Chēngzàn dàshèng gōngdé jīng 稱讚大乘功德經
The Sūtra of Praising the Merits of the Great Vehicle (alt. Xiǎnshuō bàngfǎ yèzhàng jīng 顯說謗法業障經) translated by 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)
About the work
T840 in one fascicle is a Mahāyāna sūtra on the doctrine of the superiority of the Great Vehicle (大乘 dàshèng) over the śrāvaka-vehicle, translated by the great Táng pilgrim-translator 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 602–664) at his Cháng’ān translation bureau between his return from India in 645 and his death in 664. A parallel translation by the otherwise less-known Táng monk 智嚴 (Zhìyán) of the Zhìxiāngsì 至相寺 survives as [[KR6i0547|Shuō miàofǎ juédìng yèzhàng jīng 說妙法決定業障經 (T841)]]. The alternate Chinese title 顯說謗法業障經 (“Sūtra Manifestly Expounding the Karmic Obstruction of Slandering the Dharma”) emphasises the polemical content.
Abstract
The text opens at the Hall of the Great Merit-Adornment of the Buddhas’ Dharma-Realm Treasury (法界藏諸佛所行眾寶莊嚴大功德殿 fǎjièzàng zhūfó suǒxíng zhòngbǎo zhuāngyán dà gōngdé diàn) — a celestial setting drawn from Mahāyāna vaipulya-style framing — where the Buddha is teaching innumerable śrāvakas and bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva manifest in female form named Déyánhuá 德嚴華 (“Virtue-Adorned-Flower”) asks the Buddha what kind of “evil friend” (pāpa-kalyāṇa-mitra) the new bodhisattva should avoid.
The Buddha responds with a striking polemical answer: the śrāvaka-vehicle adherents are the “evil friends” of the new bodhisattva. Among all the beings of the world — including Māra, Brahmā, Indra, śramaṇas and Brahmins — none are so dangerous to the new bodhisattva’s practice as those who delight in the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha vehicles. The reason: a bodhisattva must single-mindedly seek the anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi for the salvation of all beings; those of the two-vehicle disposition seek only their own parinirvāṇa; their company will infect the bodhisattva with the lower aspiration. The new bodhisattva should therefore not share monastic quarters with two-vehicle adherents, not share a room, not share walking-meditation paths, not travel together with them. Only when a bodhisattva has become deeply versed in the Mahāyāna and attained “indestructible faith” (不壞信 bùhuài xìn, avetya-prasāda) is it permissible to share quarters — for the purpose of converting the two-vehicle adherent.
The body of the sūtra expounds the doctrine of the superiority of the Great Vehicle through a series of similes and arguments, culminating in the doctrine that those who slander the Mahāyāna incur the gravest karmic obstruction (the title’s “manifestly expounding” 顯說 the bàngfǎ yèzhàng — the karmic obstruction of dharma-slander). The doctrinal polemic reflects the developed seventh-century Mahāyāna reading of the śrāvaka-vehicle as soteriologically inferior; Xuánzàng’s version is one of the most pointed expressions in the Chinese canon.
Translations and research
No standalone Western translation located. On the Mahāyāna polemic against the śrāvaka-vehicle and the doctrine of bàng-fǎ (slander of the Dharma) see:
- Schopen, Gregory. “The Mahāyāna and the Middle Period in Indian Buddhism: Through a Chinese Looking-Glass.” Eastern Buddhist 32 (2000): 1–25.
- Williams, Paul. Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2009.
Other points of interest
The text’s startlingly polemical injunction not to share quarters with śrāvaka-vehicle adherents is one of the strongest Mahāyāna-vs.-śrāvaka polemics in the Chinese canon, and reflects the institutional separation between Mahāyāna and Śrāvakayāna monastic traditions that obtained in some Indian Buddhist contexts.
Links
- CBETA online
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (655): [ 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/