This dissertation is a study of a corpus of Chinese Buddhist texts traditionally designated as "spurious scriptures" or "scriptures of suspect authenticity," but generally known in Western scholarship as "apocrypha." These texts represent attempts to spread Buddhist teachings by bridging the religious and cultural gap separating India and China; as such they are valuable sources for the study of sinitic Buddhism. I therefore treat these texts as equal in stature to the translated scriptures of Indian Buddhism and adopt the more neutral designation of "indigenous scriptures" for them in this dissertation.

Chapter one is a survey of indigenous scriptures and provides a historical overview based on early scriptural bibliographies and on extant scriptures, many of which were recovered from the Tun-huang manuscript cache. I show that, despite successive attempts at suppression, indigenous scriptures continued to be produced throughout the medieval period for apologetical, polemical, and socio-political ends. Indigenous scriptures were also often adopted by Buddhist scholiasts as the textual basis of their exegeses. Chapters two through four are a study of the Book of Trapusa (T'i-wei ching; ca. 460-464), an influential indigenous scripture of the Northern Wei dynasty. This text is a lay morality tract that draws heavily on Chinese philosophical and religious concepts. Chapter two discusses the textual history and filiations of the extant manuscripts and citations. I also identify the major textual sources of the scripture. Chapter three focuses on the scripture's content and themes, including lay morality, karma and rebirth, cosmic intervention in one's fate, and the efficacy of Buddhist precepts--which includes better rebirths and even Buddhahood. Chapter four provides a contextual analysis, including social and political aspects of Northern Wei Buddhism and how these are reflected in the Book of Trapusa. I also suggest that the religious inclusiveness of the scripture is a reflection of trends evinced in Chinese non-Buddhist sources and in society as a whole. The study is followed by the first complete, annotated translation of the Book of Trapusa in any language.