Miàobì yìnzhuàng tuóluóní jīng 妙臂印幢陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Wonderful-Arm Mudrā-Banner Dhāraṇī by 實叉難陀 (Śikṣānanda, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Táng dhāraṇī-sūtra translated by 實叉難陀 Śikṣānanda (652–710), the Khotanese monk who arrived in Luòyáng in 695 and translated the new (80-fascicle) Avataṃsaka (T279) for Wǔ Zétiān; he was active at Luòyáng and Cháng’ān between his arrival in 695 and his death in 710. The colophon “大唐于闐三藏實叉難陀奉制譯”. The Taishō editors mark “[No. 1363]” — i.e. parallel to KR6j0593 by 玄奘 Xuánzàng. The two are independent translations of the same Indic original.
Abstract
The frame is largely identical to KR6j0593: Buddha at Kailāsa (here 雞羅娑山) in the Zhūshòu yīchù miàogōngdiàn 諸獸依處妙宮殿 (“the wonderful palace where all beasts dwell”), with 1,250 bhikṣus, an immeasurable host of bodhisattvas headed by Mañjuśrī “all in the form of children” plus the sixteen puruṣas led by Bhadrapāla. Brahmā, the devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, and human-and-non-human beings petition the Buddha; Avalokiteśvara joins them. The Buddha pronounces the Miàobì yìnzhuàng dhāraṇī. The transcription preserves the same kara-kara / kiri-kiri / kuru-kuru core (here transliterated jiāluójiāluó / zhǐlìzhǐlì / jùlújùlú) but with double-syllable phonetic markers — a more conservative-of-Sanskrit-phonology rendering than Xuánzàng’s.
The work shows that the same Indic dhāraṇī-text could be re-translated within fifty years of Xuánzàng’s version, with a different transcription convention and slightly different framing-material — a fact that makes KR6j0593/KR6j0594 one of the cleanest test-cases for the comparative study of Táng dhāraṇī translation. Recorded in the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù. Nanjio N0792.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.