Fóshuō Wénshū púsà zuìshèng zhēnshí míngyì jīng 佛說文殊菩薩最勝真實名義經
Sūtra of the Most-Excellent True Names-and-Meanings of Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, Spoken by the Buddha by 沙囉巴 (Shāluóbā, Sherap, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Yuán-period Tibetan-mediated rendering of the Mañjuśrī-Nāmasaṅgīti, translated by the Tibetan-trained Yuán-court translator Sherap (沙囉巴, 1259–1314). Title page: 光祿大夫大司徒三藏法師沙囉巴奉詔譯. This is the third of the four Chinese renderings of the work (cf. KR6j0413 施護 Dānapāla, KR6j0414 金總持 Jīnzǒngchí, KR6j0416 釋智 Shìzhì) and the first to be made from a Tibetan source-text.
Abstract
The opening verses run: “I bow to Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva. / The auspicious holder of the vajra / Who subdues the unsubduable / The brave one, victor over the three realms / The autonomous Lord of Secrets / Whose eyes are like blue-lotus petals…”
The metrical structure of the rendering follows the Tibetan more closely than the Sanskrit; specifically, the four-line verse-clusters of the Tibetan Mtshan brjod are reproduced as four five-character Chinese lines. This is in marked contrast to the Sòng renderings (KR6j0413, KR6j0414), which derive from Sanskrit manuscripts and follow a different prosodic logic.
Sherap’s rendering reflects the Sa-skya Tantric tradition’s treatment of the Nāmasaṅgīti as a fundamental text of the Yoga-tantra / Anuttara-yoga-tantra consolidation; the systematic Tibetan-to-Chinese transmission was institutionally underwritten by the Yuán court’s elevation of the Tibetan tradition over the Tangut and Indian-direct lines. The dating bracket (1280–1314) brackets Sherap’s mature translation activity at the Yuán court.
Translations and research
- See the references for KR6j0413.
- Lalou, Marcelle. “Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa et Tārāmūlakalpa.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 2 (1936): 327–349.
Links
- CBETA T20n1189
- Kanseki DB
- 沙囉巴 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (1310) — 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.