Fó shuō zhāntánshù jīng 佛說栴檀樹經
The Buddha Speaks: The Sūtra of the Sandalwood Tree (alt. Tánshù jīng 檀樹經) translator unknown (失譯, 譯), assigned to the Hàn record (附漢錄)
About the work
T805 in one fascicle is a brief anonymous avadāna-type sūtra, assigned by the canonical catalogues to the Hàn period (附漢錄, “appended to the Hàn record”). The text takes its title from the sandalwood tree (栴檀樹 zhāntánshù, Skt. candana) whose tree-spirit is the principal supernatural agent in the narrative. The story is told in the avadāna genre and constitutes one of several short anonymous narrative sūtras in the early Chinese canon whose translation history is irrecoverable.
Abstract
The text opens at Vaiśālī (維耶梨), where a kalyāṇa-mitra (迦羅越 jiāluóyuè) lay-believer invites the Buddha to a meal. After the dedication, the Buddha smiles and a five-coloured ray issues from his mouth, circles his body three times and returns to the crown of his head. Ānanda asks the meaning of the smile, and the Buddha tells the following narrative.
A party of five hundred merchants returning from a sea-voyage with treasure pass through deep mountains and stop overnight. Setting out at dawn, four hundred ninety-nine of them depart, leaving one straggler behind, who oversleeps. He is then caught in a sudden snowfall, loses the path, and weeps for his life. A great sandalwood-tree spirit takes pity on him, shelters him for three months, and feeds and clothes him. When spring comes the merchant requests permission to return home; the spirit grants him a single golden cake to carry him to the next town. Before leaving the merchant insists on knowing the tree’s name; the spirit tries to evade (“Do not ask”), but eventually reveals that it is sandalwood, whose roots, stems, branches and leaves cure a hundred diseases.
The merchant returns home. Soon after, the king of the country falls grievously ill with a headache. After all sacrifices and prayers fail, the royal physicians declare that only sandalwood will cure him. The king issues an edict offering the discoverer of sandalwood a noble title and his daughter’s hand. The merchant, recalling the spirit’s warning but tempted by reward, betrays the tree’s location to the king. The king sends woodcutters; the tree is felled and used to cure the king. But the felled tree, drained of its spirit, can no longer perform its ordinary function, and the merchant who betrayed his benefactor falls into karmic disgrace.
The doctrinal point is the betrayal of the kalyāṇa-mitra who had saved one’s life — a foundational ingratitude (akṛta-jñatā) that issues in karmic ruin. The text is one of a small group of short anonymous narrative sūtras in the early Chinese canon (cf. [[KR6i0512|Kūshù jīng]] 枯樹經, T806) whose Six-Dynasties or Hàn classification is conjectural; the language is consistent with the early translation idiom but not securely datable.
Translations and research
No standalone Western translation located. For the avadāna genre and its place in early Chinese Buddhist transmission see:
- Strong, John S. The Legend of King Aśoka: A Study and Translation of the Aśokāvadāna. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.
- Mair, Victor H., ed. The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994 (for the avadāna-style narrative tradition in early Chinese).