A Study of the Early-Stage Translations of <i>Foxing</i>佛性 in Chinese Buddhism: The <i>Da Banniepan Jing</i>大般涅槃經 Trans. Dharmakṣema and the <i>Da Fangdeng Rulaizang Jing</i>大方等如來藏經 Trans. Buddhabhadra

The <i>Da fangdeng rulaizang jing</i>大方等如來藏經 (Skt. <i>Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra</i>), translated by Buddhabhadra佛陀跋陀羅 (358–429) is one of the early Chinese Buddhist canon texts where the term <i>foxing</i>佛性 (Jp. <i>busshō</i>; Buddha-nature) is clearly used to express Buddha-nature. However, the term <i>foxing</i> cannot be confirmed in other extant translations of the <i>Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra</i>. Another early text in the Chinese Buddhist canon, the <i>Da banniepan jing</i>大般涅槃經 (Skt. <i>Mahāparinirvā</i><i>ṇa-mah</i><i>ās</i><i>ūtra</i>), translated by Dharmakṣema曇無讖 (385?–433), also used the term <i>foxing</i>, which cannot be correspondingly confirmed in the surviving Sanskrit fragments of this scripture. Some significant differences in <i>foxing</i> between the Sanskrit fragments and Dharmakṣema’s translation of this sutra belong to the first twelve fascicles of Dharmakṣema’s translation completed under his collaborators’ support when he had not mastered the Chinese language. It is very likely that Faxian法顯 (337–422) translated a version of the <i>Mahāparinirvā</i><i>ṇa-mah</i><i>ās</i><i>ūtra</i> that featured <i>buddhadhātu</i> as <i>foxing</i>. Buddhabhadra, in the same period, translated a version of the <i>Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra</i>, in which he favoured the term <i>foxing</i> over a literal translation of the Sanskrit. As another contemporary monk with these two, Dharmakṣema translated the <i>Mahāparinirvā</i><i>ṇa-mahāsūtra</i>, going further than Faxian by using the term <i>foxing</i> regularly. These texts influenced the Dilun monastic tradition地論宗. Among these, the term <i>foxing</i> and its Sinicism explanations played the most significant role, influencing the whole of the Chinese and even East Asian Buddhist thought.