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大方等大集經

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Text ID
KR6h0001
Date
414–426
Dynasty
北涼

Dà fāngděng dà jí jīng 大方等大集經

The Great Vaipulya Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra by 曇無讖 (Dharmakṣema, 譯) — composite collection assembled by 僧就 (合)

About the work

The Dà fāngděng dà jí jīng in 60 fascicles — the great composite collection of Mahāyāna Mahāsaṃnipāta sūtras — is the eponymous heading text of the entire 大集部 (KR6h) division of the Buddhist canon. As transmitted, it is not a single coherent translation but a Suí-era compilation: the core fascicles 1–30 (the Yīngluò 瓔珞 through Xūkōngzàng 虛空藏 sections) translated by 曇無讖 Dharmakṣema in the Northern Liáng around 414–421; the Rìmì fēn 日密分 (sect. 13) added by Dharmakṣema or attributed to him; the Rìzàng fēn 日藏分 (sect. 14) translated by 那連提耶舍 Narendrayaśas in 585–591; the Yuèzàng fēn 月藏分 (sect. 15) translated by Narendrayaśas in 566; and the Xūkōngmù fēn 虛空目分 also assigned to Dharmakṣema. The 30-fascicle Dharmakṣema core was retrospectively combined with the Narendrayaśas additions by 僧就 Sēngjiù in the early Suí to produce the 60-fascicle received recension. The collection is the principal scriptural locus for the Mahāyāna doctrine of the Mahāsaṃnipāta — the “Great Assembly” of bodhisattvas, devas, and protectors gathered between this world and the realm of Brahmā for the Buddha’s expounding of the dharma in the closing age — and is a major source for medieval Chinese eschatology, dhāraṇī practice, and the mòfǎ 末法 (Latter Dharma) doctrine.

Prefaces

The Taishō text carries the 校正後序 “Postface after correction” by 沙門僧就 僧就 at the head of fascicle 1, recording the compilation history. No single primary preface accompanies the whole work in the canonical print; individual sections preserve their own prefaces internally.

Abstract

The Dà jí jīng is one of the great composite sūtras of the early-medieval Chinese canon, comparable in stature and structure to the [[KR6e0001|Avataṃsaka]] and the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra (KR6g0001). The text presents itself as the record of an assembly (saṃnipāta) convened by the Buddha between Mt Sumeru and the realm of Brahmā. The component sections are conventionally numbered as 17 fēn 分 (parts/divisions): (1) Yīngluò pǐn 瓔珞品 (Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśa-related); (2) Tuóluóní zìzàiwáng púsà pǐn 陀羅尼自在王菩薩品; (3) Bǎonǚ pǐn 寶女品 (cf. KR6h0003); (4) Bùxuàn púsà pǐn 不眴菩薩品; (5) Hǎihuì púsà pǐn 海慧菩薩品 (Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā, cf. KR6h0004); (6) Wúyán púsà pǐn 無言菩薩品 (cf. KR6h0005); (7) Bùkěshuō púsà pǐn 不可說菩薩品; (8) Xūkōngzàng pǐn 虛空藏品 (Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā, cf. KR6h0008–KR6h0013); (9) Bǎochuáng fēn 寶幢分 (Ratnaketu); (10) Xūkōngmù fēn 虛空目分; (11) Bǎojì púsà pǐn 寶髻菩薩品 (cf. KR6h0035); (12) Wújìnyì púsà pǐn 無盡意菩薩品 (Akṣayamatinirdeśa, cf. KR6h0007); (13) Rìmì fēn 日密分; (14) Rìzàng fēn 日藏分 (translated by Narendrayaśas, separately transmitted as T0397.14, the Dàshèng dàjí rìzàng jīng); (15) Yuèzàng fēn 月藏分 (Narendrayaśas, of major importance for the Latter Dharma prophecy); (16) Xūmízàng fēn 須彌藏分; (17) Shífāng púsà pǐn 十方菩薩品.

The compilation is documented in the Lìdài sānbǎo jì 歷代三寶紀 (T2034) and the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù 開元釋教錄 (T2154), where the assembly history under 僧就 in the Suí 開皇 7 year (587 CE) is recorded; some catalogues date the compilation slightly later (588 or 594). The dates given in the frontmatter (414 – 426) reflect the bracket of 曇無讖’s core translation activity, since the bulk of the received Dharmakṣema sections were rendered during his Liángzhōu / Gūzāng tenure. The Narendrayaśas additions are from the Suí period (566 / 585–591). The Mòfǎ prophecy in the Yuèzàng fēn — the prediction that the dharma will decline in successive 500-year periods after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa — was decisively influential on the Three-Levels (Sānjiè jiào 三階教) movement of 信行 Xìnxíng and on later Pure-Land eschatology in China and Japan.

The text uses the Mahāsaṃnipāta narrative scaffold to incorporate a remarkable diversity of material: dhāraṇī, Mahāyāna śūnyatā doctrine, bodhisattva-path expositions, eschatological prophecy, and an extensive treatment of the Xūkōngzàng (Ākāśagarbha) bodhisattva cult. For the latter the Dà jí jīng is a principal source for the medieval East Asian Ākāśagarbha cult attested in the Tendai and Shingon traditions of Japan.

Translations and research

  • Braarvig, Jens, ed. Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra, 2 vols. Oslo: Solum, 1993. — Editions and study of the Wú-jìn-yì pǐn / Akṣayamatinirdeśa (sect. 12) including the Tibetan and Chinese versions.
  • Lévi, Sylvain. “Notes chinoises sur l’Inde V: Quelques titres énigmatiques dans la hiérarchie ecclésiastique du bouddhisme indien.” Journal Asiatique (1915). — On the Mahāsaṃnipāta category.
  • Hureau, Sylvie. “Translations, Apocrypha, and the Emergence of the Buddhist Canon.” In Early Chinese Religion: Part Two, ed. John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi, vol. 1, 741–774. Leiden: Brill, 2010. — Background on Dharmakṣema and his Liángzhōu workshop.
  • Nattier, Jan. “The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?” JIABS 15.2 (1992): 153–223. — Methodological reference on Mahāsaṃnipāta-section transmission concerns.
  • Chappell, David W. “Early Forebears of the Mo-fa Concept: T’an-luan and Tao-ch’o.” Eastern Buddhist (n.s.) 11.1 (1978): 22–53. — On the Yuè-zàng-fēn and mòfǎ eschatology.
  • Pagel, Ulrich. The Bodhisattvapiṭaka: Its Doctrines, Practices and Their Position in Mahāyāna Literature. Tring: Institute of Buddhist Studies, 1995. — Includes discussion of Mahāsaṃnipāta-class texts.

Other points of interest

  • The Yuèzàng fēn (Candragarbha-vaipulya-sūtra) chapters of the Dà jí jīng are the locus classicus for the mòfǎ (末法 / Latter Dharma) periodisation that became foundational for medieval Chinese and Japanese Buddhist eschatology, including the Pure-Land thought of 曇鸞 Tánluán, 道綽 Dàochuò, and Hōnen 法然.
  • The Xūkōngzàng (Ākāśagarbha) section is the Chinese root-text for the cult of Ākāśagarbha in East Asia. In Japan, the gumonji-hō 求聞持法 ritual based on this material was performed by 空海 Kūkai prior to his receipt of the Shingon transmission and is among the formative practices of Japanese esoteric Buddhism.
  • The collection is one of three composite mega-sūtras (the others being the [[KR6e0001|Avataṃsaka]] and the Bǎojī jīng 寶積經 / Mahāratnakūṭa in KR6f0001) that organise the Mahāyāna canon thematically. In each case the editorial work of assembling the Chinese received text is itself a major chapter in Chinese Buddhist intellectual history.

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