Dà shèng yuán shēng lùn 大乘緣生論
Mahāyāna Treatise on Dependent Arising (Mahāyāna-pratītyasamutpāda-śāstra) by 欝楞迦 (Yùléngjiā / Ullaṅgha, 造) and 不空 (Bùkōng / Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-juǎn verse-and-prose treatise on dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), translated into Chinese by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 705–774) at the Táng court probably in the Tiānbǎo or Dàlì period. The Sanskrit original is the same work as that translated a century earlier by 達磨笈多 (Dharmagupta) as the [[KR6o0056|Yuánshēng lùn 緣生論]]; the Taishō editorial apparatus correctly notes “No. 1653 [No. 1652]“. Amoghavajra’s title adds the qualifier Dàshèng 大乘 (“Mahāyāna”) to distinguish his version and to mark it as belonging to the Mahāyāna abhidharma corpus.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T32N1653) does not record an internal sub-division. The text consists of a series of verses with prose commentary, structured by the twelve links.
Abstract
The Taishō text opens “大乘緣生論一卷（聖者欝楞迦造） / 開府儀同三司特進試鴻臚卿肅國公食邑三千戶賜紫贈司空諡大鑒正號大廣智大興善寺三藏沙門不空奉 詔譯” — the standard Tang imperial-titles preamble of Amoghavajra’s late translations, conferred during the Dàlì 大曆 reign. The translation is post-746 (Amoghavajra’s return from the south) and pre-774 (his death). Comparison with [[KR6o0056|Dharmagupta’s Yuánshēng lùn]] shows the two are translations of the same Indic original; Amoghavajra’s version is more polished and typically of his late-Tang idiom — a characteristic feature of the jīnyì 今譯 (“new translation”) movement of the Esoteric school. The translation is registered in the Zhēnyuán xīndìng shìjiào mùlù 貞元新定釋教目錄 (T2157) of Yuánzhào 圓照 (799–800), which identifies it as a re-translation of Dharmagupta’s Suí version.
Translations and research
- Hakamaya Noriaki 袴谷憲昭. “Engi-shōron to Daijō engi-ron: futatsu no Kanyaku no hikaku” 縁生論と大乘緣生論 — 二つの漢譯の比較. Komazawa daigaku Bukkyōgaku-bu kenkyū kiyō (various). — Comparative study.
- Orlando, Raffaello. “A Study of Chinese Documents Concerning the Life of the Tantric Buddhist Patriarch Amoghavajra (705–774).” Princeton diss., 1981. — Detailed study of Amoghavajra’s career; touches on his late translation projects.
- Chou Yi-liang. “Tantrism in China.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 8 (1945): 241–332. — Classic study; touches on the textual program.
Other points of interest
The text is one of the smaller pieces in Amoghavajra’s prodigious translation output and is somewhat anomalous in his corpus, which is dominated by vidyā-rāja and maṇḍala materials. It belongs to a small group of Mahāyāna abhidharma works that Amoghavajra retranslated to provide the doctrinal foundation for his Esoteric program — alongside, e.g., his retranslation of the Mañjuśrī-paripṛcchā and certain dhāraṇī works.
Links
- CBETA
- Dazangthings date evidence (750): [ 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/