Fó shuō Sānmójié jīng 佛說三摩竭經

Sūtra of Sumāgadha (the Sumāgadhaavadāna; parallel to Ekottara-āgama 30.3, T128 / T130) by 竺律炎 (Zhú Lǜyàn, 譯)

About the work

A single-fascicle Three-Kingdoms Wú translation of an alternative recension of the Sumāgadhaavadāna, parallel to T128a / T128b. The Chinese title 三摩竭 Sānmójié is a phonetic transcription of Sumāgadha (an alternative form of Sumati’s name in some recensions of the legend).

Prefaces

The text bears no preface or postface. The only paratext is the Wú-period translator’s signature at the head: 「吳天竺沙門竺律炎譯」.

Abstract

竺律炎 Zhú Lǜyàn (also written 竺將炎, 竺持炎; alternates 律炎, 炎) was a third-century Indian monk active at the Wú court at Wǔchāng 武昌. He arrived in Huángwǔ 黃武 3 (224 CE) with the Indic-language master 維祇難 Wéizhǐnán, bringing the Sanskrit text of the Dhammapada (which they translated as the Tánbō jīng 曇鉢經, later transmitted as the Fǎjù jīng 法句經 (KR6b0067)). After Wéizhǐnán’s death he worked in Huánglóng 2 (234) with Zhī Qiān on the Módēngjiā jīng 摩登伽經 (KR6j0531, Mātaṅga-sūtra) and, with Zhī Yuè 支越 (probably another name for Zhī Qiān), on the Fóyī jīng 佛醫經 (KR6i0497). T131 is one of his independent translations. The defensible bracket 224–253 (his Wú period of activity) is recorded in the frontmatter.