Fó shuō shīyīqiè wúwèi tuóluóní jīng 佛說施一切無畏陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī Granting All Fearlessness
by 施護 (等譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Northern-Sòng team translation under 施護 Shīhù at the Sòng Institute. The colophon “西天譯經三藏朝奉大夫試光祿卿傳法大師賜紫臣施護等奉詔譯” — note “等” (collaborative team).
Abstract
The Buddha is travelling in Magadha and stops at the Āmra-vana (菴沒羅林), in a cave on the Vaideha-mountain that is sacred to Indra (帝釋巖). Indra approaches the Buddha and confides: “I have a great fear — the asuras harass me through the long night; the asuras are my enemies; please, World-Honoured One, teach me a protection-formula”. The Buddha responds: “I have a dhāraṇī called Shī-yīqiè wúwèi (‘Granting-All-Fearlessness’) which performs every task — heals every disease, restrains every animal, looses every enemy-bond, dispels every demon-grasp (deva, nāga, yakṣa, gandharva, kinnara, vināyaka, mātṛ-mothers, energy-vampires, garland-eaters, miscarriage-causers, impurity-eaters), allays vāta, pitta, kapha fevers, breaks every battle-line and lawsuit”. The dhāraṇī follows.
The work is a typical Sòng-Institute apotropaic paritta with a Mahāyāna frame; its placement in Indra’s mouth via the cave-on-Vaideha frame is unusual and gives the text a more narrative-rich opening than most Sòng dhāraṇī-translations. Nanjio N0891.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.