Xìn lì rù yìn fǎmén jīng 信力入印法門經
The Sūtra on the Dharma-Gate of Entering [the mudrā / Seal] through the Power of Faith by 曇摩流支 (Dharmaruci, 譯)
About the work
This 5-fascicle text by 曇摩流支 Dharmaruci is a substantial Mahāyāna sūtra in the Avataṃsaka-family of materials, treating the doctrine of the xìn lì 信力 (faith-power) as the foundation of bodhisattva-practice. The Taishō apparatus gives no parallel-listing for this text — it is a unique Chinese rendering of a now-lost Indic original.
The opening reads: “Homage to all Buddhas! Thus have I heard. At one time the Bhagavān was at…” — note the unusual guīmìng yīqiè zhū fó 歸命一切諸佛 (“Homage to all Buddhas!”) opening before the standard rúshì wǒ wén 如是我聞, an opening flourish more typical of Esoteric / Tantric than of standard Mahāyāna sūtras.
Prefaces
No formal preface; the title-line attributes the translation to “元魏天竺三藏曇摩流支譯” — “translated by the Indian Tripiṭaka Dharmaruci of the Yuán-Wèi (元魏 / Northern Wèi).”
Abstract
The translation is conventionally datable to the period 504 – 519 CE, the bracket of 曇摩流支 Dharmaruci’s documented activity in Luòyáng 洛陽 under Northern Wèi Xiàomíngdì 孝明帝. The bracket adopted here reflects this window. The text’s substantial length (5 fascicles) and doctrinal depth (extensive treatment of xìn lì / faith-power as the foundation of the bodhisattva path) make it one of the more important Avataṃsaka-family materials of the early Northern Dynasties period.
The doctrinal substance — the xìn 信 (faith) doctrine — is one of the foundational themes of Mahāyāna Buddhist soteriology, and would later be developed in the Awakening of Faith (Qǐxìn lùn 起信論, KR6o0078) tradition that became central to Chinese Buddhist thought. The present text’s articulation of the relation between faith and the yìn 印 (the seal / mudrā of the Dharma) is one of the earliest Chinese articulations of the doctrine of faith-as-foundation in Mahāyāna terms.
The Taishō text (T0305) is established on the standard apparatus.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
- Funayama Tōru 船山徹. Higashiajia Bukkyō no seimei rinri and related papers — for early Northern Wèi Mahāyāna translation work.
Other points of interest
- The opening guīmìng yīqiè zhū fó 歸命一切諸佛 before rúshì wǒ wén 如是我聞 is an unusual opening flourish that points to the proto-Tantric / Esoteric doctrinal milieu of the underlying Indic text — a reminder that the Avataṃsaka-family materials had a continuous engagement with developing Mahāyāna ritual-cosmological practices.