Bǎolóugé jīng fànzì zhēnyán 寶樓閣經梵字真言
Sanskrit-Script Mantras of the Jewelled-Pavilion Sūtra [anonymous compilation]
About the work
A one-fascicle Siddhaṃ-Chinese parallel reference text giving the principal mantras of the Vipula-prāsāda sūtra in their original Sanskrit script alongside the Chinese transliterations. The text is the fànběn 梵本 / fànzì 梵字 (“Sanskrit-script”) liturgical-reference companion to the canonical Amoghavajra translation T1005A (KR6j0197).
Abstract
The fànzì genre — preserving the Sanskrit-Siddhaṃ original of the canonical mantras — was central to the Tang Esoteric mantra-instruction pedagogy and especially to the Japanese Shingon Sanskrit-script tradition. The text supplements the Amoghavajra T1005A (KR6j0197) translation by providing the Sanskrit-script reference that allowed practitioners to recite the mantras with their original phonetic accuracy. The compilation is anonymous and was likely produced as a study-aid in the late-Tang or early-Sòng Esoteric ritual tradition. The format mirrors that of the parallel T974E (KR6j0156) for the Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya and T983B (KR6j0170) for the Mahāmāyūrī.
Translations and research
- van Gulik, Robert H. Siddham: An Essay on the History of Sanskrit Studies in China and Japan. Nagpur: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1956.
- Lin Guangming 林光明 (ed.), Xīnbiān Dàzàng quánzhòu 新編大藏全咒. Taipei: 嘉豐出版社, 2001.