Fó shuō jiàoliàng shùzhū gōngdé jīng 佛說校量數珠功德經
The Buddha Speaks: The Sūtra Comparing the Merit of Rosaries translated by 寶思惟 (Bǎosīwéi = Ratnacinta, 譯)
About the work
T788 in one fascicle is a Tang Chinese rendering by 寶思惟 (Bǎosīwéi = Ratnacinta, fl. 693–721, d. 721), the Kashmirian translator who arrived in Cháng’ān 長安 in 693 and worked at the imperial Translation Bureau under 武則天 Wǔ Zétiān and 中宗 Zhōngzōng. The text is the second of the Tang-period rosary-merit comparison sūtras, treating the same comparative-merit doctrine as the [[KR6i0491|Mañjuśrī-mantra-piṭaka rosary-merit sūtra]] of 義淨 Yìjìng (T787) but in a stand-alone (non-Mañjuśrī-attributed) framework.
Abstract
The text expounds the comparative merit of rosaries made from various materials, paralleling the schema of KR6i0491: the rosary materials are graded from soapberry-seed through iron, copper, crystal, lapis lazuli, and bodhi-vrkṣa to the mokṣa-bīja, with each yielding a specified multiplication of merit when used for mantra-recitation. Where Yìjìng’s KR6i0491 places the doctrine within Mañjuśrī’s mantra-piṭaka, Ratnacinta’s version presents it in a free-standing sūtra-frame as a teaching of the Buddha to a monastic audience. The two Chinese versions reflect parallel Indian witnesses of the same comparative-merit doctrine, which was current in late-Indian Buddhist devotional literature.
Ratnacinta is recorded in the Sòng gāosēng zhuàn 宋高僧傳 (T2061, juan 2) as a trepiṭaka of Kashmirian origin who travelled to Cháng’ān by sea, was patronised by Wǔ Zétiān, and was given the title Sānzàng 三藏 (Tripiṭaka-master). His translations include several ritual-and-mantra texts beyond the rosary-merit sūtra, reflecting his proto-tantric specialisation. The Jiàoliàng shùzhū gōngdé jīng together with KR6i0491 and the later esoteric expansion [[KR6i0493|Jīngāngdǐng yújiā niànzhū jīng]] of 不空 Amoghavajra forms the foundational triad of Chinese Buddhist canonical literature on rosary-practice.
Translations and research
No standalone Western translation located. For Bǎo-sī-wéi (Ratnacinta) see:
- Forte, Antonino. Mingtang and Buddhist Utopias in the History of the Astronomical Clock. Rome: IsMEO, 1988. (Background on the Wǔ Zé-tiān Buddhist court.)
- Kieschnick, John. The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture. Princeton, 2003.
Links
- CBETA T17n0788
- Dazangthings date evidence (710): 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.
- Kanseki DB
- 寶思惟 DILA