Lì zhuāngyán sānmèi jīng 力莊嚴三昧經
Sūtra on the Power-Adorned Samādhi translated by 那連提耶舍 (Nàliántíyéshè / Narendrayaśas, 譯)
About the work
T647 (three fascicles, alt. title 力藏嚴經) is the Sui-period translation by 那連提耶舍 (Narendrayaśas, 517–589) of a Mahāyāna samādhi-sūtra extolling the lì zhuāngyán sānmèi — a meditative concentration adorned with the bodhisattva’s powers (bala). Narendrayaśas, having earlier translated T639 (the Yuèdēng sānmèi jīng) under the Northern Qí, completed T647 toward the end of his career under the Sui.
Abstract
那連提耶舍 (Narendrayaśas) was an Indian translator from Magadha who arrived in northern China c. 556. After serving the Northern Qí court he was forced into hiding when Northern Zhōu emperor 周武帝 Wǔ issued the proscription of Buddhism in 574; he re-emerged after the Sui restoration of Buddhism by 隋文帝 Emperor Wén in 581 and resumed translation work at the Dàxīngshàn sì 大興善寺 in Cháng’ān. T647 is dated by the [[KR6r0011|Lìdài sānbǎo jì]] (T2034) to this Sui period of his activity (582–589). Date bracket: 585–589, the late phase of his Sui activity, before his death in 589. The text presents the bodhisattva’s ten powers (daśa-bala) within the framework of samādhi practice and is closely related thematically to other power-and-adornment Mahāyāna texts of the period.
Translations and research
- Chen, Jinhua. Monks and Monarchs, Kinship and Kingship: Tanqian in Sui Buddhism and Politics. Italian School of East Asian Studies, 2002. — context for Sui imperial Buddhism.
- Forte, Antonino. The Hostage An Shigao and his Offspring: An Iranian Family in China. Italian School of East Asian Studies, 1995. — context on early translator families.
No book-length Western translation located.
Links
- CBETA T15n0647
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (580) — T = CBETA. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924–1932.