Míng fófǎ gēnběn bēi 明佛法根本碑
Stele Inscription Clarifying the Foundation of the Buddha-Dharma by 智慧輪 (述)
About the work
A one-fascicle (1卷) stele-inscription doctrinal treatise by the late-Tang Esoteric ācārya Zhìhuìlún 智慧輪 智慧輪 (Skt. Prajñācakra; fl. 847–861), abbot of the Mahāmaṇḍala (dàmànluó 大曼拏攞) lineage at the Dàxìngshàn-sì 大興善寺 in Cháng’ān. The catalog meta names the author as 智慧 (the abbreviated form); the source colophon identifies him fully as Dàxìngshàn-sì dàmànluó āshélí sānzàng Zhìhuì lùn shù 大興善寺大曼拏攞阿闍梨三藏智慧論述 (“the Dàxìngshàn-sì Mahāmaṇḍala-ācārya, trepiṭaka Zhìhuìlún, composed [this treatise]”). Preserved as T46 no. 1954 in the Taishō.
Abstract
The Bēi opens with a programmatic doctrinal definition: “The Buddha’s foundation is the Bhagavat Mahāvairocana (dàpílúzhēnà 大毘盧遮那), upon whom all Buddhas depend. The Dharma’s foundation is the zhēnyán 真言 / tuóluóní 陀羅尼, upon which all dharmas depend.” The treatise then unfolds: all the fully-fruited saintly worthies of the ten-direction dharma-realms depend on Mahāvairocana’s pure-and-wondrous dharma-body, and manifest through the self-and-other-enjoyment-bodies and the transformation-bodies; all expressed teachings-and-principles are zhēnyán tuóluóní mén. The threefold canon (sùdálǎn 素怛覽 / bǐtījiā 比擿迦; wéinàiyē 微奈耶 / bǐtījiā; āpídámó 阿毘達磨 / bǐtījiā) is itself fundamentally a sub-flow of the zhēnyán tuóluóní mén, whose single character (yīzì 一字) comprehends the entire threefold canon.
The work is one of the principal late-Tang Esoteric doctrinal manifestos: it programmatically asserts that the Esoteric teaching is the foundational source of the entire Buddhist dispensation, of which the xiǎn exoteric teaching is merely a derivative manifestation. Composition: late Tang, c. 847–861 (Dàzhōng era — Zhìhuìlún’s documented active period — through the early Xiántōng era).
Translations and research
- Charles Orzech et al., eds., Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia (Brill, 2011) — discussion of Zhìhuìlún and the late-Tang Esoteric scholarly establishment.
Other points of interest
The work serves as a doctrinal counterpart to Zhìhuìlún’s institutional role as the late-Tang transmitter of the liǎngbù 兩部 dual-maṇḍala tradition to the Japanese Tendai pilgrim Enchin 圓珍 圓珍 (Jp. Chishō Daishi, 814–891).