Lüèmíng bānruò mòhòu yī sòng zàn shù 略明般若末後一頌讚述
Brief Praise-Discourse on the Last Verse of the Prajñā by 義淨 (述)
About the work
A short one-juan early-Táng treatise by Yìjìng 義淨 (635–713), the great Indian-pilgrim translator, on the closing simile-verse of the Vajracchedikā (yī qiè yǒu wéi fǎ, rú mèng huàn pào yǐng, rú lù yì rú diàn, yīng zuò rú shì guān 一切有為法，如夢幻泡影，如露亦如電，應作如是觀 — “All conditioned things are like dream, illusion, bubble, shadow; like dewdrop, like lightning — one should view them thus”). Yìjìng composed it as a companion to his own translation of the eighty Maitreya verses on the Vajracchedikā (T25 no. 1514, the Asaṅga vyākhyā) — the closing T-no. cf. Nos. 1510, 1514 in the source explicitly cross-references both Vasubandhu’s prose treatise (T1510) and Yìjìng’s own verse-translation (T1514). notBefore set to 700 (after Yìjìng’s return from India, 695, and his early translation work); notAfter = 713 (death). Catalog dynasty 唐.
Abstract
The treatise examines the closing simile-verse’s nine similes (jiǔ yù 九喻) — though the text-as-received lists only six (dream, illusion, bubble, shadow, dewdrop, lightning), Yìjìng notes the Indian vyākhyā tradition expands these to nine in commentarial elaboration. Yìjìng credits the analysis to Asaṅga’s expanded judgment (xiáng fū dàshì pàn qí jiǔ yù 詳夫大士判其九喻 — “the Great Being [Asaṅga] judges them as nine”), and characterizes the verse as wén zhì yōu shēn, lǐ yì xuán jiǎn 文致幽深，理義玄簡 (“text profoundly deep, meaning subtly simple”); only one jìn yú jí xǐ dì 隣於極喜地 (“near the Pramuditā — first bodhisattva ground”) could compose such verses in the first place. Yìjìng then sets out the canonical Indian transmission of the eighty verses: Asaṅga, in Tuṣita heaven, personally received them from Maitreya (無著菩薩昔於覩史多天慈氏尊處親受此八十頌); transmitted them to Vasubandhu; the teaching opened the Prajñā essential gate, accorded with the Yogācāra school’s principle, and clarified the vijñaptimātratā doctrine. The treatise provides a doctrinally grounded reading of the Vajracchedikā’s closing similes that informed all subsequent Yogācāra-tradition Chinese commentary.
Translations and research
- For Yìjìng’s broader translation project see Stanley Weinstein, Buddhism under the T’ang (Cambridge UP, 1987); Lewis Lancaster and others on the Yìjìng translation corpus.
- The Yìjìng-translated Asaṅga verses (T1514) are discussed in modern Vajracchedikā vyākhyā scholarship (Tucci, Conze, Harrison, Schopen).
Other points of interest
The treatise is a rare instance of the translator-scholar reflecting publicly on a single sūtra-passage — it shows Yìjìng functioning as both translator and original commentator. The crediting of Asaṅga’s expanded jiǔ yù analysis is the locus classicus for the Chinese reception of the nine-similes reading of the Vajracchedikā’s closing verse, which became standard in subsequent Yogācāra commentary (cf. Kuījī’s KR6c0102 huìshì).
Links
- 義淨 DILA
- CBETA online
- Author: Yìjìng 義淨 (635–713) — see person note 義淨
- Companion translation: T25 no. 1514 (Yìjìng’s translation of Asaṅga’s Vajracchedikā vyākhyā verses)
- Doctrinal reference: T25 no. 1510 (Vasubandhu’s Vajracchedikā vyākhyā prose)
- Commented text: KR6c0023 (closing nine-similes verse)
- Kanseki DB