Fóshuō wúliàngmén wéimì chí jīng 佛說無量門微密持經
Sūtra on the Subtle-Secret Retention through the Boundless Gate (Anantamukha-sādhaka-dhāraṇī) by 支謙 (Zhī Qiān, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle third-century Wú-period translation by Zhī Qiān (支謙) of the Anantamukha-sādhaka-dhāraṇī, the earliest of the eight surviving Chinese translations of this sūtra (see the cycle map at KR6j0202). Zhī Qiān’s translation predates the systematic dhāraṇī-genre as it later developed in Tang Esoteric Buddhism by some five centuries; it is a foundational document of pre-Esoteric dhāraṇī-cult in Chinese Buddhism. CANWWW also lists the alt-title Wéimì chí jīng 微密持經 and the descriptive variant Chéngdào jiàngmó dé yīqiè zhì jīng 成道降魔得一切智經 (“Sūtra on Attaining the Way, Conquering Māra, and Obtaining Omniscience”), reflecting an early stratum of Chinese dhāraṇī-text titling.
Abstract
Zhī Qiān (active 222–252 in Jiànyè, the Wú capital) is one of the earliest and most prolific Chinese-language translators of Mahāyāna sūtras, working in the period before the systematic Bāndi-method (fāngzhāng / géyì method) translation conventions had been established. His Wúliàngmén wéimìchí jīng is the terminus a quo for the Anantamukha tradition in Chinese — all subsequent versions cite or implicitly engage with Zhī Qiān’s foundational vocabulary. Notable features: Zhī Qiān renders the dhāraṇī itself in Chinese characters as a transliteration without additional gloss (an early-style approach); the surrounding narrative-frame is rendered in literary Wú-period Chinese with the abbreviated abhidharmic compound-vocabulary characteristic of his school. Catalogued in Chū sānzàng jì jí 出三藏記集 and traditional jīnglù under Zhī Qiān’s name. Listed at Nanjio 354. The conventional dating of 222–252 reflects Zhī Qiān’s known active period in the Wú capital; the precise year of the translation is not recorded.
For the full Anantamukha translation cycle, see KR6j0202.
Translations and research
- Inagaki, Hisao. The Anantamukha-nirhāra-dhāraṇī Sūtra and Jñānagarbha’s Commentary. Kyoto: Nagata Bunshōdō, 1987.
- Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han 東漢 and Three Kingdoms 三國 Periods. Tokyo: IRIAB, 2008. — for Zhī Qiān’s translation method and corpus.
- Karashima, Seishi. A Glossary of Kumārajīva’s Translation of the Lotus Sutra. Tokyo: IRIAB, 2001. — useful for early-Chinese dhāraṇī transliteration conventions.
Links
- CBETA T19n1011
- Kanseki DB
- 支謙 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (245) — 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.