Dōngfāng zuìshèng dēngwáng tuóluóní jīng 東方最勝燈王陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī of the Eastern Most-Excellent Lamp-King Tathāgata by 闍那崛多 (Jñānagupta, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Suí translation by 闍那崛多 Jñānagupta (523–600). The colophon “大隋北印度三藏闍那崛多譯”. The Taishō editors mark the parallel “[Nos. 1351, 1352, 1354, 1355]” — the chíjùzhòu / Anantamukha-pravara-cluster — i.e. parallel to KR6j0581 支謙 Zhīqiān, KR6j0582 曇無蘭 Tánwúlán, the close-twin KR6j0584 (a second Jñānagupta version), and KR6j0585 施護 Shīhù.
Abstract
The frame is a richer Suí elaboration of the same template. The Buddha sits at Śrāvastī Jeta-grove with 1,250 bhikṣus and forty thousand bodhisattvas, plus a vast array of deva-kings: Brahmā, Indra, the Four Heavenly Kings (Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka, Virūpākṣa, Vaiśravaṇa) at the head of twenty-eight guǐshén dàjiāng divine generals, eighty-four thousand heavenly beings, the Hāritī-mother (Hēlìduō 呵利多) and her children. From the eastern world Zhònghuá 眾華 (Puṣpa-saṃcaya?), ten myriad-koṭi Buddha-fields away, the Tathāgata Zuìshèng dēngwáng 最勝燈王 (“Most-Excellent Lamp-King”) sends two bodhisattvas — Dàguāng 大光 and Wúliàngguāng 無量光 — to bring Śākyamuni a dhāraṇī. The dhāraṇī itself, given here in a Wú-pronunciation note (用吳音), is the same as in KR6j0581 but with new transcription. Maitreya then offers his subsidiary dhāraṇī.
The text is a full Mahāyāna re-reception of the archaic Chíjùzhòu core, framed within a Suí-period elaboration. It became one of the more important members of the cluster in East-Asian liturgical practice, the title 最勝燈王 entering Pure-Land and Esoteric devotional repertoires. Recorded in the Lìdài sānbǎo jì. Nanjio N0429.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.