Dàjí dàxūkōngzàng púsà suǒ wèn jīng 大集大虛空藏菩薩所問經
The Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra of the Questions of the Great Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva (Gaganagañja-paripṛcchā) by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
The Dàjí dàxūkōngzàng púsà suǒ wèn jīng in 8 fascicles is 不空 Amoghavajra’s mid-Táng translation of the Gaganagañja-paripṛcchā — the principal Mahāyāna sūtra of the bodhisattva 虛空藏 Ākāśagarbha — incorporated as section 8 (Xūkōngzàng pǐn 虛空藏品) of the [[KR6h0001|Dà jí jīng]]. The Taishō print explicitly cross-references No. 397(8) and signs the entry with the full Táng-imperial titulature for Amoghavajra (“特進試鴻臚卿肅國公…大廣智…三藏沙門不空奉詔譯”), reflecting his unique status as the highest-ranking foreign monk at the Táng court.
Prefaces
No separate preface is preserved in the canonical print; only the imperial signature formula at the head of fascicle 1.
Abstract
The Gaganagañja-paripṛcchā — Xūkōngzàng 虛空藏 “Sky-Treasury / Ākāśagarbha” — concerns the bodhisattva who is the patron of prajñā, vow, and inexhaustible boons. The work is a substantial paripṛcchā treatise in which Ākāśagarbha questions the Buddha on the nature of the bodhisattva’s vow, the discipline of prajñāpāramitā, and the inexhaustibility of the bodhisattva’s resources. The principal early-medieval Chinese version is the equivalent section in the [[KR6h0001|Dà jí jīng]] (Dharmakṣema’s rendering of the same source-section), and there are several short standalone Chinese sūtras devoted to the Ākāśagarbha cult (KR6h0009–KR6h0013). Amoghavajra’s 8-fascicle version is the longest standalone Chinese translation of the Indic sūtra and the principal source-text for the Ākāśagarbha practice in East Asian Esoteric Buddhism.
The dating window 746–774 reflects the bracket of Amoghavajra’s most active period as imperial Táng translator under 玄宗 Xuánzōng, 肅宗 Sùzōng and 代宗 Dàizōng. The Zhēnyuán xīndìng shìjiào mùlù 貞元新定釋教目錄 (T2157) records the work among Amoghavajra’s canonical translations; like much of his output it was produced at the Dàxīngshàn 大興善 monastery. The Indic source-text is partially preserved in Tibetan, where the Gaganagañja-paripṛcchā is well attested.
Translations and research
- Braarvig, Jens. “Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā.” Forthcoming critical edition of the Tibetan text. — A long-running project at the University of Oslo.
- Orzech, Charles D. Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of Chinese Buddhism. University Park: Penn State University Press, 1998. — Standard study of Amoghavajra’s translation enterprise and its political context.
- Goble, Geoffrey. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra, the Ruling Elite, and the Emergence of a Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. — Recent monograph on Amoghavajra’s institutional status.
Other points of interest
- The Ākāśagarbha cult based on this and the related sūtras is the scriptural foundation for the Japanese gumonji-hō 求聞持法 ritual practice, performed by 空海 Kūkai prior to his Shingon initiation; the present work is among the principal scriptural authorities for that practice in East Asian Esoteric Buddhism.
Links
- CBETA online text
- DDB entry
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (750): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. 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. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1