Fó shuō Mùlián suǒwèn jīng 佛說目連所問經
The Sūtra of Maudgalyāyana’s Inquiry by 法天 (Fǎtiān, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Q&A sūtra — Maudgalyāyana 目連 (the Buddha’s principal disciple of supernatural powers) inquires of the Buddha about points of monastic discipline — translated by Fǎtiān 法天 (法天) at the imperial Yìjīngyuàn 譯經院 of the Northern Sòng around the late 10th century.
Prefaces
Translator’s colophon: 宋天竺三藏法天奉詔譯.
Abstract
The Mùlián suǒwèn jīng belongs to the Vinaya-paripṛcchā genre — Q&A sūtras on points of monastic discipline (cf. KR6k0054 for the Upāli equivalent). The text was translated as part of the Northern Sòng imperial translation project (982–1017+) at the Yìjīngyuàn 譯經院 — one of the last major waves of Sanskrit-to-Chinese translation. Its translation by Fǎtiān reflects the Sòng court’s commitment to recovering Vinaya material absent from the existing Chinese canon.
Translations and research
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003. — On the Sòng-period translation projects.
- Bowring, Richard. The Religious Traditions of Japan, 500–1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.