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佛說最上祕密那拏天經

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Text ID
KR6j0519
Date
982–1001
Dynasty
宋

Fó shuō Zuìshàng mìmì Nànátiān jīng 佛說最上祕密那拏天經

Sūtra of the Most Supreme Secret Naḍa-Heaven, Spoken by the Buddha by 法賢 (Fǎxián, 譯)

About the work

A three-fascicle Esoteric kalpa / tantra in nine sections devoted to the deity Nà-ná-tiān 那拏天 (Skt. Naḍa-deva), translated late in the 10th century at the Sòng Institute for the Translation of Sūtras (譯經院) by the Kāśmīra-born monk Fǎxián 法賢 (originally Tiānxīzāi 天息災, 法賢), with the monastic-civil titles 西天譯經三藏朝奉大夫試光祿卿明教大師. The CANWWW reconstruction of the Sanskrit title is Śravanasyaputranadagupilāyakalparāja. The text presents itself as having been preached by the Buddha in the palace of Vaiśravaṇa 毘沙門 (Pí-shā-mén-tiān), with Vajrapāṇi 金剛手菩薩 as the principal interlocutor, in the presence of vast assemblies of devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, the Loka-pālas, Nārāyaṇa 那羅延天, Maheśvara 大自在天, the wealth-deities Bǎo-xián / Mǎn-xián 寶賢／滿賢, the powerful goddesses (Lì-tiān, Dà-lì-tiān), Mahākāla 摩賀迦羅天, the medicine-king (Yī-zhǔ-tiān), and named legions of rākṣasa and yakṣa chiefs.

Abstract

The Most Supreme Secret Naḍa-Heaven Sūtra is the principal Sòng-period Esoteric scripture for the deity Naḍa 那拏, here represented as a fully tantric figure: golden-coloured, with marvellous attributes, smiling faintly, holding the sun, the moon, and various weapons, and possessed of a vast retinue. The work is structured in nine fēn 分 (“sections”), set out in the CANWWW Structural Division below: a sequence of sādhana (chéng-jiù yí-guǐ), maṇḍala-construction (màn-ná-luó), painted-image rite (zhòu-xiàng yí-guǐ), great-mantra offerings (gòng-yǎng / yìn-xiàng dà-míng), love-magic homa (jìng-ài hù-mó), and the great-mantra maṇḍala-accomplishment ritual.

The text is one of the late tantras (in the technical sense of Indian Buddhist anuttarayoga-adjacent tantras) translated under the Sòng Institute programme of Tàizōng and Zhēnzōng. Like much of Fǎxián’s late-tantric output it preserves features more typical of full Indian kalpa-rāja compositions (extensive divine assemblies, named maṇḍalas, fierce homa with affective magic, weapons-and-mudrā iconography) than is usual in earlier Tang-period Esoteric translations. The dating bracket follows Fǎxián’s documented Sòng translation activity from the founding of the Translation Institute in Tàipíng-Xīngguó 7 (982) until his death in Xiánpíng 3 (1000); a precise terminus is not available in the Sòng catalogues.

The deity Naḍa 那拏 is sometimes confounded in later East-Asian iconographic compendia with the more familiar Ná-zhá 哪吒 / 那吒 (a son of Vaiśravaṇa, popular as a Daoist-Buddhist child-warrior deity), but the Sanskrit reconstruction Naḍa-deva and the framing in Vaiśravaṇa’s palace situate this text within a distinct Indian yakṣa-rāja tradition rather than the Ná-zhá / Nezha cycle of Chinese popular religion.

Structural Division

The work is divided into nine fēn 分 (sections); CANWWW lists their incipits as follows:

  1. Zuìshàng chéngjiù yíguǐ fēn 最上成就儀軌分 — Section on the Most Supreme Accomplishment Ritual.
  2. Chéngjiù yíguǐ fēn 成就儀軌分 — Section on the Accomplishment Ritual.
  3. Zuìshàng chéngjiù yíguǐ fēn 最上成就儀軌分 — Section on the Most Supreme Accomplishment Ritual (continued).
  4. Zuì-shàng màn-ná-luó yí-guǐ chéng-jiù fǎ fēn 最上曼拏羅儀軌成就法分 — Section on the Method of the Most Supreme Maṇḍala Ritual Accomplishment.
  5. Zuìshàng chéngjiù zhòuxiàng yíguǐ fēn 最上成就晝像儀軌分 — Section on the Most Supreme Painted-Image Accomplishment Ritual.
  6. Zuìshàng chéngjiù gòngyǎng dàmíng fēn 最上成就供養大明分 — Section on the Most Supreme Offering Great-Mantra of Accomplishment.
  7. Zuìshàng chéngjiù yìnxiàng dàmíng fēn 最上成就印相大明分 — Section on the Most Supreme Mudrā Great-Mantra of Accomplishment.
  8. Zuìshàng chéngjiù jìngài hùmó fǎ fēn 最上成就敬愛護摩法分 — Section on the Most Supreme Love-and-Reverence Homa Method.
  9. Dà-míng màn-ná-luó chéng-jiù yí-guǐ fēn 大明曼拏羅成就儀軌分 — Section on the Great-Mantra Maṇḍala Accomplishment Ritual.

CANWWW records no cross-references to parallel canonical texts.

Translations and research

  • Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Honolulu: Association for Asian Studies / University of Hawai’i Press, 2003 — chs. on the Sòng translation programme and the careers of Fǎxián / Tiānxīzāi, Fǎtiān, and Shīhù.
  • Jan Yün-hua. “Buddhist Relations between India and Sung China.” History of Religions 6, no. 1 (1966): 24–42; 6, no. 2 (1966): 135–168.
  • Bogel, Cynthea J. With a Single Glance: Buddhist Icon and Early Mikkyō Vision. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009 — context for the Vaiśravaṇa / yakṣa-rāja iconographic background.
  • Orzech, Charles D., Henrik H. Sørensen, and Richard K. Payne, eds. Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011 — esp. the chapter on Sòng Esoteric translations.

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