Shìjiā pǔ 釋迦譜
Genealogical Record of Śākyamuni
compiled by 僧祐 (Sēngyòu, 445–518, 撰)
About the work
The earliest extant Chinese Buddhist hagiography of Śākyamuni in coherent narrative form, in five juan, compiled by the Liáng 梁-period vinaya master 僧祐 (Sēngyòu, 445–518) — better known as the author of the Chū sānzàng jì jí 出三藏記集 (KR4d0001 / T55 no. 2145). The Shìjiā pǔ assembles passages drawn from a wide range of Buddhist scriptures into a continuous biographical narrative of the Buddha, his ancestry, his renunciation, his enlightenment, his teaching career, and his parinirvāṇa, with each passage attributed to its sūtra source.
Abstract
僧祐 is one of the founding figures of Chinese Buddhist scholarship: vinaya master, bibliographer, and biographer. The Shìjiā pǔ was composed as a complement to his bibliographical Chū sānzàng jì jí: where that work catalogues the translation history of the canon, this one stitches the canonical biographical material into a unified life of the Buddha. The composition window is set by 僧祐’s active years and the latest sources he uses; a bracket of roughly the early Liáng (502–518, the period during which he was based at Jiànchūsì 建初寺 in Jiànkāng 建康) is the standard scholarly consensus.
The structure is by topic, with each section (“On the Pure-Light King his ancestor”, “On the descent from Tuṣita Heaven”, “On the conception”, “On the birth”, etc.), organising the relevant scriptural passages from the major Buddha-biography sūtras (the Lalitavistara 普曜經, the Mahāvastu, the Buddhacarita in its Chinese rendering, the Ekottarikāgama and Madhyamāgama relevant chapters, etc.). Each passage is given verbatim with its source attribution. The result is part hagiography and part anthology, and it became the principal Chinese Buddhist source for the canonical events of the Buddha’s life until the later (and longer) Shìjiā shì pǔ of 道宣 (KR6r0026) of the seventh century.
The work was incorporated into the early canonical collections and has been a continuous reference in East Asian Buddhist hagiographical literature. Modern scholarship has used it as an early witness to the Chinese reception of the various Buddha-biography traditions.
Translations and research
- Etienne Lamotte, Histoire du bouddhisme indien (Louvain, 1958) — uses the Shìjiā pǔ as one of its principal Chinese witnesses to the Indian Buddha-biography tradition.
- Hubert Durt, “The Pregnancy of Māyā: I, II, III,” Journal of the International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies 5–7 (2002–2004) — uses 僧祐’s and 道宣’s parallel accounts as principal Chinese sources.
- John Strong, The Buddha: A Beginner’s Guide (Oxford: Oneworld, 2009) — accessible introduction drawing on Chinese sources.
- No complete Western-language translation located.
Links
- CBETA: T50n2040