Fó shuō wǔwúfǎnfù jīng 佛說五無返復經
The Buddha’s Sūtra on the Five Without-Reciprocity (third recension) translated by 沮渠京聲 (Jūqú Jīngshēng, 譯)
About the work
T752 in one fascicle is the third of three closely-related Jūqú Jīngshēng versions of the Wǔwúfǎnfù jīng (cf. KR6i0446 / T751a, KR6i0447 / T751b). Its retention as a separate Taishō entry indicates that it preserves a substantively distinct recension, possibly a different Indian source-text or a significantly revised translation by Jūqú Jīngshēng himself.
Abstract
The doctrinal content is the same as the parallel recensions: the five categories of unrepayable benefactors and the bodhisattva-path as the only adequate response. The textual variation may reflect Jūqú Jīngshēng’s repeated work on the text — the lay-translator was known to revise his earlier translations when fresh manuscripts became available — or independent transmission of variant Indian recensions.
The triadic preservation of KR6i0446, KR6i0447, and KR6i0448 in the Taishō is one of the more striking examples of the Chinese canon’s preservation of textual variation. The decision to maintain three recensions of a single short sūtra reflects the editorial principle that distinctive textual witnesses should not be silently merged.
Related: KR6i0446 / T751a, KR6i0447 / T751b — parallel recensions.
Translations and research
- Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Leiden: Brill, 1959 (rpt. 2007).