A Study of the Person “Qì Xū 気嘘”

Abstract

The Sarvāstivādin commentary on defilement 随眠 by a representative person presents various research problems. In this paper, I examine the character and episodes of “Qì Xū 気嘘,” a person representative of anger 瞋恚. There is a common episode in the translated Chinese Buddhist texts of “Qì Xū,” a killer carrying out the caṇḍāla’s work of executions who produced a pure heart and was reborn in heaven. A similar figure, “the executioner of bandits with a copper-colored beard,” was also identified in Pāli Buddhist texts. These results provide useful material for examining the definition and specific perception of anger in the Sarvāstivāda.