Fó shuō shēnmáo xǐshù jīng 佛說身毛喜豎經
The Buddha Speaks: The Sūtra of the Hair-Standing-on-End (Skt. Lomahaṃsana-sūtra / Romaharṣana-sūtra) translated by 惟淨 (Wéijìng, 等譯 — “and others”)
About the work
T757 in three fascicles is a Northern Sòng translation directed by 惟淨 (Wéijìng, fl. early 11th c.) at the Tàipíngxīngguósì 太平興國寺 Translation Bureau in Kāifēng. The title 身毛喜豎 (shēnmáo xǐshù, lit. “the body-hair stands up in joy”) translates the Sanskrit lomahaṃsa / romaharṣana — the bodily reaction of awe and delight at hearing wondrous Dharma. The alternative form preserved in CANWWW (身王起豎經 Shēnwáng qǐshù jīng) is a scribal corruption of the same title.
Abstract
The Lomahaṃsana-sūtra is one of the well-known adbhutadharma (wonder-narrative) texts of mainstream Buddhism. The Pāli parallel is the Mahāsīhanāda-sutta (MN 12), in which the Buddha responds to the disparaging remarks of the apostate Sunakkhatta by recounting his own former austerities (tapacaryā) and the wonders of his realization. The narrative follows the standard “great lion’s roar” pattern: the Buddha enumerates his own previous bodhisattva-discipline — extreme fasts, exposure to the elements, sleeping in cremation grounds — and contrasts these with the false austerities of non-Buddhist śramaṇas. The “hair-standing-on-end” of the title refers to the listener’s awe-struck reaction; the Buddha himself characterises the discourse as one suitable to “make the hair stand on end.”
Wéijìng’s three-fascicle expansion is substantially fuller than the mid-length Pāli MN 12, suggesting that the Indian source-text was an enlarged and possibly Mahāyāna-redacted version of the Mahāsīhanāda-sutta circulating in late-Indian Buddhist communities — comparable to the textual situation of other Sòng-era retranslations. The Sòng Bureau’s translations of mid-length āgamasūtras of this type form a coherent group of important late witnesses to the Indian sūtra-textual tradition.
Translations and research
- Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu, and Bodhi, Bhikkhu, trans. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995. (Translation of the Pāli MN 12 Mahā-sīhanāda-sutta.)
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003. (Background on the Sòng Translation Bureau and Wéijìng’s role.)
Links
- CBETA online
- Dazangthings date evidence (1000): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. Dazangthings source 1
- Kanseki DB
- 惟淨 DILA