4 - A Note on the Avadānaśataka and its Chinese Translation

Summary

While comparing the Avādanas with the Jātaka Stories Dr. Speyer says: “The avadāna type is nearly related to the Jātaka. Both concern edifying tales told with the purpose of inculcating moral precepts as taught by the Saddharma revealed by the Buddhas”. The stories of the Avadānaśataka have also the same character. Some of the stories may be labelled as Jātaka proper. A Jātaka, judged by the Pāli collection of Jātaka stories, contains a story of the past “within the outer frame-work, constituted by the introductory episode and the concluding identification”. A large number of stories of the Avadānaśataka contains a past story, within the frame-work of a present one with the identification. This identification is in some cases with the Buddha himself, and in other cases less important persons. Thus the presence of such different types of stories in the Avadānaśataka shows the importance of the collection in the development of the Jātaka stories.

The Chinese translation of the Avadānaśataka is very ancient. The title of the translation in Chinese is called Chuan tsi pai yuan king. The translation is attributed to Upasāka Che-kien of the Yue-che country. Che-kien was an Indo-Scythian Upasāka and is mentioned as such in all the Chinese Buddhist sources. It is said that he was at first at Lo-yang but on account of the political upheaval towards the end of the reign of Han Hien-ti (190–220 A.D.) was compelled to leave the north and to go to the south.