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求欲經

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Text ID
KR6a0049
Date
290–311
Dynasty
西晉

Qiúyù jīng 求欲經

Sūtra on the Quest for Desire (parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 87, the Huìyìn jīng 穢品經, and to Ekottara-āgama 25.6) by 法炬 (Fǎjù, 譯)

About the work

The Qiú-yù jīng is a single-fascicle Western Jìn 西晉 translation of a discourse on the four kinds of person — those with internal defilement and unaware, those with internal defilement and aware, those without internal defilement and unaware, those without internal defilement and aware — articulated in a question-and-answer format between Sāriputta and Mahāmoggallāna. The Pāli parallel is MN 5 Anaṅgaṇa-sutta; the Chinese parallels are T26[87] (the Huì-yìn jīng 穢品經 of the Madhyama-āgama) and Ekottara-āgama 25.6 (T125).

The text opens at “Bhaggā in the Suṃsumāra Forest” (婆祇尸收摩林) — the same setting as T47. Sāriputta delivers the discourse to the gathered monks; Mahāmoggallāna confirms each point.

Prefaces

The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Western-Jìn translator’s signature at the head: 「西晉沙門法炬譯」.

Abstract

T49 was produced during Fǎjù’s Western Jìn translation period (290–311 CE), recorded in the frontmatter. The Indic source is presumed lost. The principal scholarly interest of T49 is its preservation of the Anaṅgaṇa / four-types-of-person doctrine in pre-Saṃghadeva Chinese, and the unusual title 求欲 (“quest-for-desire”) for the type of person who is “internally stained” — Fǎjù’s interpretive gloss for anaṅgaṇa / saṅgaṇa (Pāli “internal stain”).

Translations and research

  • Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi, tr. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — MN 5 with notes.
  • Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, vol. 1. Taipei: Dharma Drum, 2011.

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