A Newly Identified Fragment of a Lost Translation of the Bhadrakalpika-sūtra

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A Newly Identified Fragment of a Lost Translation of the Bhadrakalpika-sūtra
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Can Li
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International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology
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  • Sutra

Description

In a previous study, I re-edited a Chinese fragment BD14741/I preserved in the National Library of China and compared it with Tibetan and Dharmarakṣa's translation of the Bhadrakalpika-sūtra (BKS), demonstrating the fragment robustly part of a lost translation of BKS.[1] This work is necessary given the inadequacy of evidence offered and transcription mistakes made by former research.[2]

In addition to the fragment mentioned above, we have been fortunate to be able to identify a second new fragment of the lost translation in the collection of the Taito City Calligraphy Museum (台東区立書道博物館) in Tokyo.

According to Chu Sanzang Jiji (出三藏記集), as well as other catalogues, the BKS had been translated twice (if Buddhanāma-sūtras and T.649 *Sarvadharmanaya[viniścaya]-nirdeśa-sūtra 觀察諸法行經3 are not included); the first version by Dharmarakṣa (3rd–4th century) and the second by Kumārajīva (344–411?[4]). While the Dharmarakṣa's translation has been preserved to this day, as far back as the beginning of the 6th century Chu Sanzang Ji Ji recorded that the Kumārajīva's translation had disappeared.[5]

Therefore considering the translation of Kumārajīva is on record as being lost, both of the identified fragment SH.152-6 and BD14741/I probably belong to the lost translation of Kumārajīva. Furthermore, I will provide some internal evidence in this paper to support this hypothesis. (Li, preliminary remarks, 417)

Citation
Li, Can. "A Newly Identified Fragment of a Lost Translation of the Bhadrakalpika-sūtra." Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University 21 (2018): 417–22.
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Works related to this item
1 Scholarship on
Bhadrakalpikasūtra [आर्यभद्रकल्पिकनाममहायानसूत्र]. 'phags pa bskal pa bzang po pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་བསྐལ་པ་བཟང་པོ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [Sūtra of the Good Eon (84000)]. Translated by Ban de dpal dbyangs, Vidyākarasiṃha, Ska ba dpal brtsegs, Dharmarakṣa. Kangyur, RKTSK 94 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=94&typ=1.
Classical WorksAbout this item
Bhadrakalpikasūtra. (T. Bskal pa bzang po'i mdo/Mdo sde bskal bzang; C. Xianjie jing; J. Gengōgyō; K. Hyǒn'gǒp kyǒng 賢劫經). In Sanskrit, "Auspicious Eon Scripture"; a Mahāyāna text in twenty-four chapters, written c. 200-250 CE and translated into Chinese by Dharmarakṣa in either 291 or 300 CE. In this scripture, the Buddha teaches a special concentration (samādhi) through the mastery of which bodhisattvas come to be equipped with 2,100 perfections (pāramitā), 84,000 samādhis and 84,000 codes (dhāraṇī). He then lists the names of a thousand buddhas who will appear during the "auspicious eon" (bhadrakalpa) due to the merit they obtained from practicing this samādhi, as well as their residences, parents, disciples, spiritual powers, teachings, and so on. In the Tibetan bka' 'gyur the Bhadrakalpikasūtra takes pride of place as the first in the sūtra section (mdo sde); it is recited often, and it is not uncommon for the elaborate hagiographies (rnam thar) of important Tibetan religious figures or incarnations (sprul sku) to identify their subject as an earlier rebirth of one of the thousand buddhas. (Source: "Bhadrakalpikasūtra." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 106. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)



Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Bhadrakalpikasūtra [आर्यभद्रकल्पिकनाममहायानसूत्र]. 'phags pa bskal pa bzang po pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་བསྐལ་པ་བཟང་པོ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [Sūtra of the Good Eon (84000)]. Translated by Ban de dpal dbyangs, Vidyākarasiṃha, Ska ba dpal brtsegs, Dharmarakṣa. Kangyur, RKTSK 94 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=94&typ=1.

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Dhyāna - A state of deep, one-pointed concentration where the mind is stable, calm, and focused on a single object, serving as a foundation for developing wisdom. Skt ध्यान  Tib བསམ་གཏན་  Ch 禪;禪那;靜慮  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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Pāramitā - The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections. Skt पारमिता  Tib ཕར་ཕྱིན།;ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།  Ch 波羅蜜  

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Pāramitā - The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections. Skt पारमिता  Tib ཕར་ཕྱིན།;ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།  Ch 波羅蜜  

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Puṇya - The positive energy or potential created through performing good deeds, such as generosity or kindness. In Buddhism, accumulating this positive force is seen as essential for finding happiness in future lives, and crucial as a foundation for following the spiritual path. Skt पुण्य  Tib བསོད་ནམས་  Ch 福;功德  

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Nirmāṇakāya - An fully enlightened Buddha is said to have the power to manifest in many forms in order to help the sentient beings. The emanation body of a buddha, as the third of the three bodies of a buddha, refers to the many forms in which a buddha can manifest and which are accessible to ordinary sentient beings. Buddhist scholars present four types of emanation bodies: emanation as supreme being, emanation as rebirth, emanation as artisan and emanation in diverse forms. Skt निर्माणकाय  Tib སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་  Ch 化身  

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