Zhūfǎ zuìshàngwáng jīng 諸法最上王經
The Sūtra of the Supreme King of All Dharmas translated by 闍那崛多 (Shénàjuéduō, Jñānagupta, 譯)
About the work
T824 in one fascicle is the third Chinese rendering of the Sarva-dharma-vikrāma-rāja-type source-text — paralleled by Dharmamitra’s [[KR6i0528|Zhūfǎ yǒngwáng jīng (T822)]] of c. 424–442 and Prajñāruci’s [[KR6i0529|Yīqièfǎ gāowáng jīng (T823)]] of c. 538–550 — translated by the Suí Indian translator 闍那崛多 (Jñānagupta, 523–600) at the Dàxīngshànsì in Cháng’ān during his Suí Wéndì translation career (581–600).
Abstract
The narrative frame and doctrinal content are identical to those of T822 and T823: at the Veṇuvana at Rājagṛha on the uposatha day, the newly-ordained bhikṣu asks how to receive lay-donations worthily and to fulfil the path of the renunciant; the Buddha expounds the threefold doctrine of saṃgha-membership, saṃgha-work, and saṃgha-fruits, with the qualified bhikṣu declared the “Supreme King of All Dharmas” (諸法最上王 zhūfǎ zuìshàngwáng) of the title.
Jñānagupta’s late-sixth-century translation idiom is the most polished of the three: his rendering “聚落食 jùluò shí” (food gathered from the village) and “淨福田 jìng fútián” (pure field of merit) reflect the developed technical vocabulary of post-Daoan Suí translation. See KR6i0528 for the full doctrinal summary.
The three-translation succession is a paradigm case for the comparative study of Chinese Buddhist translation idiom across two centuries. Modern scholarship (esp. Mizuno Kōgen, Kanno Hiroshi) has used the T822/T823/T824 set to track the development of Buddhist Chinese terminology between c. 430 and 600.
Translations and research
See KR6i0528 for the relevant secondary literature.
Links
- CBETA online
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (590): [ 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/