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樂想經

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Text ID
KR6a0056
Date
266–313
Dynasty
西晉

Lèxiǎng jīng 樂想經

Sūtra on the Perception of Pleasure (the Mūlapariyāyasūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 106, the Xiǎng jīng 想經) by 竺法護 (Zhú Fǎhù / Dharmarakṣa, 譯)

About the work

The Lèxiǎng jīng is a single-fascicle Western Jìn 西晉 translation of the canonical Mūlapariyāyasūtra, the discourse on the “root sequence of all phenomena” — the systematic Buddhist analysis of how the unawakened person mistakenly identifies with each of seven categories of phenomena (the four elements, the gods, the various heavens, etc.), how the sekha (trainee) is in process of overcoming the identification, and how the arhat / Tathāgata has fully transcended it. The Pāli parallel is MN 1 Mūlapariyāya-sutta — the celebrated opening discourse of the Majjhima-nikāya; the Chinese parallel is T26[106] (the Xiǎng jīng 想經 of the Madhyama-āgama).

The text opens at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvasti, with the Buddha addressing the monks on the seven categories of phenomena and the four kinds of person who relate to them. The discourse is doctrinally important as one of the principal canonical sources for the Buddhist analysis of conceptual identification — the papañca-saṃkhā-saṃkhā of the unawakened mind.

Prefaces

The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Western-Jìn translator’s signature at the head: 「西晉月支國三藏竺法護譯」.

Abstract

T56 was produced during Dharmarakṣa’s Western Jìn career (266–313 CE), recorded in the frontmatter. The Indic source is presumed lost. The principal interest of T56 is its preservation of the foundational Mūlapariyāya doctrine in late-third-century Chinese.

Translations and research

  • Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi, tr. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — MN 1 with notes; widely regarded as the deepest of the Pāli discourses.
  • Bodhi, Bhikkhu. The Discourse on the Root of Existence: The Mūlapariyāya Sutta and Its Commentaries. Kandy: BPS, 1980. — Definitive English translation and commentarial study.
  • Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, vol. 1. Taipei: Dharma Drum, 2011.

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