Fó shuō dà chéng fāng děng yào huì jīng 佛說大乘方等要慧經
The Great-Vehicle Vaipulya Sūtra of Essential Wisdom by 安世高 (Ān Shìgāo, 譯)
About the work
This 1-fascicle text attributed to 安世高 Ān Shìgāo (the great early-Hàn translator) is one of the earliest Chinese Buddhist translations attributed to him, though modern scholarship (Nattier 2008) is somewhat sceptical of the attribution given that Ān Shìgāo’s authentic corpus is overwhelmingly abhidharma / meditation rather than Mahāyāna in character. The work is a brief Mahāyāna sūtra on the fāng děng (大方等, vaipulya) doctrine of expansive wisdom.
Prefaces
No formal preface.
Abstract
The traditional attribution to 安世高 Ān Shìgāo would place the translation in the period 148 – 170 CE. The bracket adopted here reflects this window. Nattier (2008) raises questions about the ascription; the work may belong to a slightly later anonymous translator and was retrospectively attributed.
The Taishō text (T0348) is established on the standard apparatus.
Translations and research
- Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations (2008) — discusses the attribution.
Links
- CBETA T12n0348
- Kanseki DB
- 安世高 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (160) — Fei Changfang 費長房. Lidai sanbao ji (LDSBJ) 歷代三寶紀 T2034. T2034 (XLIX) 52b17.