Zàn sēng gōngdé jīng 讚僧功德經
Sūtra Praising the Merits of the Saṅgha Anonymous Chinese composition.
About the work
A short verse-form apocryphal sūtra in one fascicle. The opening line declares the text to be “compiled in brief from the Āgama sūtras” (阿含經中略集出) — a self-presentation strategy that hovers between composition and redaction. The verse extols the merits of the Saṅgha-jewel “with the great Brahma-voice” (以大梵音讚僧寶), invokes “mòfǎ-period renunciants” (我末法中出家人) — a giveaway phrase that locates the text in the late-Táng mòfǎ atmosphere — and praises the resident Saṅgha as the proper recipient of veneration. The text is preserved in heavily lacunose form, with the verse meter and the praise-formulas substantially reconstructable.
Abstract
T85n2911 is preserved in Dūnhuáng manuscripts. The “compiled from the Āgama” disclaimer is itself one signal of apocryphal status: actual Chinese-translated Āgama compilations were never described in this colophon-style. The “mòfǎ-period renunciants” phrase is a clear apocryphal tell — pre-Táng translated scripture seldom labels its addressees as “we who live in the mòfǎ age.” The text’s intended use is plausibly liturgical (a chant for Saṅgha offerings); modern study (Cao Ling 2011; Makita 1976) places it in the late-Táng / Five Dynasties stratum of liturgical apocrypha. Cataloguers from the Táng onward register it as 偽.
Translations and research
- Makita Tairyō 牧田諦亮, Gikyō kenkyū 疑經研究 (Kyōto: Jinbun Kagaku Kenkyūsho, 1976).
- Cao Ling 曹凌, Zhōngguó fójiào yíwěijīng zōnglù 中國佛教疑偽經綜錄 (Shànghǎi: Shànghǎi gǔjí, 2011).