Chángshòuwáng jīng 長壽王經
Sūtra of King Long-Life (Dīrghāyu-rāja) by 失譯 (anonymous translator, 譯; appended to the Western-Jìn register)
About the work
A short single-fascicle jātaka recounting the past life of the Buddha as King Chángshòu (長壽 / Dīrghāyu), a virtuous monarch whose neighbouring tyrant invades and seizes his country, and who teaches his son Chángshēng (長生 / Dīrghāyus) the doctrine of non-retaliation. The Lìdài sānbǎo jì 歷代三寶紀 (KR6r0011) attributes the translation to 道安 Dào’ān’s lost-translator register and appends it to the Western Jìn (西晉) period; the Taishō header notes the parallel narrative in [[KR6b0001|Liùdù jí jīng (T152) chapter 10]].
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface in the source file. Canonical signature: 「僧祐錄云安公失譯經人名今附西晉錄」 (“the Sēngyòu Catalog records this as a Master Ān (道安 Dào’ān)-register lost-translator text; presently appended to the Western-Jìn register”).
Abstract
T161 is a short jātaka whose content corresponds closely to the Dīrghāyurāja narrative attested in multiple Indic sources (Mahāvagga of the Pāli Vinaya at I.342–349; Madhyamāgama parallels). The Chinese translation is anonymous; the catalog register-attribution to the Western Jìn (265–316) reflects 僧祐 Sēngyòu’s reception of 道安 Dào’ān’s earlier lost-translator register, but no narrower window can be defended. The narrative is one of the principal Buddhist illustrations of the doctrine of non-retaliation (akrodha), with the dying king’s instruction to his son — “hatred is not stilled by hatred but only by love” — paralleling the famous Dhammapada verse.
Translations and research
- Hōbōgirin entry on Daiōshō kyō. (Standard Indic-parallel apparatus.)
- Lévi, Sylvain, and Édouard Chavannes. “Quelques titres énigmatiques dans la hiérarchie ecclésiastique du bouddhisme indien.” Journal asiatique (1915). (Notes on T161 narrative parallels.)