『釈摩訶衍論』における「摩訶衍」理解：『維摩経』影響説批判=The Understanding of the “Mahāyāna” in the Shi Moheyan Lun: A Critique of the View that it was Influended by the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa
The Shi moheyan lun 釈摩訶衍論 (hereafter Shilun 釈論) is a commentary on the Dasheng qi xin lun 大乗起信論, and on the basis of its own distinctive scheme it expounds two kinds of dharma called the “basic Mahāyāna dharma” and the “nondual Mahāyāna dharma.” Without examining differences in the nature of these two kinds of dharma, the origins of the Shilun’s central idea of “thirty-three teachings” have in past research been understood as being based on the chapter “Entering the Teaching of Nonduality” in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa. I have previously pointed out some manipulations based on the Shilun’s distinctive view of the Mahāyāna. With regard to the “basic Mahāyāna dharma,” the Shilun adduces the Da zongdi lun 大総地論 and argues that the teachings of the Mahāyāna have eighty dharmas, which it condensed into eight dharmas, and from which it then developed the “thirty-two teachings.” In other words, on the basis of the notion of the perfection of a buddha’s thirty-two major marks and eighty minor marks, it added the “nondual Mahāyāna dharma,” defined as the “other shore,” to make thirty-three teachings. That is to say, they were not posited with a view to advocationg ideas related to the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa’s dialogue about nonduality and to silence (ineffability), as has been maintained in the past.
