Shí èr yīn yuán lùn 十二因緣論
Treatise on the Twelve Links of Conditioned Origination (Pratītyasamutpāda-śāstra) by 淨意菩薩 (Jìngyì púsà / Śuddhamati, 造) and 菩提流支 (Pútíliúzhī / Bodhiruci, 譯)
About the work
A short one-juǎn verse-and-prose treatise on the twelve links of dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), composed by the Indian master Śuddhamati 淨意菩薩 and translated into Chinese by 菩提流支 (Bodhiruci, fl. 508–535) under Northern Wèi 後魏 patronage. The work opens with a homage verse and offers a compact systematisation of the twelve nidānas using the standard “five causes / seven results” (五因七果) YogācāraSarvāstivāda analytic. It is closely related to two other small Bodhiruci translations on the same theme — [[KR6o0056|Yuánshēng lùn 緣生論]] and [[KR6o0057|Dàshèng yuánshēng lùn 大乘緣生論]] — and forms part of the Yogācāra introductory literature transmitted to early sixth-century China.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T32N1651) does not record an internal sub-division.
Abstract
The Taishō text opens “十二因緣論一卷 / 淨意菩薩造 / 後魏北印度三藏菩提流支譯” and begins with a verse of homage (“歸命牟尼尊 / 妙法比丘僧 / 略作因緣論 / 為義顯現故”), declaring its purpose as a brief exposition (lüè-zuò 略作) for clarifying meaning. The author Śuddhamati (淨意, “Pure-mind”) is poorly attested outside this work; he is sometimes identified with a Yogācāra master in Vasubandhu’s lineage but the basis is slim. Modern scholars have shown the doctrinal frame of the work to be Yogācāra-Sarvāstivāda, similar to the brief abhidharma treatments of dependent origination in Asaṅga’s Abhidharma-samuccaya. The translation date is fixed by the Lì-dài sānbǎo jì 歷代三寶記 (T2034) within Bodhiruci’s Luòyáng / Yè 鄴 period, between Yǒngpíng 永平 1 (508) and Tiān-píng 天平 2 (535). The text is one of three closely related “twelve links” treatises rendered into Chinese — alongside the Yuán-shēng lùn of Ullaṅgha (T1652) and the same author’s Dà-shèng yuán-shēng lùn re-translated by Amoghavajra (T1653) — collectively the “pratītyasamutpāda group” of the Taishō Lùn-jí.
Translations and research
- Frauwallner, Erich. Die Philosophie des Buddhismus. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1956 (rev. 1969). — Treats the pratītyasamutpāda literature including this text.
- Hakamaya Noriaki 袴谷憲昭. “Jūni innen-ron no shisō” 十二因縁論の思想. Komazawa daigaku Bukkyōgaku-bu kenkyū kiyō (various).
- Mochizuki Bukkyō Daijiten 望月仏教大辞典 s.v. Jūni innen-ron — provides the standard reference summary.
Other points of interest
The work is one of the smaller witnesses to Bodhiruci’s massive translation output of Indian Yogācāra and abhidharma literature in early sixth-century North China — alongside his major Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna 十地經論 (T1522) and Lankāvatāra-sūtra 入楞伽經 (T671) it forms part of what Tang exegetes would call the “Northern Dìlùn” (北地論宗) corpus.
Links
- CBETA
- Dazangthings date evidence (520, 530): [ 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/