Pípóshā Lùn 鞞婆沙論
Vibhāṣā-śāstra: Commentary Treatise by 尸陀槃尼 (撰), 僧伽跋澄 (譯)
About the work
The Pípóshā Lùn 鞞婆沙論 (Skt. Vibhāṣā-śāstra, CBETA T28n1547) is a Former Qin (符秦) dynasty translation of a Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma commentary, 14 juan, attributed to the arhat Dhṛtakavarman 尸陀槃尼 (尸陀槃尼) and translated by Saṃghabhūti 僧伽跋澄 (僧伽跋澄). The Taisho header reads “No. 1547 [cf. Nos. 1543–1546],” indicating it belongs to the group of Vibhāṣā-genre texts on the Jñāna-prasthāna / Aṣṭagrantha. The text is thus a commentary on Kātyāyanīputra’s root Abhidharma text, predating and overlapping with the material in the Mahāvibhāṣā (T1545, KR6l0010).
Prefaces
No independent preface survives in the received text. The opening identifies the author as 阿羅漢尸陀槃尼撰 (“Composed by the arhat Śīlabhattanikā” or Dhṛtakavarman) and the translator as 符秦罽賓三藏僧伽跋澄譯.
Abstract
The Pípóshā lùn represents one of several earlier Vibhāṣā-type translations circulating before Xuánzàng’s complete translation of the Mahāvibhāṣā. Its attribution to an Indian arhat named Śīlabhattanikā (Dhṛtakavarman) situates it within the Kaśmīra Sarvāstivāda commentarial tradition. The translator Saṃghabhūti 僧伽跋澄, a Kaśmīra (Jìbīn 罽賓) monk of the Former Qin period, also translated the Upaśrī texts and collaborated on several projects in Cháng’ān. He worked with Zhú Fóniàn (竺佛念) on several translations during the Former Qin (351–394 CE).
The relationship of this text to T1543–1546 (the Aṣṭagrantha-group) indicates that it comments on the same root Jñāna-prasthāna material, offering an alternative Vibhāṣā tradition to that preserved in the Mahāvibhāṣā. It is discussed in modern scholarship primarily as a predecessor transmission of Vibhāṣā literature.
Translations and research
- Willemen, Dessein, and Cox. Sarvāstivāda Buddhist Scholasticism. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
- No substantial secondary literature specifically on this translation located.
Links
- CBETA Online
- Taisho Vol. 28, No. 1547
- Kanseki DB