Kǔyìn jīng 苦陰經
Sūtra of the Mass of Suffering (the Mahā-dukkhakkhandha-sūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 99, the Kǔyìn jīng 苦陰經, and to Ekottara-āgama 21.9) Anonymous (失譯), conventionally attached to the Later Hàn 後漢 catalogue
About the work
The Kǔyìn jīng is a single-fascicle anonymous Chinese translation of the canonical discourse on the “great mass of suffering” — the Buddha’s analysis of how each of the three primary objects of attachment (sensual pleasures, the body, feeling) gives rise to suffering through gratification, danger, and escape. The Pāli parallel is MN 13 Mahā-dukkhakkhandha-sutta; the Chinese parallels are T26[99] (sharing the title Kǔyìn jīng 苦陰經) and Ekottara-āgama 21.9 (T125).
The text opens at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvasti, with the Buddha (here addressed by the archaic 婆伽婆) addressing the monks on the three-fold analysis of attachment.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the catalogue rubric printed at the head: 「失譯人名今附後漢錄」 — “translator’s name lost; here attached to the Later Hàn catalogue.”
Abstract
The Later Hàn (25–220) ascription on T53 is a catalog-tradition assignment. The use of 婆伽婆 for Bhagavat and the lexical conservatism of the diction are consistent with the conventional dating, but the question is unresolved. The defensible bracket for the Chinese version is therefore the Later Hàn period 25–220, recorded in the frontmatter; the more secure narrower bracket would be c. 150–220 CE (the period of attested Buddhist translation activity at Luòyáng). The Indic source is presumed lost.
The principal scholarly interest of T53 is its preservation of the Mahā-dukkhakkhandha doctrine in pre-Saṃghadeva Chinese; the title 苦陰 (“mass / aggregate of suffering”) for dukkhakkhandha is the standard pre-canonical Chinese form, used here, in T26[99] and in T55.
Translations and research
- Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi, tr. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — MN 13 with notes.
- Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, vol. 1. Taipei: Dharma Drum, 2011.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (390): Mizuno Kōgen 水野弘元, “Chū agon kyō kaidai 中阿含経解題,” in Kokuyaku issaikyō 国訳一切経, Agon bu 阿含部 6, revised edition (1969): 403–411 — dazangthings.nz