Yuánběnzhì jīng 緣本致經
Sūtra on the Conditioning-Cause of the Origin (the Avijjāsūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 51, the Běnjì jīng 本際經, and to T36) Anonymous (失譯), conventionally attached to the Eastern Jìn 東晉 catalogue
About the work
The Yuánběnzhì jīng is a single-fascicle anonymous Chinese translation of the Avijjāsūtra, the canonical discourse on the conditioning factors that give rise to avijjā. It is a doublet of T36 (the Běnxiāng yīzhì jīng of An Shigao): both texts render essentially the same Indic Vorlage, but T37 is in a slightly more polished Chinese register that reflects the post-An-Shigao stratum. The Pāli parallel is AN 10.61; the Chinese parallels are T26[51] and T36. The Taishō head-note’s “[No. 27(51), No. 36]” is a slip — the parallel is to T26 (not T27) — preserved here as it stands.
The text opens at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvasti, with the Buddha articulating the conditioning-chain in the same form as in T36, but with smoother Chinese diction.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the catalogue rubric printed at the head: 「失譯人名今附東晉錄」 — “translator’s name lost; here attached to the Eastern Jìn catalogue.”
Abstract
The Eastern Jìn (317–420) ascription on T37 is a catalog-tradition assignment. The text is shorter and lexically more standardised than T36, suggesting that it represents a slightly later but pre-Saṃghadeva rendering — perhaps from the Daoan circle. The defensible bracket for the Chinese version is 317–420 CE, recorded in the frontmatter. The Indic source is presumed lost.
Translations and research
- See KR6a0036 for the comparative Avijjā-sūtra literature.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (420): Taishō Tripiṭaka T37 (per CBETA reference index) — dazangthings.nz