Bǎojì jīng sìfǎ yōubōtíshè 寶髻經四法憂波提舍
Upadeśa on the Four Dharmas of the Ratnacūḍā-sūtra by 天親菩薩 (Vasubandhu, 造) — translated by 毘目智仙 (Vimokṣaprajñā-ṛṣi, 譯) with 瞿曇般若流支 (Gautama Prajñāruci) and the monk 曇林 (Tánlín)
About the work
The Bǎojì jīng sìfǎ yōubōtíshè in 1 fascicle is a Mahāyāna upadeśa (憂波提舍 yōubōtíshè, doctrinal exposition / commentary) by 天親菩薩 Vasubandhu on the Bǎojì (寶髻 Ratnacūḍā “Jewel-Crest”) section of the [[KR6h0001|Dà jí jīng]] — specifically, on the Sìfǎ 四法 “Four Dharmas” of bodhisattva vīrya (energetic exertion). The work is one of Vasubandhu’s authentic Mahāyāna upadeśas and is a brief but doctrinally dense scholastic commentary expanding on the four-fold typology of bodhisattva exertion in the Ratnacūḍā / Bǎojì parable. In the Taishō it is classified under Yújiā 瑜伽 / Yogācāra (volume 26, the Yogācāra-bhūmi-śāstra volume) rather than under Dà jí (volume 13), reflecting its status as a śāstra rather than a sūtra; the catalog meta places it within KR6h because of its commentarial relationship to the Dà jí jīng.
Prefaces
The Taishō text preserves at its head the Bǎojì jīng sìfǎ yōubōtíshè fānyì zhī jì 《寶髻經》四法憂波提舍飜譯之記 — “Translation Record of the Upadeśa on the Four Dharmas of the Ratnacūḍā-sūtra”. This colophon is one of the most precise Eastern-Wèi translation records preserved in the Taishō. It records that the Bǎojì jīng is one section of the Dà jí; that its four-dharma doctrine is “profound and recondite”, expounded in upadeśa form by Vasubandhu (天親菩薩 Tiānqīn púsà); that the translation was begun on a gēngwǔ 庚午 day in the 9th month (Xìnghé 興和 3 era, xīnyǒu year, 9th month, 1st day gēngwǔ) — corresponding to autumn 541 CE — and was carried out at the Jīnhuásì 金華寺 monastery in Yè 鄴 by the Tripitaka master 毘目智仙 Vimokṣaprajñā-ṛṣi, prince of Wūcháng 烏萇 (Uḍḍiyāna), in collaboration with the central-Indian Brahman 瞿曇般若流支 Gautama Prajñāruci, with the dharma-protector 高仲密 Gāo Zhòngmì of the Wèi state (Piàoqí dàjiāngjūn etc.) acting as patron and the monk 曇林 Tánlín as collaborator. The total length is given as 4,999 characters.
Abstract
The Taishō header below the translation record gives a second signature: “天親菩薩造 元魏烏萇國三藏毘目智仙譯” (“composed by Vasubandhu, translated by Vimokṣaprajñā-ṛṣi the Tripitaka-master from Uḍḍiyāna under the Yuán Wèi”). The body of the text begins with the standard sūtra-frame (“evaṃ mayā śrutam”) quoted from the Bǎojì parable — the Buddha at Vulture Peak addressing the bodhisattva Bǎojì / Ratnacūḍā on the four kinds of vīrya (精進)-exertion that are the bodhisattva’s dāna-foundation: (1) exertion to satisfy all sentient beings; (2) exertion to fulfill all dharmas of buddhahood; (3) exertion to perfect the anuvyañjana major and minor marks; (4) exertion to purify the buddha-fields. Vasubandhu’s upadeśa expounds these four through verse-summaries (gāthā) and prose explication, with characteristic Yogācāra dialectic addressing whether the bodhisattva’s dāna alone can fulfill all dharmas or whether the other five pāramitās are also required (the dialectical resolution being that the four-dharma exertion enfolds the six pāramitās).
The dating record and translator-list make this one of the most precisely-documented Eastern-Wèi Buddhist scholastic translations.
Translations and research
- Lamotte, Étienne. Le Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nāgārjuna, vol. 5 (frame for upadeśa literature). Louvain: Institut Orientaliste, 1980.
- Funayama, Toru. “Translation, Transcription, and What Else?” In Daoism, Buddhism, and Chinese Religion, ed. John Lagerwey and Pengzhi Lü. Leiden: Brill, 2009. — On the Eastern-Wèi translation institute and Vimokṣaprajñā-ṛṣi’s translations.
Other points of interest
- The translator-team — 毘目智仙 Vimokṣaprajñā-ṛṣi as Tripitaka-master, 瞿曇般若流支 Prajñāruci as collaborator-Brahman, 高仲密 Gāo Zhòngmì as state patron, and the monk 曇林 Tánlín as collaborator — also produced [[KR6h0030|the Fènxùnwáng wèn jīng (T0421)]] in 542. The two works together constitute the principal output of this Eastern-Wèi 鄴-city translation circle.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (516): [ 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. dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1