Yīngwǔ jīng 鸚鵡經
Sūtra of the Parrot (the Cūḷa-kammavibhaṅga-sūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 170, the Yīngwǔ jīng 鸚鵡經, and to Dōudiào jīng 兜調經 (KR6a0078) / Fó wèi Shǒujiā zhǎngzhě shuō yèbào chābié jīng 佛為首迦長者說業報差別經 (KR6a0080) / Fēnbié shànè bàoyìng jīng 分別善惡報應經 (KR6a0081)) by 求那跋陀羅 (Guṇabhadra, 譯)
About the work
The Yīngwǔ jīng is a single-fascicle Liú-Sòng 劉宋 translation of the Cūḷa-kammavibhaṅga-sūtra. The Chinese title 鸚鵡 (“Parrot”) refers to the brahmin Toḍeyya’s son who is sometimes (in some recensions) said to have been reborn as a parrot — a feature of the narrative more clearly preserved here than in T78 (where the rebirth is as a dog).
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Liú-Sòng translator’s signature at the head: 「宋天竺三藏求那跋陀羅譯」 — “translated by the Indian Tripiṭaka master Guṇabhadra under the [Liú-]Sòng.”
Abstract
Guṇabhadra 求那跋陀羅 (Skt. Guṇabhadra “Virtue-Worthy”; Chinese gloss 摩訶衍 Mohāyāna — for Mahāyāna; 功德直 Gōngdézhí; DILA Authority A000527; 394–468) was an Indian monk and one of the principal translators of the early Liú-Sòng. He arrived in Guǎngzhōu in 435 CE and worked at Jiànkāng under successive Liú-Sòng emperors until his death in 468; his major translations include the Saṃyukta-āgama (T99 Zá Āhán jīng 雜阿含經, the great Saṃyukta-āgama of c. 50 fascicles), the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra (T670 Léngqié-ābáduōluó bǎo jīng 楞伽阿跋多羅寶經), and the Śrīmālādevī-siṃhanāda-sūtra (T353 Shèngmán shīzǐhǒu jīng 勝鬘師子吼經) — three of the most important works in the East Asian Mahāyāna tradition. T79 was produced during this Liú-Sòng career; the defensible bracket is 435–468 CE, recorded in the frontmatter.
Translations and research
- See KR6a0078 for the comparative Cūḷa-kammavibhaṅga-sūtra literature.
- Wayman, Alex, and Hideko Wayman. The Lion’s Roar of Queen Śrīmālā. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974. — Standard introduction to Guṇabhadra’s Śrīmālādevī.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Guṇabhadra DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (390, 440): Mizuno Kōgen 水野弘元, “Chū agon kyō kaidai 中阿含経解題,” in Kokuyaku issaikyō 国訳一切経, Agon bu 阿含部 6, revised edition (1969): 403–411 — dazangthings.nz