Xiāngwáng púsà tuóluóní zhòu jīng 香王菩薩陀羅尼呪經
Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī-Spell of the Fragrance-King Bodhisattva (Gandharāja-bodhisattva-dhāraṇī-sūtra) by 義淨 (Yìjìng, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang dhāraṇī sūtra translated by Yìjìng (義淨, 635–713), the great pilgrim-translator who returned from India in 695. Colophon: 三藏法師沙門義淨譯. The dhāraṇī invokes both Avalokiteśvara-bodhisattva (阿離耶跋盧吉羝說囉, āryāvalokiteśvara) and Gandharāja-bodhisattva (健陀羅曷囉社, Gandharājā).
Abstract
The text consists primarily of the dhāraṇī formula transliterated in Yìjìng’s distinctive transcription style (using qièyùn fanqie phonetic notation and standardised consonant-cluster markers), with brief sūtra-frame opening namo-ratna-trayāya namo āryāvalokiteśvarāya bodhisattvāya mahāsattvāya namo Gandharājāya bodhisattvāya mahāsattvāya iji-ki miji-ki ahanti manti sarvārtha-sādhane karṣapaṇa adhimokṣa… The formula belongs to the Gandharāja (Fragrance-King) sub-cycle of the broader Avalokiteśvara dhāraṇī tradition. Yìjìng’s translation idiom — careful Sanskrit-to-Chinese transcription, philological precision in dhāraṇī rendering, brief and economical Chinese narrative-frame — typifies his late-life output (roughly 700–713) at the imperial translation bureaus in Cháng’ān and Luòyáng. Wilkinson notes Yìjìng’s significance as the third of the great Tang pilgrim-translators after Xuánzàng and Yìnán/Bodhiruci.
Translations and research
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2003.
- Forte, Antonino. “Some Considerations on the Historical Value of the Great Zhou Catalogue.” Forte 1990 / Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 6 (1991/92): 1–26.
- Lahiri, Latika. Chinese Monks in India. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1986. (Translation of Yìjìng’s Datang Xiyu Qiufa Gaoseng Zhuan.)
Links
- CBETA T20n1157
- Kanseki DB
- 義淨 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (705) — 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.