Source: Zhao 2020

Zhao argues that the extant text of the *Dharmacakrapravartana 轉法輪經 T109 (“ZFL”) is a revised version of an original translation by An Shigao. Her argument is threefold.

First, intertextual evidence shows that the corresponding portion of the Zhong benqi jing 中本起經 T196 must have relied on the (proto-)ZFL. The two share the same unique expression for the second of two “extremes” (二事墮邊行, attitudes which obstruct practice and progress on the path): 猗著身愛 in the ZFL, cp. 猗愛著貪 in the T196 (T196 [IV] 148b23-24) (cf. Zacchetti 1997). The latter appears to be a refinement of the former, and thus ZFL should precede T196. This pushes ZFL’s date to the last decades of the 2nd century or the beginning of the 3rd century.

Second, a close examination of selected terminology reveals An Shigao’s characteristic style (esp. 行道弟子; 道德; 從; 欲愛、色愛、不色愛). These traits remain less modified, and thus most apparent, in the main body of the text. By contrast, four-character prosody and phrases that are unknown in An Shigao’s corpus (as observed by Nattier) appear mostly in the framing sections. The majority of these traits anomalous with An Shigao’s style are attested in Zhi Qian’s translations. (Appendix A shows the distribution of different traits, marked in different colours.) Hence, Zhi Qian might be the major reviser of An Shigao’s earlier version. Other standardized terms also occur, which suggest further minor modifications by other hands. In addition, some doctrinal details in the ZFL, including the triplet of 欲愛、色愛、不色愛 (kāma-/rūpa-/ārūpya-tṛṣṇā, also in the Daśottarasūtra etc.; cf. 欲愛、有愛、無有愛, kāma-/bhava-/vibhava-taṅhā in DĀ and DN), and a characteristic pattern of “three turnings” (the expansion of certain statements to apply to the past, present, and future), match better with the Sarvāstivāda recension of various comparable texts. Since An Shigao’s authentic corpus has a special connection to that school, such observations may provide further evidence for the attribution of the (proto-)ZFL to An Shigao.

Third, the opening scene is not seen in other versions or retellings of the episode: the Buddha stops the wheel with his hand, instead of turning it (dharmacakrapravartana) (佛以手撫輪曰：“止！”, T109 [II] 503b7-8). Through a preliminary analysis, Zhao proposes that this is motif represents a combination of three different wheels: the wheel of a monarch (cakravartin), the wheel of saṃsāra (saṃsāracakra), and the wheel of the Dharma (dharmacakra). This peculiarity and hybridity allow us to infer a deliberate process of revision. With certain popular reimaginings of the scene in mind, the reviser was probably motivated by some practical concerns to merge such scriptural motifs into one (cf. Zhi Qian’s royal audience in Wu). In fact, not only did the elder Upagupta in the Aśokāvadāna describe the wheel as śubhaṃ dharmamayaṃ cakraṃ saṃsāravinivartaye; one subtype of Gandhāran relief from the same era also shows a similar multivalence of the wheel.

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