Sīyì Fàntiān suǒwèn jīng 思益梵天所問經
Sūtra of the Questions of Brahmā Viśeṣacintin translated by 鳩摩羅什 (Jiūmóluóshí / Kumārajīva, 譯)
About the work
The Sīyì Fàntiān suǒwèn jīng (T586) is Kumārajīva’s 鳩摩羅什 (鳩摩羅什) Cháng’ān-period translation of the Brahma-viśeṣa-cintī-paripṛcchā / Viśeṣacintā-brahma-paripṛcchā, the same text earlier rendered by Dharmarakṣa as KR6i0217 Chíxīn Fàntiān suǒwèn jīng and later by Bodhiruci I as KR6i0220 Shèngsīwéi Fàntiān suǒwèn jīng. The Chinese title-element Sīyì 思益 (“Thought-Increase”) renders Viśeṣacintin in a more classicizing idiom than Dharmarakṣa’s Chíxīn.
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula.
Abstract
The Kumārajīva recension of the Brahma-viśeṣa-cintī-paripṛcchā, datable to his Cháng’ān translation period (401–413 CE) under Yáo Xìng 姚興 of the Hòu Qín 後秦. It became the locus classicus for the version of the text in East Asia and was the basis of the Ming-period commentary KR6i0219 by Yuán-chéng 圓澄. The text expounds the bodhisattva’s “non-grasping” approach to emptiness and was particularly influential in the development of Tiantai 天台 and Sanlun 三論 doctrine.
Translations and research
- Lamotte, Étienne. L’Enseignement de Vimalakīrti. Louvain, 1962 — references to the Brahmaparipṛcchā.
- Skilton, Andrew. “Brahmaparipṛcchā studies.” Journal of the Pali Text Society 26 (2000): 105–125.
- Robinson, Richard H. Early Mādhyamika in India and China. Madison, 1967 — Kumārajīva’s translations.
Links
- CBETA T15n0586
- Kanseki DB
- 鳩摩羅什 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (402, 405) — Sēngruì 僧叡. Èr Qín lù 二秦錄; Dàoxuān 道宣. Dàtáng nèidiǎn lù 大唐內典錄 T2149; Felbur, Rafal Jan. “Anxiety of Emptiness: Self and Scripture in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism, with a Focus on Sēngruì 僧叡.” PhD dissertation, Stanford University, 2018. 204–208 w. 204 n. 1.