Dàjíhuì zhèngfǎ jīng 大集會正法經
The Sūtra of the True Dharma of the Great Saṃnipāta-Assembly (Saṃghāṭa-sūtra, Sòng recension) by 施護 (Dānapāla, 譯)
About the work
The Dàjíhuì zhèngfǎ jīng in 5 fascicles is 施護 Dānapāla’s Northern-Sòng retranslation of the Saṃghāṭa-sūtra — the same Indic source-text rendered earlier into Chinese by 月婆首那 Upaśūnya as [[KR6h0032|the Sēngjiāzhā jīng]]. The Taishō print signs the entry “西天譯經三藏朝奉大夫試鴻臚卿傳法大師臣施護奉詔譯” — the standard imperial titulature for Dānapāla — and explicitly cross-references No. 423 — the earlier Eastern-Wèi version. The opening narrative is closely parallel to the 月婆首那 version, with the assembly of twelve thousand bhikṣus (mìchú 苾芻 in Dānapāla’s idiom) at Vulture Peak including the same standard interlocutors; the doctrinal substance is the same.
Prefaces
No separate preface is preserved in the canonical print, only the imperial signature.
Abstract
施護 Dānapāla’s translation idiom — markedly more Sanskritising than the older Wèi version, with extensive use of the mìchú / mìduō (苾芻 / 苾蒭) form for bhikṣu and the rebracketed Sanskritising vocabulary characteristic of the late-tenth-century Yìjīng yuàn — represents a strong contrast with the Eastern-Wèi rendering of 月婆首那 Upaśūnya. The two together constitute the principal Chinese transmission of the Saṃghāṭa and have been the basis for comparative philological study of the Sòng retranslation enterprise: see Jan Yün-hua’s foundational work and Sen Tansen’s more recent monograph.
The dating window 982–1017 reflects the bracket of 施護 Dānapāla’s translation activity at the Yìjīng yuàn, beginning with his arrival in Kāifēng in 980 and the institute’s formal establishment in 982 (Tàipíng Xīngguó 7), and ending with his death in 1017 (Tiānxǐ 1). The work is recorded in the Tiānshèng shìjiào zǒnglù 天聖釋教總錄 as one of the institute’s translations during the period.
Translations and research
- Jamspal, Lozang, tr. The Saṃghāṭa Sūtra: An Early Mahāyāna Treatise. Sarnath: Central University of Tibetan Studies, 2005. — English translation from the Tibetan; comparative reference for the two Chinese versions.
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003. — Standard study of the Northern Sòng Yìjīng yuàn including Dānapāla.
Links
- CBETA online text
- DDB entry
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (1000): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1