Text: T0142; 玉耶女經; Qi fu jing 七婦經 ; Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu bu gongjing jing 長者詣佛説子婦不恭敬經

No

• T0142; 玉耶女經; Qi fu jing 七婦經 ; Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu bu gongjing jing 長者詣佛説子婦不恭敬經
• T0143; 玉耶經; Qi fu jing 七婦經 ; Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu bu gongjing jing 長者詣佛説子婦不恭敬經

Saitō notes that T142b and T143 are part of a larger group of five related texts in T, the others being T141, T142a and EĀ 51.9 . He also notes that a partial parallel is known in Pali, the Bhariyā-sutta AN 7.63. However, he argues that T142b and T143 are particularly closely related, at least in their use of rhyme, and more generally, in the portion of the text in which the Buddha expounds upon virtuous and vicious women. This relation is exemplified by the rare phrase 萬分之後 (otherwise only in T154, T729; the phrase 何益萬分, which Saitō sees as related, appears in T520, T556 [also T784 --- MR]).

Dao'an lists as anonymous a title 玉耶女經／玉耶經, corresponding to T142(a or b) or T143. It is not until KYL that a date was suggested for the work. The ascription of T143 to Tanwulan is problematic, because CSZJJ only ascribes two texts to him, but LDSBJ suddenly ascribes around 110 works.

There are two rhymed portions in these texts, both in padas of four syllables. 1) The Buddha explains seven types of women 七輩婦; 2) the Buddha categorises these seven types into good and bad 善婦悪婦. In Pali AN 7.63, (1) is rhymed, but (2) is absent, and may have been added to the Chinese by the translators.

In (1), the explanation of four of seven categories is end-rhymed. Saitō suggests that this material was originally presented as verse, but got reformatted as prose through an error of transmission.

In (2), Saitō found loose rhymes by dividing a number of eight-character lines in the texts into two four-character lines. The rhyme is better here than in (1).

The rhyme in T142b is better than in T143. On this basis, Saitō suggets that T142b may be later. However, T143 (but not T142b) quotes the Zuo zhuan 春秋左氏伝 (on this point, Saitō cites 一柳和成), which may mean that T143 was created on the basis of some other pre-existing text, in which case T142b is a natural candidate. Saitō concludes that the chonological relation between the two texts is undetermined.

Saitō states that rhyme embedded in prose in this manner seems to be rare, and aside from the present two texts, he has only otherwise discovered it in T588.

Saitō suggests that end-rhymes may have been characteristic of instructional literature for women, and that this may have been a device to suit the literature to memorization and recitation. In discussing this possibility, he compares T142b/T143 to secular literature, and notes similarities with the Nü cheng 女誠 by Cao Dajia 曹大家 (Ban Zhao 班昭) of the Latter Han , and analyses rhyme in a number of other 女訓書 (380-384) and the Analects for Women (Nü lunyu) 女論語 of the Tang. He also notes that in 30 scriptures in the Taishō in which the Buddha speaks to a woman or the main topic is women, five have rhymed verse: T553 ("An Shigao"), T557 ("Zhi Qian", as cited in JYLX T2121), T558 ("Dharmarakṣa"), T572 (anon., Liang 涼), and T580 (anon., Liang 涼).

Saitō also suggests that of these texts, T143 was most commonly known under the Tang period, as it was quoted in Huizhao's 慧沼 Quan fa putixin ji 勸發菩提心集 T. 1862 , and some terms in it are glossed in works like the Yiqie jing yin yi.

Entry author: Atsushi Iseki

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No

• T0141; 佛說阿遬達經; Qi fu jing 七婦經 ; Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu bu gongjing jing 長者詣佛説子婦不恭敬經
• T0142; 玉耶女經; Qi fu jing 七婦經 ; Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu bu gongjing jing 長者詣佛説子婦不恭敬經
• T0143; 玉耶經; Qi fu jing 七婦經 ; Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu bu gongjing jing 長者詣佛説子婦不恭敬經

Hayashiya's summary of the content of the catalogues on this and related titles is as follows:

A 七婦經 is listed in Sengyou's recompilation of Dao'an's catalogue of anonymous scriptures 新集安公失譯經録 simply as the Qi fu jing in one juan 七婦經一巻. The following two alternate translations of this text existed at the time of Sengyou: the Yuye nü jing 玉耶女經 (with an alternate title Yuye jing 玉瑘經), listed next to the Qi fu jing in Dao'an's catalogue of anonymous scriptures 新集安公失譯經録, and the Asuda jing 阿遬達經 in the category of extant texts in the catalogue of assorted anonymous scriptures 失譯雜經錄. All of these texts were extant at that time.

However, Fajing’s Zhongjing mulu includes only two of those three texts, listing the Yuye jing (with the Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu bu gongjing jing 長者詣佛説子婦不恭敬經 and the Qi fu jing) and Asuda jing. Fajing regarded "Qi fu jing" as just an alternate title of the Yuye jing. Yancong (仁壽録), which is a catalogue of the extant canon of the Sui 隋 period, followed Fajing in listing only two of the three, viz., the Asuda jing and the Yuye jing (with the Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu bu gongjing jing and the Qi fu jing) in the category of repeat Hīnayāna translations 小乗經重譯經. Based on this, Hayashiya maintains that only the Asuda jing and the Yuye jing were extant in the Sui period. He also claims that the Qi fu jing in Dao'an's catalogue of anonymous scriptures was regarded as an alternate title of the Yuye jing, since the Yuye jing described seven types of women (七婦) and was sometimes called the Qi fu jing. [Hayashiya seems to think, without clearly saying so, that the Yuye nü jing in Dao’an’s catalogue became lost (and was later refound, see below), and instead, the Qi fu jing was called Yuye nü jing by Fajing and other catalogues.]

Jingtai records the same two titles, Asuda jing and Yuye jing, with lengths of two sheets and four sheets respectively. DTNDL 内典錄 records the same titles with the same lengths in its catalogue of the extant canon.

It was LDSBJ that first ascribed the Yuye jing to Zhu Tanwulan 竺曇無蘭, and the Asuda jing to Guṇabhadra 求那跋陀羅. Following LDSBJ, KYL lists the Yuye jing (with the alternate title Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu wu jing jing 長者詣佛説子婦無敬經) ascribed to Zhu Tanwulan, and the Asuda jing ascribed to Guṇabhadra, as well as the Yuye nü jing (with the alternate title Yuye jing) and the Qi fu jing from Dao’an’s catalogue as anonymous scriptures. The Qi fu jing is regarded as lost, the other three extant. Zhisheng 智昇 states that there are three extant alternate translations, because the Yuye jing 玉耶經 had been was found by his time.

KYL lists the lengths of the three texts in its catalogue of the extant canon as follows:

Yuye nü jing (Yuye jing): three sheets
Yuye jing (Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu wu jing jing, Yuye nü jing): five sheets
Asuda jing: two sheets.

Hayashiya points out that the Yuye nü jing in three sheets is added to the Asuda jing and Yuye jing included in the catalogues prior to LDSBJ (although KYL records the length of the Yuye jing as five sheets, instead of the four sheets stated by Jingtai).

There are also three alternate translations of the Qi fu jing in the Taishō, which are entitled Asuda jing 阿遬達經 T141, Yuye nü jing 玉耶女經 T142, and Yuye jing 玉耶經 T143. Among these, the Taishō includes two versions of the Yuye nü jing 玉耶女經, one checked against the Song and the Yuan editions, and the other against the Ming edition. However, Hayashiya disregards the latter because it contains too many mistakes and too often confuses the Yuye nü jing with the Yuye jing.

Among these three texts (T141, T142, T143) in the Taishō, Hayashiya maintains that T141 is the text that was listed in the aforegoing catalogues as Asuda jing, because T141 is about two sheets in length, and the word Asuda 阿遬達 is so distinct that the two titles using it should refer to the same text.

As for T142 and T143, Hayashiya compares the style and contents of the two and points out that they are translations of very similar original texts, and the translators of one must have referred to the other in the course of translation. However, he emphasizes that they are different translations, not the same version with variants in transmission. As support for this claim, he lists the following differences between the two texts:

(玉耶女經 T142) (玉耶經 T143)
一者小時父母所鄣
二者出嫁夫主所鄣
三者老時兒子所鄣
是爲三鄣、何等十惡
一者生時父母不憙 一者初生墮地父母不喜
二者養育無味 二者養育視無滋味
三者常憂嫁娶失禮 三者女人心常畏入
四者處々畏入 四者父母恒憂嫁娶
五者與父母別離 五者與父母生相離別
六者倚他門戸 六者常畏夫婿視其顔色
七者懐姙甚難 七者懐姙產生甚難
八者產生時難 八者女人小爲父母所撿錄
九者常畏夫主 九者中爲夫婿所制
十者常不得自在 十者年老爲兒孫所呵
是爲十惡

Hayashiya points out that, for example, a set of three zhang 鄣 are shown in T142 but not in T143, while the descriptions of the “ten evils” 十惡 in the two are fairly different in wording. Based on such differences, Hayashiya asserts that T142 and T143 cannot be two variant versions of the same translation.

The Taishō ascribes T141 to Guṇabhadra and T143 to Tanwulan, following KYL, which is influenced by LDSBJ (T142 is treated as anonymous). However, Hayashiya claims that the vocabulary used by T141, T142, and T143 indicates that all three texts must have been produced in the W. Jin 西晋 period or earlier. Therefore, none of them can be the work of Guṇabhadra or Tanwulan. Hayashiya also points out that LDSBJ does not show any grounds for those ascriptions.

This being the case, Sengyou must be right in listing the Yuye nü jing 玉耶女經 and the Qi fu jing in Dao'an's catalogue of anonymous scriptures and the Asuda jing 阿遬達經 in his own catalogue of assorted anonymous scriptures 失譯雜經錄, regarding all of them as extant. Hence, if several catalogues, including Fajing and Yancong, regard the Yuye nü jing and Qi fu jing as the same text, it must be a mere result of the fact that only two of the three alternate translations were extant in their time. As it is clear that the third translation is extant today, we should consider the Qi fu jing as an independent text, disregarding the identification made by Fajing, Yancong, etc. Given that the Qi fu jing in Dao'an's catalogue is still extant, it must be either T142 or T143. Hayashiya maintains that T143 is the Qi fu jing, because it contains an explanation of “seven [types of] women” 七婦, while T142 does not.

Accordingly, Hayashiya points out that, although KYL is right in listing 七婦經 again, it is incorrect in classifying it as a lost scripture, while assuming wrongly that the re-discovered text was the Yuye jing translated by Tanwulan. Thus, Hayashiya concludes that the Qi fu jing of Dao’an’s catalogue (viz. T143), as well as T141 and T142, are all extant anonymous scriptures of the W. Jin period.

(Hayashiya adds that the original title of the Asuda jing is probably *Aśokadatta Sūtra, and if so the text might have some connection with the Wuyoushi jing 無憂施經. He states that he will deal with this topic when he examines the Asuda jing 阿遬達經 further sometime in the future.)

Entry author: Atsushi Iseki

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• Title: Qi fu jing 七婦經; Zhangzhe yi Fo shuo zi fu bu gongjing jing 長者詣佛説子婦不恭敬經
• People: Anonymous (China), 失譯, 闕譯, 未詳撰者, 未詳作者, 不載譯人 (unspecified)
• Date: W. Jin 西晋