Fó shuō Shèlìfú huǐguò jīng 佛說舍利弗悔過經
The Sūtra of Śāriputra’s Confession of Faults by 安世高 (An Shigao, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle short sūtra on confession of monastic faults, attributed to An Shigao 安世高 (安世高) in the late Eastern Hàn (148–170 CE). One of the earliest Vinaya-related texts in Chinese.
Prefaces
Translator’s colophon: 後漢安世高譯.
Abstract
The text presents Śāriputra’s confession of his transgressions before the Buddha — a model for the practice of deśanā-pāpa (formal confession of fault), a key disciplinary procedure in both Vinaya and Mahāyāna bodhisattva-precept tradition. As an early translation, the text provides evidence for the transmission of Buddhist confessional practice to early Chinese monastic communities. Nattier (2008) treats the An Shigao attribution with some caution.
Translations and research
- Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations. Tokyo, 2008.