Lǜ èrshíèr míngliǎo lùn 律二十二明了論
The Treatise of Twenty-Two Clarifications on the Vinaya (Skt. Vinaya-dvāviṃśati-prasannārtha-śāstra) by 弗陀多羅多 (Buddhatrāta, 造) and 真諦 (Paramārtha, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle abhidharmic-style verse summary of the Sammitīya / Sāṃmatīya Vinaya, in which the 250 bhikṣu training-rules are reduced to twenty-two doctrinal-systematic categories (pada / prasannārtha). Composed by the Indian author Buddhatrāta (弗陀多羅多); translated by Paramārtha 真諦 (真諦) at the Chén 陳 court in 568 CE.
Prefaces
Translator’s colophon: 陳天竺三藏真諦譯. Paramārtha’s preface (preserved in the Chū sānzàng jìjí T55n2145) describes the text as belonging to the Sammitīya (正量部 Zhèngliàngbù) — one of the four principal sub-schools of the Sthaviravāda, dominant in central India in the 7th century according to Xuánzàng’s Dà Táng xīyù jì 大唐西域記 (T51n2087).
Abstract
The Lǜ èrshíèr míngliǎo lùn is the only extant Sammitīya Vinaya text in any language. The school’s complete Vinaya did not survive its decline in the late-medieval Indian period, leaving only this systematic verse-summary as a witness. The “twenty-two clarifications” are the doctrinal-procedural headings under which the Sammitīya organised its understanding of the Vinaya rules: the categories include upādhyāya (preceptor) status, training-rule classification, karma-categories, and other systematic-abhidharmic frameworks. The work is therefore a uniquely important witness to a now-lost Indian sectarian tradition. Demiéville (1953) and Bareau (1955) treat it as one of the most important sources for Sammitīya doctrine.
Translations and research
- Demiéville, Paul. Le Concile de Lhasa. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1952; on Sammitīya context.
- Bareau, André. Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule. Saigon: EFEO, 1955. — Standard treatment of Sammitīya history.
- Lamotte, Étienne. Histoire du bouddhisme indien. Louvain, 1958.
- Yìnshùn 印順. Shuō yīqiè yǒu-bù wéi-zhǔ de lùn-shū yǔ lùn-shī zhī yánjiū. Taipei, 1968.
Links
- CBETA T24n1461
- 真諦 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (565): [ 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