Fóshuō Púsàxíng fāngbiàn jìngjiè shéntōng biànhuà jīng 佛說菩薩行方便境界神通變化經
Sūtra of the Bodhisattva-Practice’s Skillful-Means Realm and Supernormal Transformations (Taught by the Buddha) by 求那跋陀羅 (Qiúnà-bátuóluó / Guṇabhadra, 譯)
About the work
A three-juan (上 / 中 / 下) Liú-Sòng translation by Guṇabhadra 求那跋陀羅 (394–468) of an Indic Mahāyāna sūtra in the bodhisattva-caryā tradition. The Taishō cross-reference 「No. 271 [No. 270]」 indicates a thematic relation to the Dà fǎgǔ jīng (KR6d0109, T270), Guṇabhadra’s other major Tathāgatagarbha-tradition production. Body attribution: Sòng Tiānzhú sānzàng fǎshī Qiúnàbátuóluó yì 宋天竺三藏法師求那跋陀羅譯 (“translated by the Indic Tripiṭaka Dharma-Master Guṇabhadra of the Sòng [dynasty]”).
Prefaces
The text in the Taishō recension carries the standard front matter and proceeds with the standard sūtra opening.
Abstract
The work is a Mahāyāna sūtra elaborating the bodhisattva-caryā (the bodhisattva practice-path) through detailed exposition of the bodhisattva’s upāya (skillful-means), gocara (practice-realm), and abhijñā-vikurvaṇa (supernormal transformation) faculties. The text is parallel to several other Liú-Sòng-period translations elaborating the same conceptual cluster — the bodhisattva’s distinctive practice-faculties as the basis for universal salvific activity — and forms part of the broader Mahāyāna scriptural cycle informing the early Sinitic Mahāyāna soteriology.
The composition of the Indic original is most plausibly dated to the third or fourth century CE. The Chinese translation is bracketed within Guṇabhadra’s productive period 435–468.
Translations and research
- Brown, Brian E. The Buddha-Nature: A Study of the Tathāgatagarbha and Ālayavijñāna. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1991.
- Wayman, Alex, and Wayman, Hideko. The Lion’s Roar of Queen Śrīmālā. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974.
- Lancaster, Lewis R. The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.
Links
- CBETA online text T0271
- Kanseki DB
- 求那跋陀羅 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (440): T CBETA Taishō — 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.