Fó shuō Shèng fómǔ xiǎozì bōrě bōluómìduō jīng 佛說聖佛母小字般若波羅蜜多經
Sūtra of the Holy Buddha-Mother’s Small-Letter Perfection of Wisdom by 天息災 Tiānxīzāi (譯, Skt. Devaśāntika)
About the work
A short one-fascicle Sòng-period Prajñāpāramitā sūtra translation by 天息災 Tiānxīzāi (= 法賢 Fǎxián, d. 1000), founding director of the Sòng Yìjīngyuàn. Preserved in the Taishō as T258. One fascicle.
The title — Shèng fómǔ xiǎozì bōrě bōluómìduō “Holy Buddha-Mother’s Small-Letter Perfection of Wisdom” — places the work in the late-Indian Bhagavatī Prajñāpāramitā (Buddha-Mother) devotional cult tradition, paralleling Shīhù’s slightly later T257 (KR6c0136). The xiǎozì “small-letter” element refers to a short-script / compressed-form version of the Prajñāpāramitā doctrine.
Abstract
T258 is a short late-Indian Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, translated by Tiānxīzāi during his Sòng Yìjīngyuàn period (982–1000). The work belongs to the late-Indian devotional reframing of Prajñāpāramitā as personified deity Bhagavatī Prajñāpāramitā — paralleling the contemporary Indian iconographic tradition of representing Prajñāpāramitā as a female bodhisattva.
For the wider history, T258 documents the Northern Sòng Yìjīngyuàn’s engagement with late-Indian devotional Prajñāpāramitā materials, complementing the parallel translation programme of Shīhù.
Composition date: Tiānxīzāi’s translation activity at the Yìjīngyuàn spans 982 (bureau opening) to 1000 (his death). The bracket reflects this.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located of T258 specifically.
- For Tiānxīzāi and the Sòng Yìjīngyuàn, Tansen Sen, Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade (2003).
- For late-Indian Prajñāpāramitā devotional cult, Edward Conze (1960; rev. 1978).
Links
- 天息災 DILA
- CBETA T08n0258
- Dazangthings date evidence (990) — Taishō shinshū daizōkyō dating.
- Kanseki DB