Āchù fó guó jīng 阿閦佛國經
The Sūtra on the Buddha-Land of Akṣobhya by 支婁迦讖 (Lokakṣema, 譯)
About the work
This 2-fascicle text by 支婁迦讖 Lokakṣema is the earliest Chinese translation of the Akṣobhyatathāgatasya vyūha (the Adornment of the Buddha-Land of Akṣobhya), the foundational Mahāyāna sūtra on the Buddha Akṣobhya (阿閦佛, “the Imperturbable”) and his eastern paradise Abhirati (妙喜世界). The work is one of the most consequential of the early-Han Chinese Mahāyāna translations and is the principal source for the cult of Akṣobhya — which in early Mahāyāna circles was the main rival to the Pure Land cult of Amitābha. The text was later incorporated into the [[KR6f0001|Mahā-ratnakūṭa]] as assembly 6 (Bùdòng rúlái huì 不動如來會).
Prefaces
No formal preface.
Abstract
The translation is conventionally datable to 支婁迦讖 Lokakṣema’s translation activity at the late-Han Cháng’ān, c. 178 – 189 CE. The bracket adopted here reflects this window. The text is the earliest dated Chinese Buddhist translation of an Akṣobhya-Buddha cosmology, and its early-Han date makes it a foundational document for understanding the early Chinese reception of Mahāyāna paradisiacal-cosmological doctrine.
The Taishō text (T0313) is established on the standard apparatus.
Translations and research
- Kwan, Tai-wo. Akṣobhya: A Buddhist Pure Land in Conjunction with Buddhist Practice. PhD dissertation, University of Hong Kong, 1985.
- Schopen, Gregory. “Akṣobhya as a Mahāyāna Buddha: Cult, Sūtra, and Social Reality.” (Articles in Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks and elsewhere.)
- Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations (2008).
Other points of interest
- The Akṣobhya cult was the earliest major rival to the Amitābha / Sukhāvatī tradition in Indian and Central-Asian Mahāyāna; this Chinese translation is the principal witness to that early rivalry. By the Tang period the Amitābha cult had largely displaced it, but Akṣobhya remained an important figure in Esoteric Buddhist iconography and ritual.
Links
- CBETA T11n0313
- Kanseki DB
- 支婁迦讖 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (186) — Sakaino Kōyō 境野黄洋. Shina Bukkyō seishi 支那佛教精史. Tokyo: Sakaino Kōyō Hakushi Ikō Kankōkai, 1935. 101-102.