Jiāyē shāndǐng jīng 伽耶山頂經
Sūtra of Mount Gayāśīrṣa translated by 菩提流支 Pútíliúzhī (Bodhiruci, 譯)
About the work
The Jiāyē shāndǐng jīng (T465) is a one-fascicle alternate translation of the Gayāśīrṣa-sūtra, parallel to Kumārajīva’s KR6i0065 (T464). It was translated by the Northern Wei Indian monk Bodhiruci 菩提流支 (菩提流支; fl. 508–537 CE) at Luòyáng. The Taishō header cross-references Nos. 464, 466, 467 — the four Chinese translations of the Gayāśīrṣa family.
Prefaces
The text opens with rúshì wǒwén in Bodhiruci’s smooth Yogācāra-influenced Chinese. The colophon attributes the translation to “元魏天竺三藏菩提流支” (Bodhiruci, Tripiṭaka master from India, of the Northern Wei).
Abstract
This is the second in the sequence of four Chinese translations of the Gayāśīrṣa-sūtra. Bodhiruci’s translation differs from Kumārajīva’s chiefly in: (i) more literal rendering of Sanskrit terminology; (ii) Yogācāra-friendly translation choices for terms like vijñāna and citta; (iii) preservation of more Vorlage idioms.
Bodhiruci was the principal translator of Yogācāra literature in early-sixth-century Luòyáng, responsible for the Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna (Vasubandhu’s commentary on the Daśabhūmika-sūtra; T1522) — the foundational text of the Dìlùn 地論 school — as well as the first Chinese translation of the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra (T671) and the Mahāyāna-saṃparigraha-bhāṣya fragments. The Jiāyē shāndǐng jīng is a relatively minor entry in his prolific corpus, but its alternate idiom was useful for fifth- and sixth-century Chinese Madhyamaka/Yogācāra debate.
Translations and research
- Liebenthal, Walter. Chao Lun: The Treatises of Seng-chao. 2nd ed. Hong Kong, 1968 — uses parallel translations.
- Tribe, Anthony. “Mañjuśrī: Origins, Role and Significance.” The Buddhist Forum II (1991): 1–25.