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善惡因果經

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Shan’e yinguo jing

Senses:

  • Scripture on Good and Evil Causes and Effects. Full title Fo shuo shan'e yinguo jing 佛說善惡因果經. Also called Yinguo jing 因果經. This is a short karmic theodicy that was likely composed in Chinese in the sixth century and was highly influential through the tenth century, inspiring several similar scriptures and commentaries that are preserved in modern Buddhist and Daoist canons. It was deemed spurious by Buddhist catalogers in the late seventh century and excluded from official canons, but several recensions were preserved at Dunhuang, in Chinese, Mongolian, Sogdian, Tibetan, and perhaps Uyghur scripts. The Taishō recension, text number 2881 in volume 85, is based on a Zokuzōkyō 續藏經 print and a Dunhuang manuscript from the Nakamura Fusetsu 中村不折 collection. The Shan’e yinguo jing has been translated into French by Gauthiot and Pelliot and brief English content summaries are provided by Kohn ( “Steal Holy Food and Come Back as a Viper,” 24–25), Teiser (The Scripture on the Ten Kings, 114–116), and Yoshida ( “Buddhist Literature in Sogdian,” 301–302). Why do good people suffer while evil people prosper? Karma, says the Buddha, who provides detailed lists of good and bad actions and their karmic consequences across lifetimes and saṃsāric stations.

    References:

    Gauthiot, Robert, and Paul Pelliot. 1920. “Le Sutra des Causes et des Effets du bien et du mal.”  In Paris: Mission Pelliot en Asie Centrale, série in-quarto. vol. 2 33–47.

    Kohn, Livia. 1998. “Steal Holy Food and Come Back as a Viper: Conceptions of Karma and Rebirth in Medieval Daoism.” Early Medieval Buddhism 4 : 1–48.

    Moriyasu Takao 森安孝夫. 1986. “Zen'aku inga kyō no ryūtsū to sono shiteki haikei 善悪因果経の流通とその史的背景 (The Diffusion of the Scripture of Good and Evil Causes and Effects and its Historical Background) In Mishima Kaiun kinen zaidan dai 23 kai jigyō hōkoku-sho 三島海雲記念財団第23回事業報告書 . Tokyo:  225–231.

    Ono Gemmyō 小野玄妙. 1996. Bussho kaisetsu daijiten 佛書解說大辭典 . Daitō shuppansha.

    Teiser, Stephen F. 1994. The Scripture on the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism. Honolulu:  University of Hawai‘i Press.

    Yoshida, Yutaka. 2009. “Buddhist Literature in Sogdian.”  In Emmerick, Ronald E.,  Maria Macuch, eds. The Literature of Pre-Islamic Iran. New York:  Bloomsbury. 288–329.

    Zieme, Peter. 2009. “Auf den Spuren er Altuigurischen Version des ‘Sūtra der Ursachen und Wirkungen’ (Shan’e yinguo jing).” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 62 (2): 387–293.

    [Stuart Young]
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    Entry created: 2024-01-24