Guòqù zhuāngyán jié qiān fómíng jīng 過去莊嚴劫千佛名經
Sūtra of the Names of the Thousand Buddhas of the Past Ornate Aeon (recension a) Translator unknown (失譯)
About the work
The Guòqù zhuāngyán jié qiān fómíng jīng is one of the “Three Kalpas, Thousand Buddhas Names” sūtras (sān jié sānqiān fómíng), enumerating the thousand Buddhas of the past Ornate Aeon (zhuāngyán jié 莊嚴劫 / vyūhakalpa), as opposed to the present Fortunate Aeon (bhadrakalpa = xiánjié 賢劫) covered in Xiánjié jīng 賢劫經 (KR6i0001). The Taishō records two closely related recensions of this text: T446a (this entry, KR6i0022) and T446b (KR6i0023); both lack a translator’s name. The text opens with a short narrative frame from the Guān Yàowáng Yàoshàng jīng 觀藥王藥上經 (cited in its header: 三劫三千佛緣起出《觀藥王藥上經》), suggesting that the thousand-Buddha-names lists were extracted and recompiled from a narrative sūtra context.
Prefaces
No translator colophon. The text opens with: 三劫三千佛緣起(出《觀藥王藥上經》) — providing a source attribution to the Guān Yàowáng Yàoshàng jīng for the introductory narrative.
Abstract
The “Three Kalpas, Three Thousand Buddhas” tradition (三世三千佛名) is a Chinese Buddhist liturgical construction grouping the thousand Buddhas of the past (Ornate Aeon), present (Fortunate Aeon), and future (Starry Aeon, xīngxiù jié 星宿劫) into one comprehensive system. The three sets of texts — T446a/446b (KR6i0022–KR6i0023), T447a/447b (KR6i0024–KR6i0025), and T448a/448b (KR6i0026–KR6i0027) — represent duplicate or variant recensions of each group, reflecting independent textual transmissions. The origin of the “three aeons” (sān jié 三劫) framing in this specific combination is likely Chinese or Central Asian rather than directly Indian, though the individual Buddha-name lists may derive from earlier Indic sources. The “a” and “b” recensions differ in textual organization and may represent different transmission lineages or scribal traditions.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.