Fó shuō Liǎoyì bōrě bōluómìduō jīng 佛說了義般若波羅蜜多經
Sūtra of the Definitive-Meaning Perfection of Wisdom, Spoken by the Buddha by 施護 Shīhù (譯, Skt. Dānapāla)
About the work
A short one-fascicle Sòng-period Prajñāpāramitā sūtra translation by 施護 Shīhù (Dānapāla), preserved in the Taishō as T247. One fascicle.
The title — Liǎoyì bōrě “Definitive-Meaning Prajñā” — reflects the liǎoyì / bùliǎoyì (definitive-meaning / non-definitive-meaning) doctrinal-classification distinction important in late-Indian Buddhist scholasticism, particularly in the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra tradition. The work appears to be a short late-Indian Prajñāpāramitā sūtra emphasising the definitive status of Prajñā doctrine.
Abstract
T247 is one of the small group of late-Indian short Prajñāpāramitā sūtras transmitted to China through the Northern Sòng Yìjīngyuàn under Shīhù’s leadership. The work is brief and focused on doctrinal exposition of the definitive-meaning status of Prajñā.
For the wider history, T247 documents the late-Sòng reception of late-Indian short Prajñāpāramitā literature, paralleling Shīhù’s other Sòng-period Prajñāpāramitā translations including T257 (KR6c0136), T230 (KR6c0219), T248 (KR6c0221), and T249 (KR6c0222).
Composition date: same bracket as Shīhù’s other Sòng Yìjīngyuàn translations (982–1017).
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located of T247 specifically.
- For Shīhù and the late-Indian Prajñāpāramitā tradition, see Edward Conze, The Prajñāpāramitā Literature (1960; rev. 1978).
- For the Sòng Yìjīngyuàn, Tansen Sen (2003).
Links
- 施護 DILA
- CBETA T08n0247
- Dazangthings date evidence (1000) — Taishō shinshū daizōkyō dating.
- Kanseki DB