Yuèguāng púsà jīng 月光菩薩經
Sūtra of the Moon-Light Bodhisattva by 法賢 (Fǎxián, 譯)
About the work
A short single-fascicle jātaka recounting the past life of the Buddha as the Bodhisattva Candraprabha (月光菩薩 — “Moon-Light”). Translated by 法賢 Fǎxián — the dharma-name given by Sòng Zhēnzōng 真宗 to 法天 Fǎtiān (*Dharmadeva, d. 1001) — in the Northern-Sòng Yìjīngyuàn at Kāifēng. Signature: 「西天譯經三藏朝散大夫試鴻臚少卿明教大師臣法賢奉詔譯」.
The Taishō header cross-references [[KR6b0002|Púsà běnyuán jīng T153(5)]], where a parallel of the same narrative appears in 支謙 Zhī Qiān’s third-century anthology.
Prefaces
The text bears no preface or postface; only the canonical translator-signature.
Abstract
T166 belongs to the documented late-tenth / early-eleventh-century output of the Northern-Sòng Yìjīngyuàn. The Indic source is identified with the Candraprabha-jātaka tradition, attested in the Mahāvastu (where the bodhisattva-king Candraprabha gives away his own head to a brāhmaṇa who requests it) and in numerous Indic and Central-Asian jātaka-parallel collections. The bracket 982–1000 reflects Fǎtiān / Fǎxián’s documented translation period at the Bureau.
Translations and research
- Akanuma Chizen 赤沼智善. Indo Bukkyō koyū meishi jiten. Nagoya, 1931. (Indic parallels.)
- Bose, Sugata Ranjan. “Candraprabha-rāja-jātaka.” Indo-Iranian Journal (1965).
Links
- CBETA online text
- Fǎxián (法賢 / 法天) DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (1001): Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經 (CBETA reference index) — dazangthings.nz