Fó shuō xìnjiě zhìlì jīng 佛說信解智力經
The Buddha Speaks: The Sūtra on the Power of Faith-Understanding (Skt. Aparimitaguṇānuśaṁsā-dhāraṇī-sūtra per CANWWW, but content is the Daśa-bala-sūtra type) translated by 法賢 (Fǎxián, formerly Tiānxīzāi 天息災, 譯)
About the work
T802 in one fascicle is a brief doctrinal sūtra on the five powers (pañca-bala: 信進念定慧 = śraddhā, vīrya, smṛti, samādhi, prajñā) and the ten powers of the Tathāgata (daśa-bala), translated at the Sòng Institute for the Translation of Sūtras at Kāifēng by 法賢 (Fǎxián, the post-987 name of Tiānxīzāi 天息災; d. 1000) by imperial order. The translation falls between the Institute’s inauguration in 982 and Fǎxián’s death in 1000. The colophon lists his pre-renaming title 明教大師 alongside his civil rank 朝奉大夫試光祿卿, characteristic of the Sòng Institute’s bureaucratic-monastic translation team.
Abstract
The text opens at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvastī, where the Buddha addresses an assembly of bhikṣus on the dharma of the power of faith-understanding (信解力法). He warns against śrāvakas who falsely claim to have penetrated this dharma, who declare themselves to “know it as it really is” and qualified to teach it as if it were a śrāvaka-attainment: such claims are false (虛妄), because the dharma is the exclusive domain of the Tathāgatas and is not shared (不共) with the śrāvaka-vehicle.
The Buddha then expounds the doctrine in two stages. First, the five powers (五力) of faith-understanding: faith (śraddhā), effort (vīrya), mindfulness (smṛti), concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (prajñā) — the standard list of the pañca-bala among the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment. Second, the ten powers of the Tathāgata (daśa-bala) by which alone the Tathāgata “knows the unsurpassed seat of Buddhahood, roars the lion’s roar in the great assembly, and turns the wheel of the marvellous Dharma”: (1) knowledge of what is and is not the [proper] place; (2) knowledge of the karmic results of past, present and future actions; (3) knowledge of the various dhyānas, vimokṣas and samāpattis; (4) knowledge of beings’ superior and inferior faculties; (5) knowledge of the various inclinations of beings; (6) knowledge of the various dispositions of beings; (7) knowledge of the path leading everywhere; (8) recollection of past lives; (9) the divine eye; (10) the knowledge of the destruction of the āsravas. (The text enumerates each power with its application — that the Tathāgata, possessing it, knows the unsurpassed seat and turns the wheel.)
The doctrine is the canonical Daśa-bala-sūtra exposition (with parallels in Madhyama-āgama MA 27 and Pāli MN 12, Mahāsīhanāda-sutta) framed by an opening polemic against śrāvaka-style appropriation of an exclusively-Buddha attainment — characteristic of the Mahāyāna repositioning of śrāvaka doctrine.
Translations and research
No standalone Western translation located. For the daśa-bala doctrine see:
- Lamotte, Étienne. Le Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra). Vol. III. Louvain: Publications de l’Institut Orientaliste de Louvain, 1970, pp. 1505–1566 (extended treatment of the daśa-bala).
- Anālayo, Bhikkhu. A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya. Vol. 1. Taipei: Dharma Drum Publishing, 2011.
Links
- CBETA online
- Kanseki DB
- 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. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1/