Císhì púsà luèxiū yújiā niànsòng fǎ 慈氏菩薩略修瑜伽念誦法
Abridged Method for Cultivating the Yoga and Recitation of the Bodhisattva Maitreya by 善無畏 (Shànwúwèi, Śubhakarasiṃha, 譯)
About the work
A two-fascicle Tang Esoteric niànsòngfǎ manual on Maitreya (慈氏 Císhì) yoga-recitation, attributed to Śubhakarasiṃha (善無畏, 637–735). The first fascicle bears the marginal note 青龍寺山林院一切經 — i.e. the Qīnglóngsì 青龍寺 (Mountain-Forest Cloister) tripiṭaka source. The opening colophon: 慈氏菩薩略修愈誐入法界五大觀門品第一并 大興善寺三藏沙門善無畏奉詔譯. The text uses 愈誐 as the phonetic transliteration of yoga (later standardised as 瑜伽).
Abstract
The text is a Tang Esoteric ritual manual organising the five-element contemplation (五大觀門, pañca-mahābhūta) and the entry into the dharmadhātu through Maitreya-yoga. Fascicle 1, “Chapter on the Five-Greats Contemplation-Gate of Entering the Dharmadhātu by Maitreya’s Abridged Yoga” (慈氏菩薩略修愈誐入法界五大觀門品第一), opens with verses of homage to Locana Buddha (𡲼嚕左曩佛, vairocana-locana), Maitreya as one-life bodhisattva (一生補處妹怛唎耶, ekajātipratibaddha), the four wisdoms and four pāramitās, the eight great bodhisattvas, and the deities of the five families (五部諸明). The yoga-procedure works through mudrā, mantra, and visualisation of Maitreya as Yogācāra-class deity in the dharmadhātu-mandala. The text is part of Śubhakarasiṃha’s Mahāvairocana-related production at Cháng’ān (大興善寺) in the second-quarter of the eighth century, and it underlies later Maitreya-cult yoga-practice in both Tang and Heian Esoteric tradition.
The dating bracket follows Śubhakarasiṃha’s translation activity at Cháng’ān (716 arrival to death in 735). Some scholars argue the text may be a later compilation under Śubhakarasiṃha’s name; the Taishō and CANWWW retain his attribution.
Translations and research
- Sundberg, Jeffrey, with Rolf Giebel. “The Life of the Tang Court Monk Vajrabodhi as Chronicled by Lü Xiang (呂向): South Indian and Śrī Laṅkān Antecedents to the Arrival of the Buddhist Vajrayāna in Eighth-Century Java and China.” Pacific World, 3rd series, 13 (2011): 129–222.
- Chou Yi-liang. “Tantrism in China.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 8.3/4 (1945): 241–332.
Links
- CBETA T20n1141
- Kanseki DB
- 善無畏 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (720) — T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014.