Shànsī tóngzǐ jīng 善思童子經
Sūtra of the Boy of Good Reflection translated by 闍那崛多 Jñānagupta (譯)
About the work
The Shànsī tóngzǐ jīng (T479) is a two-fascicle Sui translation parallel to Fóshuō dàfāngděng dǐngwáng jīng KR6i0106 and Dàchéng dǐngwáng jīng KR6i0107 of the Mūrdharāja-sūtra tradition. The protagonist Shànsī tóngzǐ 善思童子 (“Boy of Good Reflection”) is the same figure as Dǐngwáng 頂王 (“Crowned-King”) of the earlier translations — 闍那崛多 Jñānagupta has rendered the Sanskrit name differently. The Taishō header cross-references Nos. 477 and 478.
Prefaces
The text opens with rúshì wǒwén. The colophon attributes the translation to Jñānagupta of the Sui.
Abstract
This is the third and most polished Chinese translation of the Mūrdharāja-sūtra. Jñānagupta’s translation is dated to his Sui productive period (591–600 CE). The two-fascicle expansion (compared with the one-fascicle earlier translations) suggests Jñānagupta worked from a more complete Vorlage than was available to 竺法護 Dharmarakṣa or 月婆首那 Yuèpó Shǒunà.
The narrative tells of the bodhisattva career of Vimalakīrti’s son, but Jñānagupta’s translation tradition associates the figure with specific Yogācāra doctrinal content, possibly reflecting a later layer of Indic editing that emphasized vijñaptimātra-style readings.
Translations and research
- Lamotte, Étienne. L’enseignement de Vimalakīrti. Louvain, 1962.