Sanskrit Nominal Style and a Translation of the 27^th Verse in Chapter I of the Ratnagotravibhāga

The 27^th verse in Chapter I of the Ratnagotravibhāga provides the doctrinal perspective that every living being is a tathāgatagarbha and its threefold reason. Ever since Jikido Takasaki made an English translation of the verse in 1966, his translation has been accepted as an exemplary one so far without any critical reviews or revisions except the fourth pada of the verse, even though there are noticeable errors, especially in terms of its vague phrasing. The problematic translation was caused due to either the abstruse theory of tathāgatagarbha or Sanskrit nominal style with which each pada of the 27^th verse is expressed. For this reason, it is of fundamental importance to clarify the ambiguity of expressions in the verse before investigating its theoretical meaning. This paper conveys the two discussions as follows: Firstly, it collects and analyzes a couple of passages written in Sanskrit nominal style, and introduces how to change them into a general style. Secondly, after resolving the problems that nominal style produces in the 27^th verse, it then tries to correct the errors found within its extant translations, and provides a new translation: “Since the Buddha’s wisdom is inherent in all sentient beings; since sentient beings are not different from the Buddha in the sense that their mind is by nature immaculate; and since the Buddha is provisionally expressed to be the effect of the essence of the Buddha; all sentient beings are tathāgatagarbhas.”.