Dàfāngguǎng bǎoqiè jīng 大方廣寶篋經
Great Vaipulya Treasure-Box Sūtra translated by 求那跋陀羅 Qiúnàbátuóluó (Guṇabhadra, 譯)
About the work
The Dàfāngguǎng bǎoqiè jīng (T462) is a three-fascicle Mahāyāna sūtra translated by Guṇabhadra 求那跋陀羅 (求那跋陀羅; 394–468 CE) at Jiànkāng under the Liú-Sòng. The Taishō header cross-references No. 461, marking the text as parallel to Dharmarakṣa’s Wénshūshīlì xiàn bǎozàng jīng (KR6i0062 = T461) — both are renderings of the same Indic Mañjuśrī-vikurvāṇa-parivarta / Bodhisattvapiṭaka family of texts.
Prefaces
The text opens with rúshì wǒwén 如是我聞. The colophon attributes translation to “宋天竺三藏求那跋陀羅” (Guṇabhadra, Tripiṭaka master from India, of the Sòng).
Abstract
Guṇabhadra arrived in Guǎngzhōu in 435 CE and worked actively until his death in 468 CE; he translated this text during his middle period at Jiànkāng’s Wǎguān sì 瓦官寺 or Dōnglín sì 東林寺. The translation is traditionally placed in the Yuánjiā 元嘉 era (424–453), most likely between 435 and 443 based on Sēngyòu’s catalog and parallel translation activity records.
The sūtra narrates Mañjuśrī’s display of supernatural powers, the Buddha’s exposition of various Mahāyāna doctrines on emptiness and bodhisattva practice, and a sequence of parivarta (chapters) on specific topics. The Guṇabhadra version is preferred in later Chinese commentarial tradition over Dharmarakṣa’s earlier T461 because of its smoother literary style. Both translations preserve material from a shared Indic Vorlage but with different emphases and chapter divisions.
Guṇabhadra was one of the four foremost foreign translators in early medieval China (along with Kumārajīva, Paramārtha, and Bodhiruci) and is responsible for major Yogācāra and tathāgatagarbha texts including the Saṃyuktāgama (T99), the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra (T670), and the Śrīmālādevī-siṃhanāda-sūtra (T353). This work is a relatively minor entry in his corpus but doctrinally important for the Mañjuśrī tradition.
Translations and research
- Boucher, Daniel. Bodhisattvas of the Forest and the Formation of the Mahāyāna. University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2008.
- Lamotte, Étienne. Mañjuśrī. Bruxelles: Institut Belge des Hautes Études Chinoises, 1960 — covers the Mañjuśrī-vikurvāṇa-parivarta.