Fó shuō chúkǒng zāihuàn jīng 佛說除恐災患經
The Buddha’s Sūtra on Removing Fear, Calamity, and Misfortune translated by 聖堅 (Shèngjiān / Āryasthira, 譯)
About the work
T744 in one fascicle is a Western Qín 乞伏秦 / 西秦 (385–431) translation by 聖堅 (Āryasthira) at the Qǐfú-clan capital of Yǒngshì 苑川 in modern Gānsù. The text is an apotropaic / protective sūtra: invoking the Buddha and Dharma for the removal of fear (kǒng 恐), calamity (zāi 災), and misfortune (huàn 患).
Abstract
The text addresses the practitioner’s need for protection against the three categories of trouble: psychic-mental (fear, bhaya), material-natural (calamity, upadrava), and karmic (misfortune, ādīnava). The Buddha exposits how the recollection of the Three Jewels (tri-ratna-anusmṛti) serves as the protective mantra-formula that dispels each category. The text closes with verses of invocation suitable for liturgical use.
The genre — apotropaic / protective sūtra — was particularly important in the Buddhist culture of the politically unstable Sixteen Kingdoms period during which 聖堅 worked. The Western Qín polity, ruled by the Qǐfú clan in modern Gānsù, was one of the smaller and more turbulent of the Sixteen Kingdoms, and the patronage of protective Buddhist liturgical texts reflects the practical religious needs of its rulers and population.
聖堅’s broader translation programme included the Tàizǐ Sūdánà jīng (KR6b0023 / T171, on Prince Sudāna), the Shǎnzǐ jīng (KR6b0027 / T175), and other narrative-doctrinal works. This protective sūtra fits within the same program of doctrinally-grounded liturgical material for a Buddhist polity.
Translations and research
- Zürcher, Erik. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Leiden: Brill, 1959 (rpt. 2007). (Background on the Sixteen Kingdoms Buddhist patronage.)