Shǒuhù guójièzhǔ tuóluóní jīng 守護國界主陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī Protecting the State-Boundary Lord by 般若 (Prajña, 譯) and 牟尼室利 (Muniśrī, 譯)
About the work
A ten-fascicle long-form dhāraṇī sūtra translated jointly by Prajña (般若 / Prajñā) and Muniśrī (牟尼室利) at Cháng’ān during the Zhēnyuán 貞元 era. The text presents an extensive dhāraṇī-state-protection scripture distinct from but parallel in function to the Rénwáng and Suvarṇaprabhāsa state-protection traditions. As one of the most extensive dhāraṇī-sūtras in the canon, the text contains multiple major dhāraṇīs together with elaborate doctrinal expositions on Mahāyāna ethics, the bodhisattva path, and the nature of state-protection through the integration of dharma and sovereignty.
Abstract
Prajña (般若, ca. 744–810?, also called Prajñā 般若) was a Kāpiśa-born monk who arrived in China in 781 and became one of the central late-Tang translators under Dézōng (r. 779–805). He produced major translations of the Gaṇḍavyūha portion of the Avataṁsaka (40-juan Huāyán, 798), the Mahāvairocana-mātṛkā-saṃgraha-sūtra, and other late-eighth-century imports. The present Shǒuhù guójièzhǔ tuóluóní jīng was translated 793–802 in collaboration with Muniśrī (牟尼室利), a Kāpiśa-born śramaṇa who arrived at Cháng’ān independently in the same period and joined Prajña’s translation team. The text is the principal Mahāyāna dhāraṇī sūtra to enter China in the late-eighth-century post-Amoghavajra phase and represents the return of the guójiè-zhǔ (state-boundary lord) Mahāyāna political theology to the centre of late-Tang court Buddhism. Composition spans the period 793–802, with the formal completion-and-presentation typically given as 800.
Translations and research
- Sundberg, Jeffrey. “Late-Eighth-Century Buddhism on the Indus and Silk Road.” Forthcoming. — for Prajña and Muniśrī.
- Orzech, Charles D. Politics and Transcendent Wisdom. University Park: Penn State UP, 1998. — for the Tang state-protection corpus.