Fóshuō Rúyì Xūkōngzàng púsà tuóluóní jīng 佛說如意虗空藏菩薩陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Wish-Fulfilling Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva Dhāraṇī Spoken by the Buddha by 菩提留支 (Pútíliúzhī, Bodhiruci, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle dhāraṇī sūtra preserved only in the Manji Zokuzōkyō (卍續藏經 / Xùzàngjīng) — outside the main Taishō. Attributed to Bodhiruci (菩提留支). The orthography 菩提留支 (with 留) is the Tang-period form normally referring to the South-Indian translator who reached Luòyáng in 693 (d. 727), elsewhere written 菩提流志 — Bodhiruci II. He is to be distinguished from the earlier Northern-Wei Bodhiruci I (菩提流支, fl. 508–535) in the Wèi 魏 period. The dating bracket therefore follows Tang-Bodhiruci’s translation activity (693–727). Colophon: 菩提留支三藏奉詔譯.
Abstract
The sūtra opens with the Buddha at Khaḍgaviśāṇa-mountain (佉翅山, Khaḍga-giri), about to expound the Fearless Dhāraṇī (無怖畏陀羅尼), in the company of an enormous assembly: Maitreya, Samantabhadra, Mañjuśrī, Bhaiṣajyarāja (藥王), Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, Brahma-mauli (梵頂), Nārāyaṇa, Puṇya-jñāna (福智) and other “abhiṣikta dharma-rāja-putra” — bodhisattvas anointed as dharma-prince; together with great śrāvakas (Subhūti, Ānanda, etc.), brahma-kings, gods, the Cāturmahārāja, and human and non-human beings of all kinds. The Buddha emits radiance from his face that overwhelms sun, moon, and stars; the earth quakes six-fold; rains of jewels fall from the sky. The sūtra-form thus offers an elaborate Mahāyāna miracle-frame for the Wish-Fulfilling Ākāśagarbha dhāraṇī. As an X-canon text not present in the Taishō main canon, this is a less-studied piece of the broad Ākāśagarbha cycle, attached more loosely to Tang-period authoritative chronologies than the canonical T1145–T1149.
Translations and research
No dedicated study located. For Bodhiruci II’s career: Forte 1984.
- Forte, Antonino. “The Activities in China of the Tantric Master Manicintana.” Estratto degli Annali della Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere di Cà Foscari 23.3 (1984): 99–137.