Text: T125(50.4); T0125 Second version Mahādeva tale

Summary

Identifier T125(50.4) [Anālayo 2013]
Title T0125 Second version Mahādeva tale [Anālayo 2013]
Date [None]
Translator 譯 *Dharmanandi(n) 曇摩難提, Dharmananda?; Zhu Fonian 竺佛念 [Mizuno 1989]

Assertions

Preferred? Source Pertains to Argument Details

No

[Anālayo 2013]  Anālayo. "Two Versions of the Mahādeva Tale in the Ekottarika-āgama: A Study in the Development of Taishō no. 125." In Research on the Ekottarika-āgama (Taishō 125), edited by Dhammadinnā, 1-70. Taipei: Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation, 2013.

Ven. Anālayo argues that the version of the Mahādeva tale found at EĀ 50.4 is probably by a different translator to the rest of EĀ T125. This argument is based in part on the fact that in this case, the collection anomalously features two versions of the same tale, the other being found in the [equally anomalous! --- MR] introduction to the collection as a whole, EĀ 1. Anālayo also discusses differences in narrative content between the two versions, which he thinks make it unlikely that the two could stem from the same compiler/group of reciters/transmission lineage/translator (etc.) (19-25, summary list of differences p. 24); he concludes that section by suggesting that the "most natural scenario is that one [version] ... is a later addition to the Ekottarika-āgama at a time when this collection was no longer transmitted orally" (25).

Anālayo also bases his argument upon differences in translation terminology between the two versions (25-43), viz. (for EĀ 1 and 50.4 respectively) 摩訶提婆 vs. 大天 for Mahādeva; 長壽 vs. 長生 for the name of the king; 以法治化 vs. 治以正法; 壽命 vs. 壽 (for lifespan); 童子身 vs. 太子身; 前長跪 vs. 右膝著地; and a description of "going forth" running 剃除鬚髮 ... 著三法衣 ... 學道 vs. 下鬚髮 ... 著法服 ... 入道; 典藏寶 vs. 主藏寶; 四等心 vs. 四梵行. In addition, he refers to wording in 50.4 that otherwise appears rarely or never in the remainder of EĀ, viz. 著法服 (never otherwise), 入道 (otherwise rare), 下鬚髮 (never otherwise), 食後起 (rare), 園中止 (never), 與大比丘僧 (never), 佛語阿難 (never), 阿難問佛 (never), 婆伽婆 (never), 佛說是已 (never). [Note: Anālayo has not considered here the broader question of whether some of this phrasing appears elsewhere in the Zhu Fonian corpus; in some cases, it does. --- MR]

Entry author: Michael Radich

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  • Title: T0125 Second version Mahādeva tale
  • Identifier: T125(50.4)

No

[Mizuno 1989]  Mizuno Kōgen 水野弘元. "Kan'yaku Chū agon kyō to Zōichi agon kyō 漢訳『中阿含経』と『増一阿含経』." Bukkyō kenkyū 仏教研究 18 (1989): 1-42[L]. Chinese translation: "Hanyi Zhong ahan jing yu Zengyi ahan jing 漢譯《中阿含經》與《増一阿含經》," in Shuiye Hongyuan [=Mizuno Kōgen ], Fojiao wenxian yanjiu: Shuiye Hongyuan zhuzuo xuanji (1) 佛教文獻研究‧水 野 弘 元 著 作 選 集( 一), translated by Xu Yangzhu 許洋主, 509-579. Taipei: Fagu wenhua, 2003.

In his study of the extant MĀ and EĀ, i.e. T26 and T125, in parallel to their alternative translations, Mizuno asserts that both T26 and T125 should be considered as Saṅghdeva’s second translations. However, he singles out the current T125(50.4) as deviating from the rest of T125, while sharing the same style as the MĀ-alt and EĀ-alt sūtras. According to his main argument that these MĀ-alt and EĀ-alt sūtras are “Dharmanandi's” [Zhu Fonian’s] first translations of MĀ and EĀ, he argues that T125(50.4) should likewise be considered “Dharmanandi's” [Zhu Fonian’s] work.

Entry author: Sharon Chi

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No

[Palumbo 2013]  Palumbo, Antonello. An Early Chinese Commentary on the Ekottarika-āgama: The Fenbie gongde lun 分別功德論 and the History of the Translation of the Zengyi ahan jing 增一阿含經. Dharma Drum Buddhist College Research Series 7. Taipei: Dharma Drum Publishing Co., 2013. — 274-275 n. 13, 280 n. 21

Palumbo disputes the theories of Anālayo (2011) and Hung (2013) that EĀ 50.4 was produced by different translators to the remainder of EĀ T125. He prefers rather to explain the differences in style between EĀ 50.4 and the rest of the present EĀ as "the expression of a different and arguably earlier stage in the process of translation of [EĀ]" --- referring to his conjectured first recension of EĀ, which he thinks was produced by Dao'an's group in 384, and which he identifies (at least in part) with the collection of individual sūtras identified by Mizuno as vestiges of an alternate translation of the collection.

Entry author: Michael Radich

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