『묘법연화경』『제바달다품』 후대 삽입설 재고

Abstract

The current edition of the Lotus Sūtra translated by Kumārajīva, the Miaofa lianhua jing, consists of 28 chapters. However, according to Zhisheng's Kaiyuan shijiao lu, the Lotus Sūtra originally consisted of 27 chapters to which the Devadatta chapter was added on later, resulting thus in the 28 chapters of the current edition. The preface to the Tianpin miaofa lianhua jing, the "appended chapter" version of the Lotus Sūtra, provides a similar explanation. Early commentaries on the Lotus Sūtra likewise do not mention a Devadatta chapter. Therefore, most modern scholars have reached the consensus that the Devadatta chapter did not belong to the Lotus Sūtra at the time of Kumārajīva's translation and that it was inserted in the sūtra later on. Zhiyi, the most authoritative commentator on the Lotus Sūtra, explains that the Lotus Sūtra did originally consist of 28 chapters : it did however circulate for a while without the Devadatta chapter on the specific request by a palace servant. Indeed, the Devadatta chapter is included in the Zhengfahua jing, another translation of the Lotus Sūtra preceding that of Kumārajīva. This paper examines Zhiyi's explanations and concludes that Zhiyi's explanation is sufficiently convincing and compelling. Kumārajīva's translation of the Lotus Sūtra was completed in 406 C.E., prior to the translation of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra which explains that all sentient beings possess buddha-nature. At that time, it was yet difficult for Chinese Buddhists to accept and understand the contents of the Devadatta chapter ; namely, that an evil person such as Devadatta could receive the prediction of future Buddhahood or that the dragon king's daughter could all of a sudden become a buddha. Therefore, the Lotus Sūtra was brought into circulation without the Devadatta chapter until a monk from the Jiangdong Region travelled to Central Asia to obtain it. The Devadatta chapter was then circulated independently without being added to the Lotus Sūtra. It was only upon the unification of the Southern and Northern Dynasties by the Sui empire that Kumārajīva's translation in 28 chapters, containing the Devadatta chapter, replaced prior versions. However, as early catalogues merely specified that the Devadatta chapter had been obtained from the western regions, this was subsequently and gradually misinterpreted in later catalogues, including the Kaiyuan shijiao lu.