A possibly “lost” āgama referenced in Vasubandhu’s para-Sarvāstivāda Abhidharmakośabhāṣya:[quote]Like a rain drop or [the turning of] a chariot’s axle,
Without interruption, without breaks [the rain] falls from the sky.
In the same way to the East, without gaps, without interruptions,
uncountable worlds arise and perish.
What is true for the East is also true for the South, the West and the North.[/quote]Vasubandhu cites this passage as from the Saṃyuktāgama, but he does not seem to cite the exact āgama it is from.
Is anyone familiar with this passage? Is there a Nikāya parallel?
Is this is example of Abhidhammic (and by extension commentarial as well) referencing of suttas that are from sutta-collections that have not survived the test of time?
now based on Sanskrit a search for Pali parallel may be attempted
in the beginning sentence the author seems to be naming the sutra he quotes from: ‘Tiryaksutra, for example, says’ which may provide some leads to Pali
[quote=“sujato, post:4, topic:4608”]
Does the Sanskrit actually say it’s from the Samyukta?
[/quote]The claim that it comes from the Saṃyuktāgama is in Bingenheimer’s Studies in Agama Literature, page 29.
He supplies this Chinese from Xuánzàng’s translation: [quote]契經言。譬如天雨滴如車軸。無間 無斷從空下澍。如是東方無間無斷無量世界或壞或成。如於東方。南西北 方亦復如是。不說上下。有說亦有上下二方。餘部經中說十方故。[/quote]The only thing I can think is that “契經言。” has to somehow imply that this is a citation from the Saṃyuktāgama. There is some circumstantial internet evidence building for me, based on my web searching, that 契經 might refer to āgamāḥ in general sometimes.
Thus he keeps pervading above, below, & all around, everywhere & in every respect the all-encompassing cosmos with an awareness imbued with good will: abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will.
AN 4.125
both Chinese translations ignore the name of the sutra perhaps because the translators weren’t familiar with it and so may have considered it a redundant piece of information
in Sanskrit there’s a separate word tiryaksutra meaning cross-line, but i’m not sure it’s this compound’s intended meaning in the text
