Jīntāi liǎngjiè shīzī xiāngchéng 金胎兩界師資相承
Master-and-Disciple Succession of the Vajradhātu and Garbhadhātu Realms by 海雲 (集)
About the work
A one-fascicle (1卷) Esoteric lineage-record compiled by Hǎiyún 海雲, a late-Tang Esoteric Buddhist monk, recording in parallel the master-and-disciple lineages of the two great Tang Esoteric transmission-cycles: the Vajradhātu (Jīngāngjiè 金剛界) and the Garbhadhātu (Tāizàngjiè 胎藏界). Preserved as X59 no. 1073 in the Xùzàngjīng. The work is alternately preserved under the longer title Liǎngbù dàfǎ xiāngchéng shīzī fùfǎ jì 兩部大法相承師資付法記 (KR6r0115).
Abstract
The work is presented as two parallel lineage-trees:
- Vajradhātu (Jīngāngjiè 金剛界): Mahāvairocana 遮那 → Vajrasattva 金薩 → Nāgārjuna 龍猛 → Nāgabodhi 龍智 → Vajrabodhi 金剛智 跋折羅菩提 → Amoghavajra 不空 不空 → and on to the Tang ninth-century Esoteric ācāryas.
- Garbhadhātu (Tāizàngjiè 胎藏界): the parallel transmission descending through Mahāvairocana → Avalokiteśvara → Nāgārjuna → … → Śubhakarasiṃha 善無畏 → Yīxíng 一行 一行 → and on to the Tang ninth-century Esoteric ācāryas.
The Xiāngchéng is one of the principal late-Tang sources for the institutional self-understanding of the Esoteric school as a liǎngbù 兩部 (dual-realm) tradition with two distinct but parallel master-disciple genealogies converging in the Tang Chángān monastic establishment. Composition: late ninth century, before the An-Shǐ rebellion’s broader disruptions.
The work is paralleled by Tāijīn liǎngjiè xuèmài 胎金兩界血脈 (KR6j0749) by 造玄, dated 865 CE — together they constitute the principal surviving Tang Esoteric xiāngchéng / xuèmài genealogical literature.
Translations and research
- Charles Orzech et al., eds., Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia (Brill, 2011) — discussion of the Tang Esoteric lineage records.