Text: Za shishisi pian 雜經四十四篇

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• Za shishisi pian 雜經四十四篇

Harrison argues that An Shigao's Zajing sishisi pian 雜經四十四篇, which is reported by Dao'an and Sengyou, has been transmitted as the major part of the received T150A. In his study of T150A, Harrison restores the order of the collection as follows (roman numerals are used to indicate the number that discourses currently carry in the Taishō):

A. 七處三觀經Qi chu san guan jing: i(a) 875b4 – c16 & iii(b) 876b1 – c7
B. 九橫經 Jiu heng jing: xxxi 880b20 – 881a1
C. 雜經四十四篇 Zajing sishisi pian:
1-9: xxxii – xl
10: xli(a) 881b18-22 & i(b) 875c16-18
11: ii 875c19 – 876a15
12: iii(a) 876a16-b1 & xli(b)881b22-c3
13 – 18: xlii – xlvii
19 – 44: iv – xxix
D. 積骨經 Ji gu jing: xxx 880b10 – 18

As can be seen, on Harrison's analysis, the Zajing shishisi pian is to be identified with 44 of the discourses of T150A.

Although the Zajing collection is reported by Sengyou as missing in CSZJJ, Harrison deduces that it was already collated with Qi chu and the other texts by Sengyou's time, since he indicates the length of Qi chu as 2 juan and Jiuheng as 1 juan --- even though Qi chu alone could never have amounted to 2 juan.

Unlike the other sūtras collected in T150A, the 44 Zajing discourses do not bear titles and follow the classic EĀ pattern: sets of 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 dharmas in ascending order. Accordingly, Harrison suggests that they might have represented an EĀ tradition known to An Shigao. In his catalogue, Dao’an also makes a note that assigns the Zajing discourses to the EĀ.

Of the 44 texts from the Zajing sishisi pian, 36 have close parallels to the Pāli Aṅguttara-nikāya, and five have parallels in the Chinese EĀ (T125). Harrison points out that this cements the "canonical status" of the collection. At the same time, Harrison cautions that these texts do not necessarily cover the whole extent of the EĀ tradition known to An Shigao, and we also cannot assume that these texts belonged to An Shigao’s EĀ just because they have parallels in the Aṅguttara-nikāya and T125. Nonetheless, the parallels increase this probability.

Furthermore, Harrison argues that An Shigao’s EĀ texts come from the Sarvāstivādin tradition. He gives the following reasons:

1. An Shigao’s has a connection with the Sarvāstivādin master Saṅgharakṣa.
2. An Shigao's translations of the Daśottara-sūtra (T13) and Artha-vistara-sūtra (T98) are both identified as Sarvāstivādin.
3. Dao’an most likely identified the Zajing sishisi bian as EĀ based on the Sarvāstivadin EĀ translated by Dharmanandin and Zhu Fonian (which is different from the extant T125, in Harrison’s opinion) [however, note that in making this point, Harrison assumes that the extant EĀ T125 is different from the Zhu Fonian version --- MR].
4. The texts found in T150A are often closely paralleled by citations in Vasubandhu and Śamathadeva.

Entry author: Michael Radich

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