Fóshuō Dùnzhēntuóluó suǒwèn rúlái sānmèi jīng 佛說伅真陀羅所問如來三昧經
Sūtra on the Tathāgata-Samādhi Asked About by the Kinnara-king Druma translated by 支婁迦讖 (Zhī Lóujiāchèn / Lokakṣema, 譯)
About the work
T624 (three fascicles, alt. title 伅真陀羅經) is the early-attested Han-dynasty translation of the Drumakinnararāja-paripṛcchā-sūtra by 支婁迦讖 (Lokakṣema, fl. 168–189). It is one of the very earliest Chinese Mahāyāna texts and a foundational document for the cult of the bodhisattva kinnara-king Druma 伅真陀羅 / 大樹緊那羅, who plays a key role in the prajñāpāramitā tradition. The text is closely paralleled by T625, the much later Yáo-Qín retranslation by 鳩摩羅什.
Abstract
T624 is one of the works in Lokakṣema’s reliably attested early-Mahāyāna corpus, alongside the [[KR6c0003|Dàoxíng bōrě]] (T224) and the [[KR6h0027|Bānzhōu sānmèi jīng]] (T418). Jan Nattier (2008) confirms the attribution on philological grounds — it shows the characteristic transcription style and Mahāyāna vocabulary of the Lokakṣema circle. Date bracket follows Lokakṣema’s translation period under emperors Huán 桓 and Líng 靈 of Later Han (168–189). The text is significant for its mythological-musical material: the kinnara-king Druma performs music whose tones cause the assembled bodhisattvas, śrāvakas and even Mahākāśyapa to dance involuntarily — an episode taken in later Mahāyāna exegesis as a parable of the irresistible power of the prajñāpāramitā.
The Sanskrit text of the Drumakinnararājaparipṛcchā survives in part; comparative work has been done by Paul Harrison and others.
Translations and research
- Harrison, Paul. The Druma-Kinnara-Rāja-Paripṛcchā-Sūtra: A Critical Edition of the Tibetan Text. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1992.
- Harrison, Paul (trans.). The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra (related Lokakṣema corpus). BDK English Tripiṭaka, 1998.
- Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations. Tokyo: IRIAB, 2008. — confirms attribution to Lokakṣema.
Links
- CBETA T15n0624
- Kanseki DB
- 支婁迦讖 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (186, 250) — Bielu 別錄 as reported by CSZJJ 出三藏記集. T2145 (LV) 6b13, 15.