The sūtra-mātṛkā (sūtra matrix, 契經, 摩呾理迦 or 本母)

The sūtra-mātṛkā (sūtra matrix, 契經, 摩呾理迦 or 本母), essentially a commentary on a portion of the Saṃyukta-āgama, in the Vastusaṅgrahaṇī of the Yogācārabhūmi (T 1579 at T XXX 772c9–868b22), follows the sequence of the Saṃyukta-āgama, as was first noted by Lü Cheng 呂瀓(1896–1989).

About the sūtra-mātṛkā, see pp. 898-899, note 21 in Choong Mun-keat, “Ācāriya Buddhaghosa and Master Yinshun 印順 on the Three-aṅga Structure of Early Buddhist Texts”, in Research on the Saṃyukta-āgama (Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts, Research Series 8; edited by Dhammadinnā), Taiwan: Dharma Drum Corporation, August 2020, pp. 883-932.

My question is: This sūtra-mātṛkā in Chinese has a Tibetan version. Was this Tibetan text originally translated from Chinese (which was from Sanskrit), or the Chinese text translated from Tibetan to Chinese?

They were both translated from Sanskrit. Xuanzang’s translation was done in the 7th c. CE, and Ye shes sde and Cog ro Klu’i rgyal mtshan’s translation was done in the 9th c. CE.

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Thank you for the information.

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I have another question:

Why did the author (a Mahayana follower) not state clearly that the sūtra-mātṛkā was essentially a commentary on a portion of the Saṃyukta-āgama followed the sequence of the Saṃyukta-āgama?

That was first noted by Lü Cheng, a Chinese scholar.

Ven. Yin Shun, a Chinese scholar monk, presented further extensive research on that topic.

Good news is: The findings on that subject matter have now been made known to the Buddhist studies circle (in EBTs) in the world.

In I923 (see Yin Shun, Za ahan jing-lun huibian 雜阿含經論會編[Combined Edition of Sūtra and Śāstra of the Saṃyukta-āgama ] (1983), vol. 1, p. 2).