| Identifier | T0396 [T] |
| Title | 佛說法滅盡經 [T] |
| Date | 宋 [T] |
| Author | Anonymous (China), 失譯, 闕譯, 未詳撰者, 未詳作者, 不載譯人 [Zürcher 1981] |
| Translator 譯 | Anonymous (China), 失譯, 闕譯, 未詳撰者, 未詳作者, 不載譯人 [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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[Greene 2012] Greene, Eric Matthew. “Meditation, Repentance and Visionary Experience in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism.” PhD dissertation, U. C. Berkeley, 2012. — 540 n. 6 |
Greene notes that the Fo shuo fa mie jin jing 法滅盡經 T396 was listed as an anonymous translation in the Records of the Canon and thus “must have been in existence no later than the late fifth century.” This “short text of unknown origin” contains the image of “spontaneous transformation of monastic robes into lay clothing as a sign of the decay of Buddhism.” Greene adds that the passage of this text concerning “the spontaneous whitening of monastic robes” came to be widely cited in subsequent Chinese works for which he refers to 法苑珠林 T2122. Entry author: Sophie Florence |
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[Greene 2012] Greene, Eric Matthew. “Meditation, Repentance and Visionary Experience in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism.” PhD dissertation, U. C. Berkeley, 2012. — 540 n. 6 |
Greene notes that the Fo shuo fa mie jin jing 法滅盡經 T396 was listed as an anonymous translation in the Records of the Canon and thus “must have been in existence no later than the late fifth century.” This “short text of unknown origin” contains the image of “spontaneous transformation of monastic robes into lay clothing as a sign of the decay of Buddhism.” Greene adds that this passage concerning “the spontaneous whitening of monastic robes” came to be widely cited in subsequent Chinese works, for which he refers to 法苑珠林 T2122. Entry author: Sophie Florence |
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[Strickmann 2002] Strickmann, Michel. Chinese Magical Medicine. Edited by Bernard Faure. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002. — 59-61 |
Strickmann discusses and summarises content of T396/T2874, characterising it as an "original Chinese Buddhist scripture...that came into being...early in the fifth century". Entry author: Michael Radich |
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[Strickmann 1990] Strickmann, Michel. "The Consecration Sutra: A Buddhist Book of Spells" in Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha, edited by Robert E. Buswell, Jr., 75-118. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1990. — 87-88 |
Strickmann claims that the Fa miejin jing 法滅盡經 T396 was composed in Jiangnan in the fifth century. The text predicts a “dramatic apocalypse” after the parinirvāṇa, in which the world will devolve and “devils” will enter the saṃgha to “destroy the law.” Strickmann writes that these “devil-monks” will break the precepts, and expel those who attempt to maintain true practice. They will seek material wealth, and enter into trade on a large scale, while allowing monasteries to fall into disrepair. The final era of the Dharma will be marked by apocalyptic signs, including floods, droughts and rampant epidemics. There will be an increase of pious women, whose lifetimes will extend, and men will remain indifferent to the Dharma while their lifetimes decrease. Entry author: Sophie Florence |
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[Zürcher 1981] Zürcher, Erik. “Eschatology and Messianism in Early Chinese Buddhism.” In Leyden Studies in Sinology: Papers Presented at the conference Held in Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Sinological Institute of Leyden University, December 8-12, 1980, edited by Wilt L. Idema, 34-56. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1981. — 48-49 |
Zürcher argues that the Fa miejin jing 法滅盡經 T396, is an “apocryphon,” and suggests it can be dated to the fifth century. This “short but highly interesting apocryphal text” warns of the coming of Māra’s “satanic clergy” who will break the rules of monastic life, wear fine clothing, drink wine and eat meat, be unkind and jealous, ridicule and slander the few decent people who remain, destroy all truly religious values, and generally wreak havoc. Zürcher notes that various bibliographies have dealt with this text in “real or imaginary” versions, variously titled Fa miejin jing, Fa mojin jing 法沒盡經 and Kongji pusa suo wen jing 空寂菩薩所問經. The text was first listed in Sengyou’s Chu sanzang ji ji 出三藏記集 T2145, as a single anonymous scripture with no variant titles. Fajing’s Zhongjing mulu 眾經目錄 T2146 deemed the text “spurious;” and the later Tang bibliographies, from Kaiyuan shijiao lu 開元釋教錄 T2154 onwards, listed two texts, an anonymous “authentic” text, and another listed as “spurious.” Zürcher suggests that the inclusion of two texts in later catalogues is a case of “double listing,” and Fajing’s “spurious” text is in fact the same as Sengyou’s “genuine” one. Zürcher adds that the bibliographies mention “lost” versions of the text and attribute them to famous translators such as Zhi Qian, Dharmarakṣa, and Gītamitra. However, Zürcher proposes that “these entries probably are false attributions of the same text(s)” given the Chinese bibliographers’ tendency to ascribe anonymous texts to well-known translators. The text listed in Sengyou’s bibliography, however, we can be certain is the one currently listed in the canon because Sengyou reproduced almost the entire text in Shija pu 釋迦譜 T2040. Therefore, Zürcher argues, the text must have “already been in existence by the end of the fifth century.” Entry author: Sophie Florence |
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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. — 246-247 |
The Fa mie jin jing 法滅盡經 T396 was first listed in CSZJJ, as an extant anonymous scripture. Although Fajing, Yancong, and Jingtai included it in the group of suspicious texts 疑惑部, KYL classifies it as an anonymous scripture of the Song period, and different editions of the canon 諸藏 followed KYL. Nonetheless, Ōno maintains that the style and vocabulary of T396 suggest that it is not a translated scripture. Ōno infers that the source of the restoration of Buddhism by Yueguang 月光興法 in T396 was the Shenri jing 申日經 (Candraprabhākumāra T535, ascribed to Dharmarakṣa). 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) 58c12, 119a20 |
In LDSBJ, T396 is ascribed to Zhi Qian(!), without any particular source. The same title is incongruously treated as anonymous in Fascicle 14. Entry author: Michael Radich |
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[Fajing 594] Fajing 法經. Zhongjing mulu 眾經目錄 T2146. — T2146 (LV) 126c16, 127a1, 127a2, 138a18 |
The title 法滅盡(經) is given for three texts in a list of spurious/forged sūtras 眾經偽妄 (twice as an alternate title) in Fajing, with no ascription in any case: 1) An interlinear note gives this as an alternate title for the 空寂菩薩所問經, and an(other?) interlinear note says that it is a “flagrant forgery, and therefore certainly not translated by Dharmarakṣa(?) 竺護” 空寂菩薩所問經一卷(一名法滅盡)(此經偽妄炳然固非竺護所譯), T2146 (LV) 126c16 (no 空寂菩薩所問經 is found in the Taishō). 2) An interlinear note gives this as an alternate title for the 小般泥洹經: 小般泥洹經一卷(一名法滅盡經), T2146 (LV) 127a1. 3) 佛說法滅盡經一卷, T2146 (LV) 127a2. The same title also appears in another list of dubious sūtras, T2146 (LV) 138a18. Whichever of these four notices we equate with T396, then, Fajing regards the text as a blatant apocryphon, or of doubtful authenticity, and gives no ascription. 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) 28c18 |
In Sengyou's Chu sanzang ji ji, T396 is regarded as an 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): 法滅盡經一卷. Entry author: Michael Radich |
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