Fóshuō Móhē Jiāyè dù pínmǔ jīng 佛說摩訶迦葉度貧母經
Sūtra of Mahākāśyapa Liberating the Poor Old Woman translated by 求那跋陀羅 Guṇabhadra (譯)
About the work
The Fóshuō Móhē Jiāyè dù pínmǔ jīng (T497) is a one-fascicle sūtra translated by 求那跋陀羅 Guṇabhadra under the Liú-Sòng. It narrates a famous Buddhist story: Mahākāśyapa, the foremost ascetic disciple, encounters a poor old woman, accepts her humblest offering (a small portion of food, the only thing she has), and thereby liberates her from her impoverished karmic state.
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula. The colophon attributes the translation to Guṇabhadra of the Sòng.
Abstract
This avadāna-style narrative is one of the canonical demonstrations of the Buddhist principle that the merit of an offering depends not on its material value but on the donor’s faith and the recipient’s worthiness. Mahākāśyapa, here as elsewhere, embodies the ideal dakṣiṇeya (one worthy of offering). The story is widely retold in Chinese Buddhist popular literature and iconography. Translation is dated to Guṇabhadra’s productive period (435–468 CE), most plausibly the early phase (435–443) at Wǎguān sì in Jiànkāng.
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature located.