| Identifier | T0109 [T] |
| Title | 佛說轉法輪經 [T] |
| Date | [None] |
| Revised | Anonymous (China), 失譯, 闕譯, 未詳撰者, 未詳作者, 不載譯人 [Zhao 2020] |
| Translator 譯 | An Shigao, 安世高 [T] |
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).
| Preferred? | Source | Pertains to | Argument | Details |
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[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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[Nattier 2008] Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han 東漢 and Three Kingdoms 三國 Periods. Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica X. Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, 2008. — 51-52 |
Nattier discusses this text alongside T105. Ui accepted them as authentic works of An Shigao, but not Zürcher. Nattier identifies some specific lexical features otherwise unknown in Shigao, and also notes that these two texts display uncharacteristic four-character prosody, and uncharacteristic five-character verse. "It seems quite certain that it is not the work of An Shigao." Zürcher thought that they were still Han texts; Nattier is not so sure, since she thinks some features of the vocabulary were probably Zhi Qian coinages. Entry author: Michael Radich |
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[Zürcher 1959/2007] Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China. Third Edition. Leiden: Brill, 1959 (2007 reprint). — 33, 331 n. 82 |
Out of 30-176 works which have been attributed to An Shigao, Zürcher notes that only 34 were ascribed by Dao’an; 4 of these were attributed only hesitatingly, and of the remaining 30, only 19 have been preserved. Zürcher says that the following 19 texts “with some degree of probability" can be attributed to An Shigao and his school: 長阿含十報法經 T13, 本欲生經 T14, 一切流攝守因經 T31, 本相猗致經 T36, 是法非法經 T48, 漏分布經 T57, 普法義經 T98, 五陰譬喻經 T105, 轉法輪經 T109, 八正道經 T112, 七處三觀經 T150a, 九橫經 T150b, 舍利弗摩訶目連遊四衢經 T397, 大安般守意經 T602, 陰持入經 T603, 禪行法想經 T605, 道地經 T607, 法受塵經 T792, 阿毘曇五法行經 T1557. Entry author: Sophie Florence |
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[Zürcher 1991] Zürcher, Erik. "A New Look at the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Texts." in Koichi Shinohara and Gregory Schopen, eds. From Benares to Beijing: Essays on Buddhism and Chinese Religion in Honour of Prof. Jan Yün-hua, 277-304. Oakville, Canada: Mosaic Press, 1991. — 300 |
Zürcher lists the Zhuan falun jing 轉法輪經 T109 among a list of “three archaic texts with doubtful attributions.” Dao’an attributed T109 to An Shigao, but Zürcher argues that the text contains “stylistic features and wenyan admixtures” which do not usually feature in the translations of An Shigao and his team. He adds that T109 is an “archaic translation of the Buddha’s first sermon held at Benares, with an introductory passage that does not appear in any other known version.” Entry author: Sophie Florence |
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[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. — 149-154 |
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Kamata discusses ascriptions to An Shigao, and is willing, on various grounds, to accept the ascriptions for T13, T14, T31, T32, T48, T57, T98, T112, T150A, T150B, T397(17), T602, T603, T607, and T1557. This implies that in Kamata's opinion, the ascriptions for all other texts attributed to An Shigao in T are less reliable, namely, T16, T36, T91, T92, T105, T109, T131, T140, T149, T151, T167, T348, T356, T492, T506, T525, T526, T551, T553, T554, T604, T605, T621, T622, T684, T701, T724, T729, T730, T731, T732, T733, T734, T779, T791, T792, T1467, T1470, T1492, and T2027. This entry lists all the texts in this latter group. Entry author: Michael Radich |
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[Zhao 2020] Zhao, You. “The Wheel Unturned: A Study of the Zhuan falun jing (T109).” JIABS 43 (2020): 275-346. |
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. Entry author: Zhao You 赵悠 |
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[Zacchetti 1997] Zacchetti, Stefano. “Un problema di critica testuale nel Foshuo zhuan falun jing (T109) attribuito ad An Shigao.” Annali di ca’Foscari 36, no. 3 (1997): 381-395. |
Zacchetti surmises that the style and terminology of the *Dharmacakrapravartana 轉法輪經 T109 are archaic (“Si tratta comunque di un testo arcaico, come mostrano stile e terminologia”, 1997: 381). Nevertheless, he excludes it from An Shigao’s authentic corpus (Zacchetti 2010). Zacchetti pays special attention to the odd exposition of the second of two “extremes” (which obstruct practice and progress on the path): 二為猗著身愛, “the second is clinging to the love of onself” (Zacchetti refers to earlier studies by May, Mimaki and Ui on the same textual locus and problem). This translation is utterly different in meaning from the common expression of attakilamatha/ātmaklamatha “self-mortification”, which forms an opposition to the first extreme 念在貪欲 “setting one’s mind on craving”. On the basis of a series of well-thought-out evidence, primarily drawing on the graphical similarity between 愛 and 憂 in manuscripts, he formulates the hypothesis that 愛 is here a corruption of 憂, and thus proposed to read *shenyou *身憂 “self-affliction” for the term 身愛 (390). Entry author: Zhao You 赵悠 |
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