Quànfā zhūwáng yào jì 勸發諸王要偈
Essential Verses Encouraging the Kings by 龍樹菩薩 (Lóngshù / Nāgārjuna, 撰) and 僧伽跋摩 (Sēng-jiā-bá-mó / Saṃghavarman, 譯)
About the work
The second of the three Chinese translations of Nāgārjuna’s Suhṛllekha, in 1 juǎn. Translated by 僧伽跋摩 Saṃghavarman 僧伽跋摩 (Sēng-jiā-bá-mó, fl. 433–442), an Indian monk who came to China in the early Liú-Sòng period and worked as a translator at Jiànkāng. Often called the Quàn-fā zhū-wáng yào jì alone or by the longer title Lóngshù púsà quàn-fā zhū-wáng yào jì 龍樹菩薩勸發諸王要偈.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T32N1673) lists no internal sub-divisions; the related-text pointers are to the parallel translations KR6o0127 (T32n1672, Guṇavarman) and KR6o0129 (T32n1674, Yìjìng).
Abstract
Saṃghavarman’s translation is the second of the three Chinese versions of the Suhṛllekha; it differs from Guṇavarman’s KR6o0127 in vocabulary and stylistic choices but treats substantially the same Indian original. The translation date is bracketed by Saṃghavarman’s documented activity at Jiànkāng (capital of the Liú-Sòng), 434–442. He is also responsible for the Sa-pó-duō pí-ní pí-pó-shā lùn 薩婆多毘尼毘婆沙論 (T1440) and for completing the translation of the Sui-xiāng lùn 隨相論. The Taishō uses 高麗 as base, collated against 宋, 元, 明, 宮.
The title’s emphasis is slightly different from the other two translations: where Guṇavarman (KR6o0127) gives the addressee as a single king (King Chán-tuó-jiā), and Yìjìng (KR6o0129) emphasizes the quàn-jiè 勸誡 (“admonition”) aspect, Saṃghavarman casts the work as addressed to “the kings” (諸王) in the plural — possibly reflecting a textual variant in his Indian exemplar, or simply a stylistic choice.
Translations and research
- Lindtner, Christian. Nagarjuniana. Copenhagen, 1982.
- Hahn, Michael. Nāgārjunas Ratnāvalī. Bonn, 1982. — Frame.
- Jamgön Mipham; Padmakara Translation Group. Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend, with Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche. Boston: Snow Lion, 2005.
Other points of interest
Among the three Chinese versions of the Suhṛllekha, Saṃghavarman’s is the textually closest to a strict literal gāthā-by-gāthā rendering, with each five-character verse-line of his Chinese typically corresponding to a single half-verse in the Indian anuṣṭubh original.
Links
- CBETA
- Dazangthings date evidence (435): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by 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. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1/