Dàshèng fǎjiè wú chābié lùn 大乘法界無差別論
Mahāyāna Treatise on the Non-Differentiation of the Dharmadhātu (Sāramati, Mahāyānadharmadhātu-aviśeṣa-śāstra) by 堅慧菩薩 (Jiānhuì púsà = Sāramati, 造) and 提雲般若 (Tíyúnbōrě = Devaprajñā, 等譯)
About the work
A short single-fascicle treatise on the non-differentiation of the dharmadhātu — the Tathāgatagarbha-tradition argument that all phenomena, viewed in their ultimate nature, partake of an undifferentiated dharmadhātu identifiable with the bodhicitta / Buddha-nature. Translated into Chinese by 提雲般若 (Devaprajñā) and his team under the Wǔ Zétiān regime (Wéishēngyì 維生義 era), conventionally dated 690–691. The same root text was retranslated as KR6n0090 Dàshèng fǎjiè wú chābié lùn (T31n1627), a slightly differing recension also by Devaprajñā or his school.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T31N1626) lists KR6n0091 Dàshèng fǎjiè wú chābié lùn shū (T44n1838) by 法藏 as the principal related text — i.e. the 法藏 commentary on this work. The single fascicle is internally organised around the doctrine of bodhicitta in twelve aspects (the twelve “marks” of bodhicitta as developed in the Tathāgatagarbha tradition).
Abstract
The treatise is one of two short Tathāgatagarbha texts attributed to 堅慧菩薩 (Sāramati) preserved in Chinese (the other is its sibling KR6n0090); the Sanskrit original is lost, and there is no Tibetan translation. The work is an important transitional text between the Ratnagotravibhāga / Uttaratantra-śāstra and the more ontologised forms of Tathāgatagarbha doctrine that became prominent in the Awakening of Faith (大乘起信論, T1666 / T1667) and subsequent Hua-yan school philosophical development.
The dating bracket follows the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù j. 9 attribution of Devaprajñā’s translation activity to Yǒngchāng 永昌 1 (689) – Tiānshòu 天授 2 (691). The translation team included 法藏 (Fǎzàng, 643–712), the great Hua-yan-school systematiser, who later composed KR6n0091 as a detailed commentary on this very work — a fact that explains why the text is foundational to Hua-yan-school philosophical development.
KR6n0090 (T31n1627), the second translation, differs in minor textual respects from this version and is sometimes described as a revision; the modern critical literature has not definitively settled the relationship.
Translations and research
- Takasaki Jikidō 高崎直道. A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga. Roma: IsMEO, 1966. (Discusses Sāramati as redactor of the Ratnagotra.)
- Liebenthal, Walter. “The Mahāyāna-dharmadhātu-aviśeṣa-śāstra.” Sino-Indian Studies 5 (1957): 70–110.
- Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. A Direct Path to the Buddha Within. Boston: Wisdom, 2008.
- Funayama Tōru 船山徹. Daijō Bukkyō no Ajia. Multi-vol., Tokyo, 2010s.
Links
- CBETA
- 堅慧菩薩 Jiānhuì púsà DILA
- 提雲般若 Tíyúnbōrě DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (690): [ T ] 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. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1/