Shèng chíshì tuóluóní jīng 聖持世陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Holy Vasudhārā Dhāraṇī by 施護 (Shīhù, Dānapāla, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Northern Sòng dhāraṇī sūtra translated by Dānapāla (施護, fl. 982–1017). Sanskrit title (per CANWWW): Vasudhāradhāraṇī(sūtra). Alternate title 聖持世經. Colophon: 西天譯經三藏朝散大夫試鴻臚少卿傳法大師臣施護奉詔譯. Taishō head-note: No. 1165 [Nos. 1162–1164] — the fourth and latest Chinese version of the Vasudhārā dhāraṇī cycle, complementing Xuánzàng KR6j0384, Amoghavajra KR6j0385, and Făhuán KR6j0386.
Abstract
Dānapāla’s translation differs structurally from the three earlier Chinese versions: it dispenses with the Kauśāmbī / Sucandra narrative-frame and proceeds directly with the operative ritual instructions. The text opens with Vasudhārā Bodhisattva (持世菩薩) addressing the Buddha and asking how one is to receive and maintain the dhāraṇī. The Buddha replies with a precise ritual procedure: at the new-moon of the second month of the year (初二月白月一日), one is to enter the river that flows alone into the sea, immerse oneself in water up to the neck, and recite the dhāraṇī. The text thus emphasizes the abhiṣeka (water-immersion empowerment) form of the rite, drawing on Pāla-period Indic Vasudhārā-sādhana literature where the deity is invoked through riverine purification. Dānapāla’s translation is the most ritually-explicit of the four Chinese versions and reflects late-tenth-century North-Indian yogatantra/caryātantra idiom imported into the Sòng translation programme.
The dating bracket follows Dānapāla’s activity at the Imperial Translation Bureau (982 arrival to 1017 death).
Translations and research
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2003.
- Bowring, Richard. “Brief Notes on the Sung Buddhist Translation Project.” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 7 (1993): 137–146.
Links
- CBETA T20n1165
- Kanseki DB
- 施護 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (1000) — 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.