Yīqiè rúlái zhèngfǎ mìmì qièyìn xīn tuóluóní jīng 一切如來正法祕密篋印心陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Heart-Dhāraṇī of the Casket-Seal of the Secret True-Dharma of All Tathāgatas by 施護 (Dānapāla, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle late-tenth-century Sòng-period translation by Dānapāla (施護, fl. 980–1017) of an alternative recension of the Jewel-Casket-Seal Dhāraṇī family (cf. KR6j0215–KR6j0216 = Amoghavajra’s eighth-century version). Dānapāla’s translation is the principal Northern-Sòng recension and represents an independent Indic transmission, presumably from the manuscript collection that the Sòng-court translation institute (傳法院) had assembled in Chángān after 980.
Abstract
Dānapāla was one of the three principal Northern-Sòng court translators (along with 天息災 Tiānxīzāi / 法賢 Fǎxián and 法天 Fǎtiān) at the Yìjīng yuàn 譯經院 founded by 宋太宗 Sòng Tàizōng in 980. Together they produced the bulk of the Northern-Sòng translation programme — the last great wave of Indic-to-Chinese Buddhist translation. The present Bǎoqièyìn xīn tuóluóní recension supplements Amoghavajra’s eighth-century version with a freshly-translated Indic source-text; the new recension was needed because the Sòng court was engaged in a systematic re-evaluation of dhāraṇī-orthography against contemporary Sanskrit-language sources (the Siddham Sanskrit script was newly available in Sòng China through the Yìjīng yuàn). The recension differs from Amoghavajra’s principally in the dhāraṇī orthography and a slightly elaborated narrative-frame; the doctrinal content (dhāraṇī = Tathāgata’s quánshēn shèlì / “whole-body relic”) is preserved.
Translations and research
- Hidas, Gergely. Powers of Protection. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021.
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003. — for the Sòng-period translation programme and its Indo-Chinese context.
- Jan Yün-hua. “Buddhist Relations between India and Sung China.” History of Religions 6.1 (1966): 24–42; 6.2 (1966): 135–168.
Links
- CBETA T19n1023
- Kanseki DB
- 施護 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (1000) — 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.