聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

自在王菩薩經

3 min read

Text ID
KR6h0029
Date
401–413
Dynasty
姚秦

Zìzàiwáng púsà jīng 自在王菩薩經

The Sūtra of the Bodhisattva Vikurvāṇa-rāja (Vikurvāṇa-rāja-paripṛcchā) by 鳩摩羅什 (Kumārajīva, 譯)

About the work

The Zìzàiwáng púsà jīng in 2 fascicles is 鳩摩羅什 Kumārajīva’s Yáo Qín 姚秦 translation of the Vikurvāṇa-rāja-paripṛcchā — the questions posed to the Buddha by the bodhisattva Zìzàiwáng 自在王 (Skt. Vikurvāṇa-rāja “King of Self-Mastery”). The Taishō print signs the entry “姚秦三藏鳩摩羅什譯” and explicitly cross-references No. 421 — KR6h0030, 瞿曇般若流支 Gautama Prajñāruci’s later 元魏 retranslation of the same Indic source under the alternative title Fènxùnwáng wèn jīng 奮迅王問經. The opening is the standard Mahāyāna setting at the Anāthapiṇḍada-ārāma in Śrāvastī, where the assembly of twenty thousand bhikṣus is gathered together with bodhisattvas-of-one-life-remaining including 彌勒 Maitreya and 得大勢 Mahāsthāmaprāpta.

Prefaces

No separate preface is preserved in the canonical print, only the standard signature.

Abstract

The Vikurvāṇa-rāja-paripṛcchā is one of 鳩摩羅什 Kumārajīva’s principal Mahāyāna sūtra translations of the Yáo-Qín period. The protagonist Zìzàiwáng / Vikurvāṇa-rāja — “King of Self-Mastery” or “King of the Magical Display” — questions the Buddha on the bodhisattva’s zìzài 自在 (self-mastery/free-functioning) over phenomena: the four kinds of self-mastery, the practices that develop them, and the bodhisattva-bhūmis on which they are realised. The work belongs with the related paripṛcchā sūtras of the Mahāsaṃnipāta cycle and is one of the principal Indic Mahāyāna treatises on bodhisattva vaśitā (mastery).

The translation was produced at the Cǎotáng 草堂 monastery in Cháng’ān, in the Yáo-Qín period under the patronage of 姚興 Yáo Xīng. The dating window 401–413 reflects the bracket of 鳩摩羅什’s most active Cháng’ān period, beginning with his arrival in 401 (Hóngshǐ 弘始 3) and ending with his death in 413 (Hóngshǐ 15). The Chū sānzàng jì jí 出三藏記集 (T2145) records the work in his catalogue.

Translations and research

  • Lamotte, Étienne. Le Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra), 5 vols. Louvain: Institut Orientaliste, 1944–1980. — The encyclopaedic study of Kumārajīva’s translation idiom and its background.
  • Robinson, Richard H. Early Mādhyamika in India and China. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1967. — Frame for Kumārajīva’s Mahāyāna translations.

Graph View

Backlinks