Zhū jiào jué dìng míng yì lùn 諸教決定名義論
Treatise on the Definitive Names and Meanings of the Various Doctrines (Sarva-deśanā-niścaya-nāma-artha-śāstra) by 慈氏菩薩 (Císhì púsà / Maitreya, 造) and 施護 (Shīhù / Dānapāla, 譯)
About the work
A one-juǎn short doctrinal treatise traditionally attributed to 慈氏菩薩 (Maitreya — the Yogācāra Maitreya, the celestial bodhisattva regarded as the source of the Yogācāra-bhūmi-śāstra and other foundational Yogācāra texts), translated into Chinese by 施護 (Dānapāla, fl. 980–1017) at the Sòng-period imperial Yìjīng-yuàn 譯經院 (“Translation Bureau”). The work establishes definitive names and meanings for the principal terms of Mahāyāna doctrine — bodhicitta, the trikāya, the pāramitās, the bhūmis — within a Yogācāra framework. Its homage verse honours the three jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Saṃgha) using the standard Sòng-period verse pattern.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T32N1658) does not record an internal sub-division.
Abstract
The Taishō text opens “諸教決定名義論 / 聖慈氏菩薩造 / 西天譯經三藏朝奉大夫試鴻臚卿傳法大師臣施護奉詔譯” — the standard Sòng Yìjīngyuàn attribution-line for 施護. The translation falls within Dānapāla’s long activity at the imperial Translation Bureau founded by Sòng Tàizōng 太宗 in 982; Dānapāla’s translations span the Tàipíngxīngguó 太平興國 through Tiānxǐ 天禧 reigns. The Sanskrit original does not survive; the Tibetan tradition does not preserve a parallel attributed to Maitreya, and the attribution to “Maitreya” should be understood — as is generally the case with works ascribed to Maitreya in the late Indian period — as marking the work’s affiliation with the Yogācāra philosophical tradition rather than literal authorship by the celestial bodhisattva. The text is a compact systematising introduction to Mahāyāna terminology, more pedagogical than philosophical in character, and stands alongside other Sòng-period imperial-translation digests such as [[KR6o0066|Pútíxīn líxiāng lùn 菩提心離相論]] and [[KR6o0069|Guǎngshì pútíxīn lùn 廣釋菩提心論]] as part of the late Mahāyāna bodhicitta literature transmitted in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries.
Translations and research
- Frauwallner, Erich. Die Philosophie des Buddhismus. Berlin, 1956. — Brief contextual notice.
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003. — Treats the broader Sòng Yìjīng-yuàn translation programme; useful context.
- Jan Yün-hua. “Buddhist Relations Between India and Sung China.” History of Religions 6.1, 6.2 (1966). — Foundational study of the Sòng translation programme.
Other points of interest
The text is one of approximately 130 translations produced by 施護 over his thirty-five-year career at the Sòng Yìjīng-yuàn; many of them, like this one, are short doctrinal digests of late Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism. The Taishō editors’ classification of the text in T32 alongside foundational Yogācāra-Madhyamaka treatises is somewhat generous; in stylistic terms it is closer to a doctrinal handbook than to a śāstra proper.
Links
- CBETA
- Dazangthings date evidence (1000): [ 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/