Fó shuō zhūfǎ yǒngwáng jīng 佛說諸法勇王經
The Buddha Speaks: The Sūtra of the Hero-King of All Dharmas translated by 曇摩蜜多 (Tánmómìduō, Dharmamitra, 譯)
About the work
T822 in one fascicle is a doctrinal sūtra on the bhikṣu’s threefold qualification for receiving lay-donations and for fulfilling the anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi aspiration, translated by the Liú-Sòng Kashmiri translator 曇摩蜜多 (Dharmamitra, 356–442) at Jiànkāng during his eighteen-year Yuánjiā 元嘉 translation career (424–442). Per CANWWW the text is paralleled by [[KR6i0529|Dìyī yì fǎshèng jīng 第一義法勝經 (T823)]] (translated by Prajñāruci) and [[KR6i0530|Zhūfǎ zuìshàngwáng jīng 諸法最上王經 (T824)]] (translated by Jñānagupta) — the three texts represent successive renderings of the same Indian source-text spanning some 150 years of Chinese Buddhist translation. The “Dharma-Hero-King” of the title translates a Sanskrit Sarva-dharma-vikrāma-rāja-type compound.
Abstract
The text opens at the Veṇuvana at Rājagṛha, where the Buddha is seated with 1,250 bhikṣus — the converted jaṭila fire-Brahmins of Uruvilvā Kāśyapa, Upatiṣya (=Śāriputra), and Kolita (=Mahāmaudgalyāyana) heading the list — all Mahā-Arhats, “their āsravas exhausted, their bonds severed, having reached the further shore.” On the fifteenth day of the half-month, at the time of the prātimokṣa-recitation, a newly-ordained bhikṣu approaches the Buddha and asks how a bhikṣu may worthily receive lay-donations, and how the bhikṣu who has gone forth in faith may fulfil the path he expects to walk.
The Buddha responds with a tripartite doctrine: a bhikṣu who possesses three qualifications receives lay-donations without folly, repays them with pure conduct, and fulfils the path of the renunciant. The three qualifications are: (1) inclusion in the saṃgha-count (入於僧數 rù yú sēngshù); (2) diligent practice of the saṃgha-work (勤修僧業 qínxiū sēngyè); (3) attainment of the saṃgha’s good fruits (得僧善利 dé sēng shànlì). Each qualification is then expounded:
(1) Saṃgha-count: the catur-pratipanna-catur-phala-prāpta — the four-pairs-of-arhats and the four-attainments — namely the srota-āpatti-pratipanna and srota-āpatti-phala, the sakṛd-āgāmi-pratipanna and sakṛd-āgāmi-phala, the anāgāmi-pratipanna and anāgāmi-phala, the arhat-pratipanna and arhat-phala. (2) Saṃgha-work: the saptatriṃśad-bodhi-pakṣya-dharma — the four smṛty-upasthāna, four prahāṇa, four ṛddhi-pāda, five indriya, five bala, seven bodhy-aṅga, eightfold path. (3) Saṃgha’s good fruits: the trī-vidyā (the three knowledges of the Arhat — recollection of past lives, divine eye, knowledge of the destruction of the āsravas), the aṣṭa-vimokṣa, and the cāturmahābhūta-vipaśyanā. The bhikṣu possessed of all three qualifications is the “Hero-King of All Dharmas” (諸法勇王 zhūfǎ yǒngwáng) of the title.
The doctrine integrates the canonical Hīnayāna soteriological apparatus with a developed Mahāyāna interpretive frame, characteristic of Liú-Sòng-period translation work.
Translations and research
No standalone Western translation located. For Dharmamitra’s translation idiom and the Liú-Sòng monastic-translation context see:
- Tang Yongtong 湯用彤. Hàn-Wèi liǎng-Jìn nán-běi-cháo Fójiào shǐ 漢魏兩晉南北朝佛教史. Beijing: Zhōnghuá shūjú, 1983.
Links
- CBETA online
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (430): [ 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/