Sàpóduō pínì pípóshā 薩婆多毘尼毘婆沙
The Sarvāstivāda-Vinaya-Vibhāṣā (Commentary on the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya) (translator unknown)
About the work
A nine-fascicle Chinese rendering of the Sanskrit Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-vibhāṣā — a commentary on the Shísòng lǜ (KR6k0016) preserving Indian Sarvāstivāda exegetical tradition. 薩婆多 Sàpóduō transliterates sarvāstivāda; 毘尼 pínì transliterates vinaya; 毘婆沙 pípóshā transliterates vibhāṣā (commentary). Translator and date unknown; the catalog tradition assigns it to “lost translation” (失譯), but the text’s diction and translation conventions place it in the late-Eastern Jìn / early-Liú-Sòng period (late 4th to early 5th c.).
Prefaces
No translator-attribution survives. The text is documented as anonymous in the Chū sānzàng jìjí (T55n2145) and the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù (T55n2154).
Abstract
The Sàpóduō pínì pípóshā is the principal Sarvāstivāda Vinaya commentary in the Chinese canon (parallel to the Dharmaguptaka Pínì-mǔ jīng KR6k0044 and the Theravāda Shànjiàn lǜ pípóshā KR6k0043). The text systematically expounds the bhikṣu-prātimokṣa of the Shísòng lǜ, providing exegetical comment on the rule-formulations, with technical discussions of karmavācanā procedure, school identification, and inter-Vinaya comparison. It is one of the earliest examples of Indian vinaya-vibhāṣā exegetical literature preserved in Chinese, and a key witness for the early Sarvāstivāda exegetical tradition.
Translations and research
- Hirakawa Akira 平川彰. Ritsuzō no kenkyū 律藏の研究. Tokyo: Sankibō, 1960. — Discusses the vinaya-vibhāṣā literature.
- Yìnshùn 印順. Yuánshǐ fójiào shèngdiǎn zhī jíchéng 原始佛教聖典之集成. Taipei: Zhèng-wén chūbǎnshè, 1971; revised 1988. — Comprehensive Chinese-language treatment.
Links
- CBETA T23n1440
- Dazangthings date evidence (417): [ 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. (source)
- Kanseki DB