Rù Léngqié jīng 入楞伽經
Sūtra of Entry into Laṅkā (Skt. Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra, ten-fascicle Wèi recension) translated by 菩提流支 (Pútíliúzhī / Bodhiruci, 譯)
About the work
T671 in ten fascicles is the second Chinese translation of the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra, produced at the Northern Wèi capital Luòyáng. Compared with the four-fascicle T670 of 求那跋陀羅 of 443, T671 is roughly two-and-a-half times longer and reflects a fuller recension of the Indic source — including the chapter-internal apparatus (formal openings of dialogue, summary verses) and the long Sagāthaka verse-appendix that the Sanskrit also preserves.
Abstract
The translation is unanimously ascribed to 菩提流支 (Bodhiruci, d. c. 527) on the basis of the Lìdài sānbǎo jì, the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù, and the Xù gāosēng zhuàn. The date is fixed by the Lìdài sānbǎo jì at Yánchāng 延昌 2 (= 513), at the Yǒngníngsì 永寧寺 in Luòyáng. The translation team included the Wèi imperial supervisor Yuányú 元預, the zhōngshūlìng Lǐzhōng 李崇, and the bilingual ʿverbal-renderer’ (chuányǔ 傳語) Sēnglǎng 僧朗.
T671 was the principal Laṅkāvatāra used in Northern Wèi Yogācāra circles and was the version commented upon by 法藏 in his Rù Léngqiéxīn xuányì (T1790). For Chinese Chán transmission T670 (Guṇabhadra) eventually displaced it, but T671 remained the philologically more useful witness for understanding the underlying Sanskrit recension. Its inclusion of the Sagāthaka makes it the only complete Chinese rendering of the sūtra.
Structural Division
T671 is divided into 18 chapters (CANWWW): 請佛品, 問答品, 集一切佛法品, 佛心品, 盧迦耶陀品, 涅槃品, 法身品, 無常品, 入道品, 問如來常無常品, 佛性品, 五法門品, 恆河沙品, 剎那品, 化品, 遮食肉品, 陀羅尼品, 總品 (the Sagāthaka verse-appendix). The 18-chapter division contrasts with the single-title four-chapter structure of T670 and the ten-chapter division of T672.
Related canonical texts: KR6i0327 (楞伽阿跋多羅寶經 / T670), KR6i0329 (大乘入楞伽經 / T672); commentary KR6i0334 (注大乘入楞伽經 / T1791) — the latter on T672 rather than T671, but useful for parallel reading.
Translations and research
- Nanjio Bun’yū 南條文雄, ed. The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra. Kyoto: Otani University Press, 1923. The standard Sanskrit edition. (Vaidya 1963 supersedes for some readings.)
- Suzuki, D. T. The Lankavatara Sutra. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1932. Largely follows T671 + Sanskrit.
- Sutton, Florin G. Existence and Enlightenment in the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra. Albany: SUNY, 1991.
- Takasaki Jikidō 高崎直道. Ryōgakyō. Tokyo: Daizō Shuppan, 1980.
- Tokiwa Gishin 常盤義伸. Ryōgakyō no kenkyū 楞伽経の研究. Tokyo: Daitō Shuppansha, 1976.
Links
- CBETA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (520, 530): CBETA, Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經, ed. Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo, 1924–1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. dazangthings