Shù jīng 數經
Sūtra of the Numbered (Stages) (the Gaṇaka-Moggallāna-sūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 144, the Suànshù Mùjiānlián jīng 算數目犍連經) by 法炬 (Fǎjù, 譯)
About the work
The Shù jīng is a single-fascicle Western Jìn 西晉 translation of the Gaṇaka-Moggallāna-sūtra, the discourse in which the brahmin “Numerator” Mahāmoggallāna 數婆羅門 (= Gaṇaka-Moggallāna, distinct from the disciple Mahāmoggallāna) asks the Buddha for an analogy between his own profession of teaching arithmetic in graded stages and the Buddhist path. The Pāli parallel is MN 107 Gaṇaka-Moggallāna-sutta; the Chinese parallel is T26[144]. The Chinese title 數 (“numbers / numbering”) is Fǎjù’s translation of gaṇaka — referring not to the disciple Moggallāna but to the brahmin teacher of arithmetic.
The text opens at the Hall-of-the-Doe (鹿講堂 = Migāramātupāsāda) in the East Park of Śrāvasti, where the Numerator Moggallāna approaches the Buddha after his noon meal.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Western-Jìn translator’s signature at the head: 「西晉沙門釋法炬譯」.
Abstract
T70 was produced during Fǎjù’s Western Jìn translation period (290–311 CE), recorded in the frontmatter. The Indic source is presumed lost. The discourse is one of the canonical sources for the Buddhist conception of the path as a graded sequence — a doctrine of considerable importance for the systematic Mahāyāna bhūmi-theory.
Translations and research
- Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi, tr. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — MN 107 with notes.
- Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, vol. 2. Taipei: Dharma Drum, 2011.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Fǎjù DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (299, 390): Féi Chángfáng 費長房, Lìdài sānbǎo jì (LDSBJ) 歷代三寶紀 T2034 (KR6r0011), XLIX 66c20 — dazangthings.nz