Fó shuō wúyájì zǒngchí fǎmén jīng 佛說無崖際總持法門經
Sūtra on the Dharma-Gate of the Boundless Dhāraṇī by 聖堅 (Shèngjiān, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle dhāraṇī-text translated under the Western Qín 西秦 (385–431) by the monk 聖堅 Shèngjiān (also written 堅公; Āryaprabhā?), one of the small group of translators active in the Héxī corridor states of the late fourth and early fifth centuries. The colophon reads “西秦沙門聖堅譯”. The bracket adopted here (388–431) corresponds to the active span of Western-Qín state Buddhism.
Abstract
The text opens at Śrāvastī’s Jeta-grove with 1,250 bhikṣus and 12,000 mahāsattvas “all of one-life-remaining” status, gathered from the ten directions, all having attained dhāraṇī and unobstructed eloquence. The bodhisattva-list opens with Wúzhōng-gǔ 無終鼓, Wúzhōng-zhuàng 無終幢, Wúzhōng-chèn 無終稱, Wúzhōng-hào 無終號 (“Drum / Banner / Praise / Title of the Unending”), the Shù-wáng 樹王 (“Tree-King”) bodhisattva, etc. — names that are characteristic of the early-medieval Chinese dhāraṇī-text bodhisattva-lists and that recur in KR6j0573. The Buddha pronounces the wúyájì zǒngchí (Anantamukha-nirhāra-dhāraṇī) — the “boundless dhāraṇī” — and explains its application as a gateway to the bodhisattva bhūmi-stages.
The work is the earliest Chinese rendering of the Anantamukha-nirhāra-dhāraṇī (or Anantamukha-sādhaka-dhāraṇī) text that was retranslated multiple times in subsequent centuries: cf. KR6j0573 T1343 (Northern Qí, 萬天懿), and the parallel translations in T19. Recorded in the Chū sānzàng jì jí 出三藏記集 under Shèngjiān’s translations. Nanjio N0364.
Translations and research
- Inagaki, Hisao. “The Anantamukha-nirhāra-dhāraṇī and its Chinese Translations.” Indo-Iranian Journal 30 (1987), 81–108. — comparative study of the Chinese recensions.