Radich, Michael. DDB s.v. 釋摩訶衍論
Assertion | Argument | Place in source |
---|---|---|
|
It is chronologically impossible that this text was translated by 筏提摩多 *Vṛddhimata? under the Yao Qin 姚秦, given that it is a commentary on the East Asian composition Awakening of Faith T 1666. No such figure as *Vṛddhimata appears in the Gao seng zhuan, and it is unclear whether he ever existed. In the 悉曇蔵 Shittan zō T 2702 by Annen 安然 (fl. 9C; 840–?, known to have been living and aged 44 in 884), it is said to be the work of a Weolchung 月忠 of Mt. Daegong 大空山 in Silla 新羅, and for this reason, the text is usually regarded as composed between the seventh and eighth centuries in Silla. The text also quotes the *Vajrasamādhi sūtra (VSS; see e.g. T1668.611c23); VSS in turn quotes the Xuanzang Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya and thus dates after 649 (see Buswell, Cultivating Original Enlightenment 369–370 n. 284); the date of the VSS is thus a terminus pro quem. The text was transmitted to Japan by 781 C.E., which date thus forms a kind of terminus ad quem. |
Accessed April 2014. |