{"id":1406,"date":"2015-10-25T14:59:52","date_gmt":"2015-10-25T14:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/?p=1406"},"modified":"2015-10-25T14:59:52","modified_gmt":"2015-10-25T14:59:52","slug":"the-niralambastuti-or-niralambastava-found-in-the-jnanalokalamkara-sutra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/the-niralambastuti-or-niralambastava-found-in-the-jnanalokalamkara-sutra\/","title":{"rendered":"The Niralambastuti or Niralambastava found in the Jnanalokalamkara-sutra"},"content":{"rendered":"

What may very appropriately be called the Nir\u0101lamba-stuti<\/em> or -stava<\/em>, the \u201cHymn of Praise to the Unsupported One,\u201d is a group of verses ending with the refrain, niral\u0101mba namo ‘stu te<\/em>, \u201csalutations to you, the unsupported one!\u201d Although some of these verses were quoted in Buddhist texts, no such title was found among the hymns of praise in the Tibetan Buddhist canon; that is, in the bstod tshogs<\/em> section of the Tengyur where one might expect to find it. My friend Mats Lindberg informed me that, while going through the Sanskrit J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em>, he came across it within that s\u016btra. He then made a recording of his recitation of this hymn of praise in Sanskrit, and posted it along with a description of it at: https:\/\/vimeo.com\/140854981<\/a>. At the end of his description he gave a translation of its most often quoted verse, verse 12, along with the Sanskrit:<\/p>\n

Salutations to Thee, totally devoid of all conceptual Intention! \u0905\u0935\u093f\u0915\u0932\u094d\u092a\u093f\u0924\u0938\u0902\u0915\u0932\u094d\u092a
\nSalutations to Thee whose mind is nowhere established! \u0905\u092a\u094d\u0930\u0924\u093f\u0937\u094d\u0920\u093f\u0924\u092e\u093e\u0928\u0938 \u0964
\nSalutations to Thee who is devoid of all recollection! \u0905\u0938\u094d\u092e\u0943\u0924\u094d\u092f\u092e\u0928\u0938\u0940\u0915\u093e\u0930
\nSalutations to Thee the Unsupported, devoid of all mental fixation! \u0928\u093f\u0930\u093e\u0932\u092e\u094d\u092c \u0928\u092e\u094b\u093d\u0938\u094d\u0924\u0941 \u0924\u0947 \u0964\u0964 \u0967\u0968 \u0964\u0964<\/p>\n

The J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em> (more fully Sarva-buddha-vi\u1e63ay\u0101vat\u0101ra-j\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em>) is given in some lists as one of the ten tath\u0101gata-garbha<\/em> s\u016btras, the sourcebooks of the buddha-nature teaching, even though the term tath\u0101gata-garbha<\/em> does not occur in it. It is the source of the nine examples used to illustrate buddha-action in chapter 4 the Ratna-gotra-vibh\u0101ga<\/em>, listed in verse 4.13, and it is quoted in the commentary after verse 1.8 to explain six qualities of a buddha listed in verse 1.5. Its Sanskrit original was found in Tibet, and was published in a limited facsimile edition in 2003, in a transliterated edition along with its Tibetan and Chinese translations in 2004, and in a critical edition also in 2004 (scanned and posted here with the Sanskrit Buddhist texts; also has been input and is available as a searchable file at the GRETIL site: http:\/\/gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de\/gretil\/1_sanskr\/4_rellit\/buddh\/jnalokau.htm). In 2006 fragments of a Sanskrit manuscript of it that was discovered in 1900-1901 were published in The British Library Sanskrit Fragments<\/em>, vol. 1 (http:\/\/iriab.soka.ac.jp\/orc\/Publications\/BLSF\/pdf\/BLSF-I-07-KARASHIMA-WILLE.pdf). In 2015 an English translation of it by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee titled The Ornament of the Light of Awareness<\/em> appeared as part of the 84000 project (http:\/\/read.84000.co\/old-app\/#!ReadingRoom\/UT22084-047-002\/0<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Nir\u0101lamba-stuti<\/em> in the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em> consists of forty verses, all ending with the refrain, niral\u0101mba namo ‘stu te<\/em>, \u201csalutations to you, the unsupported one!\u201d Three such verses occurring in the Pa\u00f1cakrama<\/em> were noted by Christian Lindtner in his 1982 book, Nagarjuniana<\/em> (p. 13, fn. 20), where he tries to determine which texts attributed to N\u0101g\u0101rjuna were actually written by N\u0101g\u0101rjuna. Lindtner there lists the *Nir\u0101lambastava<\/em> (the preceding asterisk means that the title is a hypothetical restoration) as a text attributed to N\u0101g\u0101rjuna, on the basis of a quotation he found in the Tibetan translation of Dharmendra\u2019s Tattvas\u0101rasa\u1e43graha<\/em> (the Sanskrit original of this text is lost). He gives the quoted verse: bsam byed bsam gtan bsam bya dag || spangs pa bden pa mthong ba yin || \u2019di kun rtog pa tsam nyid du || gang gis rtogs pa de grol \u2019gyur ||, and the reference to the Peking edition, no. 4534, folio 102b, but nothing more. This text, the Tattva-s\u0101ra-sa\u1e43graha<\/em>, is Tohoku no. 3711. Checking this text in the Comparative Tengyur, vol. 41, p. 245, lines 11-14 (from this I have corrected the Peking edition\u2019s \u201cdo\u201d at the end of the third p\u0101da<\/em> to \u201cdu\u201d), we find that it is preceded by: \u2019phags pa klu sgrub kyi zhal snga nas kyis | dmigs su med par bstod pa las |, and it is followed by: zhes gsungs pa dang |. This shows that the quotation consists of only one verse, that Dharmendra indeed attributes this verse to N\u0101g\u0101rjuna, Tibetan klu sgrub<\/em>, and that he gives the title of the text it comes from in Tibetan, dmigs su med par bstod pa<\/em>, which can be restored as *Nir\u0101lambastava<\/em>. No doubt Lindtner\u2019s restoration of this title was influenced by the occurrence of three verses in the Pa\u00f1cakrama<\/em> (which text we have in Sanskrit) ending in niral\u0101mba namo ‘stu te<\/em>, which Lindtner here notes may be from the same source.<\/p>\n

In the same footnote, Lindtner brings in one additional quotation, in support of the attribution of such a text to N\u0101g\u0101rjuna. It is from Ati\u015ba\u2019s Bodhim\u0101rgad\u012bpapa\u00f1jik\u0101<\/em>. Again, he gives the quoted verse: kun du rtogs pas ma brtags shing || yid ni rab tu mi gnas la || dran med yid la byed pa med || dmigs med de la phyag \u2019tshal lo ||, and the reference to the Peking edition, no. 5344, folio 329b, but nothing more. This text, the Bodhi-m\u0101rga-d\u012bpa-pa\u00f1jik\u0101<\/em>, is Tohoku no. 3948. Checking this text in the Comparative Tengyur, vol. 64, p. 1756, lines 3-5 (in accordance with this I have changed Lindtner\u2019s initial kun tu rtogs<\/em> to kun du rtogs<\/em>), we find that it is preceded by: \u2019phags pa klu sgrub kyi zhal nas |, and it is followed by: zhes gsungs so |. This shows that the quotation consists of only one verse, that Ati\u015ba indeed attributes this verse to N\u0101g\u0101rjuna, Tibetan klu sgrub<\/em>, and that he does not give the title of the text. The reason that Lindtner gives this quote here, which is left unstated by him, is that its last p\u0101da<\/em>, dmigs med de la phyag \u2019tshal lo, says: \u201csalutations to that unsupported one!\u201d This could translate niral\u0101mba namo ‘stu te<\/em>, although for the Sanskrit word \u201cte,\u201d meaning \u201cto you,\u201d it has instead the Tibetan word \u201cde,\u201d meaning \u201cthat,\u201d which is uncharacteristic of the usually precise Tibetan translations. Both Dharmendra and Ati\u015ba specifically name the author of the verse they cite as N\u0101g\u0101rjuna (Tibetan klu sgrub<\/em>). Neither of these two verses, however, has been found in the eighteen hymns of praise attributed to N\u0101g\u0101rjuna in the Tibetan Tengyur.<\/p>\n

In Karl Brunnh\u00f6lzl\u2019s translation of N\u0101g\u0101rjuna\u2019s Dharmadh\u0101tu-stava<\/em>, published in 2007 as In Praise of Dharmadh\u0101tu<\/em>, he surveys the other hymns of praise attributed to N\u0101g\u0101rjuna. He here (p. 24) lists the *Nir\u0101lambastava<\/em>, referring to it as \u201cnow lost,\u201d and gives the same three references that were given by Lindtner (Dharmendra, Ati\u015ba, and three verses from the Pa\u00f1cakrama<\/em>, a text reputedly by N\u0101g\u0101rjuna), obviously copying this from him. We can now see that the three verses occurring in the Pa\u00f1cakrama<\/em>, verses 3.4-6 (so in the 1994 Mimaki\/Tomabechi edition and in the 2001 Tripathi edition, given as verses 4.4-6 in the 1896 Poussin edition, posted here with the Sanskrit Buddhist texts), are verses 16, 5, and 34 of the Nir\u0101lamba-stuti<\/em> in the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em>. Moreover, we find that four more of its verses occur in the Pa\u00f1cakrama<\/em>, at 4.8-11, corresponding to verses 4, 17, 12, and 13. The refrain, niral\u0101mba namo ‘stu te<\/em>, in these verses occurring in the Pa\u00f1cakrama<\/em> was translated into Tibetan as: dmigs med khyod la phyag \u2019tshal lo (verse 3.5 has the variant: mi dmigs khyod la phyag \u2019tshal lo), where niral\u0101mba<\/em> was translated as dmigs med<\/em>. However, this refrain found at the end of each of the forty verses in the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em> was translated into Tibetan as: mi rten khyod la phyag \u2019tshal lo (Comparative Kangyur vol. 47, pp. 784 ff.), where niral\u0101mba<\/em> was translated as mi rten<\/em>. Both translations include the Tibetan word \u201ckhyod,\u201d meaning \u201cyou,\u201d in this refrain. The verse quoted by Ati\u015ba from N\u0101g\u0101rjuna, as noted above, does not. Nonetheless, it appears to be an alternative translation of verse 12 of the Nir\u0101lamba-stuti<\/em> in the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em>. Since this verse was incorporated into the Pa\u00f1cakrama<\/em>, at 4.10, Ati\u015ba may well have quoted it from this text considered to be by N\u0101g\u0101rjuna, even though its ultimate source is the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em>. The verse quoted by Dharmendra from N\u0101g\u0101rjuna does not end with any such refrain. The dmigs su med par bstod pa<\/em> that it comes from, restored as *Nir\u0101lambastava<\/em>, is not the Nir\u0101lambastuti<\/em> or Nir\u0101lambastava<\/em> in the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Besides the references given by Christian Lindtner and repeated by Karl Brunnh\u00f6lzl, Mats Lindberg also found that a verse from this hymn of praise was given by Elizabeth English in her 2002 book, Vajrayogin\u012b: Her Visualizations, Rituals, and Forms<\/em>, p. 441 n. 284. This verse was quoted by her from the Guhyasamayas\u0101dhanam\u0101l\u0101<\/em>. It is the often quoted verse 12, and references to six more quotations of it provided by Harunaga Isaacson are given by her in this note. None of these attribute it to a *Nir\u0101lambastava<\/em>. The two from the Sa\u1e43varodaya-tantra<\/em> (of which I could only find the one at 8.36; the 3.9 reference must be a misprint), like the one from the Pa\u00f1cakrama<\/em>, have no source attribution because they are incorporated into these texts. Of the three from the collection of texts by Advaya-vajra published in Sanskrit as the Advayavajrasa\u1e43graha<\/em> (Baroda, 1927; new critical edition, Tokyo, 1988-1991; both posted here with the Sanskrit Buddhist texts), the source is not named for the one from the Pa\u00f1ca-tath\u0101gata-mudr\u0101-vivara\u1e47a<\/em> (1927 ed., p. 25; 1988 ed., p. 183 or (52); anyatr\u0101py uktam) or the one from the Catur-mudr\u0101-ni\u015bcaya<\/em> (1927 ed., p. 34, her reference to p. 38 is a misprint; 1989 ed., p. 243 or (102); pravacane ca), but the source for the one from the Amanasik\u0101r\u0101dh\u0101ra<\/em> (1927 ed., p. 60, without \u201cbuddha\u201d; 1989 ed., p. 209 or (136), with \u201cbuddha\u201d) is named: \u0101rya-sarva-[buddha-]vi\u1e63ay\u0101vat\u0101ra-j\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-mah\u0101y\u0101na-s\u016btre, i.e., the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em>. So Advaya-vajra, also known as Maitr\u012bpa, was fully aware of the source of this verse, and that source was not N\u0101g\u0101rjuna.<\/p>\n

This verse was translated by Elizabeth English (p. 129) as:<\/p>\n

\u201cHomage to you whose conceptualization is without discrimination, whose mind does not rest [on emptiness as an object] (aprati\u1e63\u1e6dhitam\u0101nasa<\/em>), who are without remembrance and recollections, without support!\u201d<\/p>\n

Many years earlier, this verse as incorporated in the Sa\u1e43varodaya-tantra<\/em> at 8.36 (in some manuscripts) was included in the 1974 edition and translation of selected chapters of that text by Shin\u00edchi Tsuda, who translated it as (p. 268):<\/p>\n

\u201cO you who have not produced imaginary ideas! Whose mind is not fixed! O you who are without remembrance and attention! Who are without support! Salutation to you!\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 2015 English translation of the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em> by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee titled The Ornament of the Light of Awareness<\/em>, this verse was translated as:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do not form concepts,<\/p>\n

And your mind has no ground to stand upon.<\/p>\n

You have no recollection or mental placement,<\/p>\n

And you are free of any point of reference:<\/p>\n

I bow to you!<\/p>\n

As may be seen, the characteristic refrain, niral\u0101mba namo ‘stu te<\/em>, was here translated as, \u201cAnd you are free of any point of reference: I bow to you!\u201d The defining word nir\u0101lamba<\/em>, translated by Mats Lindberg as \u201cunsupported,\u201d and by Shin\u00edchi Tsuda and by Elizabeth English as \u201cwithout support,\u201d was here interpretively translated as \u201cfree of any point of reference.\u201d To complicate the issue, Karl Brunnh\u00f6lzl in his widely read translations uses the interpretive translation \u201cwithout reference points\u201d for the Sanskrit word ni\u1e63prapa\u00f1ca<\/em>, Tibetan spros pa med pa<\/em>, rather than for nir\u0101lamba<\/em>, Tibetan mi rten<\/em> or dmigs med<\/em>. The word ni\u1e63prapa\u00f1ca<\/em> is translated by others as \u201cwithout proliferation, diversification, manifoldness, elaboration.\u201d Where the word nir\u0101lamba<\/em> occurs in the Ratna-gotra-vibh\u0101ga<\/em>, 4.73, here Tibetan dmigs pa med<\/em>, Karl Brunnh\u00f6lzl translated it as \u201cwithout support\u201d (When the Clouds Part<\/em>, p. 450), the same translation of it used by Shin\u00edchi Tsuda and Elizabeth English, and very much like \u201cunsupported\u201d used by Mats Lindberg. Where the word ni\u1e63prapa\u00f1ca<\/em> occurs in the Nir\u0101lamba-stuti<\/em> in the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em>, verses 13 and 39, the Dharmachakra Translation Committee translated it as \u201cfree from elaboration,\u201d one of its commonly used translations. Thus, nir\u0101lamba<\/em> translated as \u201cfree of any point of reference\u201d in the refrain of the Nir\u0101lamba-stuti<\/em> in the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em> could easily be confused with ni\u1e63prapa\u00f1ca<\/em> translated as \u201cwithout reference points\u201d in Karl Brunnh\u00f6lzl\u2019s widely read translations. It is for reasons like this that the translation of Buddhist technical terms from Sanskrit into Tibetan was standardized long ago.<\/p>\n

Another quotation of a verse from the Nir\u0101lamba-stuti<\/em> in the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em>, verse 29, is found in N\u0101rop\u0101\u2019s Sekodde\u015ba-\u1e6d\u012bk\u0101<\/em>. This was noted by Mattia Salvini in his Introduction to The Ornament of the Light of Awareness<\/em>, and by Francesco Sferra in a footnote in his 2006 edition of the Sekodde\u015ba\u1e6d\u012bk\u0101<\/em> (p. 173; this quotation is found on p. 58 in the 1941 ed., posted here with the Sanskrit Buddhist texts). This quotation is introduced by: yathoktam \u0101game, \u201cas said in an \u0101gama<\/em>.\u201d An \u0101gama<\/em> in Buddhism refers to a s\u016btra or a tantra, texts that give the words of the Buddha (along with whoever he may be speaking with). This is distinguished from a \u015b\u0101stra<\/em>, a text written by a teacher other than the Buddha, such as N\u0101g\u0101rjuna. Thus N\u0101rop\u0101 too, like Advaya-vajra, knew that the verse he quoted came from a s\u016btra, not from N\u0101g\u0101rjuna. As found by Mats Lindberg, the Nir\u0101lamba-stuti<\/em> in the J\u00f1\u0101n\u0101lok\u0101la\u1e43k\u0101ra-s\u016btra<\/em> is a hymn of praise to the Buddha spoken by Ma\u00f1ju\u015br\u012b.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What may very appropriately be called the Nir\u0101lamba-stuti or -stava, the \u201cHymn of Praise to the Unsupported One,\u201d is a group of verses ending with the refrain, niral\u0101mba namo ‘stu te, \u201csalutations to you, the unsupported one!\u201d Although some of these verses were quoted in Buddhist texts, no such title was found among the hymns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-noteworthy-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1407,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions\/1407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}