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聖救度佛母二十一種禮讚經

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Text ID
KR6j0317
Date
1280–1293
Dynasty
元

Shèng Jiùdù Fómǔ èrshíyī zhǒng lǐzàn jīng 聖救度佛母二十一種禮讚經

Sūtra of the Twenty-One Praises of the Holy Saviouress Buddha-Mother (Ārya-Tārā-Bhaṭṭārikā-nāma-aṣṭottara-śata-stotra; the Tārā-namas-kāra-ekaviṃśati-stotra) by 安藏 (Ān Zàng, 譯)

About the work

A one-fascicle Yuán-period Chinese rendering of the Twenty-One Praises of Tārā (the Tārā-namas-kāra-ekaviṃśati-stotra) — the central Tibetan-Vajrayāna Tārā devotional hymn, recited daily by every Tibetan Buddhist tradition — translated by the Uyghur scholar-official Ān Zàng (安藏, d. 1293). The text begins with an imperially-composed praise Yùzhì jiùdùfómǔ zàn 御製救度佛母讚 — “Imperial Praise of the Saviouress Buddha-Mother” — composed by 忽必烈 Qubilai Khan (Shìzǔ 世祖) himself, an unprecedented imperial endorsement of the Tārā cult in Chinese Buddhist canonical literature. Companion to KR6j0318 (T1108B, the anonymous Yuán-period parallel rendering).

Prefaces

The opening yùzhì 御製 (“imperial composition”) serves as the principal preface. The verses are in the standard four-character heptasyllabic Chinese style:

世尊威力大神通，無驚怖畏安樂住， 能滅一切諸垢障，於眾轉廣大法輪。

“World-Honoured One, of great supernatural power and might, abiding in fearless tranquillity, able to extinguish every defilement and obscuration, turning the great Dharma-wheel for the multitude.”

The praise unfolds for several verses extolling Tārā’s saviouress-functions before the Twenty-One Praises proper begin.

Abstract

The Tārā-namas-kāra-ekaviṃśati-stotra — known in Tibetan as the sGrol ma la phyag ‘tshal nyi shu rtsa gcig gi bstod pa — is the most important devotional hymn to Tārā in the entire Vajrayāna tradition. It comprises twenty-one verses, each praising one of the twenty-one yidam-emanations of Tārā: Suvarṇavarṇī (Yellow Tārā), Sthavira-Tārā, Mahā-prajñā-Tārā, Caṇḍī-Tārā, Mahā-bhaya-Tārā, Vidyā-Tārā, Karoṭa-pāṇi-Tārā, etc. — each with her characteristic mantra, mudrā, iconography, and siddhi-application. Ān Zàng’s translation is the first complete Chinese rendering of the hymn and represents the Yuán-period official integration of Tibetan Vajrayāna devotional liturgy into Chinese Buddhist canonical practice.

The Yuán imperial sponsorship — Qubilai Khan as composer of the prefatory praise — reflects the imperial patronage of Tibetan Buddhism that characterised the entire Yuán dynasty, mediated through the imperial preceptors (帝師 dìshī) of the Sa-skya school. Ān Zàng’s status as a learned Uyghur with both Tibetan and Mongolian competence positioned him to render Tibetan-canonical devotional material into Chinese for the use of the Yuán court and the Sino-Mongolian sangha. The Tibetan source-text would have been the standard Sa-skya recension of the Twenty-One Praises.

Translations and research

  • Beyer, Stephan. The Cult of Tārā: Magic and Ritual in Tibet. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973 — definitive study of the Tārā cult, with discussion of the Twenty-One Praises.
  • Willson, Martin. In Praise of Tārā: Songs to the Saviouress. London: Wisdom, 1986 — comprehensive study of the Tārā praise-hymn cycle including the Twenty-One Praises.
  • Heller, Amy. Tibetan Art. Milan: Jaca Book, 1999 — Yuán-Tibetan Buddhist iconographic transmission.
  • Franke, Herbert. Chinesischer und tibetischer Buddhismus im China der Yüanzeit. Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996.

Other points of interest

The companion text KR6j0318 (T1108B) preserves an alternative anonymous Yuán/Míng-period rendering of the same Tibetan source — collected together with Ān Zàng’s version in the Taishō to preserve both witnesses of this important hymn. The pair forms the Chinese-canonical witness to the Twenty-One Praises, complementing the Qing-period White Tārā praise of Ngawang Tashi (KR6j0319, T1109).

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