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佛開解梵志阿颰經

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Text ID
KR6a0020
Date
222–253
Dynasty
吳

Fó kāijiě fànzhì Ābá jīng 佛開解梵志阿颰經

Sūtra in which the Buddha Enlightens the Brahmin Ambaṭṭha (the Ambaṭṭha-sūtra; parallel to Cháng Āhán sūtra 20, the Āmózhòu jīng 阿摩晝經) by 支謙 (Zhī Qiān, 譯)

About the work

The Fó kāijiě fànzhì Ābá jīng is a single-fascicle Three-Kingdoms Wú 吳 translation of the Ambaṭṭha-sūtra, the discourse in which the Buddha refutes the brahmanical caste-claims of the haughty young brahmin Ambaṭṭha 阿颰 (here transcribed Ābá; cf. T1[20]‘s 阿摩晝 Āmózhòu). The Pāli parallel is DN 3 Ambaṭṭha-sutta; the Chinese parallel is T1[20] (the Āmózhòu jīng 阿摩晝經 of the Cháng āhán). T20 is the earliest surviving Chinese version, made about a century and a half before the Cháng āhán rendering of Buddhayaśas / Zhú Fóniàn.

The text opens with the Buddha and 500 monks travelling in the country of the Vajjis 越祇, arriving outside the city of “Drum-Carriage” (鼓車城; an unidentified place-name; possibly Iccānaṅgala or Manasākaṭa). A wealthy brahmin named Pukkasa-padaśās (費迦沙, Fèijiāshā) — well-versed in the Vedas and astronomy — sends his foremost disciple Ambaṭṭha to assess this “Gautama” who is said to surpass all others in renown. Ambaṭṭha, arrogant and contemptuous, presents himself before the Buddha with insulting familiarity; the Buddha, in reply, leads him through a famous genealogical demonstration that Ambaṭṭha’s brahmanical line is in fact descended from a slave-woman of the kṣatriya Śākyas. The body of the discourse then articulates the Buddha’s teaching that true brahmanhood is constituted not by birth but by knowledge and conduct — in this case the threefold “knowledge” (vidyā) of the Buddhist path.

Prefaces

The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the canonical translator’s signature at the head: 「吳月支國居士支謙譯」 — “translated by the Yuezhi (月支) layman Zhī Qiān of the Wú.” The lay status (居士) of Zhī Qiān is preserved here, as in all his bylines.

Abstract

支謙 Zhī Qiān (alternates 支越, 恭明, 支許, 越) was a third-century lay translator of Yuezhi descent (月氏 / 月支), the disciple of Zhī Liàng 支亮 who in turn was the disciple of the great early translator Lokakṣema (Zhī Lóujiāchèn 支婁迦讖). He worked at the Wú court at Jiànyè 建業 from Huángwǔ 黃武 1 (222) onwards, until the accession of Wú Sūn Liàng 太子 in 252, after which he retired to the mountain of Qióng-ài 穹隘 (or 穹隆) under the supervision of Zhú Fǎlán 竺法蘭. The standard biographical sources are the Chū sānzàng jì jí 出三藏記集 (T2145, KR6s0084, 97b–98a) and the Gāosēng zhuàn 高僧傳 (T2059, KR6r0052). T20 was produced during this Wú-court translation period, conventionally placed within the bracket 222–253 CE recorded in the frontmatter.

T20 is one of the earliest of the long Indian-court-narrative discourses to be rendered into Chinese. The diction is in the pre-Daoan post-Hàn register: the proper-name 阿颰 (rather than the later 阿摩晝) is one of the diagnostic markers of the Three-Kingdoms stratum, and 越祇 / 鼓車城 follow the conventions of pre-Buddhayaśas geographical transcription. Comparison with the much later T1[20] is a useful test-case for the diachronic study of how the Ambaṭṭha legend was rendered into Chinese.

Translations and research

  • Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han 東漢 and Three Kingdoms 三國 Periods. Tokyo: IRIAB, 2008. — Standard modern survey of Zhī Qiān’s translation corpus, with treatment of T20.
  • Walshe, Maurice, tr. The Long Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — DN 3 Ambaṭṭha-sutta with notes.
  • Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Sinica Leidensia 11. Leiden: Brill, 1959 / 3rd ed. 2007. — Provides the institutional and intellectual context for Zhī Qiān’s Wú-court translation enterprise.

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