The History of Buddhist Thought c28.s4.4

c28.s4.4

There are two other works of Avadāna type, closely related to the *Mahāvastu* in that they give a biography of Buddha. The first, which exists only in Chinese, has been translated by S. Beal under the title, *The Romantic Legend of Sâkya Buddha* (London, 1875), and he declared it to be a version of the *Abhinishkramaṇa-sūtra*. The Chinese title, however, is *Fo-pan-hing-tsi-ching*, which Nanjio (No. 680) restores as *Buddha-pūrva-caryā-sangraha-sūtra*, “ Sūtra of the collection of the previous life of Buddha.” It forms a better arranged account than the *Mahāvastu*, and it is easy to see that it is constructed from Vinaya material. Much of it corresponds closely with the Pāli Vinaya, but a note at the end states that it belonged to the Dharmaguptas, and it was doubtless based on their Canon. The note also mentions the names of five lives of Buddha as current in different schools. Beal’s note seems to imply that they are different names of the same work. One of them is *Ta-sse*, which he correctly