Journal of Abhidharma Studies
Online ISSN : 2435-5682
Print ISSN : 2435-5674
Volume 3
Displaying 1-7 of 7 articles from this issue
Articles
  • Some Reflections with a Focus on the Writings of Chinese Buddhist Traveller Monks and Others
    Fumi Yao
    2022 Volume 3 Pages 1-21
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: August 01, 2022
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Modern scholars in the field of Buddhist studies have often regarded Jambudvīpa/ Jambūdvīpa, the semi-triangular continent located to the south of Mount Sumeru in Indian Buddhist cosmography, as representing nothing but India. Although this interpretation would be certainly correct within the context of Indian Buddhism, it might not be necessarily so outside this context. East Asian Buddhists, for example, are known to have traditionally included China in Jambūdvīpa. In this paper, I examine the usage of the name Jambūdvīpa in the writings of Chinese Buddhist monks who traveled to India, especially Xuanzang 玄奘 and Yijing 義淨 , and people close to the former. Through this examination, I would like to clarify how they related their geographical knowledge to the Indian Buddhist view of Jambūdvīpa.
     In his Datang xiyu ji 大唐西域記 Xuanzang provides a brief description of the world based on Abhidharma treatises, but he includes China in Jambūdvīpa, mentioning four kings who were said to reign in the four quarters of the continent. Moreover, deviating from the worldview of the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya he translated, he refers to Lake Anavatapta as the center of Jambūdvīpa, aligning the Indian notion of the continent with the reality that China and India are connected by land.
     Yijing’s Nanhai jigui neifa zhuan 南海寄歸内法傳 provides several examples where the author refers to land consisting of India, Indochina, China and several other regions by the name Jambūdvīpa. These accounts have been mistranslated by some modern scholars, who interpreted Jambūdvīpa as referring to only India.
     In the Datang daci’ensi sanzang fashi zhuan 大唐大慈恩寺三藏法師傳 , a biography of Xuanzang written by his disciples, there is a conversation between Xuanzang and monks of Nālandā in which Jambūdvīpa is mentioned twice. The four modern translations I was able to consult significantly differ from each other in their interpretations of this part of the text, and at least two of them seem to regard Jambūdvīpa as India contrasted with China. I offer an understanding different from these translations, pointing out quotations from the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa made in the conversation in question and suggesting that the biographer who wrote this part considered Jambūdvīpa to include both India and China.
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  • Hungry Ghosts in the Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣaśāstra
    Kazuhiro Ishida
    2022 Volume 3 Pages 25-39
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: August 01, 2022
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper discusses the background of feeding the hungry ghosts ( 施餓鬼 Se-gaki ) which is the ritual for them in modern Japanese temples by focusing on it in the Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣaśāstra ( 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論 ) and the Dharani Sutra for Saving the Burning-Mouth Hungry Ghosts ( Skt: Pretamukhāgnivālāyaśarakāra-dhāraṇī; Chi: 佛說救拔焰口餓鬼陀羅尼經 ). "Se-gaki", also known as "O-se-gaki ( お施餓鬼 )" or "Se-gaki-e ( 施餓鬼会 )", is one of the most famous Buddhist rituals in Japan and is performed for hungry ghosts. It is a ceremony to send foods and merits to hungry ghosts in order to cure their hunger and make them cultivate themselves.
     There is an origin of this ritual in the Nikāya or the Āgama. This ritual is a topic in the Jñānaprasthānaśāstra ( 發智論 ) and the Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣaśāstra. It is argued that the reason why we can send something to hungry ghosts in the Jñānaprasthānaśāstra. The answer to this question is because of the nature of the realm of hungry ghost. The Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣaśāstra comments that its nature is like that of a bird flying in the sky. Furthermore, the Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣaśāstra argues that hungry ghosts can get food because they are near the ritual. This argument based on the theory of the outcome of one's own karma. Instead of giving food to hungry ghosts, they eat it themselves and get great merit. The Se-gaki in modern Japanese Buddhism is held based on Chinese translation of the Dharani Sutra for Saving the Burning-Mouth Hungry Ghost. The Dharani Sutra explains the origin of Se-gaki and the method of this ritual. There are some similarities between this sutra and the Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣaśāstra. Especially some merits of hungry ghost through rituals are very similar. On the other hand, the concept of Se-gaki in this sutra is different from that of the Abhidharmamahāvibhāṣaśāstra. The latter is based on the theory of the outcome of one's own karma, while the former is based on the Mahayana Buddhist theory of transfer of merit. This is an example of the development and evolution of "Se-gaki" in India. This point of view is the background for thinking about Se-gaki in the modern Japanese Buddhism.
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  • Sthiramati's Tattvārthā on Abhidharmakośa 4.36ab
    Kazuo Kano, Jowita Kramer, Takeshi Yokoyama, Hironori Tanaka, Sebastia ...
    2022 Volume 3 Pages 43-95
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: August 01, 2022
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    So far, the Tattvārthā by Sthiramati had been known only in the form of fragments of Chinese translations, fragments of Uyghur translation from the lost Chinese translation, and Tibetan translation. In recent years, however, the original Sanskrit text of the Tattvārthā became available, and its research results have been published. As for the Karmanirdeśa (chapter 4), its Sanskrit text on verses 4.34–37 has already been published. In this paper, we continue the translation of the Tattvārthā focusing on verse 4.36ab. It discusses the scope and motivation of the acquisition of restraints (saṃvara). In addition, this paper will present the texts and translations of Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa/bhāṣya and Saṃghabhadra’s *Nyāyānusāriṇī ( 順正理論 ) in order to clarify how the path of interpretation developed from Vasubandhu via Saṅghabhadra to Sthiramati. We also identify the passages of Saṃghabhadra’s commentary that Sthiramati seems to have borrowed, and try to recover their original text.
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  • from the Section on Outflow (āsrava) to the Closing Remarks
    Takeshi Yokoyama
    2022 Volume 3 Pages 99-121
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: August 01, 2022
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛtaviniścaya (SAV) of Daśabalaśrīmitra (12th–13th c.), preserved only in a Tibetan translation, is a treatise that expounds the essential doctrines of major Indian Buddhist groups such as Sarvāstivāda, Sthaviravāda, Sammitīya, as well as Mahāyāna in general. Although the author says at the beginning of this text that he wrote it as memorandum for himself, it is also an important source for modern scholarly investigation into Buddhist theories that had been transmitted to the latest period of Indian Buddhism.
     Among the thirty-five chapters that constitute the SAV, Chapters II–XII are devoted to Sarvāstivāda theories. It is well-known that the Sarvāstivādas were one of the most influential groups in Indian Buddhist tradition and that they provided a doctrinal basis for the entire tradition. These eleven chapters in the SAV contain concrete explanations of the Sarvāstivāda theories that comprised the basic Buddhist knowledge of that period. This paper presents a Japanese translation of Chapter IX, which expounds the system of elements (dharmas), a fundamental theory in the Sarvāstivāda system. The translation is divided into two parts for want of space. The first half was published in a previous issue of this journal. This paper concerns the second half, from the section on outflow (āsrava) to the closing remarks.
     In a previous paper, the author has pointed out that the Sarvāstivāda system of elements presented in the SAV was transmitted in a textual tradition as follows: *Skandhila’s Abhidharāvatāra → Candrakīrti’s *Madhyamakapañcaskandhaka → Abhayākaragupta’s Munimatālaṃkāra (MMA) → Daśabalaśrīmitra’s SAV. Parallel and related passages in those texts, particularly the Sanskrit text of the MMA, are helpful for translating the SAV from the Tibetan version. The relevant texts are included in the notes.
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  • Yōichi Kaji, Mizuho Sugimoto, Hironori Tanaka, Mariko Tomita, Maiko Na ...
    2022 Volume 3 Pages 188-139
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: August 01, 2022
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Our research aims to comprehend the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Saṃghabhedavastu [SBhV] translated by Yijing (635-713) (T no. 1450, 24.99a-206a: Junjirō Takakusu and Kaigyoku Watanabe (eds.), Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō [THe Taishō New Edition of Buddhist Canon; a modern Japanese edition of the East Asian Buddhist canon], Taishōshinshūdaizokyōkankōkai, 1924-34/1960-78). In this paper, we present a bibliographical introduction of SBhV and its annotated Japanese reading of its first volume. THe Japanese reading of SBhV is already available (Ryūzan Nishimoto [translation] and Makio Takemura [emendation], Ritsubu [the Vinaya Scriptures] 24, Kokuyaku Issaikyō [Translation of the Complete Chinese Buddhist Canon into Classical Japanese in Kakikudashi Style], Daito Publishing Co., Inc., 1934, Revised Edition: 1975). While taking this historic research accomplishment into consideration, we incorporate recent developments in this field into our research, by referring to variants of the text, including the newly discovered Sanskrit Gilgit Manuscripts (edited by R. Gnoli [Part I: 1977, Part II: 1978]), and reviewing issues in previous studies. By so doing, we present the new reading and understanding. Furthermore, based on the stories, subtitles are added for an easier and better understanding of the text. In our bibliographical introduction of SBhV, we include a table comparing the subtitles added to the Chinese SBhV (Nishimoto 1934/75: 2-4) and Sanskrit SBhV (Gnoli 1978: 299-308), as well as summarize the history of research on SBhV and present outlines of individual studies.
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