Fó shuō Dàài tuóluóní jīng 佛說大愛陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī of the Sea-Goddess Mahā-priya (Dà-ài)
by 法賢 (譯)
About the work
A short single-juan dhāraṇī-sūtra translated at the Sòng Institute for the Translation of Sūtras (譯經院) in Kāifēng under the imperial patronage of Sòng Tàizōng. The colophon identifies the translator as “西天譯經三藏朝散大夫試光祿卿明教大師臣法賢奉詔譯” — the standard formula used after Yōngxī 雍熙 4 (987), when 法賢 (Fǎxián, formerly Tiānxīzāi 天息災, d. 1000) was given his new monastic name. The translation must therefore fall in the window 987 × 1000; for the broader Sòng Institute, the productive window begins 982. The dating window 982–1000 encompasses both alternatives.
Abstract
The sūtra opens at Śrāvastī (舍衛國), Jeta Grove. A sea-goddess named Dà-ài 大愛 (literally “Great Love”; Skt. presumably Mahā-priyā or similar) approaches the Buddha and requests permission to pronounce a dhāraṇī for the protection of beings imperilled at sea. With the Buddha’s leave, she announces that she and her retinue dwell in the great ocean (大海) and witness countless beings drowning; she therefore offers a dhāraṇī by which any kulaputra/kuladuhitṛ, monk or nun, lay-man or lay-woman who recites and upholds it — or who simply hears the names of herself and her retinue — will be delivered from all maritime perils. She then pronounces the spell (tadyathā jurujuru turundhara mahā-pāñcāstike kuṇiṣṭa-kuṇiṣṭe anāhu cakra-pari…) and withdraws.
The text belongs to the very large body of single-juan apotropaic dhāraṇī-sūtras translated at the Sòng 譯經院 in the late tenth century, where Fǎxián, 施護 Shīhù, and 法天 Fǎtiān worked side-by-side. Recorded in the Dà-zhōng-xiángfú fǎbǎo lù 大中祥符法寶錄 among Fǎxián’s translations; Nanjio N0896. The CANWWW Sanskrit reconstructions are not extant for this text.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. For the Sòng 譯經院 milieu see Sen, Tansen, Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400 (Honolulu: U Hawaiʻi P, 2003), and Jan Yün-hua, “Buddhist Relations between India and Sung China,” History of Religions 6.1–2 (1966).