Bǎoxīng tuóluóní jīng 寶星陀羅尼經
The Sūtra of the Jewel-Star Dhāraṇī (Ratnaketu-dhāraṇī) by 波羅頗蜜多羅 (Prabhākaramitra, 譯), with preface by 法琳 (Fǎlín, 序)
About the work
The Bǎoxīng tuóluóní jīng in 10 fascicles, in 13 chapters (品), is 波羅頗蜜多羅 Prabhākaramitra’s early-Táng translation of the Ratnaketu-dhāraṇī — the Bǎochuáng fēn 寶幢分 “Jewel-Banner section” that constitutes section 9 of the [[KR6h0001|Dà jí jīng]]. The Taishō print explicitly cross-references No. 397(9). The work concerns the Mahāsaṃnipāta “Subduing of Māra” (降魔品), the conversion of the Buddha’s chief disciples (the brahman ascetics Upatisya and Kolita, the future 舍利弗 Śāriputra and 目犍連 Maudgalyāyana), and the dhāraṇī of the Ratnaketu “Jewel-Banner” used to protect the dharma against demonic interference.
Prefaces
The Taishō text preserves a substantial preface, the 《寶星經》序, by the Táng monk 法琳 Fǎlín, which is one of the principal documents for the early-Táng translation institute under Tàizōng. Fǎlín’s preface records that the Sanskrit original ran to “more than three thousand verses” (梵本三千餘偈); that the translation team was assembled at the Dàxīngshàn 大興善 monastery from “nineteen great virtuosi” (十九人) of all three teachings; that 慧乘 Huìchéng and his colleagues served as zhèngyì (verifiers of meaning), 玄謇 Xuánjiǎn and others as yìyǔ (translators of speech), and 慧明 Huìmíng and 法琳 Fǎlín himself as zhíbǐ (holders of the brush / scribes); and that the translation began in Zhēnguān 3, third month (629) and was completed in Zhēnguān 4, fourth month (630), in 10 fascicles, 13 chapters, on 130 sheets of paper, totalling 63,882 characters. This is one of the most precise self-documentations of an early-Táng translation project.
Abstract
The work is the principal independent Chinese rendering of the Ratnaketu-dhāraṇī, paralleling the equivalent section in the [[KR6h0001|Dà jí jīng]] (Dharmakṣema’s earlier rendering of the same source-section, surviving as Dà jí jīng j. 19–22). The Sanskrit original is now known from Gilgit and Bāmiyān finds and has been edited by Yael Bentor and Kurt Tropper among others. Doctrinally the work expounds the dhāraṇī of the Ratnaketu — the “Jewel-Banner” raised against the armies of Māra — and includes substantial narrative of the Buddha’s defeat of Māra at the bodhi-tree and his subsequent conversion of the brahman novices Upatisya and Kolita, who become Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana. The text is a major source for the later East Asian iconography of Ratnaketu (one of the Five Buddhas) in esoteric (mìjiào 密教) maṇḍala-schemes.
The dating window 629–630 reflects the precise dates given in Fǎlín’s preface; this is one of the few canonical Chinese Buddhist translations whose start- and end-dates are documented to the month.
Translations and research
- Bentor, Yael, ed. The Ratnaketuparivarta: Sanskrit Text. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2000. — Critical edition of the Sanskrit, with comparison to the Chinese versions.
- Kurumiya, Yenshu. Ratnaketuparivarta: Sanskrit Text. Kyoto: Heirakuji Shoten, 1978. — Earlier edition based on the Gilgit fragments.
- Skilling, Peter. “From bKa’ bstan bcos to bKa’ ‘gyur and bsTan ‘gyur.” In Transmission of the Tibetan Canon, ed. Helmut Eimer, 87–111. Vienna: ÖAW, 1997. — On the Ratnaketu in the Tibetan canon and its parallels.
Other points of interest
- 法琳 Fǎlín’s preface records that the translation team consisted of “nineteen great virtuosi competent in the three teachings and the ten branches of learning” (兼閑三教備舉十科者一十九人) — a uniquely detailed self-description of an early-Táng translation team and one of the principal sources for the institutional history of Buddhist translation in the years immediately preceding 玄奘 Xuánzàng’s return from India.
- 法琳 Fǎlín himself is one of the most important early-Táng polemical authors against Daoism and Confucianism (cf. his Biànzhèng lùn 辨正論 and Pòxié lùn 破邪論); his service as scribe on this translation predates his more famous polemical writings.