Xiánshuǐyù jīng 鹹水喻經
Sūtra of the Salt-Water Simile (parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 4, the Shuǐyù jīng 水喻經, and to Ekottara-āgama 39.3) Anonymous (失譯), conventionally attached to the Western Jìn 西晉 catalogue
About the work
The Xián-shuǐ-yù jīng is a single-fascicle anonymous Chinese translation of a short discourse on the seven kinds of person, illustrated by the simile of seven types of behaviour in deep water (sinking, surfacing-then-sinking, surfacing-and-looking-around-then-sinking, surfacing-and-not-resinking, surfacing-and-walking-toward-shore, reaching-the-shallows, crossing-to-the-other-side). The seven represent seven types of disciple along the path from immersion in saṃsāra to liberation. The Pāli parallel is AN 7.15 Udakūpama-sutta; the Chinese parallels are T26[4] (the Shuǐ-yù jīng 水喻經 of the Madhyama-āgama) and Ekottara-āgama 39.3 (T125).
The text opens at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvasti, with the Buddha (here addressed by the unusual archaic transcription 婆伽婆 Pójiāpó for Bhagavat) announcing to the monks: “I shall tell you the simile of the seven kinds of water. Listen, and reflect on it carefully.” The exposition follows.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the catalogue rubric printed at the head: 「失譯人名今附西晉錄」 — “translator’s name lost; here attached to the Western Jìn catalogue.” The conventional attribution to the Western Jìn (265–317 CE) is the work of the early-medieval Chinese cataloguers; modern scholarship has not been able to verify or refute it.
Abstract
The Western Jìn (265–317) ascription printed on T29 is a catalog-tradition assignment. The Chū sānzàng jì jí 出三藏記集 (KR6s0084) lists the work among 失譯雜經 (“anonymous miscellaneous sūtras”) and assigns it conventionally to the Western Jìn period. Internal evidence is consistent with this — the use of 婆伽婆 (rather than the later 世尊) for Bhagavat, the proper-name transcriptions, and the diction generally are compatible with a third-century rendering — but the question is unresolved. The defensible bracket for the Chinese version is 265–317 CE, recorded in the frontmatter.
The Indic source is presumed lost; the school affiliation cannot be securely determined from the surviving text. The principal scholarly interest of T29 is twofold: it is one of the few extant pre-Saṃghadeva renderings of a Madhyama-āgama sūtra, providing comparative material for the diachronic study of Chinese translation idiom; and it preserves the older 婆伽婆 transcription of Bhagavat, a diagnostic of the pre-Daoan stratum.
Translations and research
- Bodhi, Bhikkhu, tr. The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2012. — AN 7.15 with notes.
- Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, vol. 1. Taipei: Dharma Drum, 2011.
- No dedicated study of T29 specifically has been located.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (390): Mizuno Kōgen 水野弘元, “Kan’yaku Chū agon kyō to Zōichi agon kyō” 漢訳『中阿含経』と『増一阿含経』, Bukkyō kenkyū 仏教研究 18 (1989): 1–42 — dazangthings.nz