Fó sānshēn zàn 佛三身讚
Hymn on the Three Bodies of the Buddha by 西土賢聖 (an anonymous Indian author, 撰) and 法賢 (Fǎxián / Tiānxīzāi, 譯)
About the work
A one-juǎn Northern-Sòng translation of an Indian Kāyatrayastotra, in praise of the three bodies of the Buddha. Translated by 法賢 Fǎxián at the Sòng Institute. The author is identified only generically as 西土賢聖 (“the worthies and sages of the Western Land [= India]”), the standard Sòng convention for naming an Indian author whose specific identity had not been preserved.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T32N1678) lists no internal sub-divisions and no related-text pointers; the Sanskrit title is given as Kāyatrayastotra.
Abstract
The Fó sānshēn zàn is a slightly longer trikāya hymn than the parallel KR6o0132 Sānshēn fàn zàn (also translated by Fǎxián). Both texts attest the late-Indian Kāyatrayastotra tradition, of which the Tibetan canon preserves an independent witness. The Sòng translation is bracketed by Fǎxián’s Institute career, 982–1000. The Taishō uses 高麗 as base.
Translations and research
- Tucci, Giuseppe. “Two Hymns of the Catuḥ-stava of Nāgārjuna.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1932): 309–325. — Frame.
- Lindtner, Christian. Nagarjuniana. Copenhagen, 1982.
- No further substantial secondary literature located on this specific Chinese version.
Other points of interest
The presence of two parallel translations of the Kāyatrayastotra by the same translator (KR6o0132 and KR6o0133) suggests that two distinct Indian recensions of the stotra were available to the Sòng Institute and that Fǎxián chose to translate both rather than collate them into a single composite.
Links
- CBETA
- DILA Authority (Fǎxián): A000146
- Dazangthings date evidence (1001): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1/