Zhū fó jìngjiè shè zhēnshí jīng 諸佛境界攝真實經
Sūtra of the True Compendium of the Realms of All the Buddhas (Skt. Sarvabuddhaviṣayāvatārajñānālokālaṃkāra?) by 般若 (Prajña, 譯)
About the work
A three-fascicle late-Tang Esoteric scripture translated by Prajña 般若 (般若, 744–c.810), the Kashmirian translator-monk who arrived at Chángān in 781. The text presents an Esoteric framework — a compendium of the true reality (shè zhēnshí) — of the realms of all Buddhas, organising the cosmic Buddha-fields into a systematic Esoteric exposition.
Prefaces
The colophon gives “罽賓國三藏沙門般若奉詔譯” — “Translated by imperial decree by Tripiṭaka-master Prajña, śramaṇa of Kashmir.” The text opens with the canonical sūtra-formula 如是我聞 (“Thus have I heard”) followed by a setting describing the Buddha as having attained the vajra-威德 samaya-jñāna and the empowerment of the abhiṣeka-jewelled-crown.
Abstract
The Zhū fó jìngjiè shè zhēnshí jīng is one of Prajña’s substantial Esoteric translations during his Chángān period (781–810). The text develops a Vajradhātu-style doctrinal framework: the true compendium (shè zhēnshí) of the realms of the Buddhas, presenting the cosmic Buddha-pantheon in mandalic systematic arrangement. Its three fascicles cover: (i) the introductory framework establishing the adhiṣṭhāna (empowerment) of all Tathāgatas; (ii) the central doctrinal exposition of the realms of all Buddhas as the dharmakāya’s self-disclosure; (iii) the sādhana prescriptions and the samaya of the practice.
The text shares the broader doctrinal-iconographic apparatus of the Vajradhātu Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha tradition (KR6j0024) but presents an alternative recension or related Indian text. Modern scholarship (Goble 2019, Davidson 2002) treats it as one of the family of late-Tang Esoteric translations that supplemented the Amoghavajra core corpus with additional Vajradhātu material.
The translation dates to Prajña’s documented Chángān period (781–810). His translation programme had imperial backing under emperors Dézōng and Xiànzōng — the late-Tang restoration of imperial translation institutions after the An Lushan rebellion.
Translations and research
- Goble, Geoffrey C. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia UP, 2019. — Background on the late-Tang Esoteric corpus.
- Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism. New York: Columbia UP, 2002. — On the Indian tantra background.