Pínìmǔ jīng 毘尼母經
The Vinaya-Mātṛkā Sūtra (“Mother of the Vinaya”) (translator unknown)
About the work
An eight-fascicle anonymous Chinese rendering of the Vinaya-mātṛkā — a systematic index/synopsis of Vinaya rule-categories, parallel to the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya-mātṛkā (KR6k0022) but reflecting a different school tradition (probably Dharmaguptaka or Haimavata, on the basis of the doctrinal positions cited). 毘尼 pínì transliterates vinaya; 母 mǔ “mother” translates mātṛkā. Translator and date unknown; the catalog tradition assigns it to “lost translation” (失譯), with a probable date of late-Eastern Jìn / early-Liú-Sòng (4th–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 Pínì-mǔ jīng is one of the most important Indian vinaya-exegetical works preserved in Chinese, second only to the Sàpóduō pínì pípóshā (KR6k0021) in scope. The eight fascicles systematically expound rule-categories (the doctrinal taxonomy of prātimokṣa offences, the procedural taxonomy of karmavācanā-types, the institutional taxonomy of saṅgha-types, etc.). The school identification has been debated: doctrinal evidence has been variously read to suggest Dharmaguptaka, Haimavata, or even Mahāsāṃghika affinity. Modern scholarship (Hirakawa 1960, Clarke 2004) treats it as an indispensable witness for Indian vinaya-scholasticism predating the Mūlasarvāstivāda recensions.
Translations and research
- Hirakawa Akira 平川彰. Ritsuzō no kenkyū 律藏の研究. Tokyo: Sankibō, 1960.
- Clarke, Shayne. Vinaya Mātṛkā — Mother of the Monastic Codes, or Just Another Set of Lists? Indo-Iranian Journal 47 (2004): 77–120.
- Frauwallner, Erich. The Earliest Vinaya and the Beginnings of Buddhist Literature. Rome: IsMEO, 1956.
Links
- CBETA T24n1463
- 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