Jīngāngcháng tuóluóní jīng 金剛場陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Vajra-Maṇḍala (Vajra-place) Dhāraṇī by 闍那崛多 (Jñānagupta, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Suí translation by 闍那崛多 Jñānagupta (523–600), the Suí re-translation of the Indic original first rendered as KR6j0574 Jīngāng shàngwèi tuóluóní jīng (T1344) by 佛陀扇多 Buddhaśānta in the Northern Wèi. The colophon reads “隋三藏法師闍那崛多譯”. The Taishō editors mark the parallel — “[No. 1344]“. Title-difference: T1344 reads 金剛上味 (vajra-supreme-taste), T1345 reads 金剛場 (vajra-place / vajra-maṇḍala); both Indic readings are plausible — Jñānagupta either had a manuscript with a different titling, or chose a deliberately divergent Chinese gloss.
Abstract
The frame and narrative arc are essentially the same as KR6j0574: the Buddha at the Gold-Cave (jīnkū 金窟) at the Miàosè 妙色 settlement of the Snow-Mountain; alms-round; entry into the yīqièfǎ píngděngxiāng sānmèi 一切法平等相三昧 (“samādhi of the equal-mark of all dharmas”); the bhikṣus and gods cannot perceive the Buddha; they search; on emerging he pronounces the Vajra-place dhāraṇī. Jñānagupta’s translation idiom is more closely calqued on Indic syntax than Buddhaśānta’s; his transcription of the dhāraṇī uses the standard double-syllable phonetic markers.
The text-history situates the work in Jñānagupta’s Suí phase, between his return to Cháng’ān in 581 and his death in 600. Nanjio N0428. The 大→聖 edition-marker indicates that the Shōgozō (聖語藏) collection at Tōdai-ji preserves a witness; the Shōgozō kanchi tradition has been important for early-Suí textual history.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.