Fànmóyú jīng 梵摩渝經
Sūtra of the Brahmin Brahmāyu (the Brahmāyusūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 161, the Fànmó jīng 梵摩經) by 支謙 (Zhī Qiān, 譯)
About the work
The Fànmóyú jīng is a single-fascicle Three-Kingdoms Wú 吳 translation of the Brahmāyusūtra, the discourse on the conversion of the aged brahmin Brahmāyu — one of the most learned brahmins of his day — and his subsequent attainment of the third path-fruit. The Pāli parallel is MN 91 Brahmāyu-sutta; the Chinese parallel is T26[161] (the Fànmó jīng 梵摩經 of the Madhyama-āgama).
The text is one of the principal canonical sources for the celebrated catalogue of the Buddha’s thirty-two marks of a great person (dvattiṃsa-mahāpurisa-lakkhaṇa), which Brahmāyu’s young disciple Uttara is sent to verify on the Buddha’s body. T76 thus provides a useful pre-Saṃghadeva witness to the canonical iconographic-doctrinal tradition.
The text opens at “the country of Suiti” (隨提國 = Videha) with the Buddha and 500 monks travelling, and the brahmin Brahmāyu’s distance encounter with the Buddha through his disciple Uttara.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Wú-period translator’s signature at the head: 「吳月支優婆塞支謙譯」.
Abstract
T76 was produced during Zhī Qiān’s Wú-court translation period (222–253 CE), recorded in the frontmatter. The Indic source is presumed lost. The text is one of the more important Madhyama-āgama extractions in Zhī Qiān’s corpus, and one of the principal early-Chinese sources for the doctrine of the thirty-two marks.
Translations and research
- Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi, tr. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. — MN 91 with notes.
- Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, vol. 2. Taipei: Dharma Drum, 2011.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Zhī Qiān DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (245): Sakaino Kōyō 境野黄洋, Shina Bukkyō seishi 支那佛教精史 (Tokyo: Sakaino Kōyō Hakushi Ikō Kankōkai, 1935): 129–135 — dazangthings.nz