Dàshèng bǎifúxiàng jīng 大乘百福相經
Mahāyāna Sūtra of the Hundred Marks of Merit translated by 地婆訶羅 (Dìpóhēluó / Divākara, 譯)
About the work
T661 (one fascicle, alt. title 百福相經; Sanskrit Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā-sūtra) is the Tang translation by 地婆訶羅 (Divākara, 613–687) of a short Mahāyāna paripṛcchā-sūtra in which Mañjuśrī asks the Buddha about the hundred marks of merit through which a buddha-body is generated. The text is the first of two consecutive Divākara translations of the same Indic source: T662 (Dàshèng bǎifú zhuāngyán xiāng jīng) is his second rendering, made later in his career.
Abstract
地婆訶羅 (Divākara, Dìpóhēluó; 613–687) was an Indian translator who came to China in 676 and worked at the Tàiyuán sì 太原寺 in Cháng’ān under imperial patronage; the [[KR6r0054|Sòng gāosēng zhuàn]] (T2061) gives his biography. He is credited with eighteen translations made between 676 and 687. Date bracket follows his attested productive period (676–687). The Sanskrit Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā is preserved in Tibetan; T661 is one of two Chinese versions, both by Divākara. The “hundred marks of merit” (śata-puṇya-lakṣaṇa) doctrine — that each of the thirty-two major marks of a buddha is generated by a hundred meritorious roots — is articulated here in a compact paripṛcchā form. The text was used in Tang scholastic exegesis on the relation between puṇya and jñāna in the bodhisattva path.
Translations and research
- Chen, Jinhua. Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician: The Many Lives of Fazang. Leiden: Brill, 2007. — context for late-seventh-century translation projects.
- Forte, Antonino. The Hostage An Shigao and his Offspring. Italian School of East Asian Studies, 1995. — context on Indian translator families.
No book-length English translation located.
Links
- CBETA T16n0661
- Kanseki DB
- 地婆訶羅 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (680) — T = CBETA. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924–1932.