Líshuì jīng 離睡經
Sūtra on Driving Off Drowsiness (the Pacalāyanasūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 83, the Chángshòu wáng běnqǐ jīng — the Pacalāyana-sutta) by 竺法護 (Zhú Fǎhù / Dharmarakṣa, 譯)
About the work
The Líshuì jīng is a single-fascicle Western Jìn 西晉 translation of the canonical discourse on the methods of driving off meditation-drowsiness — the Buddha’s instructions to Mahāmoggallāna 大目犍連 on the seven progressive methods of overcoming sleepiness during meditation: from re-applying attention, through changing posture and place, to washing the face with cold water and looking up at the stars. The Pāli parallel is AN 7.61 Pacalāyana-sutta; the Chinese parallel is T26[83] (the Chángshòu wáng běnqǐ jīng of the Madhyama-āgama).
The text opens at “Bhaggā in the Suṃsumāra-giri Deer-Park” (婆祇尸牧摩鼻量鹿), where Mahāmoggallāna is in solitary retreat, plagued by drowsiness. The Buddha appears, asks him whether he is drowsy, and then articulates the seven progressive methods of driving off sleepiness, closing with the eighth and definitive method — the practice of insight that prevents drowsiness from arising at all.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Western-Jìn translator’s signature at the head: 「西晉月氏國三藏竺法護譯」 — “translated by the Tripiṭaka master Zhú Fǎhù of the Yuezhi country, under the Western Jìn.”
Abstract
竺法護 Zhú Fǎhù (Skt. Dharmarakṣa; alternates 竺曇摩羅剎, 月支菩薩 Yuèzhī púsà “the Yuezhi Bodhisattva”, 敦煌菩薩 Dūnhuáng púsà “the Dūnhuáng Bodhisattva”; 239–316) was the most prolific translator of the third century and the founder of the Western Jìn translation tradition. He translated some 159 works in 309 fascicles, including the Lalitavistara (T186, Pǔ-yào jīng 普曜經), the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka (T263 Zhèng-fǎ-huá jīng 正法華經, the earliest Chinese version of the Lotus), the Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (T222 Guāng-zàn jīng 光讚經), and a vast Mahāyāna corpus alongside many Āgama extractions. T47 was produced during his Western Jìn career; the defensible bracket is 266–313 CE (his attested period of activity), recorded in the frontmatter.
The Indic source is presumed lost. The translation is in Dharmarakṣa’s characteristic transitional Western-Jìn idiom — using 婆伽婆 for Bhagavat (cf. T29) but moving toward the more standardised post-Daoan vocabulary in other respects.
Translations and research
- Bodhi, Bhikkhu, tr. The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2012. — AN 7.61 with notes.
- Boucher, Daniel. Bodhisattvas of the Forest and the Formation of the Mahāyāna: A Study and Translation of the Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā-sūtra. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2008. — Contains an extensive treatment of Dharmarakṣa’s translation method.
- Zacchetti, Stefano. In Praise of the Light: A Critical Synoptic Edition with an Annotated Translation of Chapters 1–3 of Dharmarakṣa’s Guang zan jing 光讚經. Tokyo: IRIAB, 2005. — Methodological exemplar for Dharmarakṣa-philology.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Dharmarakṣa DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (300, 390): Féi Chángfáng 費長房, Lìdài sānbǎo jì (LDSBJ) 歷代三寶紀 T2034 (KR6r0011), XLIX 64b21 — dazangthings.nz