Jīngāngdǐng yújiā lǐqù bānruò jīng 金剛頂瑜伽理趣般若經
The Vajraśekhara-Yoga Method-Tendency Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra translated by 金剛智 (譯)
About the work
A one-juan mid-Táng translation of the Sanskrit Adhyardhaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā / Naya-pāramitā by Vajrabodhi 金剛智 (Jīngāngzhì, 669–741), one of the Three Great Tantric Masters (三大士) of Kāiyuán Tángmì. The catalog title makes the Vajraśekhara-cycle affiliation explicit: Jīngāngdǐng yújiā 金剛頂瑜伽 = “the Yoga of the Vajraśekhara”; lǐqù bānruò 理趣般若 = “method-tendency Prajñāpāramitā” (= Naya-pāramitā). Vajrabodhi notes in the title-attribution line yī fànběn yú zhōng tiān yì 依梵本於中天譯 (“translated from a Sanskrit text in central India”), suggesting the translation was begun in India before completion in China. notBefore set to 720 (after Vajrabodhi’s arrival in Chángān in 719); notAfter = 741 (death). Preserved as T8 no. 241. Catalog dynasty 唐.
Abstract
The Vajrabodhi translation is the first explicit Chinese rendering of the Adhyardhaśatikā in its Tantric register — explicitly affiliated with the Vajraśekhara cycle through the title-formula Jīngāngdǐng 金剛頂. Where Bodhiruci’s earlier translation (KR6c0117) had presented the text as a Mahāyāna prajñāpāramitā sūtra without explicit Tantric framing, Vajrabodhi’s translation announces the text’s Tantric ritual context from the title down. The opening rú shì wǒ wén invocation is parallel to T240 with characteristic Tantric refinements in vocabulary (Bójiāfàn miào shàn chéngjiù rúlái jīngāng … 薄伽梵妙善成就如來金剛 …), and the discourse proceeds through the canonical sixteen-name exposition of prajñā in Tantric register. The work, with KR6c0120 (Amoghavajra), forms the doctrinal substrate of the Vajra-realm (vajradhātu) Tantric tradition in East Asia.
Translations and research
- See KR6c0117 for principal modern studies of the Adhyardhaśatikā family.
- For Vajrabodhi’s life and Tantric program see Charles Orzech, Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of Chinese Buddhism (Penn State, 1998); Paul Copp and contributors.
Other points of interest
The Vajrabodhi translation is less circulated than its disciple Amoghavajra’s later rendering (KR6c0120 = T243), which became the canonical text of the Japanese Shingon school (Lǐqùjīng 理趣經) via Kūkai’s transmission. The Vajrabodhi rendering survives chiefly as a textual witness for comparative Tantric translation history.
Links
- 金剛智 DILA
- CBETA online
- Translator: Vajrabodhi 金剛智 (669–741) — see person note 金剛智
- Disciple’s parallel translation: KR6c0120 Dàlè jīngāng bùkōng zhēnshí sānmóyē jīng (Amoghavajra, 770)
- Sanskrit: Adhyardhaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā / Naya-pāramitā
- Cross-references: T220(10), T240 (KR6c0117), T242 (KR6c0119), T243 (KR6c0120), T244
- Dazangthings date evidence (730): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1/
- Kanseki DB