Fóshuō Miàojíxiáng púsà suǒwèn dàchéng fǎluó jīng 佛說妙吉祥菩薩所問大乘法螺經
Sūtra of the Bodhisattva Miàojíxiáng’s Questions on the Mahāyāna Dharma-Conch translated by 法賢 Fǎxián (Dharmabhadra, 譯)
About the work
The Fóshuō Miàojíxiáng púsà suǒwèn dàchéng fǎluó jīng (T473) is a one-fascicle Sòng-era Mahāyāna sūtra translated by Fǎxián 法賢 (法賢; d. 1000 CE) — the imperially-renamed Tiānxīzāi 天息災 (cf. KR6i0073). The bodhisattva Miàojíxiáng 妙吉祥 (“Wonderfully Auspicious”) is the standard Sòng-era translation of Mañjuśrī, replacing the older transliteration Wénshūshīlì 文殊師利. The text concerns the fǎluó 法螺 — the dharma-conch (dharmaśaṅkha) — as a metaphor for the proclamation of the Mahāyāna teaching.
Prefaces
The text opens with rúshì wǒwén. The colophon names the translator as Fǎxián, indicating composition after his name change in 987 CE.
Abstract
This sūtra is the second of the late-period Mañjuśrī cycle in the Taishō (after KR6i0073). Both texts represent the Sòng imperial translation institute’s Mañjuśrī corpus, which deliberately rebuilt the bodhisattva-cycle catalogues using fresh translations from new Sanskrit Vorlagen. The use of Miàojíxiáng as the standardized Sòng-era rendering of Mañjuśrī marks a shift away from the older Tang phonetic transcription.
The dharma-conch is a major Buddhist symbol — the conch’s announcement traditionally calls the saṅgha to assembly; in Mahāyāna, the “great conch” of the Buddha’s teaching summons all beings to the bodhisattva path. The sūtra is structured around Mañjuśrī’s questions about how the Mahāyāna dharma-conch is proclaimed in different worlds and to different audiences.
The translation date is bracketed by Fǎxián’s name change (987 CE) and his death (1000 CE), giving 989–1000 CE as the working bracket.
Translations and research
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2003.
- Bowring, Richard. “Brief Note: Buddhist Translations in the Northern Sung.” Asia Major 5 (1992): 79–93.