Fànběn Bōrě bōluómìduō xīn jīng 梵本般若波羅蜜多心經
Sanskrit Original of the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra by 慈賢 (譯)
About the work
A Liáo-period Sanskrit-in-Chinese-phonographs transcription of the short-recension Heart Sūtra, preserved in the Fángshān Stone Sūtras 房山石經 at Yúnjūsì 雲居寺 (modern Beijing) and admitted to the digital canon as F27n1060. The translator is the eleventh-century Indian Tantric master Cíxián 慈賢, native of Magadha in Central India and Imperial Preceptor of the Liáo state. One fascicle, very brief — the entire text is the Sanskrit Hṛdaya in 102 numbered phonographic units, opening with “鉢囉倪也鉢囉蜜多 𠶹哩那野素怛囉” (= prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra) and closing with the dhāraṇī “誐諦 誐諦 播囉誐諦 播囉僧誐諦 播囉娑擔 冒地 娑嚩賀” (with the unusual extra phrase 播囉娑擔 = parasthāṃ before bodhi svāhā).
The colophon labels the translator unambiguously: 「大契丹國師中天竺摩竭陁國三藏法師 慈賢 譯」 — “Translated by Cíxián, Imperial Preceptor of the Great Khitan State, Tripiṭaka Master from the Magadha state of Central India”. Catalog correction: the catalog meta gives the dynasty as 宋, but the colophon and the DILA authority record place this under the Liáo (大契丹國); the dynasty is given here as 遼 accordingly.
Prefaces
No narrative preface; only the title and translator-colophon. The fascicle marker 「丁」 at head and tail is the standard Fángshān Qiānzì wén 千字文 organisational character (位 4 in the Thousand Character Classic), identifying the engraving’s storage location.
Abstract
F27n1060 belongs with F27n1056 (KR6c0134, attributed to Amoghavajra), T256 (KR6c0133, with the Cí’ēn preface), and several related Dūnhuáng manuscript fragments in the small but historically vital category of Sanskrit-in-Chinese-phonographs Heart Sūtra texts. Its peculiarities versus T256 / F27n1056:
- The transliteration system is updated for Liáo-era phonology: 倪也 (二合) for jña, 𠰢 for paṃ, 鉢囉 (二合) for pra — characteristic Liáo fǎnqiè-style fusional notation distinct from the late-Tang Amoghavajra-circle style.
- The dhāraṇī appends an additional phrase 播囉娑擔 (= parasthāṃ / parasaṃ?) between pārasaṃgate and bodhi, a recensional variant attested in some Sanskrit manuscript traditions but rare in Chinese transcriptions.
- The opening title is given in the Sanskrit form prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra (without the praṇāmana / homage that opens some recensions), confirming a short-recension exemplar.
The transcription must postdate Cíxián’s arrival in north China and his appointment as Liáo Imperial Preceptor; it must predate the Fángshān engraving phase that incorporated his works. The conventional bracket of notBefore 1030 / notAfter 1080 reflects the standard reference-work assignment of his floruit. The actual stone engraving on the Fángshān cliff is a late-Liáo or early-Jīn product.
The text was unknown outside Yúnjūsì until the 1950s photographic survey of the Fángshān stones organised by the Buddhist Association of China (中國佛教協會). Cíxián’s complete output now occupies F1060–F1064 in the modern photographic-edition Fángshān shíjīng.
For the Heart Sūtra’s broader textual history, F27n1060 is a useful cross-check on the short-recension Sanskrit text against the Tang Amoghavajra-circle witnesses (T256, F27n1056) and the various Sanskrit recensions surviving in Nepalese, Japanese (Hōryū-ji, Kūkai-attributed), and Tibetan traditions.
Translations and research
- Edward Conze, “The Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya Sūtra,” JRAS 80 (1948): 33–51, revised in Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies (Oxford: Cassirer, 1967), 148–167 — establishes the standard Sanskrit short-recension text.
- Jan Nattier, “The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?” JIABS 15.2 (1992): 153–223.
- Lewis R. Lancaster, The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue (Berkeley: UC Press, 1979), entries on the Heart Sūtra recensions.
- Hú Hǎihuá 胡海華 et al., 《房山石經研究》 (multiple volumes published by 華夏出版社 and 中國佛教協會, 1980s onward) — fundamental modern catalogue and study of the Fángshān corpus including Cíxián’s works.
- Nakamura Kikunoshin 中村菊之進, “Sō hen Kanyaku Issaikyō no Beidai mokuroku no kenkyū” 宋編漢譯一切經の備提目録の研究 (various venues) — addresses Liáo-era catalogue history.
- Lothar Ledderose, ed., Buddhist Stone Sutras in China series.
Other points of interest
The text is a primary source for Liáo-period Sanskrit philology in north China, demonstrating that Indian Tantric scholarship was actively practised at the Khitan court more than a century after the collapse of the Tang esoteric establishment in the metropolitan centres. Cíxián’s Fángshān corpus (F1060–F1064) is concentrated in protective dhāraṇīs — the Heart Sūtra here functions as one of a set of prophylactic incantations engraved into stone for the protection of the dynasty.
Links
- 慈賢 DILA
- CBETA online
- Wikipedia, “Fangshan Stone Sutras”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangshan_Stone_Sutras - Wikipedia, “Heart Sutra”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra - Kanseki DB