Wénshūshīlì fā yuàn jīng 文殊師利發願經
The Sūtra on Mañjuśrī’s Aspiration by 佛馱跋陀羅 Buddhabhadra (譯)
About the work
This one-fascicle text by 佛馱跋陀羅 Buddhabhadra is a short Mahāyāna sūtra in verse, comprising the bodhisattva-aspiration of Mañjuśrī. Per the Taishō apparatus, the text is parallel to T0297 (Amoghavajra’s later version of the same material) and corresponds to portions of fascicle 40 of T0293 (the Pǔ-xián xíng-yuàn pǐn of the 40-fascicle Avataṃsaka). It is the earliest Chinese rendering of the bodhisattva-aspiration genre that culminates in the Pǔ-xián shí dà yuàn 普賢十大願 of the late-eighth-century 40-fascicle Avataṃsaka — though here the principal speaker is Mañjuśrī rather than Samantabhadra.
The opening reads (in verse):
Body, speech, and mind made pure, [I] eliminate all defilements; with one heart respectfully bowing, [I worship] the Buddhas of the ten directions and three times. Through the power of Samantabhadra’s vow… (身口意清淨，除滅諸垢穢，一心恭敬禮，十方三世佛。普賢願力故，…)
Prefaces
No formal preface; the title-line attributes the translation to “東晉天竺三藏佛陀跋陀羅譯” — “translated by the Indian Tripiṭaka Buddhabhadra of the Eastern Jìn.” Note the variant rendering 佛陀跋陀羅 (rather than 佛馱跋陀羅) preserved in the Taishō transcription — both forms refer to the same translator (DILA A000441).
Abstract
The translation is conventionally dated to the year of completion of Buddhabhadra’s [[KR6e0001|Huáyán jīng]] (i.e. 420 CE), the bracket adopted here, on the basis that the text was almost certainly produced in the same Dàochǎngsì 道場寺 translation bureau in Jiànkāng / Yángzhōu, working from materials brought by 支法領 Zhī Fǎlǐng from Khotan. Per the Chū sānzàng jì jí (T2145), the text is one of several short Mahāyāna verse-sūtras Buddhabhadra translated alongside his major projects.
The doctrinal substance is the fā yuàn 發願 — “raising the bodhisattva-aspiration” — a key act of Mahāyāna devotional practice. The verse opens with the standard threefold purification of body, speech, and mind, then proceeds through universal homage to the Buddhas of the ten directions and three times, dedication of merit, the perfection of the daśa-pāramitā, and culminates in the universal commitment to lead all beings to liberation. The Mañjuśrī-attribution of the aspiration distinguishes this version from the later Pǔ-xián-attributed version (Samantabhadra), which became the canonical East Asian liturgical text.
The Taishō text (T0296) is established on the standard apparatus.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism (2007).
- Schopen, Gregory. Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks. Honolulu: UHP, 1997 — for the genre of the Mahāyāna praṇidhāna / “vow-making.”
Other points of interest
- The text is significant for the comparative study of the Pǔ-xián xíng-yuàn pǐn tradition, since it preserves an earlier (Mañjuśrī-attributed) version of bodhisattva-aspiration material that was later re-attributed to Samantabhadra in the 40-fascicle Avataṃsaka tradition. The shift of attribution from Mañjuśrī to Samantabhadra reflects the evolving prominence of Samantabhadra in the Tang Huáyán tradition, which is fundamental to the Tang and post-Tang devotional construction of the Avataṃsaka.