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瞿曇彌記果經

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Text ID
KR6a0060
Date
457–457
Dynasty
劉宋

Qútánmí jìguǒ jīng 瞿曇彌記果經

Sūtra of the Predicted Fruit of Mahāprajāpatī (the Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅga-sūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 116, the Qútánmí jīng 瞿曇彌經) by 慧簡 (Huìjiǎn, 譯)

About the work

The Qútánmí jìguǒ jīng is a single-fascicle Liú-Sòng 劉宋 translation of the Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅga-sūtra, the discourse on the various grades of giving (dakṣiṇā) and the corresponding grades of merit. It is set against the dramatic frame of Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī 瞿曇彌 — the Buddha’s foster-mother and the foundress of the bhikkhunī sangha — offering a robe of gold to the Buddha; the Buddha refuses and directs her to give it to the saṅgha as a whole, and on the occasion delivers the discourse on the seven categories of personal dakṣiṇā and the four kinds of saṅgha-dakṣiṇā. The Pāli parallel is MN 142 Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅga-sutta; the Chinese parallel is T26[116].

The text opens at the Banyan Park (尼拘盧園 Nigrodhārāma) at Kapilavastu (迦維羅衛) in the Śākyan country (釋䩭瘦), with the saṅgha at the conclusion of the rains-retreat (受歲, cf. KR6a0050).

Prefaces

The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the LiúSòng translator’s signature at the head: 「宋三藏法師慧簡譯」.

Abstract

T60 was produced by Huìjiǎn during his attested period of activity at the Lùyěsì 鹿野寺 in 457 CE (cf. KR6a0043); the date is recorded in the frontmatter (notBefore = notAfter). The Indic source is presumed lost.

T60’s title 記果 (“recorded fruit” / “predicted fruit”) is Huìjiǎn’s distinctive interpretive gloss — the discourse contains the Buddha’s “prediction” (記 = vyākaraṇa) of the fruit (果) of various grades of dakṣiṇā. The discourse is one of the foundational canonical sources for the Buddhist doctrine of merit-making, and its preservation in Huìjiǎn’s lucid mid-fifth-century Chinese makes T60 one of the more useful sources for the doctrine in pre-Sòng Chinese Buddhism.

Translations and research

  • Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi, tr. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — MN 142 with notes.
  • Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, vol. 2. Taipei: Dharma Drum, 2011.
  • Heim, Maria. Theories of the Gift in South Asia: Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain Reflections on Dāna. London: Routledge, 2004. — Background on the dakṣiṇā doctrine.

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