Zànyáng shèngdé Duōluó púsà yībǎibā míng jīng 讚揚聖德多羅菩薩一百八名經
Sūtra Praising and Extolling the Holy Virtues of the Bodhisattva Tārā in One-Hundred-and-Eight Names (Ārya-Tārā-bhaṭṭārikā-aṣṭottara-śata-nāma-stotra) by 天息災 (Tiānxīzāi, Devaśāntika, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Northern Sòng verse-hymn-translation of the Indic Ārya-Tārā-bhaṭṭārikā-aṣṭottara-śata-nāma-stotra by Tiānxīzāi (天息災, later renamed 法賢 Fǎxián, d. 1001 — the chief monk-translator of the Sòng Yìjīngyuàn during its founding decade). The colophon: 西天中印度惹爛馱囉國密林寺三藏明教大師賜紫沙門臣天息災奉詔譯 — “Translated by Imperial Decree by Tiānxīzāi, Tripiṭaka-master of the Mìlínsì 密林寺 (Vana-vihāra) of the kingdom of Jālandhara (惹爛馱囉國) of Central India, Míngjiào Master, śramaṇa Bearer of the Purple.” The Taishō head-note: No. 1106 [cf. Nos. 1105, 1107] — companion to KR6j0314 (Fǎtiān) and KR6j0316 (Shīhù).
Abstract
The text is a metrical stotra (praise-hymn) — the form distinguishes it from Fǎtiān’s KR6j0314 (which preserves the dhāraṇī-form) and Shīhù’s KR6j0316 (which preserves the Sanskrit-transliterated form). Tiānxīzāi renders the hymn into elegant Chinese pentasyllabic verse:
一心歸命禮，適悅最吉祥 補多羅迦山… — “With one mind I take refuge and bow; the most auspicious-and-pleasing One; of Mt. Potalaka…”
The verses unfold the aṣṭottara-śata-nāma — the catalogue of Tārā’s one-hundred-and-eight epithets — in a form suitable for liturgical recitation. As one of the principal Sòng-period devotional witnesses to the Tārā cult and as Tiānxīzāi’s most careful Tārā translation, the text is a key historical document for the Sòng imperial reception of Indian Tantric goddess-veneration.
Translations and research
- Beyer, Stephan. The Cult of Tārā. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
- Willson, Martin. In Praise of Tārā. London: Wisdom, 1986.
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2003.
- Jan Yün-hua. “Buddhist Relations between India and Sung China.” History of Religions 6 (1966): 24–42, 135–168.
Links
- CBETA T20n1106
- Kanseki DB
- 天息災 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (990) — 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.