Transformations of the plots of the enlightenment and the first sermon of Buddha as attested in early Chinese translations of sutras (3d century)
The article is devoted to the analysis of the plot of the enlightenment as represented in the “Sutra of the blessed appearance of the prince” that was translated into Chinese by Zhi-qian (3d AD) and has not been preserved in an Indian original. Consideration of the story represented in this sutra reveals a different interpretation of the Buddha’s enlightenment in comparison with that of the later Buddhist literature. Comparison of this version with separate fragments from “Lalitavistars” and texts of the Pali canon, which have preserved traces of archaic layers of tradition, indicates that the variant of tradition, preserved in the Zhi-chien sutra, is the original one. Version of the story of Buddha’s enlightenment of the “Sutra of the blessed appearance of the prince” not only forms the other logical connections in the hagiographic narrative, but also implies doctrinal foundations other than those in the later tradition.