Fóshuō shànfǎ fāngbiàn tuóluóní jīng 佛說善法方便陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī of Skilful Means in the Wholesome Dharma (Sumukhanāmadhāraṇī-sūtra) by 失譯
About the work
A one-fascicle anonymous dhāraṇī sūtra catalogued in the Eastern Jin (東晉錄). The colophon: 失譯人名今附東晉錄. The Taishō head-note: No. 1137 [Nos. 1138–1140] — the four texts T1137–T1140 are alternate Chinese translations of the same Indic Sumukhanāmadhāraṇī, identified by both the Taishō editors and CANWWW as a coordinated cycle. Related: KR6j0354/KR6j0355 (T1138a/b), KR6j0356 (T1139), KR6j0357 (T1140).
Abstract
The text opens with the Buddha at Bodhgayā (摩竭提界寂滅道場菩提樹下) accompanied by Śāriputra, Mahāmaudgalyāyana, Ānanda, and the great-bodhisattva assembly — Vajra-banner, Vajra-treasury, Maitreya, and other “great bodhisattvas of the Bhadrakalpa”. Vajrapāṇi (執金剛神) requests the Buddha to expound the Sumukha — “Beneficial-Method” — dhāraṇī, on the grounds that its light and majestic power can crush all evils, protect those who have no protector, repel poisonous nāgas, demons, yakṣas, rākṣasas, kumbhāṇḍas, swords and staves, and the harm of enemies. The dhāraṇī thus belongs to the apotropaic-protective category and circulated in late North-and-South-Dynasties China as a household protection-spell. The Indic identity of the Sumukha-dhāraṇī is well-attested in Sanskrit sources; the four extant Chinese versions span Jin–Sòng and document the long Chinese transmission of the formula.
The dating bracket follows the Eastern Jin attribution given in the colophon (317–420 CE).
Translations and research
- Davidson, Ronald M. “Studies in dhāraṇī Literature II: Pragmatics of dhāraṇīs.” Bulletin of SOAS 77.1 (2014): 5–61.
- No comprehensive Western-language translation of the text located.
Links
- CBETA T20n1137
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (420) — 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.