Wúcháng sānqǐ jīng 無常三啟經
Triple-Invocation Sūtra on Impermanence Compiled by 義淨 Yìjìng (635–713) for monastic recitation.
About the work
A short verse-form Anityatā-sūtra recitation in one fascicle, structured as a triple “qǐ” (啟 — invocation, opening) for use in monastic chanting. The verses meditate on the universal Dharma-rain that nurtures all beings, the eradication of fevered afflictions and the cure of disease, the gentling of the unconverted, and the homage paid to the Eight-fold Noble Saṅgha (八輩上人). Yìjìng compiled the text from the Āgama tradition during his post-Indian return-period, and prescribed it as a standard vinaya-aligned chant for impermanence-meditation in his Nánhǎi jì guī nèifǎ zhuàn 南海寄歸內法傳.
Abstract
T85n2912 is one of the very few items in the Tàishō Yiweibu that is not a Chinese-composed apocryphon in the strict sense, but a compilation by the celebrated Táng pilgrim and translator Yìjìng (635–713). The Hobogirin entry (T2912) records the Sanskrit equivalent (Anityatāsūtra) and the cross-reference to canonical Anityatā texts at T758 and T801 (“Cf. 758, 801”). Yìjìng describes the text in his Nánhǎi jì guī nèifǎ zhuàn as a chant used by the Indian Buddhist Saṅgha for impermanence-recitation, and his rendering circulated thereafter in Chinese monastic ritual contexts. The Tàishō editors placed it in T85 because it survives only in Dūnhuáng manuscripts — that is, it never entered the regular Dàzàngjīng — but its authenticity as Yìjìng’s work is not in question. The dating bracket (695–713) reflects the period after Yìjìng’s return from India in 695 to his death in 713.
Translations and research
- I-tsing [Yìjìng], trans. J. Takakusu, A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (Oxford, 1896) — describes the Anityatā chant.
- Junjirō Takakusu, “Yijing’s Wuchang sanqi jing,” Toho Gakuho (vintage).
- 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).
Other points of interest
The text is a clear example of the Tàishō editors’ policy of grouping all non-canonical Dūnhuáng texts in T85, irrespective of whether they are forged or merely paracanonical. Yìjìng’s Wúcháng sānqǐ is paracanonical, not forged.