Fó wèi Hǎilóngwáng shuō fǎyìn jīng 佛為海龍王說法印經
Sūtra in which the Buddha Expounds the Dharma-Seal to the Sea-Nāga King translated by 義淨 (Yìjìng, 譯)
About the work
The Fó wèi Hǎi-lóngwáng shuō fǎyìn jīng (T599) is a very short one-fascicle Mahāyāna sūtra translated by Yìjìng 義淨 (義淨). It transmits the celebrated formula of the four “Dharma-seals” (法印, dharma-uddāna) — that all conditioned things are impermanent, all conditioned things are suffering, all phenomena are without self, and nirvāṇa is peace — to the Sea-Nāga king Sāgara.
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula.
Abstract
A miniature Yìjìng translation of an Indic Mahāyāna dharma-uddāna formula sūtra, datable within his Cháng’ān period (700–711 CE). The text is excerpted from the broader Sāgara-nāgarāja-paripṛcchā tradition (cf. KR6i0232). It served in East-Asian Buddhism as one of the standard pedagogical mini-sūtras for transmitting the four-seals doctrine.
Translations and research
- Lamotte, Étienne. L’Enseignement de Vimalakīrti. Louvain, 1962 — discussion of the four dharma-uddānas.
- No dedicated English translation located.
Links
- CBETA T15n0599
- Kanseki DB
- 義淨 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (705) — 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.