Jiě shēnmì jīng 解深密經
Sūtra Explicating the Profound Mystery (Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra) translated by 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)
About the work
T676 in five fascicles is 玄奘’s definitive Chinese rendering of the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra and the textual basis of all subsequent East-Asian Yogācāra (Fǎxiàng 法相 / Cí’ēn 慈恩) exegesis. Translated at Hóngfúsì 弘福寺 in Cháng’ān in Zhēnguān 21 (647 CE), two years after 玄奘’s return from India in 645. The opening colophon reads “大唐三藏法師玄奘奉詔譯” (“translated by imperial decree by Tripiṭaka-dharma-master Xuánzàng of the Great Táng”). It is the single most important sūtra source for the Yogācāra-school vijñapti-mātra doctrine in China.
Abstract
玄奘’s 647 translation of the Saṃdhinirmocana is one of the four complete or partial Chinese versions of this Yogācāra root-sūtra preserved in the Chinese canon: it is the latest (KR6i0352 / T675 by Bodhiruci in 514 is older and complete; KR6i0355 / T677 by Paramārtha in 557 covers only chapter 2; KR6i0356 / T678 and KR6i0357 / T679 by Guṇabhadra preserve only chapter 7 and chapter 8 respectively as separate “extracts”), and is universally recognised as the most accurate and stylistically polished. Its chapter division differs from the Bodhiruci version (eight chapters vs. eleven, with several of the bodhisattva-questioner chapters consolidated). The doctrinal armature — ālayavijñāna 阿賴耶識 (called by 玄奘 ādānashí 阿陀那識 in the third chapter, “Mind, Manas, and Consciousness”), the three self-natures (parikalpita 遍計所執 / paratantra 依他起 / pariniṣpanna 圓成實), and the three turnings of the wheel of dharma (三轉法輪) — is the standard scriptural ground for the East-Asian Yogācāra tradition. 玄奘’s disciple Yuáncè (613–696) wrote the most influential medieval commentary, the [[KR6i0354|Jiě shēnmì jīng shū 解深密經疏]] / X369 in ten fascicles (only fascicles 1–8 and partial fascicle 10 transmitted in Chinese; the whole work survives in Tibetan translation as Dgongs pa nges par ‘grel pa’i mdo’i rgya cher ‘grel pa).
Structural Division
Following CANWWW (T16N0676), the eight-chapter division is:
- Xù pǐn 序品 — Preface.
- Shèngyìdì xiāng pǐn 勝義諦相品 — The Mark of Ultimate Truth. ↔ partial parallel: KR6i0355 (Fó shuō jiějié jīng / T677 by Paramārtha).
- Xīnyìshí xiāng pǐn 心意識相品 — The Mark of Mind, Manas, and Consciousness.
- Yīqièfǎ xiāng pǐn 一切法相品 — The Mark of All Dharmas.
- Wúzìxìng xiāng pǐn 無自性相品 — The Mark of the Absence of Self-Nature.
- Fēnbié yújiā pǐn 分別瑜伽品 — Distinguishing Yoga (i.e. śamatha-vipaśyanā analysis).
- Dìbōluómì-duō pǐn 地波羅蜜多品 — The Stages and the Pāramitās. ↔ partial parallel: KR6i0356 (T678 by Guṇabhadra).
- Rúlái chéngsuǒzuò shì pǐn 如來成所作事品 — The Buddha’s Accomplishment of his Task. ↔ partial parallel: KR6i0357 (T679 by Guṇabhadra).
Related canonical recensions: KR6i0352 (深密解脫經 / T675 by Bodhiruci, 514 CE); KR6i0355 (佛說解節經 / T677 by Paramārtha); KR6i0356 (T678); KR6i0357 (T679); commentary KR6i0354 (解深密經疏 / X369 by Wǒnch’ǔk).
Translations and research
- Lamotte, Étienne. Saṃdhinirmocana sūtra : L’explication des mystères. Louvain, 1935.
- Powers, John. Wisdom of Buddha: The Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra. Dharma Publishing, 1995.
- Powers, John. Hermeneutics and Tradition in the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra. Leiden: Brill, 1993.
- Keenan, John P. The Scripture on the Explication of Underlying Meaning. Berkeley: Numata Center, 2000 (BDK English Tripiṭaka).
- Cleary, Thomas. Buddhist Yoga: A Comprehensive Course. Boston: Shambhala, 1995. English translation of Xuánzàng’s version.
- Frauwallner, Erich. Die Philosophie des Buddhismus. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1956 (treats key passages on ālayavijñāna and trisvabhāva).
- Schmithausen, Lambert. Ālayavijñāna: On the Origin and the Early Development of a Central Concept of Yogācāra Philosophy. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1987.