Shèng Duōluó púsà fànzàn 聖多羅菩薩梵讚
Sanskrit-Praise of the Holy Bodhisattva Tārā (Ārya-Tārā-stotra) by 施護 (Shīhù, Dānapāla, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Northern Sòng fànzàn (梵讚, “Sanskrit-praise” — i.e., a phonetic transliteration of the Sanskrit stotra in Chinese characters, preserving the Sanskrit metre and syllables) translated by Dānapāla (施護). The text companions the parallel Sòng-period Tārā translations KR6j0314 (T1105, Fǎtiān, dhāraṇī-form), KR6j0315 (T1106, Tiānxīzāi, Chinese verse-rendering), and the present text KR6j0316 which preserves the Sanskrit-original form. The Taishō head-note: No. 1107 [cf. Nos. 1105, 1106]. The colophon: 西天譯經三藏朝散大夫試鴻臚卿傳法大師臣施護奉詔譯.
Abstract
The text begins: 曩謨薩多囉曳婆誐嚩帝嚩囉提惹曳禰嚩乃怛踰囉儗孕捺囉禰跋訖帝鉢囉拏摩矩攞地也曩多路攞祖拏摩尼摩踰砌多旦多建多鉢囉婆惹攞迦黎茶播難沒𡁠具囉薩娑囉妬野蘭拏晚多哩誐妬多哩多尸沙路建多囉… = Namas tāre bhagavate vara-de jaye | divā-naktaṃ rakṣiṇi indra-bhakte praṇāma-kule devyā nato ‘lola-cūḍāmaṇi-mayūkha-citā-rāntakān-prabhā-jvāla-kāle ḍapānam | jīkurasasāra dyota-rāṇa-vānta dhīraga-dyutārita śīrṣa-ālokaṃ tarā… — i.e., the Ārya-Tārā-bhaṭṭārikā-aṣṭottara-śata-nāma-stotra in pure phonetic transliteration. The text is a precious witness to the Sanskrit form of the Tārā praise-hymn as it circulated in the late-tenth-century Indian Tantric tradition, since (a) the Sanskrit transliteration preserves the original metre and syllabic structure, and (b) the text functions as the vorlage-witness against which the verse-translation KR6j0315 and the dhāraṇī-form KR6j0314 can be compared.
The three parallel Sòng Tārā texts — aṣṭaśata-nāma-dhāraṇī (T1105), Chinese verse rendering (T1106), and Sanskrit transliteration (T1107) — form a unique tripartite witness in the Chinese canon to one Indian devotional hymn in three forms simultaneously translated by three Sòng-imperial translators. This represents a deliberate Sòng Yìjīngyuàn protocol: produce a dhāraṇī-form, a verse-translation, and a Sanskrit-original, to preserve the source text from multiple angles.
Translations and research
- Beyer, Stephan. The Cult of Tārā. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
- Willson, Martin. In Praise of Tārā. London: Wisdom, 1986 — comparative apparatus of the Sanskrit Ārya-Tārā-stotras.
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2003.
Links
- CBETA T20n1107
- 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.