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善生子經

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Text ID
KR6a0017
Date
301–301
Dynasty
西晉

Shànshēng zǐ jīng 善生子經

Sūtra of the Son of Sujāta (the Sigālovādasūtra; parallel to Cháng Āhán sūtra 16, the Shànshēng jīng 善生經, to T16 and to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 135) by 支法度 (Zhī Fǎdù, 譯)

About the work

The Shànshēng zǐ jīng is a single-fascicle Western Jìn 西晉 translation of the Sigālovādasūtra, the Buddha’s discourse to the householder’s son Sigālaka 善生子 (“Son of Sujāta”) on the Buddhist reinterpretation of the worship of the six directions. The Pāli parallel is DN 31 Sigālovāda-sutta; the Chinese parallels are T1[16] (the Shànshēng jīng 善生經 of the Cháng āhán), T16 (the An-Shigao Shījiāluóyuè liùfāng lǐ jīng) and Madhyama-āgama sūtra 135 (the Shànshēng jīng of Zhōng āhán). T17 is later than T16 and earlier than T1[16] and T26[135], representing the middle stratum of the four-fold cluster.

T17 differs from T16 in two notable respects: first, the framing has been polished — the householder son’s name is rendered semantically as 善生子 (“Son-of-Wholesome-Birth”, a Sanskrit-style gloss of Sigālaka) rather than transcribed as 尸迦羅越; the directional formula uses 六面 / 六方 rather than 六向; and the diction throughout is markedly more literary. Second, the doctrinal articulation of the six relationships (parent–child, teacher–student, husband–wife, friend–friend, master–servant, monk–laity) is fuller, and the lists of “true and false friends” and “the six outflows of wealth” are correspondingly more elaborated. T17 thus marks a clear development from the An-Shigao stratum toward the canonical fully-articulated form.

The text opens at “Vulture Peak (耆闍崛山, Gṛdhrakūṭa) at Rājagṛha”, with the householder Sigālaka’s father — Sujāta 善生, here on his death-bed — instructing his son to perform the six-direction worship after his decease; the standard plot then unfolds.

Prefaces

The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the West-Jìn translator’s signature at the head: 「西晉沙門支法度譯」 — “translated by the śramaṇa Zhī Fǎdù of the Western Jìn.” The Chū sānzàng jì jí records the translation as having been completed in Yǒngníng 永寧 1 (301 CE), and the translation is one of only two by Zhī Fǎdù to survive in the Taishō.

Abstract

支法度 Zhī Fǎdù (DILA primary name 支法虔) was a Western Jìn monk and translator of Yuezhi (月支) descent. According to the Gāosēng zhuàn (KR6r0052) he was a fellow-disciple of Zhī Dùn 支遁 (314–366); the dates suggest he was somewhat older. The Chū sānzàng jì jí (KR6s0084) and the Lìdài sānbǎo jì 歷代三寶紀 (KR6r0011) record that he translated the Shìzǐ jīng 逝童子經 (T527) and the Shànshēng zǐ jīng (T17) together in the year Yǒngníng 永寧 1 (301 CE) — both texts thus date precisely to 301 CE, recorded in the frontmatter (notBefore = notAfter = 301). The Indic source-text is presumed lost.

The translation is in the polished, post-Hàn Buddhist register of the late Western Jìn — the proper-name 善生子 (semantic gloss) rather than transcription, the directional formula in literary form, and the use of 眾祐 (“the Many-Honoured”, an unusual gloss of Bhagavat) for the Buddha. Together with T16, T17 is one of the principal early-Chinese witnesses to the Sigālovāda tradition.

Translations and research

  • Pannasiri, Bhadanta. “Sigālovāda-sutta.” Visva-Bharati Annals 3 (1950): 150–228. — Comparative study of the Pāli Sigālovāda and its Chinese versions including T17.
  • Walshe, Maurice, tr. The Long Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — DN 31.
  • Hashimoto, Hōkei 橋本芳契. “Zenshōkyō no shisōteki kōsatsu” 善生経の思想的考察. Indogaku Bukkyōgaku Kenkyū 7.1 (1958): 116–119.
  • Schmithausen, Lambert. Maitrī and Magic. Vienna: VÖAW, 1997. — Background on early Buddhist lay ethics.
  • Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Sinica Leidensia 11. Leiden: Brill, 1959 / 3rd ed. 2007. — Western Jìn translation milieu, including the Zhī clan.

Other points of interest

  • The rendering 眾祐 (“the Many-Honoured”) for Bhagavat in T17 is a Western-Jìn semantic gloss; the standard later Chinese 世尊 (“World-Honoured”) would displace it within a few decades. T17 is therefore a useful diagnostic text for the boundary between the An-Shigao / Lokakṣema stratum and the post-Daoan canonical register.

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