Chūshēng wúbiānmén tuóluóní jīng 出生無邊門陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī of the Boundless Gate of Origination (Anantamukha-sādhaka-dhāraṇī) by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang-period translation by Amoghavajra (不空, 705–774) of the Anantamukha-sādhaka-dhāraṇī (= “the dhāraṇī that perfects the limitless gate”), one of the most widely retranslated dhāraṇī-sūtras in Chinese Buddhism. Including this text, the same Indic original is preserved in the Chinese canon in eight distinct translations spanning the Wú dynasty (Zhī Qiān, T1011) through the Tang (Amoghavajra, T1009; Zhìyán, T1018). Together with the companion yíguǐ ritual-manual (KR6j0203 T1010, also by Amoghavajra), the present text provides the latest, most polished Esoteric recension of the dhāraṇī.
Abstract
The Anantamukha-sādhaka-dhāraṇī (Skt. “dhāraṇī that accomplishes the boundless gate” — i.e. the gateless gate of prajñā) is one of the earliest Mahāyāna dhāraṇī-texts to enter China, with the first translation (Zhī Qiān’s Wúliàngmén wéimìchí jīng 無量門微密持經, KR6j0204, T1011) dating to the third-century Wú translation programme. The dhāraṇī promises that even a brief recitation produces the bodhicitta and the entire Mahāyāna path; the text was hence highly valued in the early dhāraṇī-cult of pre-Tang Chinese Buddhism. Amoghavajra’s translation, made within his 746–774 Chángān programme, modernised the orthography of the dhāraṇī itself and brought it into line with the eighth-century Esoteric transliteration standards. Related canonical translations of the same Indic text in Kanripo:
- KR6j0204 Wúliàngmén wéimìchí jīng 佛說無量門微密持經 (T1011, Zhī Qiān, Wú)
- KR6j0205 Chūshēng wúliàngmén chí jīng 佛說出生無量門持經 (T1012, Buddhabhadra, E. Jìn)
- KR6j0206 Ānántuómùqūníhēlítuó jīng 阿難陀目佉尼呵離陀經 (T1013, Guṇabhadra, Liu Sòng)
- KR6j0207 Wúliàngmén pòmó tuóluóní jīng 無量門破魔陀羅尼經 (T1014, Gōngdézhí + Xuánchàng, Liu Sòng)
- KR6j0208 Fóshuō Ānántuómùqūníhēlítuólínní jīng 佛說阿難陀目佉尼呵離陀隣尼經 (T1015, Buddhaśānta, N. Wèi)
- KR6j0209 Shèlìfú tuóluóní jīng 舍利弗陀羅尼經 (T1016, Saṃghapāla, Liáng)
- KR6j0210 Yīxiàng chūshēng púsà jīng 佛說一向出生菩薩經 (T1017, Jñānagupta, Suí)
- KR6j0211 Chūshēng wúbiānmén tuóluóní jīng 出生無邊門陀羅尼經 (T1018, Zhìyán, Táng)
Translations and research
- Inagaki, Hisao. The Anantamukha-nirhāra-dhāraṇī Sūtra and Jñānagarbha’s Commentary. Kyoto: Nagata Bunshōdō, 1987. — critical edition of the Sanskrit and a parallel translation, with full coverage of the eight Chinese recensions.
- Davidson, Ronald M. “Studies in Dhāraṇī Literature II: Pragmatics of dhāraṇīs.” Bulletin of SOAS 77.1 (2014): 5–61.
- Hidas, Gergely. Powers of Protection. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021.
Links
- CBETA T19n1009
- Kanseki DB
- 不空 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (750) — 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.