Dà shèng jí pú sà xué lùn 大乘集菩薩學論
Treatise on the Compendium of Bodhisattva Training (Śikṣāsamuccaya) by 法稱菩薩 (Fǎchēng / Śāntideva, 造) and 法護 (Fǎhù / Faxian, 等譯)
About the work
The canonical Chinese translation of Śāntideva 寂天 (c. 685–763)‘s Śikṣāsamuccaya — the great Mahāyāna anthology of bodhisattva-training that is the prose companion to his more famous Bodhicaryāvatāra. The Sòng translation by Faxian’s bureau renders Śāntideva’s name as “Fǎchēng” 法稱 (literally “Dharma-fame”, a translation by sense rather than by phonetic equivalence) — a Sòng convention also followed in KR6o0042 and KR6o0046. The work is a textbook of bodhisattva practice woven entirely from sūtra-citations: each of its twenty-seven chapters opens with a verse from Śāntideva and is then expanded by an extensive catena of Mahāyāna sūtra-passages, totalling some 25 juǎn in the Chinese.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T32N1636) lists 18 chapters by title, beginning with:
- Jí bùshī xué pǐn 集布施學品 — Compendium of the Training in Giving (dāna)
- Hù chí zhèngfǎ jiè pǐn 護持正法戒品 — Section on the Precept of Protecting the True Dharma
- …
(Full chapter list as in CANWWW T32N1636.) Each chapter assembles canonical authorities for one of the bodhisattva’s standard topics: dāna, śīla, kṣānti, vīrya, dhyāna, prajñā, the four brahmavihāra, the bodhicitta, the buddha-virtues, and so on.
Abstract
The Taishō text opens “法稱菩薩造，西天譯經三藏銀青光祿大夫試光祿卿普明慈覺傳梵大師賜紫沙門臣法護等奉詔譯” — crediting Śāntideva (under the Sòng Sino-rendered name 法稱) and Faxian’s translation bureau with the customary string of imperial titles. The Sanskrit Śikṣāsamuccaya is preserved (edited by C. Bendall, Bibliotheca Buddhica 1, 1902) and the Tibetan translation is also extant; the Chinese version of Faxian’s bureau is the third canonical witness. Comparison with the Sanskrit and Tibetan shows that the Chinese is generally faithful, though it sometimes summarises long sūtra-quotations that the Sanskrit gives in full. The translation date is between Faxian’s arrival in China in 1004 and his death in 1058. Modern editors uniformly identify the author as Śāntideva, despite the Sòng Chinese rendering as “Fǎchēng”.
Translations and research
- Bendall, Cecil, and W. H. D. Rouse. Śikṣā-samuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhist Doctrine. London: Murray, 1922. — Standard English translation from the Sanskrit.
- Goodman, Charles. The Training Anthology of Śāntideva: A Translation of the Śikṣā-samuccaya. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. — Modern English translation with apparatus.
- Bendall, Cecil. Çikshāsamuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhist Teaching Compiled by Çāntideva, Chiefly from Earlier Mahāyāna-Sūtras. Bibliotheca Buddhica 1. St. Petersburg, 1902. — Critical Sanskrit edition.
- Saito Akira 齋藤明. “Shūbodaisatsugakuron no chōsen-yaku ni tsuite” 集菩薩學論の朝鮮譯について. Indogaku Bukkyōgaku kenkyū 30.1 (1981).
Other points of interest
The Śikṣāsamuccaya is one of the most important sources for the texts of lost Mahāyāna sūtras: many Indian sūtras are known only through citations in this anthology and its Tibetan parallels. The Chinese version is therefore valuable as a witness to a third-language transmission of those quotations and is regularly used in the reconstruction of lost Indian Mahāyāna scripture.
Links
- CBETA
- 法護 Fǎhù (Dharmapāla / “Faxian”) DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (1050): T = CBETA, Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經, ed. Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭 (Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai / Daizō shuppan, 1924–1932); CBReader v 5.0, 2014. Dazangthings source
- Kanseki DB