Yīn yuán xīn lùn sòng / Yīn yuán xīn lùn shì 因緣心論頌・因緣心論釋
Verses on the Heart of Dependent Arising (Pratītyasamutpāda-hṛdaya-kārikā) and its Commentary by 龍樹菩薩 (Lóngshù púsà / Nāgārjuna, 造)
About the work
A short composite text comprising the Pratītyasamutpāda-hṛdaya-kārikā (因緣心論頌) and its accompanying prose commentary (因緣心論釋), traditionally attributed to 龍樹菩薩 (Nāgārjuna, c. 150–250) — the catalog meta gives the author as 猛龍菩薩, evidently a transposition of 龍猛 (an alternate Chinese rendering of Nāgārjuna; the source text and CANWWW (T32N1654) confirm 龍猛/龍猛菩薩 = Nāgārjuna). The translator is unattested; the work entered the Chinese canon as an anonymous (失譯) translation of unknown date, though comparison with parallel Tibetan and Sanskrit witnesses indicates the work is genuinely Nāgārjunian. The verses occupy seven gāthās and the prose commentary fills the remainder; both were translated together.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T32N1654) records two parts:
- Yīnyuán xīn lùn sòng 因緣心論頌 — Verses (the kārikā)
- Yīnyuán xīn lùn shì 因緣心論釋 — Commentary (the vyākhyā)
CANWWW also notes a related-text link to KR6o0059 (T85n2816, the Yīnyuán xīn shì lùn kāijué jì), a sub-commentary on this work.
Abstract
The Taishō text opens “因緣心論頌 / 龍猛菩薩作” and presents seven verses analysing the twelve links of dependent origination as falling into three groups (kleśa 煩惱, karman 業, duḥkha 苦) and into the standard “five causes / seven results” division. The Sanskrit Pratītyasamutpāda-hṛdaya-kārikā survives complete (recovered from Nepalese manuscripts and Tibetan translation), and the Chinese is a faithful witness; the vyākhyā prose commentary is also preserved in Sanskrit and Tibetan and ascribed in the Tibetan tradition variously to Nāgārjuna or a pseudo-Nāgārjuna successor. The Tibetan version is in the bsTan-‘gyur (D 3836). The Chinese was unattributed by translator and dated only by its canon registration, which places it loosely between the Tang and Song periods; comparison of vocabulary suggests a late-Tang or Northern-Song hand. The work is a foundational text in Nāgārjuna’s own systematisation of pratītyasamutpāda and was one of the texts most carefully studied in the Tibetan dGe-lugs-pa tradition (see Chandrakirti’s commentary).
Translations and research
- Frauwallner, Erich. Die Philosophie des Buddhismus. Berlin, 1956. — Treats the Pratītyasamutpāda-hṛdaya.
- Lindtner, Christian. Nagarjuniana: Studies in the Writings and Philosophy of Nāgārjuna. Copenhagen, 1982. — Edition and translation of the Sanskrit Pratītyasamutpāda-hṛdaya-kārikā with discussion of authenticity.
- May, Jacques. “On Madhyamaka Philosophy.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 6 (1978): 233–241. — General context.
- Vasitthi, Bhikkhuni Dhammadinnā. “Pratītyasamutpāda-hṛdaya-kārikā and vyākhyā: A Critical Study.” Various editions.
Other points of interest
The catalog meta entry gives the author as 猛龍菩薩 (which is otherwise unattested as a Buddhist personage); the source text and CANWWW agree on 龍猛菩薩, the standard Chinese alternate rendering of Nāgārjuna (the more common form is 龍樹). The catalog entry should accordingly be read as a transposition typo for 龍猛. The work is one of three closely related texts — alongside KR6o0059 and the parallel translations KR6o0055 / KR6o0056 / KR6o0057 — preserving the early Indian “twelve links” abhidharma literature in Chinese.