Fó shuō yǎndào súyè jīng 佛說演道俗業經
The Buddha Speaks: The Sūtra Explaining the Path and the Lay Profession translated by 聖堅 (Shèngjiān, Āryasthira, 譯)
About the work
T820 in one fascicle is a doctrinal sūtra on the differences among the laity according to their use of wealth, and on the relationship between lay practice and the bodhisattva-path, translated by 聖堅 (Shèngjiān, Āryasthira) at the Western Qín 乞伏秦 (385–431) capital. The text is one of a small group of doctrinal sūtras addressing the laity directly, and was popular as a guide to lay-Buddhist practice across the medieval period.
Abstract
The text opens at the Jetavana, where the elder Anāthapiṇḍada (給孤獨氏 Jǐgūdú shì) and five hundred upāsakas come to the Buddha and ask: how does the householder manage his property; how does the path of the renunciant differ from that of the householder; how does one most rapidly attain the anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi; and how should one teach beings?
The Buddha responds first with a tripartite typology of wealth: (1) lower wealth (下財 xiàcái) — the man who hoards money without daring to spend it on himself, his parents or his wife and children, who knows no charity, who refuses to honour the holy ones, who imagines his wealth permanent and is consumed by it on death, falling into the hells; (2) middle wealth (中財 zhōngcái) — the man who supports his parents with proper filial devotion, who provides for his wife and children, who treats his servants kindly, but who does not believe in karmic continuity, imagines his self permanent, fails to honour the śramaṇas and the holy, and so attains only middling karmic-fruit; (3) higher wealth (上財 shàngcái) — the man who supports parents and family in piety, who gives to the destitute, who honours the śramaṇas, who teaches the dharma to the foolish, who through upāya protects all beings — likened to the kṣīra-rich cow whose milk yields successively more refined products (milk, curd, butter, ghee, maṇḍa-essence), the highest among lay practitioners.
The Buddha then addresses the second question — the bodhisattva-path proper — through the aṣṭa-mārga, the four brahma-vihāra, the six pāramitā, and the three vimokṣa-mukha. The lay practitioner of upper-middle and higher wealth (shàngcái) is naturally inducted into the bodhisattva-vow and becomes a future Buddha. The text closes with the assembly’s joyful reception.
The doctrine — that the householder’s path is not radically distinct from the bodhisattva-path, but is its lay-modulation — is foundational for the East Asian Buddhist accommodation of householder practice and the development of Pure-Land lay-piety traditions. The text was widely cited in medieval Chinese Buddhist yulu and jiyao literature.
Translations and research
No standalone Western translation located. For the lay-practice tradition in early medieval Chinese Buddhism see:
- Cole, Alan. Mothers and Sons in Chinese Buddhism. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.
- Gethin, Rupert. The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Links
- CBETA online
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (245, 400): [ Saitō 2000 ] Saitō Takanobu [Qiteng Longxin] 斉藤隆信. “Hanyi Fodian zhong jiesong de yunlü yu Yan dao su ye jing 汉译佛典中偈颂的韵律与演〈道俗业经〉.” Translated by Yao Changshou 姚长寿. Zhongguo Foxueyuan xuebao “Fayuan” 中国佛学院学报《法源》 18 (2000): 74-86. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/321/