Wénshūshīlì wèn pútí jīng 文殊師利問菩提經
Sūtra of Mañjuśrī’s Questions on Awakening (a.k.a. Sūtra of Mount Gayāśīrṣa) translated by 鳩摩羅什 Jiūmóluóshí (Kumārajīva, 譯)
About the work
The Wénshūshīlì wèn pútí jīng (T464), also titled Jiāyē shāndǐng jīng 伽耶山頂經 (“Sūtra at the Summit of Mount Gayāśīrṣa”), is a one-fascicle Mahāyāna sūtra translated by Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什 (鳩摩羅什) at Cháng’ān between 402 and 412 CE. The Sanskrit Vorlage is the Gayāśīrṣa-sūtra. The Taishō header cross-references Nos. 465–467 — three later parallel translations: Bodhiruci (KR6i0066), Vinītaruci (KR6i0067), and Bodhiruci II (KR6i0068).
Prefaces
The text opens with rúshì wǒwén 如是我聞 in Kumārajīva’s standard idiom. The colophon names the translator “姚秦龜茲三藏鳩摩羅什” (Kumārajīva, Tripiṭaka master of Kucha, of the Yáo Qín). The frame narrative places the Buddha at the summit of Mount Gayāśīrṣa (伽耶山頂) — the same site where, according to the Pāli Mahāvagga, the Buddha preached the Fire Sermon (Ādittapariyāya-sutta). The sūtra repurposes this canonical setting for a Mahāyāna teaching on the bodhisattva’s bodhi (awakening).
Abstract
This sūtra is structured as Mañjuśrī’s interrogation of the Buddha about the nature of bodhi (awakening) and the bodhisattva path. The Buddha’s responses unfold a Madhyamaka-influenced presentation of bodhi as ungraspable, non-dual, and identical to the dharmadhātu. The text was particularly important to Kumārajīva’s Madhyamaka transmission (the Sanlun school) because it explicitly identifies the bodhisattva’s awakening with emptiness.
The transmission history of the Gayāśīrṣa-sūtra in China is exceptional: four translations survive (T464, T465, T466, T467), spanning the early fifth century (Kumārajīva) through the early Tang (Bodhiruci II, KR6i0068). This testifies to its doctrinal importance. Kumārajīva’s translation is the polished classical version on which all later Chinese Mahāyāna doctrinal literature on the bodhisattva bodhi depends. Kumārajīva’s work in Cháng’ān spanned 402–413 CE; this translation is plausibly placed in the middle period of his Cháng’ān productivity.
Translations and research
- Lamotte, Étienne. Le traité de la grande vertu de sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra). Louvain, 1944–1980 — uses Kumārajīva translations extensively.
- Robinson, Richard H. Early Mādhyamika in India and China. University of Wisconsin Press, 1967.
- Liebenthal, Walter. Chao Lun: The Treatises of Seng-chao. 2nd ed. Hong Kong University Press, 1968.
- Tribe, Anthony. “Mañjuśrī: Origins, Role and Significance.” The Buddhist Forum II (1991): 1–25.