Fódǐng fàng wúgòu guāngmíng rù pǔmén guānchá yīqiè rúlái xīn tuóluóní jīng 佛頂放無垢光明入普門觀察一切如來心陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Heart-Dhāraṇī of All Tathāgatas, by means of the Stainless Light from the Buddha’s Crown Entering the Universal-Gate Contemplation by 施護 (Dānapāla, 譯)
About the work
A two-fascicle Northern-Sòng translation by Dānapāla (施護) of a related but distinct Vimaloṣṇīṣa — “stainless-Buddha-uṣṇīṣa” — dhāraṇī text in the Wúgòu jìngguāng family. The text develops at greater length the doctrinal context of KR6j0218 (Mitraśānta’s Wúgòu jìngguāng dà tuóluóní jīng) and is its principal Sòng-period elaboration.
Abstract
The Vimaloṣṇīṣa dhāraṇī tradition is one of the most important strands of the broader uṣṇīṣa-vijaya (佛頂尊勝) family of dhāraṇī-sūtras, in which the Buddha’s uṣṇīṣa (the cranial protuberance) is presented as the source of a salvific light bearing the dhāraṇī. The Sòng court translation programme under Dānapāla’s leadership produced this expanded recension as a counterpart to Mitraśānta’s earlier seventh-century version KR6j0218; the doubled length (2 卷 vs 1 卷) accommodates a more elaborated guānchá (contemplation-observation) framework — pǔmén 普門 (“Universal Gate”) here echoes the Lotus-sūtra’s Avalokiteśvara chapter and signals the integration of the uṣṇīṣa tradition with the broader Mahāyāna guānchá meditation idiom.
Translations and research
- Hidas, Gergely. Powers of Protection. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021.
- Schopen, Gregory. “The Bodhigarbhālaṅkāralakṣa and Vimaloṣṇīṣa Dhāraṇīs in Indian Inscriptions.” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens 29 (1985): 119–149.
Links
- CBETA T19n1025
- 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.