Guānshìyīn púsà mìmìzàng rúyìlún tuóluóní shénzhòu jīng 觀世音菩薩祕密藏如意輪陀羅尼神呪經
Spirit-Spell Sūtra of the Cintāmaṇi-Cakra Dhāraṇī from the Secret Treasury of Avalokiteśvara by 實叉難陀 (Shíchānántuó, Śikṣānanda, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Cintāmaṇi-cakra dhāraṇī-sūtra translated by the Khotanese master Śikṣānanda (實叉難陀, 652–710), best known as the lead translator of the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka-sūtra (T279) under 武則天 Wǔ Zétiān’s sponsorship. The colophon names him 唐于闐三藏 — “Khotanese Tripiṭaka master of the Tang.” The text is one of the four Tang Cintāmaṇi-cakra recensions (KR6j0287, KR6j0288, KR6j0289, KR6j0290).
Abstract
The opening situates the discourse at Kheṭa-ṣaila (伽栗斯山, the same Avalokiteśvara mountain as in KR6j0287 and KR6j0288). The first chapter is Chúpò yīqiè èyè tuóluóní pǐn dìyī 除破一切惡業陀羅尼品第一 — the dhāraṇī chapter on destroying all evil karma. Śikṣānanda’s recension is somewhat more elaborately structured than Yìjìng’s parallel (KR6j0288), with multiple pǐn and a richer ritual elaboration. The “secret treasury” (祕密藏) framing places the text within the Esoteric kalpa genre proper. The work was translated during Śikṣānanda’s principal period of imperial sponsorship under Wǔ Zétiān, between his arrival in 695 and the Shénlóng 神龍 jiǔshì 久視 era (cf. 仁岳 Rényuè’s note in KR6j0295: “一實叉難陀此云覺喜唐天后久視元年譯八紙”). CANWWW (T20N1082) cross-references the parallel recensions.
Translations and research
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.
- Forte, Antonino. Mingtang and Buddhist Utopias in the History of the Astronomical Clock. Rome / Paris: ISMEO / EFEO, 1988 — context for Wǔ Zétiān’s translation projects.
Links
- CBETA T20n1082
- Kanseki DB
- 實叉難陀 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (695) — 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.