Jiěxià jīng 解夏經

Sūtra on the Dispersal of the Summer (Rains-Retreat) (the Pavāraṇā-sūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 121, to Shòu xīnsuì jīng 受新歲經 (KR6a0061) / Xīnsuì jīng 新歲經 (KR6a0062)) by 法賢 (Fǎxián, 譯)

About the work

The Jiěxià jīng is a single-fascicle Northern-Sòng translation of the Pavāraṇā-sūtra, the latest of the four-fold Chinese cluster (T26[121], T61, T62, T63). The Chinese title 解夏 (“dispersal of the summer”) is the standard Chinese-Buddhist term for the pavāraṇā / closing-of-the-rains-retreat ceremony, displacing the older 受歲 / 新歲 forms used in the earlier translations.

Prefaces

The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Sòng-court translator’s signature at the head: 「西天譯經三藏朝奉大夫試光祿卿明教大師臣法賢奉詔譯」.

Abstract

T63 was produced during Fǎxián’s post-987 Sòng-Institute career; the defensible bracket 987–1000 is recorded in the frontmatter. Together with T61, T62 and T26[121], T63 provides comparative material for the diachronic study of the pavāraṇā doctrine in Chinese.

Translations and research