Mànshūshìlì púsà zhòuzàng zhōng yīzì zhòuwáng jīng 曼殊室利菩薩呪藏中一字呪王經
Sūtra of the One-Syllable Spell-King from within the Spell-Piṭaka of Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva by 義淨 (Yìjìng, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle parallel rendering of the same Mañjuśrī one-syllable bīja-cycle as T1181 (KR6j0406), translated by the great pilgrim-translator Yìjìng (義淨, 635–713) under imperial decree (奉制譯). The colophon reads 唐三藏法師義淨奉制譯.
Abstract
The setting and structure parallel the 寶思惟 (Maṇicintana) translation T1181 (KR6j0406) closely: the Buddha, seated in cross-legged meditation in the Tuṣita / Akaniṣṭha heaven, addresses the assembled devaputras and discloses the One-Syllable Spell-King (yīzì zhòuwáng) of Mañjuśrī — proclaimed to be the supreme of all vidyās, the most secret heart-mantra of all Tathāgatas, capable of subduing every adverse deity and demon (一切障礙悉皆除遣, durdharaṃ vijetum).
Yìjìng’s translation is more elegant than Maṇicintana’s; he renders the framing narrative in his characteristic clean Vinaya-school Chinese (the same style as his Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya translations, KR6f). The mantra itself is the same Mañjuśrī one-syllable ṣṭriḥ-bīja. The subsequent vidhi prescribes the painting of an icon of Mañjuśrī, daily recitation of the spell, and the resulting power to summon Mañjuśrī himself. The text closes with assurances that the practitioner who keeps the spell will obtain pure conduct, the tathāgata-vision, and freedom from rebirth.
The dating bracket follows Yìjìng’s tenure at the imperial Translation Bureau in Cháng’ān/Luòyáng after his return from India (700–713 — he died in 713). Yìjìng and Maṇicintana were active simultaneously at Cháng’ān during the first decade of the eighth century; the parallel translations of the same Mañjuśrī one-syllable cycle reflect the contemporaneous interest of the imperial bureau in the Esoteric Mañjuśrī cycle.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- CBETA T20n1182
- 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.