Shíbā bù lùn 十八部論
Treatise on the Eighteen Schools
translated by 真諦 (Paramārtha, 499–569, 譯) — but see Abstract on the disputed attribution
About the work
A short treatise in one juan transmitted in the Taishō (T49 no. 2032) as a translation by 真諦 (Paramārtha, 499–569). It is one of two Chinese versions of the Samayabheda doxographic tradition associated with 世友 (Vasumitra) — alongside Paramārtha’s other version KR6r0010 (Bù zhí yì lùn) — both of which were superseded in East Asian use by the Xuánzàng translation KR6r0007 of 662.
Abstract
Modern philological scholarship has questioned the Paramārtha attribution. The text differs in significant respects from his Bù zhí yì lùn (KR6r0010) — which purports to translate the same Indian original — and from the Xuánzàng version. Some scholars (notably Étienne Lamotte and André Bareau) have suspected that the Taishō Shíbā bù lùn is in fact a Chinese reworking, perhaps incorporating material from 鳩摩羅什 (Kumārajīva), or a different recension entirely. The traditional attribution to Paramārtha (active in southern China 546–569 under the Liáng 梁 and Chén 陳 dynasties) gives the conventional date bracket of 557–569, the period of his Chén-period translation activity.
The contents follow the same general structure as Vasumitra’s treatise: a narrative of the schism into Sthavira and Mahāsāṃghika and their subsequent sub-divisions, followed by a list of doctrinal positions associated with each school. Important variants from the Xuánzàng version include differences in the school enumeration and in some doctrinal attributions, which have made the Shíbā bù lùn a useful comparative witness even though it is no longer the standard.
The work survived because it was incorporated into the canonical collection along with the other doxographic versions; for practical scholastic purposes Xuánzàng’s KR6r0007 became authoritative.
Translations and research
- André Bareau, Les sectes bouddhiques du petit véhicule (Saigon: EFEO, 1955) — uses all three Chinese versions (this text, KR6r0010, and KR6r0007) plus the Tibetan as parallel witnesses; the standard scholarly synthesis.
- Étienne Lamotte, Histoire du bouddhisme indien (Louvain, 1958) — discusses the textual problems of the three Chinese versions.
Links
- CBETA: T49n2032