[INDOLOGY] Alchemy metaphor

[Matthew Kapstein]

Dear Ashok,

There is absolutely no ambiguity about what translates what in the Tibetan version:

shin tu cher sgyur bar byed pa’i phyir mchog tu sgyur ba’o
“It is the finest transformer because it causes very great transformation.”
can only be a rendering of
atyuccavedhakāritvād atīva vedhanīyam
and nothing else. The formation of the Tibetan is quite transparent:

atyucca = shin tu cher, "very much, exceedingly"
vedha- = sgyur bar, "to transform, change (x) into (y), translate"
kāritvād = byed pa’i phyir, "because it does/makes/causes"
atīva = mchog tu, "finest, to the highest degree"
vedhanīyam = sgyur ba’o, "transforms, is that which transforms."

The rasajāta is mentioned in the preceding sentence, both in Skt. and its Tib. trans., but not at all here.

hope this helps to clarify,
as ever,
Matthew
 
Matthew Kapstein
Directeur d'études,
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago