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 Dìyī yì fǎshèng jīng 第一義法勝經 (T823) (translated by Prajñāruci) and 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
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
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/