Fó shuō xū mó tí pútísà jīng 佛說須摩提菩薩經 (Zhú Fǎhù)

The Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on the Bodhisattva Sumati by 竺法護 (Zhú Fǎhù / Dharmarakṣa, 譯)

About the work

This 1-fascicle text by 竺法護 Zhú Fǎhù is the Sumati-paripṛcchā — the Mahāyāna sūtra on the bodhisattva-girl Sumati (須摩提, “Good-Mind”). The work has parallel translations: Kumārajīva’s T0335 and Bodhiruci’s T0336. The work was incorporated into the [[KR6f0001|Mahā-ratnakūṭa]] tradition.

Prefaces

No formal preface.

Abstract

The translation belongs to 竺法護 Zhú Fǎhù’s Cháng’ān period (266 – 313 CE). The doctrinal substance — the Sumati narrative — is one of the principal Mahāyāna sūtras featuring a female bodhisattva-protagonist, and is therefore important for the study of gender in early Mahāyāna literature.

The Taishō text (T0334) is established on the standard apparatus.

Translations and research

  • No substantial Western-language translation located.
  • Paul, Diana Y. Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in the Mahāyāna Tradition. Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1979 — for context.