Bodhiruci

Bodhiruci on the DRL

Ordained (Monks and Nuns) • Translators

English Phonetics	Bodhiruci
Sort Name	Bodhiruci
Chinese Transliteration	Putiliuzhi
Japanese Transliteration	Bodairushi
Korean Transliteration	Poriryuji

Dates

Birth:	5th century
Death:	6th century

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender
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Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

About

Biographical Information

A renowned Indian translator and monk (to be distinguished from a subsequent Bodhiruci [s.v.] who was active in China two centuries later during the Tang dynasty). Bodhiruci left north India for Luoyang, the Northern Wei capital, in 508. He is said to have been well versed in the Tripiṭaka and talented at incantations. Bodhiruci stayed at the monastery of Yongningsi in Luoyang from 508 to 512 and with the help of Buddhaśānta (d.u.) and others translated over thirty Mahāyāna sūtras and treatises, most of which reflect the latest developments in Indian Mahāyāna, and especially Yogācāra. His translations include the Dharmasaṃgīti, Shidijing lun, Laṅkāvatārasūtra, Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra, and the Wuliangshou jing youpotishe yuansheng ji, attributed to Vasubandhu. Bodhiruci’s translation of the Shidijing lun, otherwise known more simply as the Di lun, fostered the formation of a group of Yogācāra specialists in China that later historians retroactively call the Di lun zong. According to a story in the Lidai fabao ji, a jealous Bodhiruci, assisted by a monk from Shaolinsi on Songshan named Guangtong (also known as Huiguang, 468–537), is said to have attempted on numerous occasions to poison the founder of the Chan school, Bodhidharma, and eventually succeeded. Bodhiruci is also said to have played an instrumental role in converting the Chinese monk Tanluan from Daoist longevity practices to the pure land teachings of the Guan Wuliangshou jing. (Source: "Bodhiruci." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 133. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

Links

Wiki Pages

• Bodhiruci on the DRL
• Bodhiruci on the LIB
• Bodhiruci on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

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All beings have Buddha-nature
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Which Wheel Turning
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Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
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Zhentong vs Rangtong
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Promotes how many vehicles?
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Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
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Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
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Causal nature of the vajrapāda
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Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.