Dàchéng sìfǎ jīng 大乘四法經
The Mahāyāna Sūtra of the Four Dharmas (second translation) translated by 實叉難陀 (Shíchānántuó = Śikṣānanda, 譯)
About the work
T774 in one fascicle is a second Tang Chinese rendering of the Mahāyāna catur-dharma sūtra previously translated by 地婆訶羅 (Divākara) as KR6i0469. This translation is by 實叉難陀 (Śikṣānanda, 652–710), the Khotanese translator best known for his retranslation of the [[KR6q0001|Avataṃsaka-sūtra (T279)]] under the patronage of Empress 武則天 Wǔ Zétiān. The title is identical to Divākara’s earlier rendering.
Abstract
The text expounds the same fourfold catur-dharma schema as Divākara’s KR6i0469: four indispensable dharmas of the bodhisattva path — typically the bodhi-citta, the kalyāṇa-mitra, kṣānti, and āraṇya-discipline — and presents them in a stand-alone short sūtra-form for recitation and study. The two Chinese versions reflect different Indian witnesses or different translators’ choices for the same Indian source: Śikṣānanda’s translation idiom is closer to the standardised post-玄奘 Xuánzàng register, while Divākara’s preserves more of the pre-Xuánzàng Tang style. Comparison of the two yields one of the small textual-critical materials available for the post-Xuánzàng standardisation of Mahāyāna translation conventions.
The dating window 695–700 reflects Śikṣānanda’s principal period of activity in Cháng’ān/Luòyáng under Wǔ Zétiān’s patronage; he completed the Avataṃsaka in 699 and continued to translate shorter texts in the following years. The Dàchéng sìfǎ jīng is one of the secondary productions of his bureau, reflecting the Tang court’s interest in providing the Chinese Buddhist community with multiple authoritative versions of late-Indian doctrinal compendia.
Translations and research
- Forte, Antonino. Mingtang and Buddhist Utopias in the History of the Astronomical Clock. Rome: IsMEO, 1988. (Important for Śikṣānanda’s translation milieu under Wǔ Zétiān.)
- Cleary, Thomas, trans. The Flower Ornament Scripture. 3 vols. Boulder: Shambhala, 1984–1987. (For Śikṣānanda’s principal translation, the Avataṃsaka.)
Links
- CBETA online
- Kanseki DB
- 實叉難陀 DILA
- 武則天 DILA
- 武則天 CBDB
- Dazangthings date evidence (695): [ 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