Āshéshì wáng wèn wǔnì jīng 阿闍世王問五逆經
Sūtra of King Ajātaśatru’s Questions on the Five Heinous Crimes translated by 法炬 Fǎjù (譯)
About the work
The Āshéshì wáng wèn wǔnì jīng (T508) is a one-fascicle sūtra translated by 法炬 Fǎjù. It deals with the wǔnì 五逆 — the five most heinous crimes (pañca-ānantarya-karma): patricide, matricide, killing an arhat, drawing the blood of a Buddha, and causing schism in the Saṅgha. Ajātaśatru asks the Buddha about the karmic implications of these crimes; the Buddha’s response is doctrinally important for the question of remediable vs. irremediable karma.
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula.
Abstract
This text continues the Ajātaśatru cycle (KR6i0137, KR6i0139) and provides one of the standard Chinese sources for the wǔnì-karma doctrine. Translation dated to Fǎjù’s productive period (290–306 CE).
Translations and research
- Silk, Jonathan A. Riven by Lust. Honolulu, 2009.