Qī qiān fó shénfú jīng 七千佛神符經
Sūtra of the Spirit-Talismans of Seven Thousand Buddhas Anonymous Chinese composition.
About the work
A one-fascicle apocryphal “Buddhist talismanic” scripture (神符經). The text is structured around the recitation of the names of seven thousand Buddhas as a means of “increasing the lifespan-tally” (益年益算 — extending one’s life count to one hundred and twenty years), of guarding the body against disease and ill-omen, and of inviting the descent of the various sub-categories of seven hundred and seventy and thirty-five Buddhas to overcome demonic interference and prolong life. The title “shénfú” (spirit-talismans) and the operative numerology (mass Buddha-name lists, life-tally extensions, descent of celestial protectors) make this text a very clear case of Buddhist–Daoist syncretic apocrypha.
Abstract
T85n2904 is preserved in Dūnhuáng manuscripts. The vocabulary — yìsuàn 益算 (the lifespan-tally), xiàng shēn 下生 (descent into birth) — is drawn directly from Daoist talismanic prolongevity literature (the language of the San Shi registers and the Shàngqīng “tally”). Christine Mollier (2008) has examined this text alongside the Sānchú jīng KR6u0030 and the Tiāndì bāyáng shénzhòu jīng KR6u0033 as instances of deep Daoist–Buddhist exchange in the late-medieval scriptural domain. Cataloguers register it as 偽 from the Suí onward. Cao Ling (2011) treats it as the most explicitly Daoist-derivative of the talismanic apocrypha at Dūnhuáng.
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).