Zūn Póxūmì Púsà Suǒjí Lùn 尊婆須蜜菩薩所集論
Vasumitrasaṃgīti: Collection Compiled by the Bodhisattva Vasumitra by 尊婆須蜜 (造), 僧伽跋澄 (等譯)
About the work
The Zūn Póxūmì Púsà Suǒjí Lùn 尊婆須蜜菩薩所集論 (CBETA T28n1549) is a Former Qin (符秦) dynasty translation of a Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma text attributed to the Bodhisattva Vasumitra 婆須蜜 (尊婆須蜜), 10 juan. It was translated by Saṃghabhūti 僧伽跋澄 (僧伽跋澄) and colleagues at Cháng’ān, with Zhú Fóniàn (竺佛念) serving as oral interpreter (yì chuán 譯傳). The colophon identifies it as 符秦罽賓三藏僧伽跋澄等譯. The preface to the text names Vasumitra (Póxūmì 婆須蜜, “friend of the Vasus”) as a bodhisattva in the Maitreya lineage, predicted to become a future Buddha named “Lion Tathāgata.”
Prefaces
The text opens with a preface describing the attributed author, Vasumitra, as a bodhisattva (pú sà 菩薩) of extraordinary attainment destined to become the future Buddha named “Lion Thus-Come” (師子如來). Born in a brahmin family in the Bídí country (鞞提國), he was ordained under Śākyamuni and traveled throughout the region teaching. He is said to have compiled the text after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa at the Pāṇamāra garden in Benares, organizing it into twelve sections (揵度) of twelve chapters each (品).
Abstract
The text presents systematic Abhidharma instruction in the form of extended sets of definitions and classifications, organized into twelve thematic books (jiāndù 揵度). Its content overlaps substantially with the six-feet tradition, but the text is distinguished by its attribution to a Vasumitra identified as a bodhisattva — the term used in the preface suggests this Vasumitra is not the Kaśmīra council Vasumitra (世友) but a distinct figure with a devotional coloring. Modern scholarship (Willemen, Dessein, Cox 1998) treats this Vasumitra (Upaśrī Vasumitra, a.k.a. 尊婆須蜜 = Zun-Póxūmì) as a separate figure from the Vasumitra associated with the six feet.
Translations and research
- Willemen, Dessein, and Cox. Sarvāstivāda Buddhist Scholasticism. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
- No substantial secondary literature specifically on this text located.
Links
- CBETA Online
- Taisho Vol. 28, No. 1549
- Kanseki DB