Xùmìng jīng 續命經
Sūtra for Continuing Life Anonymous Chinese composition.
About the work
A short Avalokiteśvara-centred apocryphal scripture in one fascicle, opening with the invocation “Námo Greatly Compassionate Avalokiteśvara, Saviour-from-Suffering — only please, holy hand, stroke the crowns of our heads, save the heavily sinful of this Sahā-world, and place us on the ground of nirvāṇa-and-liberation.” The text combines a triple invocation of Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahāsthāmaprāpta with a long catalogue of “ten vows” (一願 … 十願): for the perpetuation of the Three Jewels, for seasonable wind and rain, for the long life of kings, for borderlands free of war, for the three evil destinies to be relieved of suffering, for the eradication of disease, for filial-and-compassionate behaviour among all beings, for butchers to give up killing, for prisoners to be released, and for the universal peace of the Dharmadhātu. Recitation of the text 1,000 times is promised to bring deliverance.
Abstract
T85n2889 is preserved in Dūnhuáng manuscripts. The text is a clear member of the yánshòu / xùmìng “life-prolonging” cluster (with KR6u0024) and is closely related to the broader Avalokiteśvara devotional tradition that flourished at Dūnhuáng. The “ten vows” structure and the strongly liturgical opening invocation suggest the text was composed for use in popular ritual; the very large recitation-count (one thousand times) is a hallmark of late Táng / Five Dynasties popular ritual praxis. Cataloguers from Zhīshēng (730) onward register the text as 偽妄. Christine Mollier (2008) places this and the Yánshòumìng jīng alongside Daoist parallel scriptures of comparable function, demonstrating mutual borrowing in the late-Táng to Five-Dynasties period.
Translations and research
- Christine Mollier, Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face: Scripture, Ritual, and Iconographic Exchange in Medieval China (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2008).
- Makita Tairyō 牧田諦亮, Gikyō kenkyū 疑經研究 (Kyōto: Jinbun Kagaku Kenkyūsho, 1976).
- Cao Ling 曹凌, Zhōngguó fójiào yíwěijīng zōnglù 中國佛教疑偽經綜錄 (Shànghǎi: Shànghǎi gǔjí, 2011).