The Ratnagotravibhāga (Sanskrit, abbreviated as RGV, meaning: Analysis of the Jeweled Lineage, Investigating the Jewel Disposition) and its vyākhyā commentary (abbreviated RGVV to refer to the RGV verses along with the embedded commentary), is an influential Mahāyāna Buddhist treatise on buddha-nature (a.k.a. tathāgatagarbha).Jones (2020), p. 154. The text is also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra (The Ultimate Teaching of the Mahāyāna).Gardner, Alex. "On the Ratnagotravibhāga." Buddha-Nature: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative, September 12, 2018. https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Articles/On_the_Ratnagotravibh%C4%81ga . The RGVV was originally composed in Sanskrit, likely between the middle of the third century and no later than 433 CE.Takasaki (1966), The text and its commentary are also preserved in Tibetan and Chinese translations.
The Ratnagotra focuses on the buddha nature present in all sentient beings, which is eternal, blissful, unconditioned and originally pure. This buddha nature is obscured by defilements, but when they are removed, the buddha nature is termed dharmakaya, the ultimate Buddha body. The buddha nature is what is referred to as the "jewel disposition" or "jeweled lineage" (ratnagotra) of the Buddhas. The RGVV often quotes from various tathāgatagarbha sutras and comments on them. The Ratnagotravibhāga is an important and influential text in Tibetan Buddhism and was also important for the Huayan school.Takasaki (1966), pp. 8-9.
The authorship of the text is uncertain. Chinese sources state it was written by a certain Indian named Suoluomodi 娑囉末底 (or Jianyi 賢慧, Sanskrit reconstruction: *Sāramati) while Tibetan tradition (as well as later Indian sources) state that it was taught by the bodhisattva Maitreya and transmitted via Asanga.Sakuma, Hidenori. "Was There Really Only One Commentator Named Sthiramati?" Studies In Philosophy 45. 212(39)-190(61), 2020-03-28, http://doi.org/10.15068/00159942 Modern scholarship favors the Chinese attribution.Hookham, S. K. (1991). The Buddha within: Tathagatagarbha doctrine according to the Shentong interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga. SUNY Press. . Source; (accessed: Tuesday May 5, 2009), pp.165-166.Takasaki, Jikido (1966). A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra) Being a Treatise on the Tathāgatagarbha Theory of Mahāyāna Buddhism (Rome Oriental Series 33). Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, p.62Johnston, E. H. (ed.) & Chowdhury, T. (indexation)(1950). The Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānanottaratantraśāstra. Patna. (NB: seen through the press and furnished with indexes by T. Chowdhury).
Titles
Ratnagotravibhāga The Sanskrit gotra is a figurative term for family or lineage, while ratna means jewel or precious stone.Brunnhölzl (2015), p. 96. In Yogacara Buddhism, gotra has the meaning of certain "dispositions" or "innate potential for spiritual achievement" that sentient beings have and which place them in five "families" corresponding to the three vehicles, undefined and icchantikas (deluded hedonists).Brunnhölzl (2015), p. 96.Ruegg, D. Seyfort (1976). 'The Meanings of the Term "Gotra" and the Textual History of the "Ratnagotravibhāga".' Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp.341-363. The Ratnagotravibhāga focuses on the family lineage and inner disposition (gotra) which allows all beings to become Buddhas, and thus is compared to a precious jewel (ratna). This is the unchanging buddha-nature that is present in all beings.
Uttaratantraśāstra A secondary title for this work is Uttaratantraśāstra (The Treatise on the Ultimate Teaching) or Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra (The Treatise on the Ultimate Teaching of the Mahāyāna), indicating how it considers itself to be the highest and ultimate teaching of Mahayana Buddhism.Brunnhölzl (2015), p. 98.
This title has also been translated as Treatise on the Supreme Continuum. Tantra can mean both "doctrine" or "teaching" as well as "continuum".Brunnhölzl (2015), p. 97. The second way of interpreting the title refers to the fact that buddha-nature is an "everlasting continuum of the mind" (as noted by The 14th Dalai Lama) or a "continuous flow" (as Rongtön Sheja Kunrig and Go Lotsawa gloss the title). This pure continuum may be covered over by fleeting stains, but nevertheless remains as a continuity through many lives and into Buddhahood.Berzin 2008Tenzin Gyatso 1982 in his teaching on the Uttaratantra
History A Sanskrit RGVV was brought to China by Ratnamati (勒那摩提) in 508 CE where he translated the text to Chinese. This shows the whole text was available in India in the early 6th century. According to Kazuo Kano, no Indian texts quote the RGVV from the 7th to the 10th century, but it is cited in a significant number of Indian texts from the 11th to the 13th century.
Structure and textual layers According to Brunnhölzl, "the text known as RGVV consists of three parts: (1) basic verses, (2) commentarial verses, and (3) prose commentary."Brunnhölzl (2015), p. 93. Brunnhölzl also notes that most scholars agree that the text is "a compilation of different elements" and they have "made attempts to identify the “original” core verses of the text".
In certain textual transmissions, the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā (RGVV) commentary has become integrated with the RGV verses through the passage of time, even though there are also distinct standalone 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 being extant in the Chinese. Extensive analysis of the critical Sanskrit text edited by Johnston (1950) 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 (Skt. kārikā).Takasaki, Jikido (1966)pp10-18 The work of Takasaki and Johnston has been critiqued by the extensive reviews of such scholars as De Jong Jong, Jan W. de (1979). 'Review of Takasaki 1966'. Buddhist Studies by J. W. de Jong, 563-82. Ed. by Gregory Schopen. Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press. and Lambert Schmithausen.Schmithausen, Lambert (1971). 'Philologische Bemerkungen zum Ratnagotravibhaga.' Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens 15, 123-77. Schmithausen disagrees with Takasaki's opinion that the earliest core of the RGV consists of 27 verses and instead opines that "the original RGV is constituted by the totality of basic verses. But this original RGV seems to have made use of several (perhaps only partly remodelIed) older materials." Authorship The text is attributed to the Indian Jianyi (賢慧, Sanskrit reconstruction: *Sāramati or *Sthiramati) in the earlier Chinese tradition, a claim first found in the work of the sixth century scholar Zhiyi.
The Tibetan tradition considers the verse portion to have been composed by the bodhisattva Maitreya and the prose commentary by Asanga. The attribution of both the root verses and commentary to bodhisattva Maitreya is found in some late Indian sources (post 11th century). The discovery of a Sanskrit fragment of the Ratnagotravibhāga in Saka script (dated to the 9th century by Kazuo Kano) which mentions Maitreya bodhisattva as the author of the 'root' (mūla) verses also shows that Central Asian Buddhists also attributed the work to bodhisattva Maitreya.V.H. Bailey & E.H. Johnston, "A Fragment of the Uttratantra in Sanskrit", BSOS 8 (1935-37) p77-89 Meanwhile, the Sanskrit manuscript found in Tibet contains no attribution.Brunnhölzl (2015), p. 94.
Several scholars have suggested that the Chinese and Tibetan traditions may be reconciled if perhaps Sāramati was also given the epithet of "Maitreya" (or if, vice versa, Sāramati was an epithet of the bodhisattva Maitreya), but Kazuo Kano notes that there is no evidence to support this.
According to Karl Brunnhölzl, modern scholars have varying opinions on the authorship of the RGV: "the main positions include a total denial of a historic person named Maitreya, the author of these texts being someone called Maitreya but not the great bodhisattva Maitreya, and these works being composed by Asanga or other persons"Brunnhölzl (2015), p. 81. The Japanese scholar Takasaki Jikido is certain that the author of the commentary is Sāramati through his comparison of the RGVV with the Chinese translation of the Dharmadhātvaviśeṣaśāstra (Dasheng fajie wuchabie lun 大乘法界無差別論) which is also said to have been authored by the same figure.Takasaki, Jikido (1966). A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra) Being a Treatise on the Tathāgatagarbha Theory of Mahāyāna Buddhism (Rome Oriental Series 33). Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, p.62 Jonathan Silk also argues that both texts were by the same author.
Peter Harvey also finds the attribution to Maitreya / Asanga less plausible than the Chinese attribution.Harvey, Peter (2012), An Introduction to Buddhism, pp. 138-139. Cambridge University Press. According to Shenpen Hookam, most modern scholars favor Sāramati (c. 3rd-4th century CE) as the author.
Versions and transmission
Sanskrit The critical edition of the RGVV in Sanskrit was first published by Johnston, et al. (1950). This critical edition of Johnston is founded on two manuscripts discovered by Rev. Rāhula Sāñkṛtyāyana (1893–1963) in Tibet.Takasaki, Jikido (1966). A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra) Being a Treatise on the Tathāgatagarbha Theory of Mahāyāna Buddhism (Rome Oriental Series 33). Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, p.6For further information on these manuscripts refer Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society (J.B.O.R.S.), vol XXI, p. 31 (III. Ṣalu monastery, vol. XI-5, No. 43) and. XXIII, p. 34 (VII. Ṣalu monastery, vol. XIII-5, No. 242).ratnagotravibhāgo mahāyānottaratantraśāstram
Of the complete extant Sanskrit [Johnston, et al. (1950)Johnston, E. H. (ed.) & Chowdhury, T. (indexation)(1950). The Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānanottaratantraśāstra. Patna. (NB: seen through the press and furnished with indexes by T. Chowdhury).], TibetanNo. 4025; Tohoku University (Ed.)(1934). A Complete Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons, Sde-dge Edition, Tohoku University; refer Tibetan Buddhist canon and ChineseNo. 1611, Vol.31; Chinese Tripiṭaka. Taisho Daizokyo Edition, Japanese. Refer: Machine-readable text-database of the Taisho Tripitaka (zip files of Taisho Tripitaka vol. 1-85); refer Chinese Buddhist canon. manuscript versions, recension or interpolations of the text (according to perspective), Takasaki (1966) considered the Chinese translation of a no longer extant Sanskrit text to be the oldest manuscript in existence, though it may not represent the original Sanskrit perfectly.Takasaki, Jikido (1966). A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Uttaratantra) Being a Treatise on the Tathāgatagarbha Theory of Mahāyāna Buddhism (Rome Oriental Series 33). Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, p.7
Chinese According to Takasaki (1966: p. 7), the Chinese Canon retains one translation of the RGVV, which is titled Jiūjìng yìchéng bǎoxìng lùn (究竟一乘寶性論, which can be back-translated into Sanskrit as: Uttara-ekayāna-ratnagotra-śāstra). Its Taisho Daizokyo canon location is No. 1611, Vol.31. The work was translated by Ratnamati at Luoyang in 511 CE.Taisho Tripitaka Vol. 31, No. 1611 究竟一乘寶性論