Fó shuō wǔyùn jiēkōng jīng 佛說五蘊皆空經
Sūtra in which the Buddha Taught that the Five Aggregates Are All Empty (the Anatta-lakkhaṇa-sūtra; parallel to Saṃyukta-āgama sūtras 33–34) by 義淨 (Yìjìng, 譯)
About the work
The Fó shuō wǔ-yùn jiē-kōng jīng is a single-fascicle Táng-period 唐 translation of the Anatta-lakkhaṇa-sūtra — the celebrated “Discourse on the Characteristic of Non-Self” delivered by the Buddha to the five ascetics at Vārāṇasī immediately after his First Sermon. It is canonical Buddhism’s foundational discourse on the doctrine of anātman. The Pāli parallel is SN 22.59 Anatta-lakkhaṇa-sutta (= the Pañcavaggi-sutta of the Vinaya); the Chinese parallel is T99[33–34] (the parallel pair in the Saṃyukta-āgama).
The text opens at “the Sage’s-Resort Deer Park at Vārāṇasī” (婆羅痆斯仙人墮 = Mṛgadāva at Vārāṇasī), with the Buddha addressing the five ascetics on the impermanence and selflessness of each of the five aggregates.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Táng-period translator’s signature at the head: 「大唐三藏法師義淨奉制譯」 — “Translated by imperial command by the Tripiṭaka master Yìjìng of the Great Táng.”
Abstract
Yìjìng 義淨 (alternates 釋義淨, 文明; 635–713) was the third great Táng pilgrim-translator (after Xuánzàng 玄奘 and the slightly later Bùkōng 不空) and the principal translator of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya into Chinese. He travelled to India by sea via Sumatra in 671, returned in 695 with hundreds of manuscripts, and worked at Cháng’ān and Luòyáng under imperial patronage until his death in 713. T102 was produced during his post-695 translation career; the defensible bracket 695–713 is recorded in the frontmatter.
The Indic source is presumed lost. T102’s distinctive vocabulary — using 五蘊 (rather than the older 五陰) for the five aggregates, and 薄伽梵 (rather than the older 婆伽婆) for Bhagavat — is in the high Táng-Buddhist register that became standard from Xuánzàng onwards.
Translations and research
- Bodhi, Bhikkhu, tr. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000. — SN 22.59 with notes.
- Anālayo, Bhikkhu. “The First Sermon and the Anattalakkhaṇa-sutta.” Sri Lanka International Journal of Buddhist Studies 1 (2011): 1–18.
Links
- CBETA T02n0102 CBETA online text
- Kanseki DB
- 義淨 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (705): 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, 1924–1932). dazangthings entry