Dǐngshēng wáng yīnyuán jīng 頂生王因緣經
Sūtra of the Past-Life Causes of King Born-of-the-Crown by 施護 (Dānapāla, 等譯)
About the work
A six-fascicle avadāna recounting the past life of the Buddha as King Mūrdhāta (頂生王 — “King Born from a Boil on the Crown of his Father’s Head”), the cakravartin who ascended to the heaven of the Thirty-Three (Trāyastriṃśa) as a guest of Indra but, longing to displace him, fell back to the human world and died — the canonical cakravartin-pride avadāna showing the futility even of righteous cosmic kingship without bodhisattva-aspiration. Translated by 施護 Dānapāla (Shīhù) and others in the Northern-Sòng Yìjīngyuàn. Signature: 「西天譯經三藏朝奉大夫試光祿卿傳法大師賜紫沙門臣施護等奉詔譯」.
The Taishō header cross-references [[KR6b0001|Liùdù jí jīng T152(40)]], where a parallel version of the same narrative appears.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface; the only paratext is the canonical translator-signature.
Abstract
T165 belongs to Dānapāla’s documented translation period in the Northern-Sòng Yìjīngyuàn (Translation Bureau) at Kāifēng, established 980 CE under Sòng Tàizōng. 施護 Dānapāla (fl. 980–1018) was an Indian paṇḍita of Uḍḍiyāna who arrived at the Sòng court c. 980 and headed the Bureau alongside 天息災 Tiānxīzāi and 法天 Fǎtiān; the bracket 980–1000 reflects his most productive translation period. The Indic source is the Mūrdhāta-rāja-jātaka / Māndhātṛ-jātaka attested in multiple Indic recensions including the Pāli Jātaka no. 258, the Divyāvadāna and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. The narrative was foundational in East-Asian Buddhist political thought as a critique of universal sovereignty unsupported by bodhicitta.
Translations and research
- Cowell, E. B. (ed.). The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1895–1907. (Pāli parallel.)
- Tatelman, Joel. The Glorious Deeds of Pūrṇa: A Translation and Study of the Pūrṇāvadāna. Richmond: Curzon, 2000. (Comparative avadāna methodology.)
Links
- CBETA online text
- Dānapāla (施護) DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (1000): Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經 (CBETA reference index) — dazangthings.nz