普遍智藏般若波羅蜜多心經

Pǔbiàn zhìzàng bānruò bōluómìduō xīnjīng 普遍智藏般若波羅蜜多心經

The Universally-Pervading Wisdom-Treasury Heart of Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra translated by 法月 (重譯)

About the work

A one-juan mid-Táng (Kāiyuán / Tiānbǎo-era) re-translation of the Sanskrit Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra by Dharmacandra 法月 (Fǎyuè, 653–743), the East-Indian translator-monk active at the Kāiyuán court alongside Vajrabodhi and Bodhiruci II. The catalog credit-line chóngyì 重譯 (“re-translation”) indicates that Dharmacandra explicitly undertook this as a fresh rendering — in awareness of Kumārajīva’s earlier T250 KR6c0127 and Xuánzàng’s standard T251 KR6c0128. The distinctive title-formula Pǔbiàn zhìzàng 普遍智藏 (“universally-pervading wisdom-treasury”) is unique to this rendering and signals Dharmacandra’s editorial choice to translate the text under a more elaborate title than the bare xīnjīng of his predecessors. Cross-reference field cites Nos. 250, 251, 253-255, 257. Preserved as T8 no. 252. notBefore set to 720 (Dharmacandra’s mature translation period); notAfter = 743 (death). Catalog dynasty 唐.

Abstract

The text is the third surviving Chinese translation of the Heart Sūtra, after Kumārajīva and Xuánzàng. Less culturally influential than the latter two — Xuánzàng’s version had become canonical by the time of Dharmacandra’s work — but textually significant as an independent Indian-pilgrim translator’s witness. The translation register is more elaborate-literary than Xuánzàng’s spare canonical form, and includes some structural elements (nāmó opening / formal frame) more reminiscent of Tantric translation practice than of the spare Yogācāra canonical-translation register of Xuánzàng. The text is preserved as T8 no. 252 and circulates in the Xùzàngjīng alongside the other Heart Sūtra renderings.

Translations and research

• See KR6c0127 and KR6c0128 for principal modern studies of the Hṛdaya tradition.

Links

• 法月 DILA
• CBETA online
• Translator: Dharmacandra 法月 (Fǎyuè, 653–743) — see person note 法月
• Sanskrit: Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra
• Cross-references: T250 (KR6c0127), T251 (KR6c0128), T253 (KR6c0130), T254, T255, T257
• Dazangthings date evidence (740): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1/
• Kanseki DB