Fóshuō Pǔxián púsà tuóluóní jīng 佛說普賢菩薩陀羅尼經
Dhāraṇī Sūtra of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra Spoken by the Buddha (Samantabhadra-dhāraṇī-sūtra) by 法天 (Fǎtiān, Dharmadeva, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Northern Sòng dhāraṇī-sūtra on Samantabhadra translated by Dharmadeva (法天). The text companions the parallel Sòng-period Samantabhadra material of Dānapāla (KR6j0341, T1126, the maṇḍala-sūtra form) and complements the earlier Tang Samantabhadra-Vajrasattva yíguǐ cycle of Amoghavajra. The colophon: 西天譯經三藏朝散大夫試鴻臚少卿傳教大師臣法天奉詔譯.
Abstract
The text opens in gāthā form with a vandanā invocation of Samantabhadra and the principal Buddhas of the Vajraśekhara maṇḍala. The text expounds the Samantabhadra-mūla-dhāraṇī — the principal mantra of Samantabhadra in his Mahāyāna-Esoteric form — together with the vidyā-formulae, the mudrā-repertoire, the iconographic specifications of the deity (Samantabhadra mounted on his white six-tusked elephant, holding the cintāmaṇi and the lotus, in his Mahāyāna bhadra-cārya-promoting form), and the siddhi-applications: protection of the practitioner, the rapid attainment of the bodhisattva bhūmis, and the perfection of the bhadra-caryā (Samantabhadra’s vow of bodhisattva conduct).
Translations and research
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2003.
- Williams, Paul. Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. London: Routledge, 2009 — Samantabhadra in Mahāyāna doctrinal context.
Links
- CBETA T20n1127
- Kanseki DB
- 法天 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (980) — 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.