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如來師子吼經

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Text ID
KR6i0541
Date
524–539
Dynasty
元魏

Rúlái shīzǐhǒu jīng 如來師子吼經

The Sūtra of the Tathāgata’s Lion’s Roar (Skt. Siṃhanādika-sūtra) translated by 佛陀扇多 (Fótuóshànduō, Buddhaśānta, 譯)

About the work

T835 in one fascicle is a Mahāyāna sūtra on the doctrine of the Tathāgata’s lion’s roar (如來師子吼 rúlái shīzǐhǒu), translated by the Northern Wèi Indian translator 佛陀扇多 (Buddhaśānta) at Luòyáng during his recorded translation activity (524–539). A parallel translation by 地婆訶羅 (Divākara) of the Táng survives as [[KR6i0542|Dà fāngguǎng shīzǐhǒu jīng 大方廣師子吼經 (T836)]]. The “lion’s roar” is the standard Mahāyāna trope for the Buddha’s authoritative pronouncement on doctrines ungraspable by the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha-vehicles.

Abstract

The text opens at the Sun-Moon-Palace (日月宮 rìyuègōng) in the Shèngzàng diàn 勝藏殿 (“Hall of the Excellent Treasury”), a celestial residence above the human realm, where the Buddha is seated with 9.9 koṭi of great bhikṣus and 84 koṭi nayuta of great bodhisattvas. The Buddha addresses the bodhisattva Shèngjī 勝積 (“Excellent-Accumulation”; Skt. Vijaya-saṃcaya), telling him that to the north, six koṭi of Ganges-river-sands of Buddha-fields away — and beyond a hundred thousand koṭi of further fields — there is a Buddha-field called Huānxǐ 歡喜 (“Joy”), with a Buddha named Fǎshàng 法上 (“Dharma-Above”; Skt. Dharmottara) currently abiding and teaching.

The Buddha sends Shèngjī to that Buddha-field to receive teaching directly. The body of the sūtra unfolds Shèngjī’s journey through the intervening Buddha-fields, his meeting with Fǎshàng Tathāgata, the Dharmottara Buddha’s exposition of the lion’s roar (siṃhanāda) as the Tathāgata’s authoritative declaration of the paramārtha, the bodhisattva’s training in prajñā-pāramitā and the integration with upāya, and the bodhisattva’s return to Śākyamuni’s assembly with the teaching. The doctrine — that the Tathāgata’s roar is the audible expression of paramārtha-realisation that no śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha can match — anticipates the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra’s elaborated doctrine of the lion’s roar.

Translations and research

No standalone Western translation located. On the Mahāyāna siṃhanāda doctrine see:

  • Lamotte, Étienne. Le Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nāgārjuna. Vol. III. Louvain: Publications de l’Institut Orientaliste de Louvain, 1970, pp. 1850–1853.
  • Williams, Paul. Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2009.

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