Gēnběn shuōyīqiēyǒubù pínàiyē yào shì 根本說一切有部毘奈耶藥事

The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya: Bhaiṣajya-vastu (Medicine) by 義淨 (Yìjìng, 譯)

About the work

The eighteen-fascicle Chinese translation of the Bhaiṣajya-vastu 藥事 — the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya skandhaka on monastic medicine. 藥 yào translates bhaiṣajya. Translated by Yìjìng (義淨) at Cháng’ān in the early 8th century. The Bhaiṣajya-vastu is one of the longest of the seventeen Mūlasarvāstivāda vastus, second only to the Saṅghabheda-vastu and Kṣudraka-vastu.

Prefaces

Translator’s colophon: 大唐三藏義淨奉制譯.

Abstract

The Bhaiṣajya-vastu presents far more than its title implies. While ostensibly the skandhaka on monastic medicine — listing permitted bhaiṣajya materials (the eight types: ghee, butter, oil, honey, sugar, etc.), prohibited substances, and the procedural rules for accepting and storing medicine — it is in fact one of the principal avadāna anthologies of the Mūlasarvāstivāda canon, containing some of the most extensive Buddha-biographical narratives, jātaka-tales, and ancient-history accounts in any Vinaya. Substantial portions correspond to the Sanskrit Bhaiṣajyavastu preserved in the Gilgit manuscripts and to the Tibetan sMan-gyi gźi. The text is a key source for late-Indian Buddhist hagiography, including extensive narrative material on Aśoka and Upagupta. The Bhaiṣajyavastu of the Sarvāstivāda, by contrast, is much shorter (Banerjee 1957).

Translations and research

  • Demoto Mitsuyo 出本充代. Bhaiṣajyavastu no kenkyū 譬說藥事の研究. Kyoto: Heirakuji shoten, various publications. — Detailed Japanese-language study.
  • Panglung, Jampa Losang. Die Erzählstoffe des Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya: Analysiert auf Grund der tibetischen Übersetzung. Tokyo: Reiyukai Library, 1981. — Catalog of avadānas including those of the Bhaiṣajyavastu.
  • Schopen, Gregory. Buddhist Monks and Business Matters. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2004.
  • CBETA T24n1448
  • 義淨 DILA
  • Dazangthings date evidence (705): [ 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