Fóshuō Wénshūshīlì xiàn bǎozàng jīng 佛說文殊師利現寶藏經
Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha on Mañjuśrī Manifesting the Treasure-Store translated by 竺法護 Zhú Fǎhù (Dharmarakṣa, 譯)
About the work
The Fóshuō Wénshūshīlì xiàn bǎozàng jīng (T461) is a two-fascicle Mahāyāna sūtra translated by Dharmarakṣa 竺法護 (竺法護) in the Western Jìn. The Taishō header cross-references No. 462, indicating that it is parallel to Guṇabhadra’s later Dàfāngguǎng bǎoqiè jīng 大方廣寶篋經 (KR6i0063 = T462). The Sanskrit equivalent is Mañjuśrī-vikurvāṇa-parivarta (Mañjuśrī’s Display of Supernatural Powers), the same Indic source.
Prefaces
The text opens directly with the canonical rúshì wǒwén 如是我聞 formula. The colophon identifies the translator as “西晉月氏三藏竺法護” (Dharmarakṣa).
Abstract
This sūtra narrates Mañjuśrī’s display of supernatural powers (ṛddhi) to manifest a vast treasure-store (寶藏) before the assembly. The treasure-store is allegorized as the bodhisattva’s wisdom and merit accumulated over countless lives. The text develops the doctrine that Mañjuśrī’s apparently ordinary form conceals an immense supramundane reality, a theme central to the East Asian Mañjuśrī cult.
The sūtra is parallel to the later Guṇabhadra translation KR6i0063 Dàfāngguǎng bǎoqiè jīng (T462) — both are translations of the same Indic Mañjuśrī-vikurvāṇa-parivarta. Comparison of the two translations is a standard exercise in Chinese Buddhist philology, illustrating the development of translation idiom from the Western Jìn to the Liú-Sòng. Dharmarakṣa’s version is generally more literal but stylistically rough; Guṇabhadra’s version is polished but freer.
Translations and research
- Boucher, Daniel. Bodhisattvas of the Forest and the Formation of the Mahāyāna. University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2008.
- Tribe, Anthony. “Mañjuśrī: Origins, Role and Significance.” The Buddhist Forum II (1991): 1–25.