Dámó dàshī pò xiàng lùn 達磨大師破相論
Treatise on Smashing Characteristics by Master Bodhidharma
A short Chán doctrinal treatise attributed to Bodhidharma; the same text that circulates also as the KR6q0105 Guān xīn lùn 觀心論 (T85 n2833), and preserved as gate 2 of KR6q0084 Shǎoshì liù mén
About the work
A one-juan short Chán treatise, X63 n1220. This text is substantially the same as the Guān xīn lùn 觀心論 preserved in the Dūnhuáng manuscript tradition (KR6q0105, T85 n2833), with the Xù zàng jīng recension and the Dūnhuáng recension being two witnesses to a single core text. Parallel recension preserved also as gate 2 of the Shǎoshì liù mén. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.
The text’s doctrinal signature is the identification of “observing the mind” (guān xīn 觀心) as the practice that subsumes and supersedes all other Buddhist practices — giving, precept-observance, meditation, etc. are all re-read as allegorical operations of the mind. This characteristic Northern-School hermeneutical move was the target of the Southern-School Shénhuì polemical critique, but the text itself belongs firmly to the Northern-School doctrinal tradition.
Tiyao
Not a WYG text; no 四庫 tíyào exists. No preface; attributed to Bodhidharma via the title only.
Abstract
For extensive discussion of this text see the corresponding entry KR6q0105 Guān xīn lùn. Briefly: the text is most securely placed in the Northern-School milieu of the late 7th to mid-8th centuries, with Shénxiù 神秀 (606?–706) and his circle as the most plausible authors. The Xù zàng jīng recension’s title Pò xiàng lùn (under Bodhidharma-attribution) is editorially distinct from the Dūnhuáng Guān xīn lùn (anonymous) title, and the two recensions differ in some detail — but they preserve essentially the same core text.
Dating bracket: notBefore 690 (earliest plausible composition, given Shénxiù’s doctrinal activity), notAfter 850 (Dūnhuáng paleographic terminus ante quem for the parallel Guān xīn lùn recension). Catalog dynasty 梁 reflects the traditional Bodhidharma-attribution.
Translations and research
- McRae, John R. 1986. The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch’an Buddhism. Hawai’i. Treats both the Guān xīn lùn and Pò xiàng lùn as witnesses to a single original text, with full translation.
- Red Pine. 1987. The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma. North Point Press. English translation.
- Yanagida Seizan 柳田聖山 1969. Daruma no goroku.
Other points of interest
The same-text-two-titles situation (KR6q0105 Guān xīn lùn = KR6q0115 Pò xiàng lùn) illustrates a common pattern in the Chán textual tradition: core doctrinal material circulating under multiple titles and attributions as it passes through different editorial hands. The Kanripo catalog’s preservation of both witnesses side-by-side — with the Dūnhuáng Guān xīn lùn as anonymous and the Xù zàng jīng Pò xiàng lùn as Bodhidharma-attributed — preserves the divergence, and the choice not to conflate them reflects the Kanripo convention of preserving the editorial witnesses as they exist rather than harmonising toward a single Ur-text.