Shèlìfú Āpítán Lùn 舍利弗阿毘曇論
Śāriputra-abhidharma-śāstra: Abhidharma Treatise of Śāriputra by 舍利弗 (attributed), 曇摩耶舍 (等譯), 曇摩崛多 (等譯)
About the work
The Shèlìfú Āpítán Lùn 舍利弗阿毘曇論 (Skt. Śāriputra-abhidharma-śāstra, CBETA T28n1548) is a Yao Qin (姚秦) dynasty translation of the canonical Abhidharma text of the Dharmaguptaka 法藏部 school, 30 juan, attributed to the Venerable Śāriputra (舍利弗). It was translated by Dharmayaśas 曇摩耶舍 (曇摩耶舍) and Dharmagupta 曇摩崛多 (曇摩崛多) and others. The text is prefaced by a preface by the Chinese monk Dào Biāo 道摽 (Shì Dàobiāo 釋道摽).
Prefaces
A preface by 道摽 (Shì Dàobiāo) opens the text. He identifies the work as “阿毘曇” (“Great Dharma” or “Unique Dharma,” explaining the title as 無比法 “incomparable dharma”), contextualizes it within the post-parinirvāṇa canonical transmission, and names Śāriputra as the source: the Buddha praised Śāriputra’s “five dharmas” (wǔ fǎ 五法, i.e., śīla, samādhi, prajñā, liberation, and the wisdom of liberation) as the Great Abhidharma. The preface also warns against sectarian fragmentation, praising this text’s unity of teaching. The translators are identified as two Kaśmīra (Tiānzhú 天竺 in some editions) monks: Dharmayaśas 曇摩耶舍 and Dharmagupta 曇摩崛多, working under the Yao Qin.
Abstract
The Śāriputrābhidharma is the canonical Abhidharma text of the Dharmaguptaka (法藏部) school, one of the major non-Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma traditions. While the Sarvāstivāda had the seven-text canon culminating in the Jñāna-prasthāna and Mahāvibhāṣā, the Dharmaguptaka had their own Śāriputrābhidharma as the central Abhidharma text. It is attributed to Śāriputra but modern scholarship treats this as a convention; the text likely was composed by Dharmaguptaka masters in the 1st–3rd centuries CE.
The Śāriputrābhidharma is distinctive for its broad structural organization covering all major Abhidharma topics — aggregates, sense-bases, elements, faculties, dependent origination, the path, and so on — in an accessible format. It is the only complete Abhidharma text of a non-Sarvāstivāda school preserved in Chinese translation, and thus has special importance for understanding the diversity of early Buddhist scholasticism.
Modern scholarship (Bapat 1970; Dhammajoti 2009; Williams 1981) has examined the Śāriputrābhidharma as a window onto Dharmaguptaka teaching, which differed from Sarvāstivāda on key points such as the treatment of the antarābhava (intermediate state).
Translations and research
- Bapat, P.V. Śāriputrābhidharmaśāstra. Pune, 1970. — Partial study.
- Willemen, Dessein, and Cox. Sarvāstivāda Buddhist Scholasticism. Leiden: Brill, 1998, pp. 44–47. — contextual discussion.
- Dhammajoti, Bhikkhu KL. Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma. 4th ed. Hong Kong: Centre of Buddhist Studies, 2009.
- Williams, Paul M. “Some Aspects of Language and Construction in the Madhyamaka.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 8 (1980).
Other points of interest
The Śāriputrābhidharma is the only complete Abhidharma text of a non-Sarvāstivāda school that survives in Chinese, making it an invaluable comparative resource for scholars of early Buddhist philosophy.
Links
- CBETA Online
- Taisho Vol. 28, No. 1548
- Kanseki DB