Fó wèi Shǒujiā zhǎngzhě shuō yèbào chābié jīng 佛為首迦長者說業報差別經
Sūtra in which the Buddha Taught the Householder Śuka on the Variations of Karmic Reward (the Cūḷa-kammavibhaṅga-sūtra; parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 170, the Yīngwǔ jīng 鸚鵡經, and to Dōudiào jīng 兜調經 (KR6a0078) / Yīngwǔ jīng 鸚鵡經 (KR6a0079) / Fēnbié shànè bàoyìng jīng 分別善惡報應經 (KR6a0081)) by 瞿曇法智 (Gautama Dharmajñāna, 譯)
About the work
The Fó wèi Shǒujiā zhǎngzhě shuō yèbào chābié jīng is a single-fascicle Suí-period 隋 translation of the Cūḷa-kammavibhaṅga-sūtra. The Chinese title — “Sūtra in which the Buddha taught the householder Śuka 首迦 on the variations of karmic reward” — preserves the Indic proper name (Pāli Subha māṇava / Subha Todeyyaputta; here represented by Śuka 首迦, the son of Toḍeyya) and articulates the doctrinal core of the discourse: 業報差別 (“the variations of karmic reward”).
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Suí-period translator’s signature at the head: 「隋洋川郡守瞿曇法智譯」 — “translated by Gautama Dharmajñāna, Prefect of Yángchuān commandery, under the Suí.” The byline notes that he held the civil position of Yángchuān-jùn-shǒu 洋川郡守 (Prefect of Yángchuān) — an unusual instance in the Buddhist canon of a translator who was simultaneously a serving official.
Abstract
Gautama Dharmajñāna 瞿曇法智 (DILA Authority A001879) was a son of the Sarvāstivāda master Gautama Prajñāruci 瞿曇般若流支 (active under the Eastern Wèi). He was active under the Suí, and is known to have held office as Prefect of Yángchuān commandery (in modern Shǎnxī). His translation of T80 is conventionally dated to the early Suí period (581–600 CE), recorded in the frontmatter; the precise date within that bracket is not securely established.
T80 is the most polished of the four-fold Chinese cluster of Cūḷa-kammavibhaṅga renderings (T78, T79, T80, T81). The Indic source is presumed lost.
Translations and research
- See KR6a0078 for the comparative Cūḷa-kammavibhaṅga-sūtra literature.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Gautama Dharmajñāna DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (582): CBETA, Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經, ed. Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭 (Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai / Daizō shuppan, 1924–1932) — dazangthings.nz