Reopening the Maitreya-files – Two almost identical early Maitreya sūtra translations in the Chinese Canon: Wrong attributions and text-historical entanglements
A Maitreya passage in a Chinese Dharmapada
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| A Maitreya passage in a Chinese Dharmapada
The opening section of the Chinese Dharmapada (or Udā na varga) called Chuyao jing 出曜經 37 strikes as an extraordinary way to start such a verse compendium. The collection, in fact, begins with a con densed Maitreya sūtra said to have been expounded by the Bud- dha while he was staying in Vārāṇasī. 38 Surprisingly (or not) this trans lation from the end of the fourth century was also made by Buddha smṛti. It provides a further trace of a Maitreya sūtra, or rather an ex tract of it, contained in an older collection. Whereas the rest of Buddhasmṛti’s Dharmapada version is com posed in a style that alternates between long explanatory prose sec tions and one or two gāthās, its beginning section takes the lit- erary form of a “normal” short Nikāya or Āgama sūtra. After the passage on the future Buddha Maitreya, the text contin ues with a short passage on a sūtra called “the six indriyas of the kāmadhātu” (you jing ming yue: Liugeng ledao 有經名曰六更樂道). 39 In the next 37 T4, no. 212, 609c–776a. 38 I am referring here to the very fi rst part of chapter one called “Impermanence” (Wuchangpin diyi zhiyi 無常品第一之一) (609c). 39 T4, no. 212, 610a11. This might be a reference to a sūtra that exists in two versions in the Tai shō Canon: the Modeng nü jing 摩鄧女經 (T14, no. 551, tr. attrib uted to An Shigao 安世高 ) and the Modeng nü jiexing zhong liushi jing 摩登女解形中六事經 (T14, no. 552, an anony mous translation from around 317 – 420). The attribution to An Shigao is doubtful, and the text is not mentioned in Stefano Zac chetti’s recently published list of as- certained translations of An Shigao (cf. Zacchetti 2007). We do not know from when this translation is and whether it precedes or postdates the other. No. 551 has 1273 characters (incl. dots), and no. 552 has 1235. The divergences between the two translations are so minimal, that the two texts cannot be said to represent two diff erent translations of the same original. It remains uncertain which text was written fi rst and taken as a basis for the other. The texts contain a short exposi tion on the six indriyas (“sense-organs”) and their defi led nature as part of the Buddha’s attempt to turn away the attention of a young woman from Ānanda’s beautiful appearance. The girl had fallen in love with Ānanda, but was strongly “discouraged” from focusing on those sense-organs for which she loved Ānanda (his eyes, his mouth, etc.). 266 Elsa I. Legittimo passage, probably the proper beginning of an earlier version of this Dhar ma pada the Buddha is said to dwell in Vaiśāli. The Maitreya passage and the sec tion on the “six indri yas” seem to be inter pola- tions. It is yet unclear when these were added to the collection, and whether there might be further unusual coincidences between Buddha smṛti’s Dharmapada and Ekotta rika-āgama translations. tải về 1.27 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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