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六門教授習定論

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Text ID
KR6n0084
Date
700–711
Dynasty
唐

Liùmén jiàoshòu xí dìng lùn 六門教授習定論

Treatise on the Six Gates of Instruction in Cultivating Concentration by 無著菩薩 (Wúzhuó púsà = Asaṅga, 本 / verse-base) with 世親菩薩 (Shìqīn púsà = Vasubandhu, 釋 / commentary), trans. 義淨 (Yìjìng, 譯)

About the work

A short single-fascicle Yogācāra meditation manual: verse-base by Asaṅga, prose-commentary by Vasubandhu, translated into Chinese by 義淨 (Yìjìng) on his return from his pilgrimage to India and Śrīvijaya. The work treats the cultivation of samādhi (xí dìng 習定) through six “gates” or methodological doors — a topical organization reminiscent of the yoga / bhāvanā sections of the KR6n0001 Yogācārabhūmi.

Structural Division

CANWWW does not preserve a structural division for T31N1607. The single fascicle is organised into six topical mén 門: (1) the four meditative bases (dhyāna and samāpatti prerequisites); (2) the apparatus of training; (3) the sources of error and obstruction; (4) the antidotes; (5) the stages of progress; (6) the result. (The exact six-fold subdivision varies in the secondary literature; the above follows the standard Cí’ēn analysis.)

Abstract

The text is one of the principal short-form Yogācāra meditation manuals in Chinese translation, complementing the more systematic but encyclopedic treatment in the Yogācārabhūmi meditation chapters. The verse + commentary format (Asaṅga + Vasubandhu, the brothers’ standard pattern of root + auto-commentary) is preserved in the Chinese translation. The Sanskrit title is variously reconstructed as Ṣaḍyatana-saṃāpatti-bhāvanā or Dhyānopadeśa-ṣaṭ-pārāyaṇa-śāstra; no Sanskrit original survives.

The dating window (700–711) reflects the active translation period of 義淨 from his establishment at the Cháng’ān Dàjiànfúsì 大薦福寺 in 700 to his death in 713. The colophon does not give a precise date; the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù j. 9 includes the work in Yìjìng’s later doctrinal output alongside KR6n0056 Chéng wéishí bǎoshēng lùn and other Indian śāstra translations.

The work is short and is not extensively commented upon in the Chinese tradition; it is included in the canon principally for its meditation-pedagogic content and for its association with Asaṅga’s name.

Translations and research

  • Yoshimura Makoto 吉村誠. Chūgoku Yuishiki shisōshi kenkyū. Tokyo: Daizō shuppan, 2013.
  • Schmithausen, Lambert. “On Some Aspects of Descriptions of Theories of Self-Cognition in Vasubandhu and Other Buddhists.” In Studies in Indian Philosophy and Buddhism, Festschrift for J.W. de Jong, 1989.
  • Lusthaus, Dan. Buddhist Phenomenology. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.

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