Yīnchírù jīng 陰持入經
Sūtra on the Aggregates, Holdings, and Sense-Bases (Skandha-dhātu-āyatana) translated by 安世高 (Ān Shìgāo, 譯)
About the work
The Yīn-chí-rù jīng (T603) is a two-fascicle Hàn-period Abhidharmic text translated by Ān Shìgāo 安世高 (安世高). The title-elements yīn 陰 = skandha (aggregate), chí 持 = dhātu (element/holding), rù 入 = āyatana (sense-base) are the three fundamental categories of early Buddhist phenomenology; the text systematizes them in a way comparable to the Peṭakopadesa and the early Saṃgītī tradition.
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula. The Chū sānzàng jì jí gives no preface; an early commentary, the KR6i0240a Yīnchírù jīng zhù 陰持入經註 (T1694, by 陳慧 Chén Huì / 康僧會 Kāng Sēnghuì), is preserved separately.
Abstract
A foundational Abhidharma sūtra-treatise that served as the primary doctrinal handbook for the second-century Chinese Chán movement around Ān Shìgāo. Datable to Ān Shìgāo’s Luòyáng activity (148–170 CE). The text has been the subject of pioneering text-critical work by Erik Zürcher (1991), Jan Nattier (2008), and Paul Harrison (2002).
Translations and research
- Zürcher, Erik. “A New Look at the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Texts.” In From Benares to Beijing, ed. K. Shinohara and G. Schopen. Oakville, 1991, 277–304.
- Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations. Tokyo: IRIAB, 2008.
- Harrison, Paul. “Another Addition to the An Shigao Corpus? Preliminary Notes on an Early Chinese Saṃyuktāgama Translation.” In Buddhist and Indian Studies in Honour of Professor Sodo Mori. Hamamatsu, 2002, 1–32.
Links
- CBETA T15n0603
- Kanseki DB
- 安世高 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (160) — Demiéville, Paul. “La Yogācārabhūmi de Saṅgharakṣa.” BÉFEO 44, no. 2 (1954): 339–436. 343.