邵瑞祺 Richard Salomon:古代犍陀羅的佛教文獻 The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara

In the years following Alexander the Great’s conquest of the East, a series of empires rose up along the Silk Road. In what is now northern Pakistan, the civilizations in the region called Gandhara became increasingly important centers for the development of Buddhism, reaching their apex under King Kaniska of the Kusanas in the second century CE. Gandhara has long been known for its Greek-Indian synthesis in architecture and statuary, but until about twenty years ago, almost nothing was known about its literature. The insights provided by manuscripts unearthed over the last few decades show that Gandhara was indeed a vital link in the early development of Buddhism, instrumental in both the transmission of Buddhism to China and the rise of the Mahayana tradition. The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara surveys what we know about Gandhara and its Buddhism, and it also provides translations of a dozen different short texts, from similes and stories to treatises on time and reality. 

在亞歷山大大帝征服東方之後，一系列的帝國沿著絲路崛起。在相當於今日巴基斯坦北部的地方，稱為「犍陀羅區域」的文明成為佛教發展與擴散的日趨重要的中心，而在西元二世紀貴霜王朝迦膩色迦王時期達到頂點。

「犍陀羅」以其綜合希臘與印度特點的建築與雕像而聞名，但是直到最近二十年，它的文獻幾乎無人知曉。透過檢視最近數十年出土的的諸多寫本，顯示「犍陀羅」確實是「初期佛教發展」的極其重要的樞紐，對佛教傳入中國與大乘佛教的興起都有關鍵的作用。本書概述了我們所知的「犍陀羅」與「犍陀羅佛教」，也提供十多部不同的簡短經文的翻譯，從譬喻故事到對於時間與真實的教導。