Dà huāyán zhǎngzhě wèn Fó Nàluóyán lì jīng 大花嚴長者問佛那羅延力經
Sūtra of the Mahāvyūha Elder’s Questions to the Buddha on the Strength of Nārāyaṇa translated by 般若 (Prajñā, 譯) and 利言 (Lìyán, 譯)
About the work
The Dà huāyán zhǎngzhě wèn Fó Nàluóyán lì jīng (T547) is a one-fascicle late-Tang Mahāyāna sūtra translated by the Indian monk Prajñā 般若 (般若; ca. 734–810 CE) and his Chinese collaborator Lìyán 利言 (利言). Nàluóyán 那羅延 transliterates Nārāyaṇa — a name of Viṣṇu used in Buddhist texts as a symbol of supernatural strength.
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula.
Abstract
A short Mahāyāna text on the elder’s questions about the Buddha’s Nārāyaṇa-bala (Nārāyaṇa-strength) — one of the standard ten powers (daśabala) of a Tathāgata. Prajñā arrived at Cháng’ān in 786 CE and worked with Lìyán until ca. 810 CE; this translation dates to that bracket.
Translations and research
- Forte, Antonino. Mingtang and Buddhist Utopias. Roma, 1988 — Tang esoteric translation context.
Links
- CBETA T14n0547
- Kanseki DB
- 般若 DILA
- 利言 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (755, 800) — T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014.