Fó chuí bān niè pán lüè shuō jiào jiè jīng 佛垂般涅槃略說教誡經
The Sūtra of the Buddha’s Brief Teaching-Admonition Just Before Parinirvāṇa (commonly known as Yí jiào jīng 遺教經, “Bequeathed Teaching Sūtra”) by 鳩摩羅什 (Kumārajīva, 譯)
About the work
The Yí jiào jīng in 1 fascicle is one of the most beloved short Buddhist texts in the East Asian tradition: the Buddha’s final teaching-admonition (jiào jiè 教誡) delivered immediately before his parinirvāṇa, gathering together the essential disciplinary instructions for the saṅgha. The work was widely chanted in monastic establishments and was the subject of numerous commentaries, including Vasubandhu’s Yí jiào jīng lùn 遺教經論 (KR6g0044, T1529).
Abstract
The translation belongs to 鳩摩羅什 Kumārajīva’s Cháng’ān period (402–412 CE).
Translations and research
- Tatz, Mark. The Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya) Sūtra (1994) — for related context.
- Yifa, ven. The Origins of Buddhist Monastic Codes in China (2002).
Other points of interest
- The Yí jiào jīng is one of the few short Buddhist texts to be regularly recited in daily monastic liturgy across East Asian Buddhism, alongside the Heart Sūtra, the Pǔxián xíngyuàn pǐn, and the Smaller Sukhāvatī.