Fó shuō juédìng yì jīng 佛說決定義經
The Buddha Speaks: The Sūtra of Definitive Meaning (Skt. Niścayārtha-sūtra?) translated by 法賢 (Fǎxián = Dharmabhadra, 譯)
About the work
T762 in one fascicle is a brief doctrinal sūtra-translation by 法賢 (Fǎxián = Dharmabhadra, fl. 982–1001), a translator at the Northern Sòng Translation Bureau in Kāifēng. The title 決定義 (juédìng yì) — “definitive meaning, determinate doctrine” — translates Sanskrit niścayārtha / nītārtha, the technical Buddhist hermeneutical category contrasted with neyārtha “provisional meaning.” The text presents itself as a nītārtha doctrinal exposition.
Abstract
The Buddha addresses an audience of monks on the definitive doctrines of the Dharma: the four noble truths (四聖諦), the twelve links of dependent origination (十二因緣), the categories of abhidharma-style enumerations of dharmas, and the doctrines of impermanence, suffering, non-self, and nirvāṇa. The text is structured as a mātṛkā — a list of doctrinal heads that the Buddha definitively endorses as the determined meaning of his teaching. The genre is the brief catechetical abhidharma-summary, a popular form in late-Indian Buddhist literature.
The hermeneutical pair nītārtha / neyārtha (definitive / provisional) is foundational to Mahāyāna sūtra-exegesis, particularly in prajñāpāramitā and Madhyamaka contexts where it underwrites the principle that some scriptural pronouncements are to be taken at face value while others are upāya to be reinterpreted. The Juédìng yì jīng 決定義經 is one of several short Sòng-period translations that present a digest of doctrinal mātṛkās as the nītārtha summary; comparable texts include the Fǎjí míngshù jīng 法集名數經 (KR6i0461) and the Sìpǐn fǎmén jīng 四品法門經 (KR6i0473) of the same translator-cohort.
Translations and research
No substantial Western secondary literature located on this specific text. For the nītārtha / neyārtha doctrinal context see:
- Lopez, Donald S., Jr., ed. Buddhist Hermeneutics. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1988.
Links
- CBETA online
- Dazangthings date evidence (1001): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. Dazangthings source 1
- Kanseki DB
- 法賢 DILA