Dà fāngguǎng fó huáyán jīng bù sī yì fó jìngjiè fēn 大方廣佛華嚴經不思議佛境界分
Section on the Inconceivable Buddha-Realm of the Great, Vast Buddha-Flower-Garland Scripture by 提雲般若 Devaprajñā (譯)
About the work
This one-fascicle text by 提雲般若 Devaprajñā corresponds, on the Taishō apparatus’s authority, to material parallel to T0301 (Śikṣānanda’s later Dà fāngguǎng rúlái bù sī yì jìngjiè jīng 大方廣如來不思議境界經) — both texts treating the cosmological doctrine of the bù sī yì fó jìngjiè 不思議佛境界 (“inconceivable Buddha-realm”), the topic of one of the chapters of the Khotanese Avataṃsaka recension. This particular version was, historically, the immediate stimulus for Empress Wǔ Zétiān’s commissioning of the complete new (80-fascicle) translation of the Avataṃsaka by Śikṣānanda — Devaprajñā’s report of the existence of a fuller Khotanese version drove the imperial request for the Sanskrit manuscript that became the basis of T0279.
The opening reads: “Thus have I heard. At one time…”
Prefaces
No formal preface; the title-line attributes the translation to “唐于闐三藏提雲般若譯” — “translated by the Khotanese Tripiṭaka Devaprajñā of the Tang.”
Abstract
The translation is conventionally datable to the period 689 – 691 CE, the bracket of Devaprajñā’s documented translation activity at Cháng’ān per the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù (T2154, juan 9, p. 564b–565a). The bracket adopted here reflects this window. The historical importance of the work far exceeds its modest 1-fascicle length: as the partial Avataṃsaka-tradition translation produced just before Śikṣānanda’s complete new translation, it was the catalyst for the imperial decision to commission the 80-fascicle version, on the basis of Devaprajñā’s testimony that the Khotanese recension contained material missing from Buddhabhadra’s earlier 60-fascicle text.
The fact that Śikṣānanda subsequently produced his own version of the same material as a separate text (T0301) — rather than incorporating it into his complete Avataṃsaka — suggests that the bù sī yì fó jìngjiè chapter occupied a somewhat liminal position in the Khotanese tradition: included in the larger Avataṃsaka compilation, but also circulating independently. The doctrinal substance — the cosmic-cosmological description of the boundless Buddha-realms and the inconceivable powers of the Buddha-bodies — places the work in the centre of Wǔ Zétiān-period Huáyán studies.
The Taishō text (T0300) is established on the standard apparatus.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Forte, Antonino. Political Propaganda and Ideology in China at the End of the Seventh Century. Naples / Kyoto, 1976/2005 — for the political background.
- Hamar, Imre. “The History of the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra,” in Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
Other points of interest
- The historical role of this text — Devaprajñā’s report being the immediate stimulus for Wǔ Zétiān’s commissioning of the new translation — makes it one of the most consequential single small translations in Tang Buddhist history despite its brevity.