Fóshuō Yuènán jīng 佛說越難經
Sūtra of the Crossing-of-Difficulty translated by 聶承遠 (Niè Chéngyuǎn, 譯)
About the work
The Fóshuō Yuènán jīng (T537) is a one-fascicle short sūtra by Niè Chéngyuǎn 聶承遠 (聶承遠), the principal Chinese collaborator of Dharmarakṣa and father of Niè Dàozhēn (聶道真, cf. KR6i0064, KR6i0112). The protagonist’s name Yuènán 越難 (“Crossing-of-Difficulty”) may be a Chinese semantic translation rather than transliteration.
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula.
Abstract
A short avadāna-style narrative. Niè Chéngyuǎn was active 280–311 CE in the Western Jìn, principally as Dharmarakṣa’s chief Chinese editor; this text is one of the few independently attributed to him.
Translations and research
- Boucher, Daniel. Bodhisattvas of the Forest. Honolulu, 2008 — Niè family context.
Links
- CBETA T14n0537
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (300, 440) — Fei Changfang 費長房. Lidai sanbao ji (LDSBJ) 歷代三寶紀 T2034. T2034 (XLIX) 65b21, 72a13, 91c12, 117b20.