Text: T0221; “Larger Prajñāpāramitā”; 放光般若經

Summary

Identifier T0221 [T]
Title 放光般若經 [T]
Date [None]
Revised Zhu Faji 竺法寂; Zhu Shulan 竺尗蘭, 竺叔蘭, Zhu Fashu 竺法寂, 竺法叔 [Sakaino 1935]
"handle the Indic text", [手]執梵[文], [手]執胡[本] *Mokṣala, 無羅叉, 無叉羅 [CSZJJ]
Co-translator 共譯 *Mokṣala, 無羅叉, 無叉羅; Zhu Shulan 竺尗蘭, 竺叔蘭, Zhu Fashu 竺法寂, 竺法叔 [Ōno 1954]
口授 "give orally" Zhu Shulan 竺尗蘭, 竺叔蘭, Zhu Fashu 竺法寂, 竺法叔 [Kamata 1982]
Translator 譯 *Mokṣala, 無羅叉, 無叉羅 [T]
[orally] "translate/interpret" 傳語, 口宣[...言], 傳譯, 度語 Zhu Shulan 竺尗蘭, 竺叔蘭, Zhu Fashu 竺法寂, 竺法叔 [CSZJJ]

There may be translations for this text listed in the Bibliography of Translations from the Chinese Buddhist Canon into Western Languages. If translations are listed, this link will take you directly to them. However, if no translations are listed, the link will lead only to the head of the page.

There are resources for the study of this text in the SAT Daizōkyō Text Dabatase (Saṃgaṇikīkṛtaṃ Taiśotripiṭakaṃ).

Assertions

Preferred? Source Pertains to Argument Details

No

[T]  T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014.

Entry author: Michael Radich

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No

[Sakaino 1935]  Sakaino Kōyō 境野黄洋. Shina Bukkyō seishi 支那佛教精史. Tokyo: Sakaino Kōyō Hakushi Ikō Kankōkai, 1935. — 314-316

LDSBJ lists both a Xin daoxing jing 新道行經 [“new Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā”] in 10 juan and a Xiao pin jing 小品經 [“smaller Prajñāpāramitā”, which should also be a version of the Aṣṭa] in 7 juan as works of Dharmarakṣa. Fei maintains that Dharmarakṣa translated two Xiao pin jing and that the Xin (“new”) daoxing jing is very different from the Jiu (“old”) daoxing [jing] 舊道行 ascribed to Zhu Shuofo 竺朔佛, while the Xiao ping jing is similar to the Jiu daoxing jing. Sakaino claims that none of these records are reliable, pointing out that Dao’an is the most reliable source regarding Dharmarakṣa, but according to him, Dharmarakṣa did not translate a Xiao pin jing. According to Sakaino, Sengyou, in CSZJJ, mistook the Guangzan banre jing 光讚般若 [光讚經 T222], which is a “Larger” Prajñāpāramitā 大品 [something like a forerunner of the eventual Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā], for a “Smaller” 小品, and also mistook an alternate translation of the same text, the Fangguang [banre jing] 放光[般若經] ascribed to Zhu Shixing 朱士行 (cf. T221 ascribed to *Mokṣala) for another “Smaller” Prajñāpāramitā (Sengyou commented:一名舊小品, T2145 [LV] 7b7;竺法護更出小品經七卷, 14a2). The first of these two so-called “Smaller” Prajñāpāramitā refers to the T222, but LDSBJ wrongly listed it as a different text.

Entry author: Atsushi Iseki

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No

[CSZJJ]  Sengyou 僧祐. Chu sanzang ji ji (CSZJJ) 出三藏記集 T2145. — T2145 (LV) 47c17-18, 48a6-7.

According to a Daoan preface and CSZJJ, in the translation of T221, *Mokṣala "held the hu 胡 text in his hand", and Zhu Shulan was the (oral) translator: 時執胡本者于闐沙門無叉羅優婆塞竺叔蘭口傳 (47c17-18); 放光于闐沙門無叉羅執胡[v.l. 梵 YM]竺。叔蘭為譯言, 48a6-7.

Entry author: Michael Radich

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No

[Zacchetti 2005]  Zacchetti, Stefano. In Praise of the Light: A Critical Synoptic Edition with an Annotated Translation of Chapters 1-3 of Dharmarakṣa’s Guang zan jing 光讚經, Being the Earliest Chinese Translation of the Larger Prajñāpāramitā. The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology – Soka University. Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica VIII. Tokyo 2005. — 40-41

Zacchetti, following Bongard-Levin and Hori, suggests that at this early date, it is not meaningful to speak of a Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā, and that we should rather speak more generically of a “Larger Prajñāpāramitā”.

Entry author: Michael Radich

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  • Title: “Larger Prajñāpāramitā”

No

[Sakaino 1935]  Sakaino Kōyō 境野黄洋. Shina Bukkyō seishi 支那佛教精史. Tokyo: Sakaino Kōyō Hakushi Ikō Kankōkai, 1935. — 210-211

According to Sakaino, the translation of the Larger Prajñāpāramitā 放光般若經 T221 (ascribed to *Mokṣala 無羅叉) was completed at 倉垣水南寺 in Yuankang 元康 1 (291), with *Mokṣala “handling the text” 執本 and Zhu Shulan 竺叔蘭 as the “oral translator/interpreter” 傳語. The original text was obtained and sent to China for translation by Zhu Zixing 朱子行. More than ten years after that translation, Zhu Shulan, together with Zhu Faji 竺法寂, copied and revised the text. Sakaino points out that although the name 無叉羅 has been written 無羅叉 since GSZ, 無叉羅 must be the correct transcription, as the name is a transliteration of *Mokṣala.

[Sakaino sounds very much like he bases his discussion on CSZJJ, but he does not explicitly say so --- AI.]

Entry author: Atsushi Iseki

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No

[Ōno 1954]  Ōno Hōdō 大野法道. Daijō kai kyō no kenkyū 大乗戒経の研究. Tokyo: Risōsha 理想社, 1954. — 86

According to Ōno, the Fangguang jing ji 放光經記 T2145 (LV) 47c10-28 records that the Fangguang banre jing 放光般若經 (a “larger” Prajñāpāramitā, T221 ascribed to *Mokṣala 無羅叉) was co-translated by *Mokṣala and Zhu Shulan 竺叔蘭 in Yuankang 元康 1 (291) of the W. Jin. Zhu Zixing 朱子行 (= Zhu Shixing 朱士行) had one of his disciples, Furutan 弗如檀 (Farao 法饒), bring the original text of T2145 to China in Dakang 大康 3 (282), after Zhu Shixing himself went to Khotan 于闐 in Ganlu 甘露 5 of the Cao Wei 曹魏 (260). Sengyou (in CSZJJ juan 2) ascribed this text to Zhu Shixing [referring to T2145 (LV) 7b7-11?], which must be incorrect, because Zhu Shixing never returned from Khotan to China, as pointed out by LDSBJ. All the catalogues after Fajing ascribe the text to Mokṣala and Zhu Shulan.

Entry author: Atsushi Iseki

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No

[Kamata 1982]  Kamata Shigeo 鎌田茂雄. Chūgoku bukkyō shi, dai ikkan: Shodenki no bukkyō 中国仏教史 第一巻 初伝期末の仏教. Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 1982. — 196

According to Kamata, the anonymous colophon to the Fangguang jing 放光經記 (“Larger Prajñapāramitā”, T221) records that *Mokṣala 無叉羅 handled the original text and Zhu Falan 竺叔蘭 was the oral translator(?) 口授. GSZ records the same, except that it writes 無羅叉 instead of 無叉羅 for *Mokṣala. (196).

Entry author: Atsushi Iseki

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No

[Kamata 1982]  Kamata Shigeo 鎌田茂雄. Chūgoku bukkyō shi, dai ikkan: Shodenki no bukkyō 中国仏教史 第一巻 初伝期末の仏教. Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 1982. — 288-291

The Fang guang jing 放光經 [放光般若經] (Larger Prajñāparamitā T221) was initially ascribed to Zhu Zixing 朱子行. It was Fei Changfang who rejected the ascription and reascribed the scripture to *Mokṣala 無羅叉 (the ascription still borne in T) and Zhu Shulan 竺叔蘭. Kamata quotes a passage from LDSBJ:

而竺道祖僧祐王宗寶唱李廓法上靈裕等諸錄。述著眾經並云。朱士行翻此。蓋據其元尋之人推功歸之耳。房審校勘支敏度錄及高僧傳出經後記諸雜別目等乃是無羅叉竺叔蘭等三人詳譯。朱士行身留停于闐。仍於彼化。唯遣弟子奉齎經來到乎晉地。斯豈得稱士行出也, T2034 (XLIX) 65b11-18.

Kamata agrees with Fei, offering a summary of the translation process of T221 presented in the anonymous “Fang guang jing ji” 放光經記 (preserved in CSZJJ T2145 (LV) 47c10-28). Kamata adds that Dao’an asserts that *Mokṣala handled the Indic text and Zhu Shulan was the(oral) translator. Both Dao’an’s “He Fangguang Guangzan lüe jie xu” 合放光光讚略解序 and the “Fang guang jing ji” record the date of translation as Yuankan 元康 1 (291 CE) (288-290). On the basis of these primary sources, Kamata maintains that T221, ascribed to Mokṣala alone in the Taishō, should be re-ascribed to both Mokṣala and Zhu Shulan or to Zhu Shulan alone (291).

Entry author: Atsushi Iseki

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