Chíshì tuóluóní jīng 持世陀羅尼經
Vasudhārā Dhāraṇī Sūtra (Vasudhāra-dhāraṇī-sūtra) by 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang dhāraṇī sūtra translated by Xuánzàng (玄奘, 602–664). Sanskrit title (per CANWWW): Vasudhāradhāraṇī(sūtra). Alternate title 持世經. Colophon: 大唐三藏法師玄奘奉詔譯. Taishō head-note: No. 1162 [Nos. 1163–1165] — three later Chinese versions of the same Indic Vasudhāra-dhāraṇī exist: KR6j0385 (T1163, Amoghavajra), KR6j0386 (T1164, Făhuán/Făhuá-tiān), KR6j0387 (T1165, Dānapāla).
Abstract
The sūtra opens at Kauśāmbī (憍餉彌國) in the Kauntakī-vana (建礫迦林) with the Buddha amid five hundred bhikṣus, a koṭi-fold great-bodhisattva assembly, and deva-asura multitudes. A merchant-householder named Sumatī / Sucandra (妙月, in Chinese rendering “Sublime-Moon” — Sucandra-gṛhapati) of beautiful demeanour, calm voice, with many sons, daughters, and servants, faithfully approaches the Buddha. He prostrates and circumambulates the Buddha a hundred-thousand times before respectfully posing his question. The narrative-frame is the canonical Indic Vasudhāra-sūtra: a poor or insufficiently-resourced householder seeks divine help for prosperity and is granted the Vasudhāra-dhāraṇī — the dhāraṇī of the Wealth-Bearer goddess. Vasudhārā (持世 Chíshì, “World-Bearer / Wealth-Bearer”) is identified with the bodhisattva-form of the Indic yakṣiṇī-class wealth-deity, related to but distinct from Lakṣmī. The four Chinese translations T1162–T1165 from Xuánzàng (mid-7th c.) through Amoghavajra (mid-8th c.) and Făhuán/Dānapāla (late 10th c.) document the sustained Chinese interest in this prosperity-formula across nearly four centuries.
The dating bracket follows Xuánzàng’s translation career at Cíēnsì 慈恩寺 and Yùhuágōng 玉華宮 (645 return from India to death in 664). The text is a relatively short and minor production within Xuánzàng’s overall translation programme but provides one of the few Tang Esoteric items in his corpus, otherwise dominated by Yogācāra and Abhidharma.
Translations and research
- Hidas, Gergely. “Dhāraṇīs: A Brief Introduction.” Tantric Communities in Context, ed. Nina Mirnig et al. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2019.
- Liú Shùfēn 劉淑芬. Zhōngguó Tángmì 中國唐密. Shanghai: Shanghai gǔjí chūbǎnshè, 2011.
- No dedicated study of T1162 located.
Links
- CBETA T20n1162
- Kanseki DB
- 玄奘 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (655) — 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.