Shèngsīwéi Fàntiān suǒwèn jīng 勝思惟梵天所問經
Sūtra of the Questions of Brahmā Excellent-Thought (Viśeṣacintin) translated by 菩提流支 (Pútíliúzhī / Bodhiruci I, 譯)
About the work
The Shèngsīwéi Fàntiān suǒwèn jīng (T587) is Bodhiruci I’s 菩提流支 (菩提流支) six-fascicle Northern Wèi translation of the Brahma-viśeṣa-cintī-paripṛcchā / Viśeṣacintā-brahma-paripṛcchā. Shèngsīwéi 勝思惟 (“Excellent Thought”) is yet another rendering of Viśeṣacintin, paralleling Dharmarakṣa’s Chíxīn in KR6i0217 and Kumārajīva’s Sīyì in KR6i0218.
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula.
Abstract
The third and most expansive Chinese rendering of the Brahma-viśeṣa-cintī-paripṛcchā, datable to Bodhiruci I’s translation activity at Luòyáng (508–535 CE) under the Northern Wèi. It is the longest of the three Chinese versions and draws on a fuller Indic recension. Together with KR6i0217 and KR6i0218, it forms the three-translation cycle of one of the most important Madhyamaka-leaning Mahāyāna sūtras.
Translations and research
- Lamotte, Étienne. L’Enseignement de Vimalakīrti. Louvain, 1962.
- Skilton, Andrew. “Brahmaparipṛcchā studies.” Journal of the Pali Text Society 26 (2000): 105–125.
Links
- CBETA T15n0587
- Kanseki DB
- 菩提流支 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (520, 530) — T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014.