rediscovery' by Maitripa. According to Hookam, there is no evidence that the work was associated with Maitreya before the time of Maitripa and modern scholarship favors the view of the Chinese tradition which states that the work was composed by a certain Saramati.
Mathes relates a version of the traditional textual transmission of the RGV by Maitripada, the disciple of Naropa and the guru of Marpa Lotsawa, and proffers his critical analysis that Maitripada's teachers Jñanasrimitra of Vikramashila and Ratnākaraśānti must have had access to the RGV, RGVV and/or their extracts:

Textual versions

Sanskrit

The critical edition of the RGV in Sanskrit was first published by Johnston, et al. This critical edition of Johnston is founded on two manuscripts discovered by Rev. Rāhula Sāñkṛtyāyana in Tibet.
Of the complete extant Sanskrit , Tibetan and Chinese manuscript versions, recension or interpolations of the RGV, Takasaki considered the Chinese translation of a no longer extant Sanskrit text to be the oldest RGV manuscript in existence, though not necessarily truly representing the original Sanskrit.

Chinese

According to Takasaki, the Chinese Tripiṭaka retains one translation of the RGV, being known as No. 1611, Vol.31 with the nomenclature chiu-ching yi-ch'eng pao-sing-lun, Jiūjìng yìchéng bǎoxìng lùn, 《究竟一乘寶性論》.

Tibetan

Takasaki holds the Tibetan Tanjur to retain two versions of the RGV:
Both of these versions were translated by Matiprajna under the guidance of Kashmiri Pandits 'Ratnavajra' and Sajjana, conducted at Srinagar in Kashmir, towards the close of the 11th century CE.
Wangchuk has examined the intellectual history of the Uttaratantra in Tibet from the 12th century to the early 15th century.

English Translations

pioneered research into the RGV literature in English language through his translation of the Tibetan RgVV under the name of the Uttara-tantra-shastra,, labeling it an example of monism.
The verse portion of the Ratna-gotra-vibhāga has been translated several times into English, including by E. Obermiller and Rosemary Fuchs. The English translations by Takasaki and Brunnholzl are the only English translations of the complete work, including the commentary.

Commentary on the Ratnagotravibhaga

To mitigate any confusion or perhaps to bring uncertainty into awareness, the RGV in certain textual transmissions has an embedded commentary RGVV that has become for the most part integrated with the RGV through the passage of time even though there are distinct editions of the RGV and RGVV. Takasaki provided a valuable textual analysis of the Sanskrit critical edition edited by Johnston with those versions preserved in certain editions of the Chinese and Tibetan canon. Takasaki identified a textual core of the RGV with the most ancient verses of this core, dated..., being extant in the Chinese. The work of Takasaki and Johnston has been critiqued by the extensive reviews of such scholars as De Jong and Lambert Schmithausen.

Contents

The text consists of about 430 Sanskrit verses with a prose commentary that includes substantial quotations from tathāgatagarbha-oriented sutras. As well as a single extant Sanskrit version, translations exist in Chinese and Tibetan, though each of these versions show a degree of recensional variation. Extensive analysis of the critical Sanskrit text edited by Johnston with the Tibetan and Chinese versions, identified that the verses actually comprise two separate groups: a core set of 27 ślokas and 405 additional or supplementary verses of explication. The work of Johnston, et al. and Takasaki have been critiqued by the extensive reviews of such scholars as De Jong and Schmithausen.

Interpretation

Doctrinal significance

Final teaching

The secondary title for this work, Uttaratantraśāstra, highlights the text's claim that the tathāgatagarbha or buddha-nature teachings represent the final, definitive teachings of the Buddha, in contrast to the earlier teachings on emphasizing intrinsic emptiness, such as contained in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras and other Mahayana sutras. In addition to the group of scriptures known as the Tathagatagarbha sutras, this work is the cornerstone of the tathāgatagarbha trend of thought in Mahayana Buddhism.

Buddha-nature

The Ratnagotravibhaga is notable for its exploration of the doctrine of the buddha nature, the view that all sentient beings are already buddhas or have the propensity to attain buddhahood.
The Uttaratantra takes as its key topic the idea of the dhātus of the Buddha present in all beings:

Completion of sunyata

Within tathagatagarbha literature a completion of sunyata theory and an emphasising of metaphysics and mysticism can be found:
The Uttaratantra constitutes a higher Buddhist doctrine than that of sunyata as found in the prajnaparamita sutras:

Positive understanding of sunyata

Both the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra and the Ratnagotravibhāga enunciate the idea that the buddha-nature is possessed of four transcendental qualities:
  1. Permanence
  2. Bliss
  3. Self
  4. Purity
The buddha-nature is ultimately identifiable as the dharmakāya. These elevated qualities make of the Buddha one to whom devotion and adoration could be given: "Here there is an elevation and adoration of Buddha and his attributes, which could be a significant basis for Mahayana devotionalism."

Exegetical tradition

Notable exegetes of the Ratnagotravibhāga have been Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, Gö Lotsawa Zhönnu-pel, Gyaltsab Je, and Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso, amongst others.
The Nyingma commentary of Ju Mipham from a Dzogchen view has been rendered into English by Duckworth. Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche commenced the Rigpa Shedra teachings on Mipham's view of Buddha Nature which has been followed by Khenpo Dawa Paljor of Rigpa Shedra's oral word by word commentary of Ju Mipham's exegesis of RGV in Tibetan with English translation.

Dzogchen view

Seven Diamond Points
The Three Jewels contains a synthesis of sugatagarbha literature into five chapters that distill seven 'diamond points' :
  1. 'Buddha'
  2. 'Dharma'
  3. 'Saṃgha'
  4. 'Essence'
  5. 'Awakened'
  6. 'Qualities'
  7. 'Activities'
In the tantric twilight language of correspondence the Three Jewels of Sangha, Dharma and Buddha are identified as the Three Vajras.
According to Namkhai Norbu, all five of these, body, voice, mind, qualities, activities, constitute a mindstream or 'continuum of being' of either a sentient being or a buddha.
Everlasting element
The "ratnagotra" is a synonym for the buddha nature, the 'element' which is "as it is", the 'everlasting' aspect of the continuum of being, the aspect that is constant and 'unsullied'. In Dzogchen technical language, 'primordial purity', which is none other than the 'one taste' of the 'gnosis of commonality/egality'.
This is metaphorically 'twilighted' in the RGV as dhruva "pole star". From the vantage of the Northern Hemisphere of Earth, the pole star is apt because day or night it is always in the sky, hence constant, immutable and fixed, but not necessarily visible. The pole star appears not to move but the heavenly bodies revolve around it as though it is a fixed 'point'. Just as the pole star is not truly fixed in the sky, the 'everlasting' aspect is not eternal, and should be understood as subject to the Catuṣkoṭi which is employed in the RGV. The 'essence', the 'element', the 'ratnagotra' must not be essentialized. Rather than the term 'eternal' or 'everlasting' which smacks of 'eternalism' anathemic to Buddhadharma, a continuum spontaneously 'self-emergent' is sound.
Essence, nature and power
An important Dzogchen doctrinal view on the Sugatagarbha qua 'Base' that foregrounds this is 'essence', 'nature' and 'power' :