聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

一切流攝守因經

4 min read

Text ID
KR6a0031
Date
148–170
Dynasty
後漢

Yīqiè liú shèshǒu yīn jīng 一切流攝守因經

Sūtra on the Causes of the Restraint and Guarding of All Outflows (the Sabbāsavasūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 10, the Lòujǐn jīng 漏盡經, and to Ekottara-āgama 40.6) by 安世高 (Ān Shìgāo, 譯)

About the work

The Yīqiè liú shèshǒu yīn jīng is a single-fascicle Eastern Hàn 後漢 translation of the Sabbāsava-sūtra, the great discourse on the elimination of the āsava / āsrava (“influxes” / “outflows”) through seven means: by seeing, by restraining, by using, by enduring, by avoiding, by removing, and by developing. The Pāli parallel is MN 2 Sabbāsava-sutta; the Chinese parallels are T26[10] (the Lòu-jǐn jīng 漏盡經 of the Madhyama-āgama) and Ekottara-āgama 40.6 (T125). The unwieldy Chinese title — “Sūtra on the Causes (因) of the Restraint-and-Guarding (攝守) of All Outflows (一切流)” — is An Shigao’s interpretive paraphrase of sabba-āsava-saṃvara; the term 流 (“flow”) for āsava is one of the diagnostic markers of the An-Shigao stratum.

The text opens at the Kuru country, “in the assembly of the Kurus, deliberating and contemplating the Dharma.” The Buddha addresses the monks: “He who knows and sees, monks, is the one for whom the flows are exhausted; he who does not know and does not see, is the one for whom the flows are not exhausted.” The body of the text is the systematic exposition of the seven means by which the āsava are restrained, guarded, and exhausted.

Prefaces

The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the canonical translator’s signature at the head: 「後漢安息國三藏安世高譯」 — the standard An Shigao byline (cf. KR6a0013, KR6a0014, KR6a0016).

Abstract

T31 was produced during Ān Shìgāo’s Luòyáng period (148–170 CE), and that bracket is recorded in the frontmatter. The Indic source is presumed lost; the translation is one of the earliest extant Chinese renderings of an Āgama discourse and provides important comparative material for the diachronic study of the āsrava terminology — particularly the early-Hàn use of 流 (“flow”) for āsava, which would later be displaced by the standard 漏 (“leak”) in Saṃghadeva’s T26 and subsequent translations.

The text’s articulation of the “seven means” is one of the foundational early Buddhist treatments of the practice-side of the āsrava doctrine. The discourse closes with the famous declaration that for the disciple in whom these seven means are present, “the āsava are exhausted, and the holy life lived to its fulfilment” — a key formulation in the early Buddhist soteriological vocabulary.

Translations and research

  • Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi, tr. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — MN 2 with notes.
  • Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, vol. 1, 23–35. Taipei: Dharma Drum, 2011. — Comparative study of the Sabbāsava-sutta’s Chinese parallels including T31.
  • Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations. Tokyo: IRIAB, 2008. — Treats T31 within the An Shigao corpus.
  • Zacchetti, Stefano. In Praise of the Light. Tokyo: IRIAB, 2005. — Methodological exemplar; relevant for the philological study of T31’s distinctive vocabulary.

Other points of interest

  • The translation 流 (liú, “flow”) for āsava is one of the most diagnostic terms of the An Shigao stratum. The later canonical 漏 (“leak”) was introduced under the Daoan circle and standardised by Kumārajīva. The contrast between T31’s 一切流 and T26[10]‘s 一切漏 is one of the cleaner examples of Sino-Buddhist lexical evolution in the entire canon.

Graph View

Backlinks