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月燈三昧經

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Text ID
KR6i0276
Date
557–559
Dynasty
高齊

Yuèdēng sānmèi jīng 月燈三昧經

Sūtra on the Moon-Lamp Samādhi translated by 那連提耶舍 (Nàliántíyéshè / Narendrayaśas, 譯)

About the work

T639 (ten fascicles; Sanskrit Sarvadharmasvabhāvasamatāvipañcitasamādhirājasūtra; alternate Sanskrit Samādhirāja-(candrapradīpa)sūtra) is the major Northern Qí translation of the great Samādhirāja-sūtra by 那連提耶舍 (Narendrayaśas, 517–589). The Samādhirāja is one of the most important Mahāyāna samādhi-sūtras of the late-Indian tradition and an authoritative source for the Madhyamaka doctrine that all dharmas share a single nature in śūnyatā. T639 was the principal Chinese version available before the Tang and was the basis for all subsequent East Asian engagement with the Samādhirāja tradition. It is much expanded relative to the shorter excerpt-version preserved in T640 and T641 (both attributed to Xiāngōng).

Abstract

那連提耶舍 (Narendrayaśas; 517–589) was an Indian translator from Magadha who arrived in northern China c. 556. The [[KR6r0011|Lìdài sānbǎo jì]] (T2034, juan 9) records that he translated T639 at the Tiānpíng sì 天平寺 in Yè 鄴 city under the patronage of the Northern Qí court, completing it in the Tiānbǎo 天保 era (probably between 557 and 559). Date bracket follows this: notBefore 557 (his arrival in Yè), notAfter 559 (completion under Tiānbǎo). The Sanskrit text of the Samādhirāja is extant and has been edited multiple times (Dutt, Vaidya); a Tibetan version also survives. The Chinese version preserves a recension somewhat earlier than the surviving Sanskrit and is an important witness to the textual history of the sūtra.

The doctrinal core of the Samādhirāja — that all dharmas share the same intrinsic nature, namely śūnyatā, and that the Moon-Lamp (Candrapradīpa) bodhisattva embodies this realization — became a foundational source for Indian Madhyamaka, especially Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatāra, and through that filtered into East Asian exegesis on emptiness.

Translations and research

  • Vaidya, P. L. (ed.). Samādhirājasūtra. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts no. 2. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute, 1961.
  • Dutt, Nalinaksha (ed.). Samādhirāja-Sūtra. Calcutta, 1941.
  • Tatz, Mark (trans.). The Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya) Sūtra and related samādhi texts. (Several volumes treat Samādhirāja parallels.)
  • Cüppers, Christoph. The IXth Chapter of the Samādhirāja-Sūtra: A Text-critical Contribution to the Study of Mahāyāna Sūtras. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1990.
  • Skilton, Andrew. State or Statement? Samādhi in Some Early Mahāyāna Sūtras. — articles on the textual history of the Samādhirāja.

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