Fóshuō Zhǎngzhěnǚ Āntízhē Shīzihǒu liǎoyì jīng 佛說長者女菴提遮師子吼了義經
Definitive-Meaning Sūtra of the Lion’s Roar of Āmradārikā, Daughter of the Elder (translator unknown)
About the work
This one-fascicle Mahāyāna sūtra (T580) is anonymous in transmission. The protagonist Āntízhē 菴提遮 transcribes Sanskrit Āmradārikā / Āmradattā (the courtesan-disciple of the Buddha better known by the Pāli form Ambapālī), here said to be the “daughter of an elder” (zhǎngzhě nǚ) and to deliver a “lion’s roar” (shīzihǒu / siṃhanāda) on definitive meaning (liǎoyì / nītārtha).
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula.
Abstract
A short doctrinal-narrative prajñāpāramitā-style sūtra in which the female lay disciple Ambapālī expounds the highest “definitive-meaning” teaching. Anonymous in the catalogues, conservatively bracketed 317–600 CE. The use of liǎoyì in the title aligns the text with the Mahāyāna nītārtha / neyārtha hermeneutic tradition.
Translations and research
- Paul, Diana Y. Women in Buddhism. Berkeley, 1979 — discussion of Ambapālī as a Buddhist literary type.
- No further substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- CBETA T14n0580
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (530) — 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.