| Identifier | T0769 [T] |
| Title | 佛說四輩經 [T] |
| Date | Wei/Wu [Ōno 1954] |
| Unspecified | Zhi Qian 支謙 [Sakaino 1935] |
| Translator 譯 | Dharmarakṣa 竺法護, 曇摩羅察 [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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[Radich 2019] Radich, Michael. “Fei Changfang’s Treatment of Sengyou’s Anonymous Texts.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 139.4 (2019): 819-841. |
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According to the abstract, Radich argues: "Fei Changfang/Zhangfang’s 費長房 Lidai sanbao ji 歷代三寶紀 T2034 (completed in 598) is a source of numerous problematic ascriptions and dates for texts in the received Chinese Buddhist canon. This paper presents new evidence of troubling patterns in the assignment of new ascriptions in Lidai sanbao ji, and aims thereby to shed new light on Fei’s working method. I show that Lidai sanbao ji consistently gives new attributions to the same translators for whole groups of texts clustering closely together in a long list of texts treated as anonymous in the earlier Chu sanzang ji ji 出三藏記集 T2145 of Sengyou 僧祐 (completed ca. 515). It is impossible that Sengyou grouped these texts together on the basis of attribution, since he did not know them. The most economical explanation for the assignment of each individual group to the same translator in Lidai sanbao ji, therefore, is that someone added the same attributions in batches to restricted chunks of Sengyou’s list. This and other evidence shows that Lidai sanbao ji is even more unreliable than previously thought, and urges even greater critical awareness in the use of received ascriptions for many of our texts." Radich argues that the patterns of unreliable information he has here uncovered cast doubt upon the ascriptions of all the texts affected. Extant texts affected are the following (from Radich's Appendix 1; listed in order of Taishō numbering; listing gives title, Taishō number, Taishō ascription, and locus in LDSBJ): 七佛父母姓字經 T4, Anon., former Wei 前魏, 60b19. This CBC@ entry is associated with all of affected extant texts. Entry author: Michael Radich |
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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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[Mei 1996] Mei Naiwen 梅廼文. “Zhu Fahu de fanyi chutan 竺法護的翻譯初探.” Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal 中華佛學學報 9 (1996): 49-64. — 54-55 n. 27 |
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The eighteen texts listed in this entry, Mei observes, are ascribed to Dharmarakṣa in the present Taishō, but not by CSZJJ. The majority of these texts, Mei suggests, did already exist at Sengyou's time, but Sengyou listed them as anonymous. Thus, Mei argues that further research is required to determine whether or not these texts really are by Dharmarakṣa. Entry author: Michael Radich |
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[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. — 360 |
The ascription of the Si bei jing 四輩經 T769 to Dharmarakṣa, which is still carried in the Taishō, was first provided in DZKZM and accepted by KYL. Before DZKZM, T769 was classified as anonymous. Sengyou first listed this text in his section on missing anonymous scriptures (with the alternate titles Si bei dizi jing 四輩弟子經 and Si bei xue jing 四輩學經), while Dao’an did not list this text. Ōno states that he tentatively accepts the classification of T769 as an anonymous scripture of the Wei/Wu period 魏・呉, as its vocabulary is very old, containing many terms seen in Zhi Qian’s translations. However, he adds that it is an open question whether T769 is a true translation. Entry author: Atsushi Iseki |
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[Sakaino 1935] Sakaino Kōyō 境野黄洋. Shina Bukkyō seishi 支那佛教精史. Tokyo: Sakaino Kōyō Hakushi Ikō Kankōkai, 1935. — 177-181 |
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Sakaino argues that a number of new ascriptions to Dharmarakṣa added in LDSBJ are incorrect. He shows that the ascriptions for these extant texts are part of a broader pattern whereby Fei Changfang, in LDSBJ, takes titles in groups from lists of anonymous scriptures in Sengyou's CSZJJ, and assigns an entire group holus-bolus to a single translator. This procedure leads to a sudden ballooning of a given translator's corpus (if not its creation ex nihilo), and other absurd consequences, like the appearance that a certain translator specialised in texts on a particular topic (because Sengyou grouped titles in his lists by topic). Sakaino also studies this pattern in application to other translators (or supposed translators) elsewhere in his work; see esp. 80-86 for a general analysis of the overall pattern. Dharmarakṣa is one of the purported "translators" to whom Fei applies this procedure. This entry lists extant texts ascribed to Dharmarakṣa to which Sakaino's criticism here applies. Entry author: Michael Radich |
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[Sakaino 1935] Sakaino Kōyō 境野黄洋. Shina Bukkyō seishi 支那佛教精史. Tokyo: Sakaino Kōyō Hakushi Ikō Kankōkai, 1935. — 135 |
Sakaino argues that the Si bei jing 四輩經 [T769] ascribed to Dharmarakṣa is actually the work of Zhi Qian, since the text uses terms such as 天帝, 龍, 明度, and so on. Entry author: Atsushi Iseki |
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[Sakaino 1935] Sakaino Kōyō 境野黄洋. Shina Bukkyō seishi 支那佛教精史. Tokyo: Sakaino Kōyō Hakushi Ikō Kankōkai, 1935. — 177-179 |
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Sakaino presents a list of titles that KYL admitted to the canon as the work of Dharmarakṣa, following LDSBJ. Sakaino gives separate lists of fourteen extant titles and thirteen lost titles (177-178) (this entry is associated with extant texts affected by this problem). Sakaino states that as many as twenty of these titles are clearly taken from Sengyou’s “new” catalogue of anonymous scriptures 新集失譯經錄 in CSZJJ. He also suggests that the legitimacy of the ascription of the other texts should also be doubted: the lost Saddharmapuṇḍarīka 薩芸芬陀利經 already appeared in Dao’an’s catalogue of anonymous scriptures 安公失譯錄 in CSZJJ; the lost Xie fa jing 邪法經 and Ku ying jing 苦應經 are likely to be mistakes for the Xie jian jing 邪見經 and the Ku yin jing 苦陰經 respectively, both of which titles appear in Sengyou’s “new” catalogue of anonymous scriptures; the *Ullambana [Thus, Sakaino leaves just a few titles in the twenty-seven titles which he does not explicitly reject as Dharmarakṣa’s work. However, his tone is fairly negative all the way through the discussion, and it would be much reasonable to assume that he would reject the ascription of those few to Dharmarakṣa as well --- AI.] Entry author: Atsushi Iseki |
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[Fei 597] Fei Changfang 費長房. Lidai sanbao ji (LDSBJ) 歷代三寶紀 T2034. — T2034 (XLIX) 61a12, 64a24 |
The ascription of T769 to Dharmarakṣa found in the present canon (the Taishō) may ultimately derive from LDSBJ. LDSBJ lists this text among Wei-Wu anonymous texts, with various titles: 四輩經一卷(舊錄云四事弟子經。或云四輩學經). However, it also lists the title of the present T769 as an alternate title of the 灌臘經, ascribed to Dharmarakṣa. However, the 灌臘 is also extant as T391, and so if this record is the basis for the ascription of T769 to Dharmarakṣa, two texts have been assigned this ascription on the basis of the same LDSBJ entry. Entry author: Michael Radich |
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[Fajing 594] Fajing 法經. Zhongjing mulu 眾經目錄 T2146. — T2146 (LV) 130c17 |
T769 is treated as anonymous in Fajing. Entry author: Michael Radich |
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[CSZJJ] Sengyou 僧祐. Chu sanzang ji ji (CSZJJ) 出三藏記集 T2145. — T2145 (LV) 36a28 |
In Sengyou's Chu sanzang ji ji, T769 is regarded as a missing 闕 anonymous translation, that is to say, it is listed in the "Newly Compiled Continuation of the Assorted List of Anonymous Translations" 新集續撰失譯雜經錄 (juan 4), in the section listing missing texts (beginning at 32a1): 四輩經一卷(舊錄云四輩弟子經或云四輩學經). Entry author: Michael Radich |
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[Jiu lu CSZJJ] Jiu lu 舊錄 as reported by CSZJJ 出三藏記集 T2145. |
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In his catalogue of anonymous texts in Facicle 4 of CSZJJ, Sengyou cites a/the Jiu lu 舊錄 as evidence for 110 titles, including items he states are extant, and also items he marks "presently missing". This shows that each such title, being listed in the Jiu lu, was extant by whatever date that catalogue was compiled. It also means, conversely, if the date of any of these texts can be determined, that the Jiu lu must date at earliest after those texts. Texts among these which appear to possibly be extant are as follows, here listed alongside the ascriptions given in the present Taishō to the possibly corresponding texts (note that this comparison serves in several cases mainly to show how tenuous the T ascriptions must be, if the texts in question are indeed those listed in CSZJJ 4): 沙曷比丘功德[v.l. 德經SYM]一卷(舊錄云沙曷比丘經) T501, Faju Entry author: Michael Radich |
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