Dàshèng lí wénzì pǔguāngmíng zàng jīng 大乘離文字普光明藏經
The Mahāyāna Sūtra of the Universal-Radiant Treasury Free of Letters (Skt. Anakṣara-karaṇḍaka-vairocana-garbha-sūtra) translated by 地婆訶羅 (Dìpóhēluó, Divākara, 譯)
About the work
T829 in one fascicle is the Táng re-translation of the Anakṣara-karaṇḍaka-vairocana-garbha-sūtra, parallel to [[KR6i0534|Wúzì bǎoqiè jīng 無字寶篋經 (T828)]] by Bodhiruci of the Northern Wèi. Translated by the central-Indian Táng translator 地婆訶羅 (Divākara, 614–688) at Cháng’ān during his Yífèng 儀鳳 to Chuígǒng 垂拱 (676–688) translation career under Empress Wǔ Zétiān’s patronage. The Táng title 大乘離文字普光明藏 (“Mahāyāna [Sūtra of the] Universally-Radiant Treasury Free of Letters”) more transparently reflects the Sanskrit vairocana-garbha component (普光明藏 pǔguāngmíng zàng = vairocana-garbha).
Abstract
The narrative frame and doctrinal content are identical to those of T828: at Mt Gṛdhrakūṭa near Rājagṛha, the Buddha is surrounded by countless bodhisattvas, all “skilful in penetrating the letterless dharma-gate,” all “freed from the three realms.” The bodhisattva-list partially parallels T828, with some name-equivalents adjusted to Divākara’s translation register: Shèngsīwéi 勝思惟 (= T828’s same name), Fǎzhènyīn 法震音 (= T828’s 法響), Miàoshēn 妙身, Fǎwǎng 法輞, etc. The bodhisattva Shèngsīwéi asks the same two questions: what is the one dharma the bodhisattva extinguishes, and what is the one dharma the Tathāgata awakens to. The Buddha’s exposition follows the same arc — extinguishing greed, hatred, delusion, self-view, laziness, sleep, craving, ignorance — and culminates in the doctrine of the anakṣara-dharma-ground.
Divākara’s translation idiom is more polished than Bodhiruci’s earlier effort, deploying the standard late-seventh-century Buddhist Chinese technical vocabulary (e.g. 普光明藏 for vairocana-garbha, 離文字 for anakṣara). The doctrinal content is unchanged. See KR6i0534 for the full doctrinal summary.
Translations and research
See KR6i0534 for the relevant secondary literature.
Links
- CBETA online
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (680): [ 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. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1/