Fó wèi Āzhīluó Jiāyè zì huà zuò kǔ jīng 佛為阿支羅迦葉自化作苦經
Sūtra of the Buddha’s Teaching to Acela Kassapa on Self-Caused Suffering (translator unknown)
About the work
The Fó wèi Āzhīluó Jiāyè zì huà zuò kǔ jīng (T499) is a one-fascicle short sūtra of unknown translation attribution. The protagonist Āzhīluó Jiāyè 阿支羅迦葉 is the canonical figure Acela Kassapa (the Naked Kāśyapa) of the Pāli Saṃyutta-nikāya — a contemporary of the Buddha who debated the doctrine of dukkha’s origin. The text is essentially a Chinese parallel of the Pāli SN 12.17 (Acelakassapa-sutta).
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula. There is no surviving translator attribution.
Abstract
This early Chinese text preserves a parallel of the Pāli Acelakassapa-sutta in which the Buddha refutes four extreme positions on the origin of suffering: (1) self-caused, (2) other-caused, (3) both, (4) neither — instead teaching the Madhyamic pratītyasamutpāda (dependent arising). The text is doctrinally important as one of the few Chinese parallels to a specific Pāli Saṃyutta-nikāya sutta, providing a window into the early translation of the Āgama corpus before the systematic Chinese Saṃyuktāgama (T99) by 求那跋陀羅 Guṇabhadra.
The translator-unknown attribution and the broad Tang-Sui dating (200–600 CE) reflect the impossibility of precise dating for this anonymous early translation. 僧祐 Sēngyòu’s catalog already lists the text as shīyì.
Translations and research
- Bhikkhu Bodhi. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom, 2000 — translation of the parallel SN 12.17.
- Anālayo. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya. Taipei: Dharma Drum Publishing, 2011 — comparative methodology.