Dà shǐzhòu fǎ jīng 大使呪法經
Sūtra of the Method of the Great Messenger-Mantra by 菩提留支 (Pútíliúzhī = Pútíliúzhì 菩提流志, Tang-period Bodhiruci, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric scripture translated by the Tang-period Bodhiruci (菩提留支 = 菩提流志, the South-Indian translator active 683–727 at Chángān). The text is the parallel companion to KR6j0498 (T1267, Shǐzhòu fǎ jīng) — its title is identical except for the prefixed Dà 大 (“Great”), and CANWWW (T21N1267 / T21N1268) records the two as related-texts. Both treat the same “messenger-mantra” (shǐzhòu = Skt. dūta-mantra) material in related but textually distinct Chinese renderings.
Abstract
The dàshǐzhòu 大使呪 of the title denotes the expanded or major form of the messenger-mantra material relative to T1267 — that is, this text contains the longer mantra-forms, more elaborated ritual instructions, and a wider range of dispatch-applications. Together with T1267 it forms the standard pair of long-form and short-form Chinese rendering of the same Indian kriyā-tantra messenger-magic material. As with T1267, the text is an important early-Tang witness to the practical-magic stratum of Indian Esoteric Buddhism in Sinitic transmission. Date: Bodhiruci’s Chángān activity, 683–727.
Translations and research
- See KR6j0498.