Móhē bānruò bōluómì dàmíng zhòu jīng 摩訶般若波羅蜜大明呪經
The Great Prajñāpāramitā Great-Brilliant-Mantra Sūtra translated by 鳩摩羅什 (譯)
About the work
A short one-juan early-fifth-century translation of the Sanskrit Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra (the Heart Sūtra) by Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什 (344/350–409/413) of Yáo-Qín — the earliest surviving Chinese translation of the Heart Sūtra. The catalog title preserves the early translation’s distinctive register: Móhē bānruò bōluómì 摩訶般若波羅蜜 (Mahā-prajñāpāramitā) + dàmíng zhòu 大明呪 (“great-brilliant mantra”) — the latter rendering Sanskrit mahāvidyā-mantra, with zhòu (呪 = mantra/dhāraṇī) marking the text’s mantra-centered framing. The cross-reference field cites Nos. 251-255, 257 — i.e., the seven-translation Heart Sūtra cluster: T250 (Kumārajīva), T251 (KR6c0128 Xuánzàng), T252 (KR6c0129 Dharmacandra), T253 (KR6c0130 Prajñā/Lìyán), T254 (Prajñācakra), T255 (Fǎchéng), T257 (Dānapāla — separate “shèngfómǔ xiǎozì bānruò bōluómìduō jīng”). Preserved as T8 no. 250. notBefore / notAfter set conservatively to Kumārajīva’s mature Chángān translation period (402–412). Catalog dynasty 姚秦.
Abstract
The Kumārajīva rendering is a short-recension Heart Sūtra with structural differences from Xuánzàng’s later canonical version (T251). The text opens with Guānshìyīn púsà 觀世音菩薩 (“Avalokiteśvara”) rather than the Sanskrit Avalokiteśvara / Guānzìzài 觀自在 of Xuánzàng — a difference of major terminological significance, since Xuánzàng later corrected Guānshìyīn to Guānzìzài on the basis of his Sanskrit-philological understanding (the Sanskrit Avalokita-īśvara = “Sovereign-of-Looking-Down,” not “Sound-Looking” as the older Chinese rendering suggested). The Kumārajīva version is also somewhat more concise overall and lacks the mantra of Xuánzàng’s standard version. Modern scholarship debates whether Kumārajīva’s version is genuinely a translation from Sanskrit or an excerpt from the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra (大智度論) — the question is the apocryphal-versus-genuine debate associated especially with the work of Jan Nattier (“The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?”, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 15.2, 1992). The question is unresolved but Kumārajīva’s text remains the earliest extant Chinese form of the Hṛdaya.
Translations and research
- Jan Nattier, “The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?” JIABS 15.2 (1992) — landmark essay arguing the Hṛdaya may be a Chinese composition retro-translated into Sanskrit.
- Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Heart Sutra Explained (SUNY, 1988); Elaborations on Emptiness (Princeton, 1996) — standard English-language treatment.
- Kazuaki Tanahashi, The Heart Sutra: A Comprehensive Guide to the Classic of Mahayana Buddhism (Shambhala, 2014).
Other points of interest
The Kumārajīva Hṛdaya and the Xuánzàng Hṛdaya together constitute the two principal Chinese forms of the world’s most-recited Buddhist scripture; the Xuánzàng version became standard for monastic and lay liturgical use, but the Kumārajīva version remained important as the earlier philological-attestation and as a textual witness for comparative Heart Sūtra scholarship.
Links
- 鳩摩羅什 DILA
- CBETA online
- Translator: Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什 — see person note 鳩摩羅什
- Sanskrit: Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra (short recension)
- Major counterpart: KR6c0128 Bānruò bōluómìduō xīnjīng (Xuánzàng version)
- Cross-references: T251 (KR6c0128), T252 (KR6c0129), T253 (KR6c0130), T254, T255, T257
- Dazangthings date evidence (405): [ Ono and Maruyama 1933-1936 ] Ono Genmyō 小野玄妙, Maruyama Takao 丸山孝雄, eds. Bussho kaisetsu daijiten 佛書解說大辭典. Tokyo: Daitō shuppan, 1933-1936 [縮刷版 1999]. vol. 10, p. 274 https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/112/
- Kanseki DB