Nílí jīng 泥犁經
Sūtra of the Hells (parallel to Madhyama-āgama sūtra 199, the Chīhuì jīng 癡慧經) by 竺曇無蘭 (Zhú Tánwúlán, 譯)
About the work
The Nílí jīng is a single-fascicle Eastern Jìn 東晉 translation of a discourse on the eight great hells and their attendant sub-hells, with the karmic actions that lead to rebirth in each. The Chinese parallel is T26[199] (the Chīhuì jīng 癡慧經 of the Madhyama-āgama). The Chinese title 泥犁 Nílí is a phonetic transcription of naraka / niraya (Pāli “hell”), characteristic of the older translation stratum.
The text opens at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvasti, with the Buddha addressing the monks on the qualities and karmic causes of the hell-realms.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Eastern-Jìn translator’s signature at the head: 「東晉西域沙門竺曇無蘭譯」.
Abstract
T86 was produced during Zhú Tánwúlán’s Yangdu translation period (381–395 CE), recorded in the frontmatter. The Indic source is presumed lost. The text is one of the principal Eastern-Jìn sources for the canonical Buddhist hell-cosmology, alongside T42 (also by Tánwúlán) and T43.
Translations and research
- See KR6a0042 for the comparative early-Buddhist hell-cosmology literature.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Tánwúlán DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (390): Prabodh Chandra Bagchi, Le canon bouddhique en Chine: Les traducteurs et les traductions, Sino-Indica: Publications de l’Université de Calcutta, Tome 1er (Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1927): 322–334 — dazangthings.nz