Shífāng qiān wǔbǎi fómíng jīng 十方千五百佛名經
Sūtra of the Names of 1,500 Buddhas of the Ten Directions Translator unknown (失譯)
About the work
The Shífāng qiān wǔbǎi fómíng jīng is a single-fascicle Buddha-name sūtra listing 1,500 Buddha-names distributed across the ten directions. The translator is unknown (失譯). This text is preserved only in the CBETA/Taishō and an “orig” (original) edition according to the catalog metadata; its attestation is therefore limited to later printed canons without medieval manuscript witnesses. It belongs to the broad category of “thousand-Buddha-name” sūtras that proliferated in Chinese Buddhism from the 5th century onward, serving as liturgical confession manuals.
Prefaces
No preface or translator colophon survives.
Abstract
The Shífāng qiān wǔbǎi fómíng jīng (T14n0442) is an anonymous Buddha-name list text of uncertain date and provenance. The numerical specification of 1,500 names (千五百) organized across the ten directions (十方) is consistent with a Chinese-compiled or expanded text building on earlier Buddha-name traditions. Its relationship to the better-attested Buddha-name sūtras in this division (T14n0440–T14n0448) is thematic rather than textual. In the absence of a translator attribution, a colophon, or identified manuscript witnesses, this text cannot be firmly dated; its language style, compared with 竺法護 Zhú Fǎhù’s and other early translations, would be required for a more precise assessment.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.