Fóshuō dà Jiāyè běn jīng 佛說大迦葉本經
Sūtra on the Origins of Mahākāśyapa translated by 竺法護 Zhú Fǎhù / Dharmarakṣa (譯)
About the work
The Fóshuō dà Jiāyè běn jīng (T496) is a one-fascicle sūtra on the previous-life origin (本 běn, Sanskrit avadāna / jātaka) of Mahākāśyapa, translated by 竺法護 Dharmarakṣa (Zhú Fǎhù). It opens the Mahākāśyapa sub-cycle of the Taishō (KR6i0126–KR6i0128).
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula. The colophon attributes the translation to Dharmarakṣa.
Abstract
This is a jātaka-style narrative about the past lives of the Buddha’s foremost ascetic disciple Mahākāśyapa, leading up to his attainment of arhatship in his last life. The narrative explores the karmic causes that brought Mahākāśyapa to his eminent position. The text belongs to Dharmarakṣa’s productive period (266–308 CE) and is part of his extensive translation of the Mahāvyūha and avadāna literatures.
Translations and research
- Boucher, Daniel. Bodhisattvas of the Forest and the Formation of the Mahāyāna. University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2008.