Fóshuō yuèdēng sānmèi jīng 佛說月燈三昧經
Sūtra on the Moon-Lamp Samādhi as Spoken by the Buddha (one fascicle) translated by 先公 (Xiāngōng, 譯)
About the work
T640 (one fascicle, alt. title 逮慧三昧經) is a single-fascicle excerpt of the Samādhirāja-sūtra, attributed to the Liú-Sòng translator known only as “Xiāngōng” 先公. It corresponds approximately to fascicle 6 of T639 (Narendrayaśas’s complete translation) and represents an independent earlier rendering of a portion of the same Indic source.
Abstract
The translator 先公 is a shadowy figure: the [[KR6s0084|Chū sānzàng jì jí]] (T2145) records the title 先公 — literally “the Former Gentleman” or “Elder Sir” — as the only attribution available, and modern scholarship has not been able to identify him with any other named monk. He is consistently classed in the catalogs as a Liú-Sòng era (420–479) translator. Some later catalogs attempt to identify him with Xiāngōngzhú 先公竺, but this is speculative. T640 and the closely related T641 are his only attested works. Date bracket follows the Liú-Sòng span (420–479).
The text is a partial translation of the Samādhirājasūtra; comparison with T639 shows that T640 corresponds to the central chapter of the sūtra on the yuèdēng (Moon-Lamp) samādhi proper, and would have served as a manageable single-fascicle introduction to the larger doctrinal complex.
Translations and research
- Skilton, Andrew. “Samādhirāja-Sūtra: Selected Chapters.” Various studies on the Samādhirāja text-history. — discusses the relation between T639, T640 and T641.
- Vaidya, P. L. (ed.). Samādhirājasūtra. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts no. 2. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute, 1961.
No book-length Western translation located.
Links
- CBETA T15n0640
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (440) — T = CBETA. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924–1932.