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白衣金幢二婆羅門緣起經

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Text ID
KR6a0010
Date
982–1017
Dynasty
宋

Báiyī Jīnchuáng èr póluómén yuánqǐ jīng 白衣金幢二婆羅門緣起經

Sūtra on the Origin Story of the Two Brahmins, “White-Robe” and “Golden-Banner” (the Aggañña-sūtra; parallel to Cháng Āhán sūtra 5, the Xiǎoyuán jīng 小緣經, and to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 154) by 施護 (Shīhù / Dānapāla, 等譯) et al.

About the work

The Báiyī Jīnchuáng èr póluómén yuánqǐ jīng is a three-fascicle Northern-Sòng translation of the Aggañña-sūtra, one of the most influential Buddhist discourses on the origins of human society and on the artificiality of the brahmanical caste system. The Taishō head-note marks T10 explicitly as a parallel to T1[5] (the Xiǎoyuán jīng 小緣經 of the Cháng Āhán) and to T26[154] (the Bóluópó-táng jīng 婆羅婆堂經 of the Madhyama-āgama); the Pāli parallel is the Aggañña-sutta of the Dīgha-nikāya (DN 27). Within this cluster T10 is the most expansive Chinese rendering, prefacing the cosmogonic narrative proper with a substantial doctrinal introduction on the nature of brahmanical claims to caste-purity.

The text opens at the Migāramātupāsāda (鹿母堂, “Hall of Migāra’s Mother”), the great hall donated by Viśākhā at the Pubbārāma (故廢園林) in Śrāvastī. Two brahmins — Báiyī 白衣 (literally “White-Robe”, probably representing Pāli Vāseṭṭha) and Jīnchuáng 金幢 (“Golden-Banner”, probably representing Bhāradvāja) — are living near the Buddha, drawn to the religious life. While walking outside their lodgings they observe the Buddha in his evening cankrama and approach him; the body of the discourse is the Buddha’s reply, an extended critique of brahmanical caste-doctrine followed by the cosmogonic account proper — the involution of beings of light, the appearance of the elemental savouries (rasāvatī, etc.), the gradual coarsening of bodies, the institution of agriculture and property, the election of the first king (Mahāsammata), and the origin of the four social estates.

Prefaces

The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Sòng-court translator’s signature at the head: 「西天譯經三藏朝奉大夫試光祿卿傳法大師賜紫沙門臣施護等奉詔譯」. As with T8, the use of the title 傳法大師 places the translation after TàipíngXīngguó 7 (982); Shīhù’s death in late 1017 is the terminus ante quem. The defensible bracket 982–1017 is recorded in the frontmatter.

Abstract

T10 is one of the more substantial Sòng-Institute renderings of an Āgama discourse and is registered in the Dàzhōngxiángfú fǎbǎo lù 大中祥符法寶錄 (KR6s0100, juan 3–12) within the body of Shīhù’s translation activity. The Indic source-text is presumed lost; comparison with the Pāli parallel and with T1[5] / T26[154] shows that T10 renders an Indic recension distinct from both — the doctrinal preface on caste-purity is more developed than in either older Chinese version, and the cosmogonic narrative is articulated in a more elaborate sequence of stages.

The text’s principal scholarly interest lies in its parallel with the Aggañña-sutta. The Aggañña is one of the most studied of the Pāli suttas, both as evidence for early Buddhist social thought (Collins) and as a source for the canonical Buddhist cosmogony; T10’s distinctive expansion of the doctrinal preface offers a useful comparand for later, post-Aśokan developments of the Aggañña tradition. The proper-name renderings — 白衣 / 金幢 in place of the older transcriptions — are characteristic of the Sòng-Institute preference for semantic gloss over phonetic transcription wherever possible.

The doctrinal point of the discourse, in T10 as in its parallels, is twofold: first, that brahmanical claims to caste-purity by birth are historically arbitrary, since human society arose by stages from a pre-social cosmic origin; and second, that the only meaningful purity is moral and spiritual, accessible to members of any caste who follow the Buddhist path. The “Origin Story” (緣起 yuánqǐ) of the title thus refers both to the cosmogonic origin of beings and to the social origin of brahmanical claims.

Translations and research

  • Collins, Steven. “The Discourse on What is Primary (Aggañña-sutta): An Annotated Translation.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 21 (1993): 301–393. — The standard scholarly translation and study of the Pāli Aggañña-sutta, with extensive comparative notes on the Chinese parallels.
  • Meisig, Konrad. Das Sūtra von den vier Ständen: Das Aggañña-sutta im Licht seiner chinesischen Parallelen. Freiburger Beiträge zur Indologie 20. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1988. — A comparative study of the Aggañña-sutta and its Chinese parallels including T10; in German, with text-critical notes.
  • Walshe, Maurice, tr. The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — DN 27 Aggañña-sutta with notes.
  • Gombrich, Richard F. “The Buddha’s Book of Genesis?” Indo-Iranian Journal 35 (1992): 159–178. — Influential argument that the Aggañña-sutta is satirical of brahmanical creation accounts.
  • Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003 / 2nd ed. 2016. — Background on the Sòng Institute for the Translation of Sūtras under which T10 was produced.

Other points of interest

  • Meisig’s monograph (1988) is the most extensive comparative treatment of T10 specifically and remains the principal port of call for scholars working on this text.
  • The proper-name renderings 白衣 (“White-Robe”) for Vāseṭṭha and 金幢 (“Golden-Banner”) for Bhāradvāja are unique to T10 within the Chinese canon — neither older Chinese version (T1[5], T26[154]) uses them, and they are presumably lexical innovations of the Sòng Institute.

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