Fó shuō xiánzhě wǔ fúdé jīng 佛說賢者五福德經
The Buddha Speaks: The Sūtra of the Worthy Person’s Five Merits translated by 白法祖 (Bái Fǎzǔ, 譯)
About the work
T777 in one fascicle is a brief sūtra-translation by 白法祖 (Bái Fǎzǔ, fl. ca. 290–306), a Western Jìn translator of Kuchean / Kuchá-Indian descent active at Cháng’ān at the very end of the third century. The title 賢者五福德 (xiánzhě wǔ fúdé) — “the worthy person’s five merits / five rewards of merit” — names a mātṛkā of five rewards earned through the practice of giving and the upholding of moral śīla.
Abstract
The text expounds a fivefold mātṛkā of rewards associated with the practice of dāna (giving) and the cultivation of moral conduct. The standard list comprises the five-fold fú-dé (puṇya-rewards) for the lay practitioner: (1) long life, (2) good appearance / pleasing form, (3) strength and health, (4) eloquence / verbal skill, and (5) rebirth in heaven. The Buddha addresses the doctrine to a household audience and emphasises that the five merits are the karmic fruit of generous giving, observance of the precepts, and the development of virtuous mental dispositions.
The fivefold mātṛkā is a popular doctrine of late-period mainstream Buddhism, well-attested in the Pāli Aṅguttara-nikāya and in Saṃyukta-āgama-class parallels. Its brief sūtra-form rendering is one of several didactic short sūtras Bái Fǎzǔ translated to provide Chinese-language Buddhist audiences with stand-alone treatments of upāsaka-oriented merit-doctrines. The dating window 290–306 reflects the standard catalogue placement of his activity at the end of the third century.
Translations and research
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
No standalone English translation located. Bái Fǎzǔ is briefly treated in:
- Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Leiden: Brill, 1959 (rev. ed. 2007). (For the Western Jìn translation milieu.)
Links
- CBETA online T0777
- Dazangthings source 116 — Dazangthings date evidence (300): [ Fei 597 ] Fei Changfang 費長房. Lidai sanbao ji (LDSBJ) 歷代三寶紀 T2034. T2034 (XLIX) 66b14, 74b11, 113a11.
- Kanseki DB
- 白法祖 DILA