Fó shuō Xuánshī Bátuó suǒshuō shénzhòu jīng 佛說玄師颰陀所說神呪經
Sūtra of the Divine Spell Pronounced by the Master Xuán-shī Bátuó
by 曇無蘭 (譯)
About the work
A short Eastern-Jìn dhāraṇī-text translated by 曇無蘭 Tánwúlán (also written 竺曇無蘭 Zhú Tánwúlán; fl. 381–395). The colophon “東晉天竺三藏竺曇無蘭譯”. The figure named in the title — Xuán-shī Bátuó 玄師颰陀 — is unusual: bátuó almost certainly transcribes bhadra, and the title is best read as the Bhadra-rāja-spell or “Spell pronounced by Master Bhadra”; this is one of the earliest Chinese dhāraṇī-texts to attribute a vidyā-spell to a named non-Buddha figure.
Abstract
The Buddha is travelling in Rājagṛha among the parrot-trees (鸚鵡樹間 śuka-vṛkṣa); a wandering bhikṣu on the road between the Bamboo-Grove and the city has been bitten by a snake, possessed by a demon, and robbed by bandits. The Buddha goes to the bhikṣu; Xuán-shī Bátuó accompanies the Buddha and offers — somewhat presumptuously — to recite his “great spell”. The Buddha cautions: “Stop, Bhadra; let your spell not cause harm”. Bhadra explains: “Hereafter the kingdoms will war on each other; bandits will rob each other; demons will plunder each other; poisons will harm each other. If a bhikṣu dwells in mountain or under tree wearing the pāṃsukūla, or sits in the open, may my spell let no enemy reach him; my fourfold disciples — let none harm them”. Bhadra then pronounces the dhāraṇī, with its application as a comprehensive shield against yakṣa (yuè-chā 閱叉) and demon-classes. The Buddha approves.
The text is one of the most archaic dhāraṇī-texts of the Eastern-Jìn period — its rhetorical economy, its Buddha-corrects-spellcaster narrative, and its self-identification of the spell-caster as “I, Yīntōu 因偷” all signal a text-tradition close to the original avadāna-lore of the Indian vidyādhara. Recorded in the Chū sānzàng jì jí under Tánwúlán’s translations. Nanjio N0892 — the variant text T1378b, recorded as a duplicate, is now lost (only T1378a is in the Goryeo).
Translations and research
- Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations. Tokyo: IRIAB, Soka University, 2008. — for Tánwúlán’s profile.
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins. Paris: Gallimard, 1996. — on the Eastern-Jìn zhòu-jīng tradition.