Fó shuō liùdào jiātuó jīng 佛說六道伽陀經
The Buddha’s Sūtra of Verses on the Six Destinies (Ṣaḍgati-gāthā-sūtra) translated by 法天 (Fǎtiān / Dharmadeva, 譯)
About the work
T725 in one fascicle is 法天’s Northern Sòng translation of an Indian Buddhist verse-text on the six gati (rebirth-destinies: hells, preta, animals, humans, asura, gods). The genre marker jiātuó 伽陀 transliterates Skt. gāthā (verse), indicating the text consists primarily of metrical verses rather than prose narrative. 法天’s active period at the Sòng Yìjīngyuàn (982–1001) gives the date bracket.
Abstract
The text presents the six gati in metrical verses, treating each rebirth-destiny in turn: the suffering of the hells, the constant hunger of the preta, the dim awareness of animals, the mixed conditions of humans, the warring of asura, and the impermanent enjoyment of the gods. Each gati is paired with the karmic actions that lead to rebirth there, in compressed verse form suitable for memorization and recitation.
The verse format — gāthā — is a particularly Indian genre that translates with difficulty into Chinese, since literary Chinese has its own metrical traditions and the Sanskrit anuṣṭubh and triṣṭubh meters cannot be exactly reproduced. 法天’s rendering uses the standard Chinese five- or seven-syllable lines characteristic of Sòng Buddhist verse-translation, preserving the rhythmic register of the genre while adapting to Chinese prosodic conventions.
The text is one of a cluster of Sòng-period karma-vipāka and gati sūtras: cf. KR6i0420 / T726 Liùqù lúnhuí jīng 六趣輪迴經 (also on the six gati, by 馬鳴菩薩/Aśvaghoṣa, translated by 日稱), KR6i0421 / T727 Shí bùshàn yèdào jīng 十不善業道經, KR6i0422 / T728 Zhūfǎ jíyào jīng 諸法集要經. Together they document the Sòng Yìjīngyuàn’s engagement with Indian Buddhist moral-cosmological literature.
Translations and research
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003.
- Mizuno Kōgen 水野弘元, Bukkyō kyōten seiritsushi ron 仏教経典成立史論. Kyoto: Heirakuji Shoten, 1995.
No standalone English translation located.