Fó shuō Shèngfān yīngluò tuóluóní jīng 佛說勝幡瓔珞陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Dhvajāgrakeyūrā Dhāraṇī (Crown-Necklace at the Banner-Tip)
by 施護 (譯)
About the work
A short single-juan dhāraṇī-sūtra translated at the Sòng 譯經院 by 施護 Shīhù (Dānapāla, d. 1017). CANWWW restores the Sanskrit title as Dhvajāgrakeyūrā(sūtra) — i.e. “The (Necklace-Like Spell) at the Tip of the Triumph-Banner”. The work is the Sòng-period re-translation of the well-known Indian Dhvajāgrakeyūrā-rāja dhāraṇī, also extant in Tibetan canonical translation.
Abstract
The Buddha is at the peak of Xǐlè-shān 喜樂山 (“Mount of Joyful Pleasure”), not far from a deva-palace, at a ṛṣi-dwelling, with a great assembly of twelve hundred and fifty bhikṣus, plus the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas including Mañjuśrī (the Princely Youth) and Bhadrapāla (賢護菩薩) — sixteen great kulaputra-bodhisattvas (十六大士) in all. The Buddha enters samādhi, surveys heavens and earth, intent on universally distributing the dharma so that beings hearing it may praise its excellence. The deva-king Brahmā, the devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans and non-humans assemble. The Buddha pronounces the Dhvajāgrakeyūrā spell, with its protective function in battle and against fear. Recorded in the Dàzhōngxiángfú fǎbǎo lù; Nanjio N0858.
Translations and research
For the Dhvajāgrakeyūrā-rāja tradition (which has a substantial Indo-Tibetan footprint):
- Hidas, Gergely. “Dhāraṇī sūtras,” in Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, vol. 1: Literature and Languages, ed. Jonathan A. Silk, Leiden: Brill, 2015, pp. 129–137.
- Skilling, Peter. “The Rakṣā Literature of the Śrāvakayāna,” Journal of the Pali Text Society 16 (1992): 109–182. — for the broader rakṣā / dhvaja-agra protective literature.