Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:32:18.927Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A comparison of the Pāli and Chinese versions of the Brāhmaṇa Saṃyutta, a collection of early Buddhist discourses on the priestly Brāhmaṇas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2009

Choong Mun-Keat*
Affiliation:
The University of New England, Armidale, Australia

Abstract

This article first briefly examines the textual structure of the Brāhmaṇa Saṃyutta of the Pāli Saṃyutta-nikāya in conjunction with two other versions preserved in Chinese translation in Taishō vol. 2, nos 99 and 100. Then it compares the main teachings contained in the three versions. These three versions of this collection on the subject of the Brāhmaṇas represent three different early Buddhist schools within the Sthavira branch. This comparative study of these three different versions focuses on three major topics: the outcaste, the dharmas that are good for a layperson, and alms. It reveals similarities and significant differences in structure and doctrinal content, thus advancing the historical/critical study of early Buddhist doctrine in this area.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I am indebted to Rod Bucknell for his constructive comments and corrections on a draft of this article.

References

Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya. (Boston, 2000).Google Scholar
Bucknell, Roderick S., Pāli-Chinese Sutra Correspondences (unpublished draft) (Brisbane, 2004).Google Scholar
CBETA Chinese Electronic Tripitaka Version 2006: Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association. CD version (Taipei, 2006).Google Scholar
Choong, Mun-keat, The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism: A comparative study based on the Sūtrāṅga portion of the Pāli Saṃyutta-Nikāya and the Chinese Saṃyuktāgama (= Beiträge zur Indologie 32) (Wiesbaden, 2000).Google Scholar
Choong, Mun-keat, ‘A comparison of the Pāli and Chinese versions of the Kosala Saṃyutta, an early Buddhist discourse on King Pasenadi of Kosala’, The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies, no. 7 (2006), pp. 2135.Google Scholar
Choong, Mun-keat, ‘A comparison of the Pāli and Chinese versions of the Bhikkhu Saṃyutta, a collection of early Buddhist discourses on monks’, Buddhist Studies Review, vol. 23, no. 1, (2006), pp. 6170.10.1558/bsrv.v23i1.61Google Scholar
Choong, Mun-keat, ‘A comparison of the Pāli and Chinese versions of the Vaṅgīsa-thera Saṃyutta, a collection of early Buddhist discourses on the venerable Vaṅgīsa’, Buddhist Studies Review, vol. 24, no. 1 (2007), pp. 3545.Google Scholar
Enomoto, Fumio, A Comprehensive Study of the Chinese Saṃyuktāgama: Indic Texts Corresponding to the Chinese Saṃyuktāgama as Found in the Sarvāstivāda-Mūlasarvāstivāda Literature. (Kyoto, 1994)Google Scholar
Fausböll, V., Sutta-Nipāta (translation), The Sacred Books of the East X, Part II. (Oxford, 1891).Google Scholar
Hare, E. M., The Book of the Gradual Sayings (AN) IV (London, 1935), PTS.Google Scholar
Harrison, Paul, ‘Another Addition to the An Shigao Corpus? Preliminary Notes on an Early Chinese Saṃyuktāgama Translation’, in Early Buddhism and Abhidharma Thought: In Honor of Doctor Hajime Sakurabe on His Seventy-seventh Birthday (Kyoto, 2002), pp. 132.Google Scholar
Kōgen, Mizuno. ‘雑 阿 含 経 の 研 究 と 出 版’ Zōagonkyō no Kenkyū to Shuppan [Studies and Publication on Saṃyuktāgama], Bukkyō Kenkyū, no. 17 (1988), pp. 145.Google Scholar
Hōjun, Nagasaki. (長 崎 法 潤) Kaji, Yōichi (加 治 洋 ), ‘雑 阿 含 経 解 题’ Zōagonkyō Kaidai [Explanatory notes of the Chinese SA (Taishō 99)], 雑 阿 含 経 I, 新 国 訳 大 蔵 経, 阿含部 4 Zōagonkyō 1, Shinkokuyakudaizōkyō Agonbu 4 [The New Japanese Translation of the Chinese SA (Taisho 99) vol. 1, Āgamas no. 4] (Tokyo, 2004), pp. 563.Google Scholar
Norman, K. R., The Group of Discourses (Sutta-Nipāta) II (London, 1992), PTS.Google Scholar
Rhys Davids, C. A. F., The Book of Kindred Sayings (SN) I (London, 1917) PTS.Google Scholar
Rhys Davids, T. W. and Stede, William (eds), 1925 Pali-English Dictionary. (London, 1925): PTS (reprinted 1975, New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation).Google Scholar
Skilling, Peter, ‘On the Agnihotramukhā Yajñāḥ Verses’, Jainism and Buddhism, Essays in Honor of Padmanabh S. Jaini (2003), pp. 637–667.Google Scholar
Hinüber, Oskar von, ‘Die Neun Aṅgas: Ein früher Versuch zur Einteilung buddhistischer Texte’ [The nine aṅgas: An early attempt at grouping Buddhist texts], Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens und Archiv für indische Philosophie, vol. 38 (1994), pp. 121135.Google Scholar
Woodward, F. L., The Book of the Gradual Sayings (AN) I (London, 1932), PTS.Google Scholar
Woodward, F. L., The Book of the Gradual Sayings (AN) II (London, 1933), PTS.Google Scholar
Shun, Yin, 1971, 原 始 佛 教 聖 典 之 集 成 Yuanshi Fojiao Shengdian zhi Jicheng [The Formation of Early Buddhist Texts] (Taipei, 1971), Zhengwen Chubanshe.Google Scholar