In this article, we have investigated a dialogue between a parivrājaka named Sabhika and the Buddha, which consists of questions and answers concerning definitions of bhikṣu, brāhmaṇa, śramaṇa and so on. This dialogue is found in three texts in three different languages, namely Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Mahāvastu, Pāli Sutta-nipāta and Chinese Fobenxingji jing 佛本行集經. By juxtaposing readings in these three texts, we have tried to investigate the relationship between these three versions, as well as to highlight similarities and differences among them.
