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金光明經

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Text ID
KR6i0301
Date
414–426
Dynasty
北涼

Jīnguāngmíng jīng 金光明經

Sūtra of Golden Light (Skt. Suvarṇaprabhāsottama-sūtra) translated by 曇無讖 (Tánwúchèn / Dharmakṣema, 譯)

About the work

T663 is the earliest complete Chinese rendering of the Suvarṇaprabhāsa-sūtra, the Sūtra of Golden Light, in four fascicles and 19 chapters. Together with the Lotus, the Vimalakīrti, and the Mahāparinirvāṇa, it is one of the Mahāyāna sūtras with the deepest cultic and political impact in East Asia: its chapter on the Four Heavenly Kings (《四天王品》) made it the canonical scriptural ground for state-protective Buddhism (hùguó 護國) in China, Japan, and Korea, and its long ritual cycle of confession, dhāraṇī, and merit-transfer became liturgical bedrock.

Prefaces

The Taishō text of T663 is preceded by a Sòng-period preface dated 元豐四年三月十五日 (15 March 1081) by Cíjué Dàshī 宗賾 Zōngzé 慈覺大師宗頤 (also written 宗賾), abbot of the Hóngjì chányuàn 洪濟禪院 in Zhēndìng fǔ. The preface frames the Suvarṇaprabhāsa as the “treasure-vehicle of the three realms” (三界之寶乘) on the strength of its joint exposition of Buddha-nature (the Tathāgata’s measureless lifespan, 如來壽量), of confession (懺悔), and of the Bodhisattva path of merit-transfer exemplified by the Mahāsattva-feeds-the-tigress (摩訶薩埵之飼虎) and Elder Liúshuǐ rescues the fish (長者流水之濟魚) narratives. The preface dates only the editorial preparation of the Sòng print witness; the translation itself is far older.

Abstract

The translation is unanimously ascribed to 曇無讖 (Dharmakṣema, 385–433), produced at the Northern Liáng court of 沮渠蒙遜 Jūqú Méngxùn in Gūzāng 姑臧. Date bracket follows Dharmakṣema’s attested productive period at Gūzāng (414–426); the work was certainly complete by his death in 433. The text covers chapters 序品 through 囑累品 in 19 sections — including the famous Confessions and Praises (《懺悔品》 / 《讚歎品》), the Four Heavenly Kings cycle (chapters 6–10) which lays out the divine protection of any kingdom that recites the sūtra, the Wángfǎ zhènglùn pǐn “Right discourse on the Dharma of kingship” (《正論品》), and the closing Jātaka-style narratives (《流水長者子品》 Elder Liúshuǐ’s son, 《捨身品》 The Bodhisattva who gave his body to the tigress).

T663 was supplemented by [[KR6i0302|Hébù Jīnguāngmíng jīng 合部金光明經]] (T664) of 寶貴 (Sui, 597), which inserted four additional chapters into Dharmakṣema’s frame from later partial translations by 真諦 Paramārtha and 闍那崛多 Yaśogupta, and was eventually superseded for liturgical purposes by [[KR6i0303|Jīnguāngmíng zuìshèngwáng jīng 金光明最勝王經]] (T665) of 義淨 (Táng, 703), which is a fresh translation of the long Sanskrit recension in 31 chapters. Dharmakṣema’s version remained, however, the version commented upon by the Tiāntái lineage from 智顗 onward (see KR6i0306, KR6i0307) and by 吉藏 in the Sānlùn lineage (KR6i0308).

Structural Division

Following the CANWWW catalogue, T663 has 19 sections in four fascicles:

  1. 序品 (Xù pǐn, “Introduction”)
  2. 壽量品 (Shòuliàng pǐn, “On the Tathāgata’s Lifespan”)
  3. 懺悔品 (Chànhuǐ pǐn, “On Confession”)
  4. 讚歎品 (Zàntàn pǐn, “Praises”)
  5. 空品 (Kōng pǐn, “On Emptiness”)
  6. 四天王品 (Sìtiānwáng pǐn, “On the Four Heavenly Kings”)
  7. 大辯天神品 (Dàbiàntiānshén pǐn, “On Sarasvatī”)
  8. 功德天品 (Gōngdétiān pǐn, “On Śrī-mahādevī”)
  9. 堅牢地神品 (Jiānláo dìshén pǐn, “On the Earth-Goddess Dṛḍhā”)
  10. 散脂鬼神品 (Sànzhī guǐshén pǐn, “On the Yakṣa Saṃjñeya”)
  11. 正論品 (Zhènglùn pǐn, “On Right Discourse [of the Dharma of Kings]”)
  12. 善集品 (Shànjí pǐn, “On the Good Collection”)
  13. 鬼神品 (Guǐshén pǐn, “On Spirits”)
  14. 授記品 (Shòujì pǐn, “On the Conferral of Predictions”)
  15. 除病品 (Chúbìng pǐn, “On Curing Illness”)
  16. 流水長者子品 (Liúshuǐ zhǎngzhězǐ pǐn, “On the Son of the Elder Liúshuǐ”)
  17. 捨身品 (Shěshēn pǐn, “On the Gift of the Body”)
  18. 讚佛品 (Zànfó pǐn, “Praises of the Buddha”)
  19. 囑累品 (Zhǔlèi pǐn, “Entrustment”)

Related canonical texts: KR6i0302 (合部金光明經, the Sui composite expansion), KR6i0308 (金光明經疏, Jízàng’s commentary).

Translations and research

  • Nobel, Johannes. Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra. Das Goldglanz-Sūtra. Ein Sanskrittext des Mahāyāna-Buddhismus. Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1937. The standard Sanskrit edition.
  • Nobel, Johannes. Suvarṇaprabhāsottama-Sūtra: Die tibetischen Übersetzungen. 2 vols. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1944–1950.
  • Emmerick, Ronald E. The Sūtra of Golden Light: Being a Translation of the Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra. London: Luzac, 1970; rev. ed. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1996. Translated from Nobel’s Sanskrit edition.
  • Radich, Michael. “Pure Lands and Buddha Bodies: A Survey of Recent Scholarship in English.” Religion Compass 9.10 (2015): 305–323. Frames T663 within the early tathāgatagarbha / Buddha-body literature.
  • Skilling, Peter. “Buddhist Sealings: Reflections on Terminology, Motivation, Donors’ Status, School Affiliation, and Print Technology.” In South Asian Archaeology 2001, vol. 2, 677–685. The cultic uses of the Suvarṇaprabhāsa in medieval Asia.

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