Fó shuō fànjiè zuìbào qīngzhòng jīng 佛說犯戒罪報輕重經
The Sūtra on the Light and Heavy Karmic Retributions for Violating the Precepts by 安世高 (An Shigao, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle sūtra on the karmic consequences of violating monastic precepts, translated by An Shigao 安世高 (安世高) at Luòyáng in the late Eastern Hàn period (148–170 CE). One of the earliest Buddhist texts translated into Chinese.
Prefaces
Translator’s colophon: 後漢安息國三藏安世高譯.
Abstract
The text classifies precept-violations by severity, mapping each rule to its karmic consequence in this life and future rebirths. Its early date — An Shigao was the first major translator of Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese — gives it special philological importance: the rendering shows the formative state of Chinese Buddhist translation idiom and provides evidence for the earliest Chinese Buddhist understanding of monastic discipline. Its inclusion in the Vinaya division reflects its precept-classification content rather than canonical status. Cf. modern scholarship by Forte (1995) and Nattier (2008) on An Shigao’s translation oeuvre and dating.
Translations and research
- Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations. Tokyo: International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, 2008.
- Forte, Antonino. The Hostage An Shigao and His Offspring: An Iranian Family in China. Kyoto: Italian School of East Asian Studies, 1995.
- Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Leiden: Brill, 1959; revised 2007.