Zhōng běnqǐ jīng 中本起經
Middle Origin-Sūtra (Continuation of the Buddha-Biography) by 曇果 (Tánguǒ) and 康孟詳 (Kāng Mèngxiáng), 譯
About the work
A two-fascicle Eastern-Hàn Buddha-biography sūtra continuing the narrative from the Bodhi-tree onward — the Zhōng (“middle”) of the title indicates the middle phase of the Buddha-biography after the awakening, complementing [[KR6b0040|Xiūxíng běnqǐ jīng 修行本起經 (T184)]] which covers the prior phases (the běn / “origin”). The Taishō head-note identifies the sūtra as 「次名四部僧」 (“next to be called the Sūtra of the Four-fold Saṃgha”) and notes that it draws material from the Dīrghāgama (出長阿含). Translated by 曇果 Tánguǒ and 康孟詳 Kāng Mèngxiáng. Signature: 「後漢西域沙門曇果共康孟詳譯」.
Prefaces
The text opens with the standard evaṃ mayā śrutam formula in the archaic Hàn Buddhist register: 「阿難曰：吾昔從佛聞如是」. No separate preface or postface in the source file.
Abstract
T196’s translation can be dated to Jiàn’ān 建安 12 = 207 CE based on the Chū sānzàng jì jí records. It is the post-awakening Buddha-biography continuing T184; the two together constitute the canonical Eastern-Hàn Chinese Buddha-biography cycle. The Indic source is conventionally identified with a now-lost Madhyamāgama / Dīrghāgama-class Buddha-biography of the Mahāsāṃghika or Sarvāstivāda tradition, with internal evidence (the head-note’s reference to 出長阿含) suggesting a Dīrghāgama-related Indic exemplar.
Translations and research
- Karetzky, Patricia E. The Life of the Buddha. Lanham: University Press of America, 1992.
- Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
Links
- CBETA online text
- Tánguǒ (曇果) DILA
- Kāng Mèngxiáng (康孟詳) DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (190, 207): [ T ] Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932 — dazangthings.nz