Fó shuō dà bān ní huán jīng 佛說大般泥洹經
The Sūtra of the Great Parinirvāṇa (the Pre-Niè-pán recension) by 法顯 (Fǎxiǎn, 譯)
About the work
This 6-fascicle text is the short / pre-Niè-pán (Ní huán 泥洹) recension of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, brought back from India by 法顯 Fǎxiǎn (337–422) on his great pilgrimage and translated into Chinese in collaboration with 佛陀跋陀羅 Buddhabhadra at the Dàochǎngsì 道場寺 in Jiànkāng. This shorter recension predated the full Dharmakṣema Northern Recension (Dà bān niè pán jīng 大般涅槃經 KR6g0001, T0374, 40 fasc.) by some years and was the basis for the Pre-Niè-pán-school doctrinal controversies of 竺道生 Dàoshēng’s generation.
Abstract
The bracket adopted here (416–418) reflects Fǎxiǎn’s translation activity at the Dàochǎngsì.
The Taishō text (T0376) is established on a particularly rich apparatus.
Translations and research
- Radich, Michael. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra (2015) — for the textual history.