“삼법인(三法印)”과 동아시아 불교

Abstract

This paper aims to reexamine the term “Three Seals of the Dharma (三法印, Sanfayin)” in the perspective of East Asian Buddhism. The results of this article can be summarized as follows: 1) Modern scholars have traced the term “Sanfayin(三法印)” to the Indian origin and established its original Sanskrit form as “*tri-dharma- uddhāna.” However, this fact seems nothing new to the East Asian Buddhist tradition, since texts written in 6th century China already acknowledged the term yin(印) was the translation of youtanna(優檀那=uddhāna). 2) The term “三法印” emerged in the translation works of Kumarājīva (334-413) for the first time. His rendering of the term uddhāna to the “印 (seal, sanction)” seems to be a liberal, or rather a literal, translation reflecting his understanding of the term. 3) Due to its Chinese form, the “三法印” has often been contrasted to another term of “One Dharma Seal(一法印, Yifayin) as the translation of “dharma-svabhāva-mudra” from the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra. This kind of comparison can only be possible in the field of East Asian Buddhism where the Sanskrit term “uddāna” and “mudra” had been translated to an identical Chinese form “印.” 4) Among various explanations of “三法印” in East Asian thoughts, Tientai Zhiyi(538?-597) claims it as the teaching of the Lesser Vehicles. His interpretation has been most widely spread and even influenced the thinking of today’s academia.