31. VAJRABODHI 671741

Charles D. Orzech

Vajrabodhi (Jin’gangzhi 金剛智 or Bariluoputi 跋日羅菩提), the teacher of , propagated the newly developed Sarvata- thāgatatattvasaṃ graha (also referred to as the Vajraśekhara or Vajra- usṇīsạ, hereafter STTS) in China, and he may with some justification be seen as the source of what came to be called “” (yuqie 瑜伽) or alternately “” (zhenyan 真言) in China. Vajra- bodhi, Amoghavajra, and Śubhākarasiṃ ha are often referred to as the “Three Great Ācāryas” of the Tang and as the “founders” of the Chinese Zhenyan school. This is in fact misleading, as the three together did not constitute themselves as a “school” (宗), though later Chinese disciples and Japanese scholars regarded them as such.1 Śubhākarasiṃha propagated the related but substantially different teachings of the Mahāvairocanābhisaṃ bodhi sūtra (T. 848) and the Susiddhikāraṃ ahātantra-saddhanopāyikāpatalạ (T. 893).2

Accounts and Sources The main sources for Vajrabodhi’s life are Zanning’s贊寧 biography Tang Loyang guangfu si Jin’gang zhi zhuan 唐洛陽廣福寺金剛智傳 in the Song gaoseng zhuan 宋高僧傳 (T. 2061.50: 711b6–712a22, trans. Chou I-liang, 1945); the notices by Vajrabodhi’s lay disciple Lu Xiang 呂向 in Yuanzhao’s 圓照 Zhengyuan xinding shijiao mu lu 貞元新 定釋教目錄 (T. 2157.55:875b1–876b27, also known as the Xing ji 行 記); and the account that follows Lu Xiang’s in the same source by Kunlunweng 混倫翁 (T. 2157.55:876b29–877a21). Further informa- tion can be gleaned from Yuanzhao’s collection of correspondence

1 The notion of “school” or “sect” in is the source of much confusion. For a clear analysis of the topic, see Foulk 1992, 18–31. 2 See Pinte, “Śubhākarasiṃ ha,” and Orzech, “Esoteric Buddhism in the Tang: From Atikūtạ to Amoghavajra (651–780),” in this volume. For the Mahāvairocanābhisaṃ bodhi sūtra, see Hodge 2003; for the Susiddhikāramahātantra-saddhanopāyikāpatala,̣ see Giebel 2001, 109–324. 346 charles d. orzech between Amoghavajra and the government, Daizong chao zeng sikong dabianzheng guangzhi sanzang heshang biaozhi ji 代宗朝贈司空大辨 正廣智三藏和上表制集 (T. 2120).

Life and Career According to most accounts, Vajrabodhi was a South Indian Brahman whose father served as a royal priest and architect in Kanchipuram. He appears to have converted at the age of sixteen, though some accounts put him at Nālandā at age ten. As is typical of many important mas- ters, Vajrabodhi’s biographers portray him as a precocious child who was well read (including in Jain treatises), and he is said to have stud- ied under the famous Buddhist logician Dharmakirti. He studied the STTS—what would have then been the latest teaching—with a teacher named Śāntijñāna. Vajrabodhi sought out more of this new teaching, traveling to and Śrī Vijaya. Having heard that Buddhism was flourishing in China, he then sailed to China and arrived in the capital in 720, with Amoghavajra 不空金岡 (705–774) in tow.3 He was initially lodged at Ci’en Temple 慈恩寺 and then shifted to Jianfu Temple 薦福寺 (Chou 1945, 275).4 Like Śubhākarasiṃ ha, Vajrabodhi spent most of his time perform- ing rituals, granting abhisekạ (consecration), teaching, and translat- ing. Among his famous disciples are the Chan monk Yixing 一行 (673–727), to whom the emperor gave the task of learning as much as possible about Vajrabodhi and his new teachings and assisting in the translation work.5 But the strong Daoist proclivities of Emperor Xuan- zong 玄宗 (r. 712–55) and the power of already established teaching lineages meant that Vajrabodhi’s influence was limited, so the lau- datory accounts of his stature and importance need to be read with a certain degree of circumspection.6 Vajrabodhi was famous for his

3 Lü Jianfu’s (1995, 216) account puts Vajrabodhi in Luoyang in 720 before moving to Ch’ang’an. For Amoghavajra, see Lehnert, “Amoghavajra: His Role in and Influence on the Development of Buddhism,” in this volume. 4 The former was the temple where the famous monk-pilgrim-translator 玄奘 (602?–64) was lodged, while the latter housed an office for translation that had been set up for Yijing 義淨 (635–713). 5 Yixing, a Chan monk in Puji’s 普寂 (651–739) , had assisted Śubhākarasiṃ ha in his translation of the Mahāvairocanābhisaṃ bodhi sūtra and is the co-author of the Great Commentary Dari jing shu 大日經疏 (T. 1796) on it. For Yixing, see Keyworth, “Yixing,” in this volume. 6 For Xuanzong’s Daoist interests, see Benn 1977.