Fóshuō shèng Guānzìzài púsà bùkōng wáng mìmì xīn tuóluóní jīng 佛說聖觀自在菩薩不空王祕密心陀羅尼經
Secret-Heart Dhāraṇī Sūtra of the Holy Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara as Sovereign of the Unfailing One (Ārya-amogharāja-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī-sūtra) by 施護 (Shīhù, Dānapāla, 等譯, “translation lead”)
About the work
A one-fascicle Northern Sòng re-translation of the Amoghapāśa-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī-sūtra by Dānapāla (施護) and the Sòng imperial translation team at the Yìjīngyuàn 譯經院 of the Tàipíngxīngguósì 太平興國寺 in Kāifēng. The colophon: 西天譯經三藏朝奉大夫試光祿卿傳法大師賜紫臣施護等奉詔譯 — “Translated by Imperial Decree by Dānapāla, Tripiṭaka-master of Western India and Court-Audience-Officer-Test-Director-of-the-Court-of-Imperial-Entertainments, Dharma-Transmitter Master, Bearer of the Purple, etc.” Parallel to the earlier Tang/Sui translations of the same Indic source: T1093 (KR6j0301, Jñānagupta), T1094 (KR6j0302, Xuánzàng), T1095 (KR6j0303, Bodhiruci).
Abstract
The opening narrative situates the discourse on Mt. Potalaka (補陀落迦山) at Avalokiteśvara’s celestial palace. Dānapāla’s transcription of the place-name (補陀落迦, Bǔtuóluòjiā) reflects the Sòng-period preference for a phonetic Sinicisation of Potalaka close to the eleventh-century pronunciation. The text expounds the mìmì xīntuóluóní (祕密心陀羅尼, guhya-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī) of the Amogha-rāja-Avalokiteśvara, with the standard Avalokiteśvara kriyā-tantra apparatus.
The Sòng text is the latest in the chain of Chinese translations of this Indic vorlage, spanning a remarkable four-hundred-year arc from Jñānagupta’s late-Suí rendering (c. 590) to Dānapāla’s late-tenth-century version. Each successive translation reflects the contemporary Tang/Sòng phonological apparatus and the contemporary state of the Indic Esoteric tradition: Jñānagupta’s compact kriyā-form, Xuánzàng’s polished classical-Tang version, Bodhiruci’s kalpa-rāja-influenced reading, and Dānapāla’s late-Vajrayāna-influenced rendering with its developed transcription apparatus.
Translations and research
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2003 — Sòng imperial translation programme.
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993.
- Jan Yün-hua. “Buddhist Relations between India and Sung China.” History of Religions 6 (1966): 24–42, 135–168.
Links
- CBETA T20n1099
- Kanseki DB
- 施護 DILA
- CANWWW: T20N1099 (in div17.xml); related-text references → KR6j0300 (T1092 fasc. 1), KR6j0301–KR6j0303
- 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.