Fó shuō Bōlánnàshēwálǐ dà tuóluóní jīng 佛說鉢蘭那賒嚩哩大陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Great Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī
by 法賢 (譯)
About the work
A short single-juan dhāraṇī-sūtra translated at the Sòng 譯經院 by 法賢 Fǎxián. The phonetic transcription “鉢蘭那賒嚩哩” bōlánnàshēwálǐ renders the Sanskrit deity-name Parṇaśavarī — the leaf-clad piśācī-form of the goddess Tārā, the celebrated Parṇaśabarī of late Indian Mahāyāna and tantric Buddhism, regarded as a destroyer of plagues, demonic afflictions, and māra-troubles.
Abstract
The Buddha tells Ānanda that he observes innumerable beings born into evil destinies through the weight of their karma; even when reborn human, they may have crippled bodies, weak intellects, or be tormented day and night by malign demons. To deliver such beings, he proclaims the Parṇaśabarī mahā-dhāraṇī, by which all evil māras and noxious spirits may be repelled. Beings who hear, recite, uphold, and venerate this dhāraṇī are protected. The body of the text is the vidyā-formula proper.
The text is one of the earliest Chinese translations of a Parṇaśavarī-spell, predating the more elaborate later translation by 法天 Fǎtiān (KR6j0552 etc.) of the Bhagavatī-Ārya-Parṇaśavarī dhāraṇī (T20 1100s-range). The deity is widely attested in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist iconography and ritual; she is one of the aṣṭamahābhaya-Tārā and the standard antidote to epidemic disease in late tantric medical-ritual practice. Recorded in the Dà-zhōng-xiángfú fǎbǎo lù; Nanjio N0888.
Translations and research
- Bühnemann, Gudrun. The Iconography of Hindu Tantric Deities, vol. 1: The Pantheon of the Mantramahodadhi. Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 2000. — for the Parṇaśavarī iconography in cross-tradition comparison.
- de Mallmann, Marie-Thérèse. Introduction à l’iconographie du tântrisme bouddhique. Paris: Maisonneuve, 1975.