Bùkōng juànsuǒ zhòuxīn jīng 不空羂索呪心經
Heart-Spell Sūtra of the Unfailing Noose (Amoghapāśahṛdaya-dhāraṇī-sūtra) by 菩提流志 (Pútíliúzhì, Bodhiruci, 譯)
About the work
A short one-fascicle Tang re-translation of the Amoghapāśahṛdaya-dhāraṇī-sūtra by Bodhiruci (菩提流志, d. 727), the South Indian translator-master who had earlier produced the comprehensive thirty-fascicle Bùkōng juànsuǒ shénbiàn zhēnyán jīng (KR6j0300, T20n1092) in 707–709. The present short text is in effect Bodhiruci’s compact-form witness to the same Amoghapāśa material, parallel to Jñānagupta (KR6j0301) and Xuánzàng (KR6j0302). The colophon reads: 唐南天竺三藏法師菩提流志奉詔譯 — “Translated by Imperial Decree by the South-Indian Tripiṭaka-master Bodhiruci of the Tang.” Variant readings in the Yuan edition give “third translation” (第三譯).
Abstract
The opening setting is unchanged from the parallel translations: Mt. Potalaka with its jewelled grove and great audience. The text expounds the Amogha-pāśa-hṛdaya mantra and its applications. Bodhiruci’s terminology shows the influence of his contemporary work on the comprehensive kalpa-rāja (T1092): he uses 阿底目多迦樹 ādǐmùduōjiā for atimuktaka (corresponding to Xuánzàng’s 阿提目多迦樹 and Jñānagupta’s 阿提目多迦華樹) and the standard Tang esoteric phonetic transcriptions for the dhāraṇī syllables. The text is shorter than the Xuánzàng version and represents the most compact Chinese witness to the Amogha-pāśa-hṛdaya core material.
The notBefore date is set by Bodhiruci’s arrival at the Tang court (693); notAfter by the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù 開元釋教錄 (KR6s0093, 730) which catalogues this work but predates Bodhiruci’s death (727). The most likely period of execution is concurrent with or shortly after the comprehensive T1092 programme of 707–709.
Translations and research
- Forte, Antonino. “The Activities in China of the Tantric Master Manicintana from Kashmir and of his Northern Indian Collaborator Bodhiruci.” East and West 34 (1984): 301–345.
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993.
Links
- CBETA T20n1095
- Kanseki DB
- 菩提流志 DILA
- CANWWW: T20N1095 (in div17.xml); related-text references → KR6j0300 (T1092 fasc. 1), KR6j0307 (T1099)
- Dazangthings date evidence (720) — 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.