Jiù zá pìyù jīng 舊雜譬喻經

Old Sūtra of Miscellaneous Parables by 康僧會 (Kāng Sēnghuì, 譯)

About the work

A two-fascicle pìyù-anthology of 61 narratives translated by 康僧會 Kāng Sēnghuì in the Wú. Signature: 「吳天竺三藏康僧會譯」. The “Jiù” 舊 (“old”) prefix in the title distinguishes this work from the later Zá pìyù jīng anthologies in the Taishō (T204, T205, T207, T208).

Prefaces

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

Abstract

T206 is the most securely-attributed of the Chinese pìyù-anthologies: the attribution to Kāng Sēnghuì (the translator of Liùdù jí jīng (T152)) is broadly accepted in modern scholarship on the basis of stylistic and lexical features. The translation can be dated to Kāng Sēnghuì’s documented Wú-period activity at Jiànkāng (247–280). The narrative-content overlaps in part with T152; some of the jātaka-style pìyù in T206 likely represent excerpts or paraphrases of T152 material recompiled for shorter-form popular preaching use.

Translations and research

Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome

  • Chavannes, Édouard. Cinq cents contes et apologues extraits du Tripitaka chinois. Paris: Leroux, 1910–1934. (T206 narratives are translated in vols. 1–2.)
  • Mizuno Kōgen 水野弘元. “Kyū-zōhi-yu kyō ni tsuite” 舊雜譬喩經について. Bukkyō kenkyū.