Fó shuō fódì jīng 佛說佛地經
The Buddha’s Sūtra on the Stage of Buddhahood (Buddhabhūmisūtra) translated by 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)
About the work
T680 in one fascicle is 玄奘’s translation of the Buddhabhūmi-sūtra, the principal Mahāyāna scriptural source for the doctrine of the five types of buddha-knowledge or jñāna (五種菩提): mirror-like (大圓鏡智), equality (平等性智), discernment (妙觀察智), accomplishing-action (成所作智), and the all-pervading dharmadhātu wisdom (法界體性智 / 清淨法界). Translated at Hóngfúsì 弘福寺 in Cháng’ān in Zhēnguān 19 (645 CE), the year of 玄奘’s return from India — the colophon “大唐三藏法師玄奘奉詔譯” is preserved at the head of the witness, which opens with the same rich seven-jewel-Buddhaland nidāna setting that 玄奘’s [[KR6i0353|Jiě shēnmì jīng]] employs.
Abstract
The Buddhabhūmi-sūtra (Tib. Sangs rgyas kyi sa’i mdo) is one of the small group of Yogācāra-related sūtras that 玄奘 translated immediately upon his return to China in 645. It serves as the scriptural ground for the Buddhabhūmi-vyākhyāna (Fódìjīng lùn 佛地經論), the major Yogācāra commentary by Bandhuprabha 親光 et al., which 玄奘 also translated as T1530 in 649–650. Together with the Saṃdhinirmocana (KR6i0353), the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha (《攝大乘論》, T1594), and the Yogācāra-bhūmi (《瑜伽師地論》, T1579), the Buddhabhūmi-sūtra defined the doctrinal core of the Cí’ēn / Fǎxiàng school of Tang Yogācāra.
The Sanskrit original is lost; the sūtra is preserved only in Chinese (T680) and Tibetan (D 275). The doctrine of the five buddha-knowledges that the sūtra systematizes — and the four-knowledge schema (四智) which is its more familiar later derivative, omitting dharmadhātu-essence-knowledge — became foundational for East-Asian Mahāyāna in general and for tantric Buddhism’s mapping of the five buddhas (五方佛) onto the five wisdoms in particular. The text is brief and dense, depicting the buddhaland Vijñapti with elaborate visual detail before unfolding the doctrine of the five wisdoms in dialogue with the bodhisattva Miàoshēngshēng 妙生 (Suviśiṣṭa-mati).
Related canonical texts: commentary on this sūtra: [[KR6m0151|Fódì jīng lùn 佛地經論]] (T1530, by Bandhuprabha et al., trans. Xuánzàng).
Translations and research
- Keenan, John P. The Interpretation of the Buddha Land (BDK English Tripiṭaka). Berkeley: Numata Center, 2002. English translation of the sūtra and its commentary together.
- Nishio Kyōō 西尾京雄. Bukkyōkyōron no kenkyū 仏地経論之研究. Kyoto, 1940 (foundational Japanese study).
- Hakamaya Noriaki 袴谷憲昭. “Bukkyōkyōron ni okeru shisō ni tsuite” 佛地經論における四智について. Komazawa Bukkyō 27 (1969).
- Lusthaus, Dan. Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Ch’eng Wei-shih Lun. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002 (treats the sūtra in its Yogācāra setting).