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過去現在因果經

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Text ID
KR6b0045
Date
435–443
Dynasty
劉宋

Guòqù xiànzài yīnguǒ jīng 過去現在因果經

Sūtra on the Causes-and-Effects of the Past and the Present by 求那跋陀羅 (Guṇabhadra, 譯)

About the work

A four-fascicle Buddha-biography sūtra recounting the past-life causal sequence (yīn 因) culminating in Śākyamuni’s present-life Buddha-attainment (guǒ 果). Translated by 求那跋陀羅 Guṇabhadra (394–468) in the Liú-Sòng. Signature: 「宋天竺三藏求那跋陀羅譯」.

Prefaces

No preface or postface; only the canonical translator-signature.

Abstract

T189 is one of Guṇabhadra’s most influential translations and is the principal Liú-Sòng Buddha-biography sūtra. The Indic source corresponds to a Mahāvastu-tradition Buddha-biography in cause-and-effect schema — i.e., an avadāna-style hagiography where the Buddha’s present accomplishments are explained through long causal chains stretching across previous lives. The narrative-structural innovation of T189 is its sustained use of the yīnguǒ schema as the organising principle, which proved foundational for East-Asian Buddhist popular hagiography.

The translation can be dated to Guṇabhadra’s earliest Liú-Sòng translation period (435–443) at Wǎguānsì 瓦官寺 in Jiànkāng. T189 was widely received in early-medieval China and provided the textual basis for the Yīnguǒ jīng tradition of pictorial Buddha-biography scrolls (yīnguǒ jīng huàjuǎn 因果經畫卷), of which the famous Nara-period (early 8th century) Japanese illuminated manuscripts in the Hōgonzō 法巌蔵 collection are the principal surviving witnesses.

Translations and research

  • Karetzky, Patricia E. The Life of the Buddha: Ancient Scriptural and Pictorial Traditions. Lanham: University Press of America, 1992.
  • Murase, Miyeko. The Tenri Central Library and the Cultural Heritage of Japan. Nara: Tenri Daigaku, 1996. (Sections on the Nara-period yīn-guǒ jīng illuminated manuscripts.)
  • Tanaka Issei 田中一誠. Inga-kyō no kenkyū 因果経の研究. Tokyo: Sankibō, 1972.

Other points of interest

T189 is one of the principal Chinese sources for the East-Asian Buddhist yīnguǒ karmic-narrative tradition, foundational for medieval Chinese Buddhist popular literature and for the Japanese Nara-period illustrated yīnguǒ jīng picture-scroll tradition.

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