Běnshì jīng 本事經
The Itivṛttaka Sūtra (Skt. Ityuktaka / Itivṛttaka; Pāli Itivuttaka) translated by 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)
About the work
T765 in seven fascicles is one of the major Āgama-class translations of 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 602–664), completed in 650 (Yǒnghuī 1) according to the precise dating preserved in the Dà Táng nèidiǎn lù 大唐內典錄 (KR6s0088). The Chinese title 本事 (běnshì, “former matters / what was thus said”) is Xuánzàng’s calque on Skt. iti-vṛttaka / Pāli iti-vuttaka — the genre-name of one of the nine or twelve “limbs” of canonical Buddhist literary classification, denoting “thus-said” sayings of the Buddha.
Abstract
The Itivṛttaka is one of the well-known canonical genres: short discourses introduced by the formula “Thus was it said by the Blessed One” (iti vuttaṃ bhagavatā) and concluded by a verse summary. The Pāli Itivuttaka (in the Khuddaka-nikāya) contains 112 such sayings organised by ascending numerical scheme (nipāta-arrangement). Xuánzàng’s Běnshì jīng is a much fuller Chinese version — seven fascicles, with substantially more material than the Pāli. It is the only complete Chinese rendering of an Itivṛttaka corpus and represents a Sarvāstivāda-tradition recension distinct from the Theravāda Khuddaka-version.
The doctrinal content is essentially the same as the Pāli: short doctrinal sayings on the perfections, the noble truths, the practices of meditation, the categories of abhidharma enumeration, etc., each introduced by the iti-vṛttaka formula and concluded with a gāthā. Xuánzàng’s translation reflects his characteristic exactitude in rendering Sanskrit grammatical and rhetorical detail — the iti vuttaṃ formula is calqued literally as 吾從世尊聞如是語 (“I have heard the Blessed One thus said”) and the verse-summaries are rendered into Chinese verse.
The text is one of the principal sources for Sarvāstivāda and Mūla-Sarvāstivāda doctrinal mātṛkās and has been used in Chinese exegetical literature as a complement to the Saṃyukta-āgama (T99) for short sayings of the Buddha. Together with the Aṅguttara-āgama / Ekottara-āgama and the Saṃyukta-āgama, it forms part of the basic Sarvāstivāda canonical corpus available in Chinese.
Translations and research
- Bloomfield, Maurice, ed. Itivuttaka. Pali Text Society, 1948. (Pāli edition.)
- Ireland, John D., trans. The Itivuttaka: The Buddha’s Sayings. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1991. (English translation of the Pāli.)
- Sujato, Bhikkhu, and Brahmali, Bhikkhu. The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, 2014. (For the canonical position of the Itivṛttaka.)
- Hiraoka, Satoshi. “The Sanskrit Itivṛttaka Mss from Bagh,” Indo-Iranian Journal 50.4 (2007), 393–408. (On Sanskrit Itivṛttaka fragments.)
- 平岡聡 Hiraoka Satoshi. 『律と説話の研究』. (For the Mūla-Sarvāstivāda Itivṛttaka tradition.)
Other points of interest
The Běn-shì jīng is one of the principal Chinese sources for the Indian “twelve limbs” (dvādaśa-aṅga) genre-classification of Buddhist literature, which divides canonical Buddhist texts into the categories sūtra, geya, vyākaraṇa, gāthā, udāna, nidāna, avadāna, itivṛttaka, jātaka, vaipulya, adbhuta-dharma, and upadeśa. Xuánzàng’s careful preservation of the iti-vṛttaka generic identity is significant for the history of Chinese Buddhist literary classification.
Links
- CBETA online
- Wikipedia: Itivuttaka
- Kanseki DB
- 玄奘 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (655): [ 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.nz