Fóshuō Wénshūshīlì yībǎibā míng fànzàn 佛說文殊師利一百八名梵讚
Sanskrit Hymn of the One-Hundred-and-Eight Names of Mañjuśrī, Spoken by the Buddha by 法天 (Fǎtiān, Dharmadeva, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle 108-Names hymn (aṣṭottaraśataka-nāma-stava) of Mañjuśrī, translated by Fǎtiān (法天, d. 1001) at the Sòng Translation Institute. Colophon: 西天譯經三藏朝散大夫試鴻臚卿傳教大師臣法天奉詔譯.
Abstract
A standard Indian Esoteric aṣṭottaraśataka-nāma-stava form: 108 verse-name-epithets of Mañjuśrī, in seven-character Chinese verse, framed by an opening declaration: “I now expound / The 108 Names / Of Mañjuśrī / The supreme merit-power…”
Each four-character or five-character clause names one quality of the bodhisattva (e.g., jíxiáng wáng “auspicious king”, zhìshèng zhìjí “wisdom-victor and wisdom-supreme”, fǎshēn yīrú “Dharma-body inseparable”, and so forth), accumulating to 108 verse-units. The form is recitational: the practitioner takes the hymn-text and recites all 108 names in order, treating it as a nāma-saṃkīrtana of Mañjuśrī.
This is a Sòng companion to the lost-titled-only Táng Qiānbō Wénshū yībǎibā míng zàn T1177B (KR6j0402); whereas the Táng text survived only as a title in the canonical lists, the Sòng version translated by Fǎtiān preserves the full hymn. The two should be regarded as independent renderings of analogous (perhaps closely related) Indian nāmāṣṭottaraśataka hymn-traditions.
The dating bracket follows Fǎtiān’s documented translation activity (980 arrival at Kāifēng → 1001 death).
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- CBETA T20n1197
- Kanseki DB
- 法天 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (980) — 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.