Āpídámó Jíyìmén Zúlùn 阿毘達磨集異門足論
Abhidharma-saṅgīti-paryāya-pāda-śāstra: Treatise on the Canonical Text Grouping Diverse Teachings by 舍利弗 (說), 玄奘 (譯)
About the work
The Āpídámó Jíyìmén Zúlùn 阿毘達磨集異門足論 (Skt. Abhidharma-saṅgīti-paryāya-pāda-śāstra, CBETA T26n1536) is a foundational Abhidharma treatise of the Sarvāstivāda school, 20 juan, traditionally attributed to the Venerable Śāriputra 尊者舍利子. It is one of the “six feet” (六足論 liùzú lùn) of the Sarvāstivāda canonical Abhidharma corpus, which together with the Jñāna-prasthāna (發智論, KR6l0009) form the foundational seven-text canon of the school. Xuánzàng 玄奘 translated the text from Sanskrit into Chinese during the Táng dynasty; according to A. C. Muller’s catalogue of Xuánzàng’s works (drawing on the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù 開元釋教錄), the translation was made at Yùhuá-sì 玉華寺 from January 2, 660 to February 1, 664, spanning the Xiǎoqìng 顯慶 and Lóngshùo 龍朔 reign periods. The colophon in the received text is headed 說一切有部集異門足論, identifying the Sarvāstivāda affiliation.
Prefaces
No independent preface or postface survives in the received Taisho text beyond the canonical colophon. The text opens immediately with the narrative setting at Pāvā (Chinese: 波波邑), where Śāriputra teaches the community at the Buddha’s request by systematically glossing dharma-terms enumerated from one through ten, thereby providing a mnemonic catalogue of Abhidharma categories. This format reflects the structure of the Saṅgīti-suttanta of the Dīghānikāya (DN 33), upon which the text comments.
Abstract
The Saṅgīti-paryāya is traditionally attributed to Śāriputra in Chinese sources, but Sanskrit and Tibetan sources attribute it to Mahākauṣṭhila 摩訶拘絺羅 (another senior disciple of the Buddha), while Yaśomitra in his Abhidharmakośavyākhyā attributes it to Pūrṇa 富那. These discrepant attributions remain unresolved; modern scholarship treats all such attributions as later literary conventions. The text in its received form likely took shape within the Sarvāstivāda school in Gandhāra or Kaśmīra, probably in the first to third centuries CE. Its organizing principle is the saṅgīti (“common recitation”) tradition of grouping doctrinal terms numerically — a structural device known from the Nikāyas and Āgamas — here elaborated into a full Abhidharma exegesis.
The Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma identifies seven canonical texts: the body (śarīra) is the Jñāna-prasthāna (KR6l0009), and the six “feet” (pāda) are the Saṅgīti-paryāya, Dharma-skandha, Vijñāna-kāya, Prakaraṇa-pāda, Dhātu-kāya, and Prajñapti-śāstra. The Saṅgīti-paryāya is associated with Śāriputra because Śāriputra is depicted in the narrative frame as the preacher; but there is no evidence that the text was composed by the historical disciple of that name. The Mahāvibhāṣā (KR6l0010), the great Kaśmīra commentary on the Jñāna-prasthāna, cites the Saṅgīti-paryāya extensively.
Xuánzàng’s translation is the only extant Chinese version. A partial earlier translation, attributed variously to Wúzhēn 無眞 and others, does not appear to have survived. The Tibetan Buddhist canon does not contain this text.
Translations and research
- Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmāli, “The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts,” Canonicity (2014) — contextualizes the genre.
- Frauwallner, Erich. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. Trans. Sophie Francis Kidd. Albany: SUNY Press, 1995. Foundational comparative analysis of the six-foot corpus.
- Willemen, Charles, Bart Dessein, and Collett Cox. Sarvāstivāda Buddhist Scholasticism. Leiden: Brill, 1998, pp. 59–65.
- Dhammajoti, Bhikkhu KL. Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma. 4th ed. Hong Kong: Centre of Buddhist Studies, 2009.
Links
- CBETA Online
- Taisho Vol. 26, No. 1536
- Kanseki DB