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阿毘達磨法蘊足論

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Text ID
KR6l0002
Date
100–300
Dynasty
唐

Āpídámó Fǎyùn Zúlùn 阿毘達磨法蘊足論

Abhidharma-dharma-skandha-pāda-śāstra: Treatise on the Aggregation of Dharmas by 目犍連 (造), 玄奘 (譯)

About the work

The Āpídámó Fǎyùn Zúlùn 阿毘達磨法蘊足論 (Skt. Abhidharma-dharma-skandha-pāda-śāstra, CBETA T26n1537) is one of the six canonical “feet” (六足論) of the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, 12 juan, traditionally attributed to the Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana 尊者大目乾連. Xuánzàng 玄奘 completed the translation at the Dà Cí’ēn-sì 大慈恩寺, Hóngfǎyuàn 弘法苑, on the fourteenth day of the ninth month of Xiǎoqìng 顯慶 4 (14 September 659 CE), according to the colophon in the final juan: 三藏玄奘法師，以皇唐顯慶四年九月十四日，奉詔於大慈恩寺弘法苑譯訖。大慈恩寺沙門釋光筆受，靖邁飾文.

Prefaces

The final juan carries an extended prose colophon (translated from a Sanskrit preface or composed by the translation team) praising the Sarvāstivāda tradition as the foremost of all Buddhist schools, and explaining the title: the text collects (法蘊) the 37 qualities pertaining to awakening (菩提分法) and other key dharmic categories in 21 chapters (品). The colophon notes that the text’s title combines dharma (法), skandha (蘊 “aggregation”), and pāda (足 “foot”), signifying its role as one of the six supports of the canonical Abhidharma body.

Abstract

The Dharma-skandha-pāda is organized in 21 thematic chapters (品), treating subjects including the 37 bodhipākṣika-dharmas (factors of awakening), the aggregates, the sense-spheres, the elements, dependent origination, and various lists of moral and psychological categories. Like the Saṅgīti-paryāya (KR6l0001), it is traditionally attributed to an immediate disciple of the Buddha — here, Mahāmaudgalyāyana 大目乾連 (目犍連) — but this attribution is not accepted in modern scholarship. The received text represents the mature Sarvāstivāda scholastic tradition, probably compiled in Gandhāra or Kaśmīra in the first to third centuries CE.

The Pāli canon contains a text of the same name (Dhamma-saṅgaṇī) in the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, but it differs substantially; the Dharma-skandha represents the independent Sarvāstivāda systematization. Frauwallner (1995) identified it as one of the earliest strata of Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma due to its relatively straightforward structure compared to the Jñāna-prasthāna (KR6l0009).

The colophon names 普光 (Shìguāng 釋光) as brush-receiver (筆受) and 靖邁 Jìngmài as literary editor (飾文). 普光 is the same Tang scholar who later wrote the Jùshě lùn jì 俱舍論記 (KR6l0034).

Translations and research

  • Frauwallner, Erich. Studies in Abhidharma Literature and the Origins of Buddhist Philosophical Systems. Trans. Sophie Francis Kidd. Albany: SUNY Press, 1995, pp. 80–107.
  • Willemen, Dessein, and Cox. Sarvāstivāda Buddhist Scholasticism. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
  • Dhammajoti, Bhikkhu KL. Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma. 4th ed. Hong Kong: Centre of Buddhist Studies, 2009.

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