Fó shuō Pìchú zéihài zhòu jīng 佛說辟除賊害呪經
Sūtra of the Spell for Warding off Bandit-Harm
by 失譯 (譯)
About the work
A short single-juan apotropaic zhòu-text preserved as a shīyì 失譯 (“translator unknown”) work; the catalog meta does not record a dynasty. The Taishō places the text within volume 21, between Sòng-Institute Fǎxián translations, but its archaic vocabulary and lack of a Buddha-frame point unambiguously to an early zhòujīng of the Eastern-Jìn period or earlier. The Kāiyuán shìjiào lù attributes a Pìchú zéihài zhòu to the shīyì category from the Hàn–Jìn era. CANWWW gives no Sanskrit reconstruction. The dating window 317–420 follows the Eastern-Jìn ascription typical of texts of this style; Nanjio N0480.
Abstract
The text opens with the formula of refuge: “Homage to the Buddha, homage to the Dharma, homage to the Bhikṣu-saṅgha, homage to the seven Buddhas of the past, homage to all the Buddhas, homage to all the Buddhas’ disciples, homage to all the masters, homage to all the masters’ disciples, homage to the rakṣa-king Mòlì Xuělì” (默利薛利 — Skt. Maitra-Bhairava / Mahābala-Maitri?). Saluting these powers, the spell-master then declares: “May my spell achieve all I wish.” There follows a description of the yakṣa-king of the northern Mt. Gándhā-mahāmusth (健陀摩訶術 Gandha-mahā-?) named Mòlì Yīnlì 默利陰利, with his four sister-attendants — Āntánní 安檀尼, Yánmóní 閻摩尼, Lìmóní 𤺦摩尼, Wúhāní 無呵尼 — each charged with a specific bandit-suppression function (blinding the bandit’s eyes, paralyzing his limbs, etc.). The spell pronouncement follows. The text is one of the better-preserved early Chinese yakṣa-master ritual-frames for bandit-suppression, with substantial overlap with the Daoist zhòu-tradition of the same period.
Translations and research
- Strickmann, Michel. Chinese Magical Medicine. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2002. — addresses the Eastern-Jìn zhòu-jīng corpus.
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.
- Mollier, Christine. Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face. Honolulu: U Hawaiʻi P, 2008.
Links
- CBETA online
- Companion text: KR6j0637
- Dazangthings date evidence (160)
- Kanseki DB