Pútídámó dàshī lüè biàn Dàshèng rù dào sì xíng guān 菩提達磨大師略辨大乘入道四行觀
Master Bodhidharma’s Brief Discrimination of the Mahāyāna ‘Two Entrances and Four Practices’ Contemplation
The canonical Èrrù sìxíng lùn 二入四行論: the most authentically-Bodhidharma-near of the texts attributed to Bodhidharma (d. c. 535), recorded by his disciple Tánlín 曇琳 (early 6th c., shì Lín fǎ shī 琳法師), who also supplies the introductory biographical preface
About the work
A one-juan short Chán doctrinal-practice treatise, X63 n1217 (Xù zàng jīng). Parallel recensions survive in numerous Dūnhuáng manuscript witnesses (Stein 2715, 3375, 7159; Pelliot 2923, 3018, 4634; Beijing Library manuscripts; Ryōkoku Daigaku manuscripts), where the text circulates with somewhat varying titles. Parallel recension preserved as gate 3 of the KR6q0084 Shǎoshì liù mén. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.
The text’s central doctrinal statement: there are two entrances to the Way — lǐ rù 理入 (entrance through principle: direct recognition of buddha-nature through “scripture-aided awakening to the lineage”), and xíng rù 行入 (entrance through practice). The xíng rù is then specified as four practices: bàoyuān xíng 報冤行 (“practice of repaying enmity”), suíyuán xíng 隨緣行 (“practice of following conditions”), wúsuǒqiú xíng 無所求行 (“practice of non-seeking”), and chēngfǎ xíng 稱法行 (“practice in accord with the dharma”). This èr rù sì xíng 二入四行 schema is the single most securely-attributed Bodhidharma teaching, with parallels in early Dūnhuáng manuscript materials (the Èrrù sìxíng lùn fragments) that probably preserve material from the Bodhidharma-Huìkě milieu directly.
Tiyao
Not a WYG text; no 四庫 tíyào exists. Tánlín’s introductory biographical preface is the earliest surviving biographical note on Bodhidharma, and a principal source for the canonical Bodhidharma narrative: “The Dharma-master was a man of South India in the Western Regions, the third son of a brahmin king. Divinely intelligent and clear, he understood whatever he heard; his aspiration was in the Mahāyāna Way, so he abandoned the white [lay-robes] and followed the black [monastic-robes], inheriting and making the sagely seed flourish… He travelled over mountain and sea, spreading his teaching through the Hàn-Wèi [North China]… At that time only Dàoyù 道育 and Huìkě 惠可, the two śramaṇas — though young, with lofty aspirations — were fortunate to meet the dharma-master and serve him for several years, receiving his direct instruction. The Dharma-master, moved by their sincerity, instructed them in the true Way: ‘Thus stabilise the mind; thus initiate practice; thus follow beings; thus use expedient means. This is the method of the Mahāyāna’s mind-stabilisation; let there be no error. Thus stabilising the mind is wall-contemplation [bì-guān 壁觀]. Thus initiating practice is the four practices. Thus following beings is guarding against deception. Thus using expedient means is sending away non-attachment.”
The preface then transitions into Bodhidharma’s own voice (as Tánlín records it) for the body of the treatise.
Abstract
Scholarly consensus since the early 20th century (Hú Shì, Yanagida Seizan, McRae) treats the Èrrù sìxíng lùn as the single text in the Bodhidharma-attributed corpus with a plausible claim to preserving material directly from the Bodhidharma-Huìkě milieu. The text’s sparse, aphoristic form, its minimal doctrinal elaboration, and its preservation in the oldest Dūnhuáng manuscript strata all support this relatively early dating.
Whether the text is the verbatim teaching of the historical Bodhidharma, or a Tánlín-era editorial consolidation of Bodhidharma’s oral teaching as remembered by Dàoyù and Huìkě, cannot be determined with certainty. The Tánlín preface itself claims the latter — the teaching was given orally by Bodhidharma and recorded by his early disciples. The text’s survival through at least eight distinct recensions (mainstream X63 n1217, Shǎoshì liù mén gate 3, multiple Dūnhuáng manuscript variants) testifies to its central importance in the early-Chán tradition.
Dating bracket: notBefore 530 (Bodhidharma’s active period in North China), notAfter 600 (Tánlín’s subsequent editorial-consolidation stratum reaching canonical form, well before the first Dūnhuáng manuscript witnesses of ca. 750–850). Catalog dynasty 梁 reflects the Bodhidharma-attribution; the actual compositional moment is likely ca. 540–580 under Huìkě or immediate successors.
Translations and research
- Red Pine (Bill Porter). 1987. The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma. North Point Press. English translation.
- Broughton, Jeffrey L. 1999. The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen. California. Critical English translation of the Dūnhuáng Èrrù sìxíng lùn fragments and related material.
- Yanagida Seizan 柳田聖山 1969. Daruma no goroku: Ninyū shigyōron 達摩の語錄：二入四行論. Chikuma Shobō (Zen no goroku vol. 1). The definitive critical edition.
- McRae, John R. 1986. The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch’an Buddhism. Hawai’i. Extensive treatment.
- Faure, Bernard. 1986. “Bodhidharma as Textual and Religious Paradigm.” History of Religions 25.3: 187–198.
- 關口真大 Sekiguchi Shindai 1957. 《達摩の研究》. Iwanami.
Other points of interest
The Èrrù sìxíng lùn’s four practices sequence has remained the single most-cited Bodhidharma teaching in all subsequent East Asian Chán / Sŏn / Zen tradition — quoted, paraphrased, and interpretively extended in hundreds of later yǔlù, lùn, and pastoral-regulatory texts. Its status as the canonical Bodhidharma teaching is firmly established from the early Táng onward, with no serious challenges even from within the later-Chán polemical tradition.
Tánlín’s preface is the earliest surviving Chinese Buddhist biographical note attributing Indian royal descent to Bodhidharma; this narrative element subsequently became fully canonical and structured the mature hagiographic tradition (KR6q0082, KR6q0083).