A Comparison of the Pāli and Chinese Versions of the Vangisa-thera Samyutta, a Collection of Early Buddhist Discourses on the Venerable Vangisa.pdf

Buddhist Studies Review 24(1) 2007, 35–45

ISSN (print): 0256–2897

doi: 10.1558/bsrv.v24i1.35

ISSN (online): 1747–9681

A Comparison of the Pāli and Chinese Versions

of the Vaṅgīsa-thera Saṃyutta , a Collection of Early

Buddhist Discourses on the Venerable Vaṅgīsa

CHOONG, MUN-KEAT

School of Classics, History and Religion, University of New England, Armidale, Australia

mchoong@une.edu.au

ABSTRACT: This article ﬁ rst brie ﬂ y examines the textual structure of the Vaṅgīsa-

thera Saṃyutta of the Pāli Saṃyutta-nikāya in conjunction with two other versions pre-

served 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 collec-

tion on the subject of the venerable Vaṅgīsa represent three diﬀ erent early Buddhist

schools within the Sthavira branch. This comparative study of these three diﬀ erent

versions focuses on three major topics: (i) Arhants at the pravāraṇa ceremony; (ii) sen-

sual desire and the way to extinguish it; and (iii) the Buddha’s teachings to Vaṅgīsa.

It reveals similarities and signi ﬁ cant diﬀ erences in structure and doctrinal content,

thus advancing the historical/critical study of early Buddhist doctrine in this area.

INTRODUCTION

The Vaṅgīsa (= Vaṅgīsa-thera ) Saṃyutta of the Sagātha-vagga of the Pāli Saṃyutta-

nikāya (SN) is represented in Chinese by two versions, one in the Za-ahan-jing 雜阿

含經 ( Saṃyuktāgama , abbreviated SA, Taishō vol. 2, no. 99), the other in the Bieyi-

Za-ahan-jing 別譯雜阿含經 (Additional Translation of Saṃyuktāgama , abbreviated

ASA, 1 Taishō vol. 2, no. 100). This saṃyutta/xiangying 相應 is a collection of various

early Buddhist discourses on the subject of the venerable Vaṅgīsa. As is recorded

in these three versions, the venerable Vaṅgīsa has a natural talent as a poet, which

he uses to praise his teacher, the Buddha, and other senior monks (such as the

great disciples Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana (P. Sāriputta and Moggallāna ); and he

has gone through a diﬃ cult struggle in following the strict discipline and mental

training required of a monk disciple of the Buddha.

In this paper, I ﬁ rst brie ﬂ y examine the textual structure of the three versions.

Then I compare the main teachings contained in them, making use of new editions

1. Editor’s note: SA and CSA are respectively abbreviated ZA and BZA in the Marcus Bingenheimer

article in this edition of Buddhist Studies Review .

BUDDHIST STUDIES REVIEW

of SA: Yin Shun’s Za-ahan Jing-lun Huibian 雜阿含經論會編 [Combined Edition of

Sūtra and Śāstra of the Saṃyuktāgama ] (abbreviated CSA) and the Foguang Tripiṭaka

Za-ahan-jing (abbreviated FSA). This will reveal similarities and signi ﬁ cant dif-

ferences in structure and doctrinal content, thus advancing the study of early

Buddhist teachings in this area. 2

TEXTUAL STRUCTURE

The Pāli Vaṅgīsa Saṃyutta is the eighth of the eleven saṃyutta s comprising the

Sagātha-vagga of SN. The two corresponding Chinese versions, contained in SA and

ASA, were translated from now lost Sanskrit originals. In the CSA edition the SA

version bears the title Poqishe Xiangying 婆耆舍相應 ( Vaṅgīsa Saṃyukta /Connected)

supplied by the editor, Yin Shun. In earlier editions of SA and ASA, saṃyukta/xiangy-

ing titles are lacking and the beginning and end of each saṃyukta have to be inferred

from the sūtra contents. The SA counterpart, Poqishe Xiangying , of the Vaṅgīsa

Saṃyutta , is also located in the Sagātha-vagga of SA, which is titled Bazhong 3 Song 八

眾誦 (Eight Assemblies Section) in the SA tradition. 4 It is the eighth of the eleven

xiangying s in this vagga (Choong 2000, 20, 247). The same location – the eighth of

the eleven xiangying s – applies also to the reconstructed ASA versions. 5

While the Pāli version belongs to the Tāmraśāṭiya school (the self-styled

Theravāda), the SA version belongs to the Sarvāstivāda school, and the ASA version

may belong to the Kāśyapīya school. 6 Thus, these three texts, the Pāli Vaṅgīsa Saṃyutta

and its two Chinese versions, represent three diﬀ erent early Buddhist schools, three

diﬀ erent versions of the same collection of discourses on the monk Vaṅgīsa .

The Sagātha-vagga/Bazhong Song pertains to the Geya-aṅga (P. Geyya-aṅga ) por-

tion of SN/SA. Geya is one of the three aṅga s represented in the structure of SN/

SA: Sūtra (P. Sutta ), Geya (P. Geyya ), and Vyākaraṇa (P. Veyyākaraṇa ). 7 These three

2. This article is one in a series of comparative studies, of which the previous one to appear in this

journal was on the Bhikkhu Saṃyutta ; see ‘A Comparison of the Pāli and Chinese Versions of the

Bhikkhu Saṃyutta , A Collection of Early Buddhist Discourses on Monks’, Buddhist Studies Review

23(1) (2006): 61–70. Consequently a little of the Introduction is repeated.

3. Skt. aṣṭau pariṣadaḥ , Pāli aṭṭha parisā .

4. Choong (2006, 62 n.5): ‘ Bazhong ( Song ): T 30, no. 1579 ( Yogācārabhūmiśāstra ), pp. 294a, 772c. The

title Sagātha-vagga is also con ﬁ rmed in the Mūla-Sarvāstivāda Vinaya : T 24, no. 1451, p. 407. See

also CSA i, pp. 7–9, 22, 44–5, 64–5.’

5. Yin Shun (1971, 670, 672); CSA i, 23 n.10 (in ‘Za-ahan-jing Bulei zhi Zhengbian 雜阿含經部類之

整編 [Re-edition of the Grouped Structure of SA]’).

6. Choong (2000, 6–7; 2006, 62 n.3).

7. Discourses (short, simple prose), Stanzas (verse mixed with prose), Expositions, the ﬁ rst three

of nine types of early Buddhist text ( navaṅga s), according to their style and form, the others

being Gāthā, Udāna, Ityuktaka (P. Itivuttaka ) , Jātaka, Abhutadharma (P. Abbhutadhamma ) and Vaid-

alya (P. Vedalla ): Verses, Exclamations, Sayings, Birth Stories, Marvels, Answers to Questions,

e.g. at MN 22: I 133 (But its Chinese counterpart, MA 200: T 1, no. 26, p. 763, adds three more:

Nidāna ( 因緣 ), Avadāna ( 本起 ), and Upadeśa ( 說義 ): Causal Conditions, Simile, Instruction).

CHOONG THEPĀLI AND CHINESE VERSIONS OF THE VAṄGĪSA-THERA SAṂYUTTA

aṅga s are regarded as historically the earliest ones to have appeared, in sequence,

in the formation of the early Buddhist texts (Choong 2000, 9–11, 20, 247–9).

The Pāli Vaṅgīsa Saṃyutta comprises 12 discourses (SN 8.1–12). Of its Chinese

counterparts, SA has 16 discourses (SA 1208–21, 993–4) and ASA has 15 discourses

(ASA 224–230, 250–57). The Pāli Vaṅgīsa Saṃyutta therefore has fewer discourses

than the two Chinese versions.

Three discourses in the Chinese SA and ASA versions (SA 1220, 993, 994 = ASA

254, 256, 257) have no Pāli counterparts. On the other hand, all of the twelve SN

discourses have SA counterparts, and only one SN discourse has no correspond-

ing ASA version. Tables 1 and 2 show the full set of Chinese-Pāli and Pāli-Chinese

correspondences.

Table 1. Chinese–Pāli correspondences of the Poqishe Xiangying ( Vaṅgīsa Saṃyukta )

SA (Chinese)

(Sarvāstivāda)

ASA (Chinese)

(Kāśyapīya)

SN (Pāli)

(Tāmraśāṭiya)

1208

224

8.11 (cf. Thag 1252)

1209

225

8.9

1210

226

8.6

1211

227

8.10 (cf. Thag 1249–51)

1212

228

8.7 (cf. MA 121; EA 32.5; Thag 1234–7; T 2,

nos. 61–3)

1213

229

8.2 (cf. Thag 1214–8)

1214

230

8.4 (cf. EA 35.9)

1215

250

8.1 (cf. Thag 1209–13)

1216

251

8.3 (cf. Thag 1219–22)

1217

252

8.12 (cf. Thag 1253–62)

1218

253

8.5 (cf. Thag 1227–30)

1219

None (but indicated in uddāna ) *

8.8 (cf. Thag 1238–45)

1220

254

None

1221

255

None (cf. Sn 2.12; Thag 1263–79)

993

256

None

994

257

None

* CSA iii, 217–18 nn. 3, 13.

Table 2: Pāli-Chinese correspondences of the Vaṅgīsa Saṃyutta

SN (Pāli)

( Tāmraśāṭiya )

SA (Chinese)

( Sarvāstivāda )

ASA (Chinese)

( Kāśyapīya )

8.1

1215

250

8.2

1213

229

8.3

1216

251

8.4

1214

230

8.5

1218

253

8.6

1210

226

8.7

1212

228

8.8

1219

None

8.9

1209

225

8.10

1211

227

8.11

1208

224

8.12

1217

252

BUDDHIST STUDIES REVIEW

The identi ﬁ cation of the Chinese–Pāli and Pāli–Chinese counterparts shown

in these tables is open to discussion. As is evident in Table 1, the discourses of SA

are out of order with regard to the structural arrangement. The rearrangement of

the discourses indicated in Table 1 is according to the CSA version. 8 As is evident

in the two tables, the discourses in the two Chinese versions match up with each

other very closely as regards both sequence and total number, while matching up

only loosely with the discourses of the Pāli version. Most of the Pāli counterparts

are also found in the Thera-gāthā . The SA and ASA versions are structurally much

closer to each other than to the SN version.

Fragmentary Sanskrit counterparts of segments of the Chinese SA version

(and the ASA version) were published by Fumio Enomoto (1994). The published

Sanskrit counterparts of the discourses on the subject of the venerable Vaṅgīsa

comprise altogether eight fragments, corresponding to SA 1212–15, 1217–18, 993–

4 (= ASA 228–50, 252–3, 256–7). These fragmentary Sanskrit texts are useful for

con ﬁ rming certain Chinese technical terms.

PRINCIPAL DIFFERENCES IN TEACHINGS ON THE VENERABLE VAṄGĪSA

Most of the discourses are similar in content in the three versions. Here I shall

discuss only the principal diﬀ erences regarding teachings, under three topics: (i)

Arhant s at the pravāraṇa ceremony, (ii) sensual desire and the way to extinguish

it, and (iii) the Buddha’s teachings to Vaṅgīsa.

(i) Arhants at the pravāraṇa ceremony

(SA 1212 = ASA 228 = SN 8.7 Pavāraṇā )

SA 1212, ASA 228 and their Pāli counterpart, SN 8.7, record in common that on

one occasion – the upavasatha (P. uposatha ) day of the ceremony, pravāraṇa (P.

pavāraṇā , the ﬁ fteenth) 9 at Rājagṛha (P. Rājagaha, today’s Rājgir) in SA and ASA

or at Sāvatthī (Skt. Śrāvastī) in SN – there were ﬁ ve hundred monks, bhikṣu s (P.

bhikkhu s), all of them Arhant s (P. Arahant s), dwelling together with the Buddha.

The SA version mentions ‘except one bhikṣu , Ānanda’, 10 who is not an Arhant ;

the ASA version says ‘except only one person’ 11 without mentioning the name,

8. Cf. also Yin Shun (1971, 668–672); CSA i, pp. 4–5, 23.

9. SA: ‘ 十五日。月食受時 ’; ASA: ‘ 七月十五日。自恣時 ’ (CSA iii, 199; FSA 3, 1973; T 2, 330a,

457b). Cf. Sanskrit version, Enomoto (1994, 43): ‘ atha bhagavāṃs tadaiva poṣathe p(añca)daśyāṃ

pravāraṇāyāṃ purastāt bhikṣusaṃghasya prajñapta evāsane nyaṣīdan niṣadya bhagavān (bh)ikṣūn

āmantrayate sma |’ (SA: ‘ 爾時。世尊臨十五日月食受時。於大眾前敷座而坐。坐已。告諸比

丘。 ’). The Pravāraṇa/pavāraṇā ceremony: the ceremony at which each bhikṣu invites the other

bhikṣus to give criticism of any misconduct by him.

10. ‘ 除一比丘。謂尊者阿難。 ’

11. ‘ 唯除一人。 ’

CHOONG THEPĀLI AND CHINESE VERSIONS OF THE VAṄGĪSA-THERA SAṂYUTTA

Ānanda; and the SN version does not have such a statement (Ananda possibly is

not included in the mentioned number of bhikṣu s). In the Chinese SA and ASA ver-

sions the Buddha then addresses all the bhikṣu s at the ceremony as follows:

SA 1212: I am a Brāhmaṇa. I, in attaining permanent full Nirvāṇa , have

reached the ﬁ nal existence of this body (= there will be no more of fur-

ther becoming). I am the great physician, pulling out all arrows. You all

are my disciples, being born from my teachings (mouth) and the Dharma ,

obtaining all the wealth of the Dharma .

I invite you to pass judgment on my conduct. Do not allow any of my

conduct, in body, speech or mind, to have wrongdoing that should be

blamed. 12

ASA 228: You should know I am a Brāhmaṇa. I, in attaining permanent

full Nirvāṇa , have reached the ﬁ nal existence of this body. I am the high-

est physician, pulling out painful arrows. You all are my disciples, being

born from my heart teachings; you are my Dharma -disciples, being born

from the Dharma .

I am now inviting you to pass judgment on my conduct: Is there any

conduct of mine, in body, speech or mind, that has wrongdoing? 13

The corresponding Pāli SN version only records that the Buddha invites other

bhikṣu s to point out any misconduct in him, whether bodily or verbal, that should

be blamed. 14 The major diﬀ erence that needs to be pointed out here is that the

Buddha in the two Chinese versions calls himself a Brāhmaṇa. This expression is

also not found in other discourses in the SN version of the saṃyutta . 15

At the ceremony, one of the Buddha’s senior disciples, Śāriputra (P. Sāriputta),

also expresses an invitation for confession to the Buddha. Both the Chinese SA and

the Pāli SN versions generally have similar positive responses from the Buddha

regarding Śāriputra’s conduct, teaching and wisdom. However, the Chinese ASA

version is alone in adding that the Buddha tells Śāriputra, ‘except for the Buddha,

12. ‘ 我為婆羅門。得般涅槃。持後邊身。為大醫師。拔諸劍刺。汝等為子。從我口生。從法化

生。得法餘財。當懷受我。莫令我若身．若口．若心有可嫌責事。 ’ (CSA iii, 199–200; FSA 4,

1973; T 2, 330a). ’ Cf. Enomoto (1994, 43): ‘ ahaṃ bhikṣavo Brāhmaṇaḥ parinirvṛtaḥ antimadehadhārī

anuttaro bhiṣac chalyāhartā | tasya mama bhikṣavo brāhmaṇasya parinirvṛtasyāntima(de)hadhā(riṇa

ḥ) anuttarasya bhiṣajah śalyāhartuḥ yūyaṃ (eva putr)āḥ orasā mukhato jātā (dha)rmajā dharmi ///’

(SA: ‘ 我為婆羅門。得般涅槃。持後邊身。為大醫師。拔諸劍刺。我為婆羅門。得般涅槃。持

此後邊身。無上醫師。能拔劍刺。汝等為子。從我口生。從法化生。得法餘財。 ’)

13. ‘ 汝等當知我是婆羅門。於般涅槃。受最後身。無上良醫。拔於毒箭。汝等皆是我子。悉從於

我心口而生。是我法子。從法化生。我今欲自恣。我身口意。無過失不。 ’ (T 2, 457b). The ASA

version does not have 得法餘財 recorded in SA.

14. ‘ Handa dāni bhikkhave pavārayāmi vo na ca me kiñci garahatha kāyikaṃ vā vācasikaṃ vā ’ (SN I 1884,

190; 1998, 410–11). Cf. Bodhi (2000, 286); Rhys Davids (1917, 242).

15. Cf. also Choong (2006, 66–7), about the discussion on a bhikṣu who also can be called a Brāhmaṇa

by virtue of his leading a solitary, pure life, found in SA 1071 and ASA 10, but not in the

corresponding SN 21.10.

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