This article describes and analyzes the doctrine of the Vidyā-pāda of the Svāyambhuva-āgama. This 'doctrine-part' is one of the earliest formulation of Āgamic Śaiva doctrines, along with the vidyā-pādas of Kiraṇa and Raurava āgama. From the quotation of the commentary of Sadyojyotis by Somānanda in his Śivadṛṣṭi, it is certain that the Svāyambhuva-āgama dates before A.D. 800, and it is even possible to suppose one or two centuries between the commentator and the original text.
The critical edition of the commentary of Sadyojyotis with the corresponding original āgamic text by P-S. Filliozat made this study possible, but I focus not on the commentary but on the āgamic text itself. For many points, we can ascertain that the established śaiva doctrines already existed in this āgama. For example, the central importance of the dīkṣā ritual, the sixfold path and the concept of the threefold bindings etc.
However, for the notion of mala, the impurity which is the fundamental cause of the tranmigration of individual soul, the explanation in this 'doctrine-part' allows a non-dualistic interpretation, as it mainly describes its function as the cause of 'enjoyment'.
My hypothesis is that this type of understanding of 'mala' comes from the re-inter-pretation of Sāṃkhya concept of Prakṛti, which, though inanimate, offers herself for the 'enjoyment' of the individual souls.
The article is followed by a tentative translation in Japanese of the āgamic text without the commentary of Sadyojyotis.