Shùnquán fāngbiàn jīng 順權方便經
Sūtra of Skillful Means in Conformity with the Provisional translated by 竺法護 (Zhú Fǎhù / Dharmarakṣa, 譯)
About the work
The Shùnquán fāngbiàn jīng (T565) is a two-fascicle Mahāyāna sūtra by Dharmarakṣa 竺法護 (竺法護). The Sanskrit equivalent is Strīvivartavyākaraṇa — a sūtra on a woman’s vyākaraṇa (Buddhahood-prediction). Cf. KR6i0198 (T566) for Tánmóyéshè’s parallel translation.
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula.
Abstract
The text concerns a woman’s reception of vyākaraṇa through the bodhisattva’s upāya (skillful means). The title’s shùnquán 順權 (“conforming to the provisional”) refers to the doctrine of upāya — adapting teaching to the recipient’s level. Translation dated to Dharmarakṣa’s productive period (266–308 CE).
Translations and research
- Paul, Diana Y. Women in Buddhism. Berkeley, 1979.
- Schuster, Nancy. “Changing the Female Body.” JIABS 4 (1981).
Links
- CBETA T14n0565
- Kanseki DB
- 竺法護 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (300, 303) — Kawano Satoshi 河野訓. Shoki kan’yaku butten no kenkyū: Jiku Hōgo o chūshin to shite 初期漢訳仏典の研究 : 竺法護を中心として. Ise: Kōgakkan Daigaku Shuppanbu, 2006. 73-92, esp. Table 2, 75-77.