Liùqù lúnhuí jīng 六趣輪迴經
Sūtra on the Cycle of the Six Destinies (Ṣaḍgati-saṃsāra-sūtra) compiled by 馬鳴菩薩 (Aśvaghoṣa, 集), translated by 日稱 (Rìchēng, 等譯, “and others”)
About the work
T726 in one fascicle is a Northern Sòng translation of an Indian Buddhist text on the ṣaḍgati (six rebirth-destinies), traditionally attributed to the Indian poet-bodhisattva 馬鳴菩薩 (Aśvaghoṣa, c. 80–150). The translation was carried out in the mid-eleventh century by 日稱 (Rìchēng, fl. c. 1056–1078) at the Sòng Yìjīngyuàn in collaboration with other bureau translators. The Aśvaghoṣa attribution is traditional but not philologically secure; the text may belong to the broader genre of kāvya-influenced Buddhist didactic literature for which Aśvaghoṣa was the model author.
Abstract
The text expounds the cycle of saṃsāra through the six gati: hells, preta, animals, humans, asura, gods. Where KR6i0419 / T725 (Liùdào jiātuó jīng by 法天) treats the same subject in pure verse, this text uses a mixed prose-and-verse format characteristic of Sanskrit kāvya. The narrative voice — sometimes the Buddha, sometimes a bodhisattva — recounts the experiences of beings in each rebirth-destiny in literary register, drawing the reader-listener into emotional engagement with the suffering of saṃsāra as a motivation for the renunciation-path.
The attribution to Aśvaghoṣa places the text in the genre of kāvya applied to Buddhist subject-matter, the genre Aśvaghoṣa pioneered with the Buddhacarita and the Saundarānanda. The literary register and the rhetorical strategy — using poetry to provoke saṃvega (spiritual urgency) — are consistent with the Aśvaghoṣa school. The pairing with KR6i0421 / T727 (Shí bùshàn yèdào jīng) — also attributed to Aśvaghoṣa and translated by 日稱 — suggests that 日稱 worked with a bundle of Aśvaghoṣa-school texts.
The thematic cluster of 日稱’s mid-eleventh-century Aśvaghoṣa translations: this work KR6i0420 / T726, KR6i0421 / T727. The texts are paired with the 觀無畏尊者-attributed KR6i0422 / T728 (Zhūfǎ jíyào jīng), also translated by 日稱, suggesting a coherent translation programme.
Translations and research
- Hahn, Michael. “Aśvaghoṣa,” in Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, ed. Amaresh Datta. Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1988.
- Johnston, E. H. The Buddhacarita, or Acts of the Buddha. Lahore: Punjab University Press, 1936.
No standalone English translation located.