Āpítán Xīn Lùn 阿毘曇心論
Abhidharma-hṛdaya-śāstra: Heart Treatise of the Abhidharma by 法勝 (造), 僧伽提婆 (等譯), 慧遠 (等譯)
About the work
The Āpítán Xīn Lùn 阿毘曇心論 (Skt. Abhidharma-hṛdaya-śāstra, CBETA T28n1550) is an Eastern Jin dynasty translation of a Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma manual, 4 juan, attributed to the Venerable Dharmaśreṣṭhin 尊者法勝 (法勝). It was translated by Saṃghadeva 僧伽提婆 (僧伽提婆) together with Huìyuǎn 慧遠 (慧遠) at Lúshān 廬山. The source text reads “晉太元元年僧伽提婆共慧遠於廬山譯” (Eastern Jin, Taiyuan period, Saṃghadeva and Huiyuan at Lúshān). Taiyuan 太元 ran 376–396 CE; Saṃghadeva’s documented work at Lúshān dates primarily to the early 390s, suggesting the translation was made around 391–396 CE. The text belongs to the Hṛdaya tradition, a condensed summary tradition of Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma. The Taisho header “No. 1550 [cf. Nos. 1551, 1552]” connects it with the two related texts KR6l0016 and KR6l0017.
Prefaces
No independent preface survives in the received text. The opening verse (kārikā) praises the teacher and frames the text as a compact summary of Abhidharma categories.
Abstract
The Abhidharma-hṛdaya is the foundational text of a distinct Sarvāstivāda summary tradition, distinct from the elaborate Vibhāṣā commentaries. Attributed to Dharmaśreṣṭhin 法勝 (c. 2nd–3rd century CE), a Sarvāstivāda master, it presents the key Abhidharma categories in verse (kārikā) form with brief prose glosses — a format designed for memorization and teaching. This Hṛdaya (Heart) tradition was enormously influential:
- Āpítán xīn lùn (T1550, KR6l0015) — the original text by Dharmaśreṣṭhin
- Āpítán xīn lùn jīng (T1551, KR6l0016) — an expanded commentary by Upaśānta/Dharmaśreṣṭhin, translated by Narendrayaśas in the Northern Qi
- Zá āpítán xīn lùn (T1552, KR6l0017) — a further elaboration by Dharmatrāta, translated by Saṃghavarman in the Liu Song
Together these three texts represent successive layers of the Abhidharma-hṛdaya tradition. The Abhidharmakośa of Vasubandhu (KR6l0023) can be seen as culminating this tradition by superseding the Hṛdaya texts with a more rigorous verse-and-commentary format.
The collaboration between Saṃghadeva and the Chinese master Huìyuǎn (344–416 CE) at Lúshān was historically significant: Huìyuǎn is the founder of the Pure Land tradition in China, and his collaboration with the Abhidharma translator Saṃghadeva shows the breadth of his scholarly interests.
Translations and research
- Frauwallner, Erich. Studies in Abhidharma Literature. Albany: SUNY Press, 1995, pp. 191–218. — analysis of the Hṛdaya tradition.
- Dhammajoti, Bhikkhu KL. Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma. 4th ed. Hong Kong: Centre of Buddhist Studies, 2009.
- Willemen, Dessein, and Cox. Sarvāstivāda Buddhist Scholasticism. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
Links
- CBETA Online
- Taisho Vol. 28, No. 1550
- Kanseki DB