Zá Āhán jīng 雜阿含經 (T101)
The Connected Discourses (a one-fascicle anthology) Anonymous (失譯), conventionally attached to both the Wú 吳 and the CáoWèi 曹魏 catalogues
About the work
T101 is a single-fascicle anonymous anthology of 27 short Saṃyukta-āgama discourses, conventionally attached in the Buddhist catalogues to both the Wú 吳 and the Cáo-Wèi 曹魏 — the rubric 「附吳魏二錄」 (“attached to the Wú and Wèi catalogues”) preserves the medieval cataloguer’s uncertainty. The selection is heterogeneous and the diction archaic, suggesting a third-century date.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the catalogue rubric printed at the head: 「附吳魏二錄」.
Abstract
The Three-Kingdoms (220–280) ascription is a catalog-tradition assignment. The defensible bracket is recorded in the frontmatter. The Indic source is presumed lost.
The principal scholarly importance of T101 is its preservation of a small number of Saṃyukta-āgama discourses in their earliest extant Chinese form — substantially predating both T99 and T100. The translation idiom is consistent with the post-An-Shigao / pre-Daoan stratum, and several of T101’s sūtras may represent independent translations rather than excerpts from any larger work.
Translations and research
- Harrison, Paul. “The Earliest Chinese Translations of Mahāyāna Buddhist Sūtras.” Buddhist Studies Review 10 (1993): 135–177. — Methodologically relevant for early-Chinese translation studies.
- See KR6a0099 for the wider comparative Saṃyukta-āgama literature.
Links
- CBETA T02n0101 CBETA online text
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (160): Harrison, Paul. “Another Addition to the An Shigao Corpus? Preliminary Notes on an Early Chinese Saṃyuktāgama Translation.” In Early Buddhism and Abhidharma Thought: In Honor of Doctor Hajime Sakurabe on His Seventy-seventh Birthday, 1-32. Kyoto: Heirakuji shoten, 2002. dazangthings entry