Xiánshèng jí jiātā yībǎi sòng 賢聖集伽陀一百頌
One Hundred Verses Compiled by the Worthies and Sages by 天息災 (Tiānxīzāi / later renamed Fǎxián, 譯)
About the work
A one-juǎn Northern-Sòng translation of an Indian Buddhist verse-compilation, attributed to “the worthies and sages” (賢聖, an anonymous collective). Translated by 天息災 Tiānxīzāi (later renamed 法賢 Fǎxián by Sòng Tàizōng in 987). The use of the original name 天息災 in the byline suggests the translation pre-dates the 987 rename, placing it in 982–987.
Persons disambiguation
The translator listed in the catalog as 天息災 is the same physical person later renamed 法賢; pre-987 translations are bylined under his original name. Linked here as 天息災 in the frontmatter to match the catalog.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T32N1686) lists no internal sub-divisions and no related-text pointers.
Abstract
The text is a verse-compilation of one hundred gāthās on Buddhist doctrinal and devotional themes. The attribution to the collective “worthies and sages” (Indian āryasaṃgha) reflects a common late-Indian compositional practice in which anthologies of devotional or didactic verse were transmitted under a generic communal authorship rather than under the name of a single author. The Sanskrit original is not preserved.
The translation is bracketed by Tiānxīzāi’s pre-rename Institute career, 982–987 (or possibly later if the 天息災 byline was retained). The Taishō uses 金臧廣勝寺本 as base.
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature located on this specific text.
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003. — Background.
- Jan Yün-hua. “Buddhist Translation Activity in the Northern Sung.” History of Religions 6 (1966).
Other points of interest
The text is a useful witness to the late-Indian Buddhist anthological tradition, in which doctrinally significant verse was preserved through generations of monastic memorization and recopying without a stable individual authorship-attribution.
Links
- CBETA
- DILA Authority (Tiānxīzāi / Fǎxián): A000146
- Dazangthings date evidence (990): [ 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/