Sàpóduō Zōng Wǔshì Lùn 薩婆多宗五事論
Sarvāstivāda-pañcavastu-śāstra: Five-Topics Treatise of the Sarvāstivāda School by 法成 (譯)
About the work
The Sàpóduō Zōng Wǔshì Lùn 薩婆多宗五事論 (CBETA T28n1556) is a brief Tang dynasty text in 1 juan, translated by Fǎchéng 法成 (法成). It appears only in the CBETA edition, without the standard Taisho witnesses (【大】 variants), suggesting it was outside the main Taisho woodblock tradition or represents a special manuscript. The text presents the “five topics” (五事 wǔ shì) of the Sarvāstivāda school (薩婆多宗 = Sarvāstivāda), likely treating the five categories of conditioned and unconditioned factors fundamental to Vaibhāṣika analysis.
Prefaces
No preface or colophon survives in the received edition.
Abstract
The text is associated with Fǎchéng 法成 (Chos grub in Tibetan), the Tang-dynasty Dunhuang monk-scholar who translated between Chinese and Tibetan. Fǎchéng was active at Dunhuang in the early 9th century CE (fl. c. 820–860 CE) and produced translations in both directions across the Sino-Tibetan linguistic boundary. His work is known from Dunhuang manuscript finds. This text may represent a Chinese rendering of a Tibetan or Sanskrit source on Sarvāstivāda doctrine, consistent with Fǎchéng’s known scholarly activities.
The title’s structure (“Sarvāstivāda school, five topics”) aligns it with the tradition of brief Abhidharma manuals on key contested categories, but the precise content and source remain uncertain due to the limited textual witnesses.
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature on this specific text located.
Links
- CBETA Online
- Taisho Vol. 28, No. 1556
- Kanseki DB