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是法非法經

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Text ID
KR6a0048
Date
148–170
Dynasty
後漢

Shìfǎ fēifǎ jīng 是法非法經

Sūtra on Dharma and Non-Dharma (the Sappurisa-sūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 85, the Zhēnrén jīng 真人經) by 安世高 (Ān Shìgāo, 譯)

About the work

The Shìfǎ fēifǎ jīng — sub-titled in the source 出《中阿含》 (“excerpted from the Madhyama-āgama”) — is a single-fascicle Eastern Hàn 後漢 translation of the canonical discourse contrasting the qualities of the “true person” (sappurisa / 真人) and the “false person” (asappurisa). The Pāli parallel is MN 113 Sappurisa-sutta; the Chinese parallel is T26[85] (the Zhēnrén jīng 真人經 of the Madhyama-āgama).

The body of the text is the systematic catalogue of qualities that distinguish the truly noble disciple from the merely conventional: the truly noble disciple is so by character, not by birth; by reflection, not by tradition; by humility, not by pride.

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」.

Abstract

T48 was produced during Ān Shìgāo’s Luòyáng period (148–170 CE), recorded in the frontmatter. The Indic source is presumed lost. The principal scholarly interest of T48 lies in its preservation, in mid-second-century Chinese, of one of the foundational early-Buddhist character-typology discourses; the contrast 是法/非法 (Dharma / not-Dharma) for sappurisa-dhamma / asappurisa-dhamma is one of the standard An Shigao calques.

Translations and research

  • Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi, tr. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — MN 113 with notes.
  • Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, vol. 2. Taipei: Dharma Drum, 2011. — Treats the Sappurisa-sutta parallels.
  • Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations. Tokyo: IRIAB, 2008.

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