Fóshuō qiān fó yīnyuán jīng 佛說千佛因緣經
Sūtra on the Past-Life Causes of the Thousand Buddhas by 鳩摩羅什 Jiūmóluóshí (Kumārajīva, 譯)
About the work
The Fóshuō qiān fó yīnyuán jīng is a single-fascicle sūtra in which the Buddha, addressing a congregation of bodhisattvas and monks at Gṛdhrakūṭa (Vulture Peak) near Rājagṛha, narrates the stories of the past-life causes (nidāna) by which each of the thousand Buddhas of the present bhadrakalpa obtained their Buddhahood. It is closely related thematically to the Xiánjié jīng 賢劫經 (KR6i0001) and belongs to the same “thousand Buddhas” (qiānfó 千佛) devotional complex. The opening assembly includes both great arhats and bodhisattvas in the hundreds of millions, and the individual Buddhas each narrate their causal vows and past deeds. The translation is attributed to 鳩摩羅什 of the Later Qìn (後秦).
Prefaces
No separate preface survives in the received text. The body begins directly: 如是我聞，一時佛在王舍城耆闍崛山中… The translator colophon reads: 後秦龜茲國三藏鳩摩羅什譯 (“Translated by the Tripiṭaka master 鳩摩羅什 of Kucha, Later Qìn”). The Zhòngjīng mùlù 眾經目錄 (Suí) and Kāiyuán shìjiào lù 開元釋教錄 (Táng) catalogue this text under 鳩摩羅什’s translations.
Abstract
The Qiān fó yīnyuán jīng belongs to the devotional sub-genre of texts devoted to the thousand Buddhas of the bhadrakalpa (“fortunate aeon”). Unlike the longer Xiánjié jīng 賢劫經 (KR6i0001, T14n0425), which is a comprehensive compendium, this one-fascicle text focuses specifically on the nidāna (causal) stories: each Buddha narrates, in the first person, the meritorious deeds of a past life that led to their attainment of supreme enlightenment. The scripture thus serves as a moral exemplar (and memory aid) for practitioners wishing to accumulate merit through reflection on the Buddhas’ past lives. The text also functions as an expansion of the “confession and homage to the thousand Buddhas” ritual practice.
The attribution to 鳩摩羅什 (344–413 CE) is accepted in the East Asian canonical tradition, but the brief text is not listed prominently in the biographical accounts of his translation bureau activity (notably not in 僧肇 Sēngzhào’s preface to the Bǎi lùn 百論 catalogue or in the Chū sānzàng jì jí’s 鳩摩羅什 biography). It is possible that the text was produced in the broader context of the Yáo-Qín translation enterprise under his general supervision. The translation date falls within the active period of his work at Cháng’ān: 402–412 CE.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located on this specific text.