聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

七知經

3 min read

Text ID
KR6a0027
Date
222–253
Dynasty
吳

Qī zhī jīng 七知經

Sūtra of the Seven Kinds of Knowing (parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 1, the Shàn-fǎ jīng 善法經; the Sapta-jñāna-sūtra) by 支謙 (Zhī Qiān, 譯)

About the work

The Qī zhī jīng is a single-fascicle Wú 吳 translation of a short discourse on the seven kinds of knowing required of an accomplished disciple. The Taishō head-note marks T27 as a parallel to T26[1] (the Shàn-fǎ jīng 善法經, the opening sūtra of the Madhyama-āgama) and to Ekottara-āgama 39.1 (T125). The Pāli parallel is AN 7.64 Dhammaññū-sutta. The “seven knowings” are: (1) knowing the Dharma (i.e. the twelve genres of Buddhist literature), (2) knowing the meaning, (3) knowing the right time, (4) knowing moderation, (5) self-knowledge, (6) knowing the assembly, and (7) knowing the person. The text is brief, didactic, and serves as a compact charter for the trained Buddhist preacher.

The text opens at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvasti. The Buddha addresses the assembly: “Monks, accept the teaching, listen to the Buddha.” He then articulates the seven knowings in turn, with brief expositions of each — the gloss on “knowing the Dharma” includes one of the early Chinese versions of the standard list of the twelve genres of Buddhist literature (dvādaśa-aṅga: 文 / sutta, 歌 / geyya, 說 / veyyākaraṇa, 頌 / gāthā, 譬喻 / udāna … ).

Prefaces

The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Wú-period translator’s signature at the head: 「吳月支國居士支謙譯」 (cf. KR6a0020, KR6a0021).

Abstract

T27 was produced during Zhī Qiān’s Wú-court translation period (222–253 CE; cf. KR6a0020 for the biographical context), and that bracket is recorded in the frontmatter. The Indic source-text is presumed lost. The principal scholarly interest of T27 lies in its preservation, in mid-third-century Chinese, of the standard list of the twelve genres of canonical Buddhist literature — one of the earliest extant Chinese versions of this important meta-bibliographical scheme, predating the more familiar later Mahāyāna lists by some 250 years.

Translations and research

  • Bodhi, Bhikkhu, tr. The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2012. — AN 7.64 Dhammaññū-sutta with notes.
  • Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, vol. 1. Taipei: Dharma Drum, 2011. — Methodologically relevant; treats T26[1] in detail.
  • No dedicated study of T27 specifically has been located.

Graph View

Backlinks