Source: Mochizuki 1946

Mochizuki Shinkō 望月信亨. Bukkyō kyōten seiritsu shi ron 仏教経典成立史論. Hōzōkan, 1946.　

Assertions

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Mochizuki writes that 四天王經 T590 is ascribed to Zhiyan 智嚴 and Baoyun 寶雲 in the Taishō. CSZJJ only records three similar titles, all of them treated as anonymous. The text is an (abridged?) excerpt 抄出 from the Trayastriṃśā Heaven chapter 忉利天品 of the Dīrghāgama (DĀ 8 T1 [I] 131a3 ff). It also contains elements derived from Daoist thought: One’s lifespan in this life is determined by moral actions; a similar thought can already be found in the Bao pu zi 包僕子. The text also states that the four Heavenly Kings inspect the moral conduct of worldlings and then report to Indra, in order to determine how lifespan will be so meted out; but in the relevant portions of DĀ, and also in a sūtra cited in MPPU (T1509) juan 13, the theory is rather that the good discovered by such inspections increases the throng of devas, and the evil the throng of asuras. Mochizuki relates the content of T590 to ideas found in the San pin dizi jing 三品弟子經 T767 ascribe to Zhi Qian (but only from LDSBJ onwards), and to ideas found in the “Five Evils” section of the Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtra. In these texts, as in T590, the practice of the five precepts is supposed to help devotees avoid the “five evils” (五惡, 五濁, *pañcakaṣāya) characteristic of the time of decline; all three texts also propose that the gods protect those who do good. Another idea shared by T590 and T767 is that the taking of life will lead a person to be plunged directly into hell. The tentative explanation suggested by Mochizuki for this shared pattern of materials is that the “Five Evils” section was already inserted into the Sukhāvatīvyuha in the Three Kingdoms period, and when Baoyun was translating “his” version of the text he kept it more or less unchanged from that earlier version; given that T767 is also ascribed to Zhi Qian, perhaps this suggests that these ideas were characteristic of Zhi Qian himself, though “there is a view that the period would be slightly early” (for unspecified reasons). So far as I could see, Mochizuki comes to no firm conclusions about the implications of this pattern for T590.

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393-400

 Mochizuki writes that 四天王經 T590 is ascribed to Zhiyan 智嚴 and Baoyun 寶雲 in the Taisho. CSZJJ only records three similar titles, all of them treated as anonymous. The text is an (abridged?) excerpt 抄出 from the Trayastrimsa Heaven chapter 忉利天品 of the Dirghagama (DA 8 T1 [I] 131a3 ff). It also contains elements derived from Daoist thought: One’s lifespan in this life is determined by moral actions; a similar thought can already be found in the Bao pu zi 包僕子. The text also states that the four Heavenly Kings inspect the moral conduct of worldlings and then report to Indra, in order to determine how lifespan will be so meted out; but in the relevant portions of DA, and also in a sutra cited in MPPU (T1509) juan 13, the theory is rather that the good discovered by such inspections increases the throng of devas, and the evil the throng of asuras. Mochizuki relates the content of T590 to ideas found in the San pin dizi jing 三品弟子經 T767 ascribe to Zhi Qian (but only from LDSBJ onwards), and to ideas found in the “Five Evils” section of the Sukhavativyuha-sutra. In these texts, as in T590, the practice of the five precepts is supposed to help devotees avoid the “five evils” (五惡, 五濁, *pancakasaya) characteristic of the time of decline; all three texts also propose that the gods protect those who do good. Another idea shared by T590 and T767 is that the taking of life will lead a person to be plunged directly into hell. The tentative explanation suggested by Mochizuki for this shared pattern of materials is that the “Five Evils” section was already inserted into the Sukhavativyuha in the Three Kingdoms period, and when Baoyun was translating “his” version of the text he kept it more or less unchanged from that earlier version; given that T767 is also ascribed to Zhi Qian, perhaps this suggests that these ideas were characteristic of Zhi Qian himself, though “there is a view that the period would be slightly early” (for unspecified reasons). So far as I could see, Mochizuki comes to no firm conclusions about the implications of this pattern for T590. "Five Evils" section; Sukhavativyuha-sutra T0590; 佛說四天王經 T0767; 佛說三品弟子經; Dizi xue you san bei jing 弟子學有三輩經