Jīn gāng dǐng yú jiā zhōng fā ā nòu duō luó sān miǎo sān pú tí xīn lùn 金剛頂瑜伽中發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心論
Treatise on the Generation of Anuttarā Samyak-Saṃbodhi-citta within the Yoga of the Vajraśekhara by 不空 (Bùkōng / Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A short one-juǎn treatise on the generation of the bodhi-mind (bodhicittotpāda) within the framework of the Vajraśekhara (Diamond-Crown) yoga — the principal yoga-tantra corpus of East Asian Esoteric Buddhism. The text is also known by the alternate title 瑜伽總持釋門說菩提心觀行修行義 (“Explanation of the Practice of the Bodhi-Mind Contemplation in the Holding-and-Releasing Gate of Yoga”), and conventionally simply as the Pútí-xīn lùn 菩提心論 (“Treatise on the Bodhi-Mind”). Translated into Chinese by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 705–774) at the Táng court probably between 746 and his death in 774. The Taishō title-line names only the translator (no author); the Indian original is sometimes attributed in later tradition to Nāgārjuna, but no firm attribution can be made.
The text became foundational for East Asian Esoteric Buddhism: it is one of the central doctrinal sources of the Tang Esoteric school of Amoghavajra and his successor Huìguǒ 惠果, and it was carried to Japan by Kūkai 空海, where it became the principal doctrinal source of the Japanese Shingon school (真言宗). Generations of Shingon and Tendai scholars wrote sub-commentaries on it (preserved in Japanese sources but largely without independent Chinese transmission — see the catalog meta entries KR6o0071–KR6o0077 for the Chinese and Japanese sub-commentaries that the catalog records).
Structural Division
CANWWW (T32N1665) does not record an internal sub-division. The text is structured as a graduated explanation of the three “stages” of bodhi-mind: xíngyuàn 行願 (practice-vow), shèngyì 勝義 (highest-meaning), and sānmódì 三摩地 (samādhi).
Abstract
The Taishō text opens “金剛頂瑜伽中發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心論（亦名瑜伽總持釋門說菩提心觀行修行義）/ 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 late-Tang imperial-titles preamble of Amoghavajra’s translations conferred during the Dà-lì 大曆 reign. The opening sentence cites “the Great Master of Vast Wisdom” (大廣智阿闍梨 — i.e. Vajrabodhi 金剛智, Amoghavajra’s teacher) on the criteria for choosing the path of full Buddhahood: a person of “highest faculties and highest wisdom” (上根上智之人), not enamoured of non-Buddhist or śrāvaka-pratyekabuddha paths, of great spiritual capacity (大度量), bold and unwavering (勇銳無惑), should generate the aspiration for anuttarā samyak-saṃbodhi.
The Sanskrit original (if any) does not survive; no Tibetan parallel is identified. The work shows clear influence from the Vajraśekhara-sūtra (T865) — the foundational tantra of the East Asian Vajra-realm Esoteric school — and may originally have been a vyākhyā or extracted treatise based on materials in that sūtra rather than an independent śāstra. The translation is registered in the Zhēn-yuán xīndìng shìjiào mùlù 貞元新定釋教目錄 (T2157, 800) and in the Kāiyuán-lù 開元錄 (T2154).
Translations and research
- Hakeda, Yoshito S. Kūkai: Major Works. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972. — Treats Kūkai’s reception of this text.
- Orzech, Charles D. Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of Chinese Buddhism. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998. — Treats Amoghavajra’s career, including his bodhicitta texts.
- Orzech, Charles D., Henrik H. Sørensen, and Richard K. Payne (eds). Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011. — Comprehensive handbook; treats the Pútí-xīn lùn in the Japanese chapter.
- Yamasaki, Taikō. Shingon: Japanese Esoteric Buddhism. Boston: Shambhala, 1988. — Treats the work’s role in Shingon doctrine.
- Sharf, Robert H. Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism. Honolulu, 2002. — Critical assessments of Esoteric reception in China.
Other points of interest
The work is foundational for Japanese Shingon doctrine: the Pútíxīn lùn / Bodaishin-ron 菩提心論 is one of the core “five great treatises” (五大論) of the Shingon school, alongside the Dàrì jīng shū 大日經疏, the Jīngāngdǐng jīng shū 金剛頂經疏, the Shì Móhēyǎn lùn 釋摩訶衍論, and the Dà chéng qǐxìn lùn 大乘起信論 (KR6o0078). The seven sub-commentaries listed in the catalog as KR6o0071–0077 — most of them by Heian and Kamakura Japanese masters — testify to its centrality in Shingon doctrinal training over a millennium.
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/