Fó shuō zázàng jīng 佛說雜藏經
The Buddha’s Sūtra on the Miscellaneous Storehouse (i.e., a miscellany of teachings) translated by 法顯 (Fǎxiǎn / Faxian, 譯)
About the work
T745 in one fascicle is a translation produced by the famed pilgrim-translator 法顯 (Faxian, c. 338–c. 423) after his return from India in 413, working at Dàochǎng-sì 道場寺 in Jiànkāng. The date bracket 413–423 covers his post-return period from his arrival back in China to his death. The text is a zázàng “miscellaneous storehouse” — a small anthology of Buddhist avadāna and doctrinal materials drawn from the Indian Kṣudraka-piṭaka tradition (= Kṣudrakāgama).
Abstract
The Záxíng zàng jīng — alternatively Zá-zàng jīng in some catalogues — is one of 法顯’s post-return translations from Indic manuscripts he had collected in his fifteen-year journey. The text consists of an anthology of brief Buddhist materials: avadāna-narratives, brief discourses, ethical aphorisms. It is one of the modest Kṣudraka works that supplemented the great Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya and the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra among Faxian’s principal translations.
The genre — zázàng “miscellaneous storehouse” — is the Chinese equivalent of Kṣudraka-piṭaka, the “minor collection” of the Sthaviravāda traditions. Faxian’s translation of this short text fills a small gap in the Chinese canon, providing a Chinese witness to the Kṣudraka materials known to him from the Indian Mahāsāṃghika community at Pāṭaliputra (modern Patna), where he spent several years collecting manuscripts.
The text is one of several short pieces produced in 法顯’s collaboration with 佛馱跋陀羅 (Buddhabhadra) at Dàochǎng-sì — an Indian-Chinese translation team that produced over the post-413 decade a substantial portion of the canonical Mahāsāṃghika materials in Chinese.
Translations and research
- Deeg, Max. Das Gaoseng-Faxian-Zhuan als religionsgeschichtliche Quelle: Der älteste Bericht eines chinesischen buddhistischen Pilgermönchs über seine Reise nach Indien. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005. (Comprehensive treatment of Faxian’s pilgrim career and translation programme.)
- Legge, James, trans. A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms. Oxford: Clarendon, 1886. (Translation of the Fóguó jì; classic resource on Faxian.)
- Wang Bangwei 王邦維, Dà-Táng xī-yù qiú-fǎ gāosēng zhuàn jiào-zhù 大唐西域求法高僧傳校注. Beijing: Zhōnghuá shūjú, 1988.