Yínsè nǚ jīng 銀色女經
Sūtra of the Silver-Coloured Woman by 佛陀扇多 (Buddhaśānta, 譯)
About the work
A short single-fascicle jātaka recounting the past life of the Buddha as a Yínsè 銀色 (“Silver-Coloured”) woman who, in famine conditions, cuts her own breasts to feed a starving mother and child. Translated under the Northern Wèi by 佛陀扇多 Buddhaśānta. Signature: 「元魏天竺三藏佛陀扇多譯」.
Prefaces
No preface or postface; only the canonical translator-signature.
Abstract
T179 falls within Buddhaśānta’s documented Yè / Luòyáng translation period (c. 524–539 CE). The narrative is a recension of the Rūpyāvatī-jātaka / Rūpāvatī-jātaka attested in multiple Indic sources including the Avadāna-śataka, the Saṃghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, and the Jātaka-mālā tradition. The narrative is a parallel-class bodhisattva self-sacrifice text alongside the Vyāghrī-jātaka of T172 and is one of the principal bodhisattva-female narratives in the Chinese canon.
Translations and research
- Vaidya, P. L. (ed.). Avadāna-śataka. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts no. 19. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute, 1958.
- Ohnuma Reiko. Head, Eyes, Flesh, and Blood: Giving Away the Body in Indian Buddhist Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. (Sustained study of the Rūpyāvatī / Yínsè narrative tradition.)
Links
- CBETA online text
- Buddhaśānta (佛陀扇多) DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (515, 530): Fang Yixin 方一新 and Lu Lu 盧鹭. “Jin shiyu nian cong yuyan jiaodu kaobian keyi Fojing chengguo de huigu yu zhanwang” 近十余年從語言角度考辨可疑佛經成果的回顧與展望. Journal of Zhejiang University (Humanities and Social Sciences Online Edition), Jan. 2023: 1–24, 14 — dazangthings.nz