Fóshuō fómǔ chūshēng sānfǎzàng bōrěbōluómìduō jīng 佛說佛母出生三法藏般若波羅蜜多經

Northern-Sòng Translation of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā by 施護 (Dānapāla, 譯)

About the work

A twenty-five-fascicle Northern-Sòng translation of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā by Dānapāla 施護. The title — “Sūtra of the Prajñāpāramitā, the Buddha-mother who gives birth to the Three-Dharma-Treasury” — reflects the late-medieval Indic Buddha-mātṛ (Buddha-mother) iconography and theology around the Prajñāpāramitā-personification.

Prefaces

No preface or postface in the source file; only the canonical translator-signature.

Abstract

T228 is the latest of the Chinese Aṣṭasāhasrikā-translations, prepared in the Northern-Sòng Yìjīngyuàn under Dānapāla c. 980–1000 CE. The translation is from a late Indic Sanskrit Aṣṭasāhasrikā recension that reflects the medieval Buddhist incorporation of the Prajñāpāramitā into the Buddha-mātṛ / Tantric Buddhist devotional system. T228 is therefore an unusually late witness for the Aṣṭasāhasrikā tradition and reflects the Pāla-period Indic recension.

Translations and research

  • See bibliography under T224.