Text: T0250; 摩訶般若波羅蜜大明呪經

Summary

Identifier T0250 [T]
Title 摩訶般若波羅蜜大明呪經 [T]
Date [None]
Unspecified unknown [CSZJJ]
Translator 譯 Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什, 鳩摩羅, 究摩羅, 究摩羅什, 拘摩羅耆婆 [T]

There may be translations for this text listed in the Bibliography of Translations from the Chinese Buddhist Canon into Western Languages. If translations are listed, this link will take you directly to them. However, if no translations are listed, the link will lead only to the head of the page.

There are resources for the study of this text in the SAT Daizōkyō Text Dabatase (Saṃgaṇikīkṛtaṃ Taiśotripiṭakaṃ).

Assertions

Preferred? Source Pertains to Argument Details

No

[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.

Entry author: Michael Radich

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No

[Nattier 1992]  Nattier, Jan. “The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?”Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 15, no. 2, (1992): 153-223.

Nattier argues that the text of Xuanzang's version was probably composed in part upon the basis of Kumārajīva’s, and that the extant Sanskrit may be a rare case of a pre-modern back-translation from Chinese into Sanskrit.

Entry author: Michael Radich

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No

[Demiéville 1953]  Demiéville, Paul. “Les sources chinoises.” In L’Inde classique: Manuel des études indiennes, Tome II, by Louis Renou and Jean Filliozat, 398-463. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale/Hanoi: École Française d’Extrême-Orient, 1953. — 415-416

Demiéville lists all the texts ascribed to Kumārajīva by Sengyou, namely T201 T223 T227 T235 T245(!) T262 T366 T456 T475 T613 T614 T616 T617 T1435 T1509 T1564 T1568 T1569 T1646. This implies that the ascription of all other texts ascribed to Kumārajīva in the Taishō is less secure than those ascriptions, on at least this count. This entry lists all such texts (all "Kumārajīva" texts EXCEPT those listed by Demiéville/Sengyou).

Entry author: Michael Radich

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No

[Ono and Maruyama 1933-1936]  Ono Genmyō 小野玄妙, Maruyama Takao 丸山孝雄, eds. Bussho kaisetsu daijiten 佛書解說大辭典. Tokyo: Daitō shuppan, 1933-1936 [縮刷版 1999]. — vol. 10, p. 274

Watanabe Baiyū 渡辺楳雄 points out that the ascription of the 摩訶般若波羅蜜大明呪經 T250 to Kumārajīva was first given by KYL. According to Watanabe, Shii 椎尾 claims that the ascription to Kumārajīva is correct, since not only are the tone and vocabulary of T250 Kumārajīva’s, but also a substantial part of it is identical to part of the Xiying chapter 習應品 of the Larger Prajñāpāramitā 大品般若 T223, translated by Kumārajīva.

Watanabe also lists alternate translations to T250, which are:

般若波羅蜜多心經 T251 ascribed to Xuanzang 玄奘;
般若波羅蜜多那經 ascribed to Bodhiruci 流志;
摩訶般若隨心經 ascribed to Śikṣānanda 實叉難陀;
般若波羅蜜多心經 T253 ascribed to Prajña 般若, Liyan 利言 and others;
普遍智藏般若波羅蜜多心經 T252 ascribed to Fa Yuechong 法月重,
般若心經 ascribed to *Prajñācakra 智慧輪;
and 聖佛母般若波羅蜜多經 T257 ascribed to *Dānapāla 施護.

Watanabe mentions Shiba’s 榛葉 works as a source for the same text in other languages.

Entry author: Atsushi Iseki

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No

[Zacchetti 2015]  Zacchetti, Stefano. “Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras.” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume One: Literature and Languages, edited by Jonathan Silk, Oskar von Hinüber, and Vincent Eltschinger, 171-209. Leiden: Brill, 2015. — 195-196

Zacchetti cites Watanabe, who argues that the ascription of T250 to Kumārajīva is to be rejected, suggesting instead that “this is probably a text composed in China on the basis of Kumārajīva’s translation of the Larger Prajñāpāramitā, with materials taken from Xuanzang’s translation of the Heart Sūtra.” Zacchetti concludes that Xuanzangs translation of 649 is therefore the earliest witness of the Heart Sūtra.

Zacchetti cites

Watanabe Shōgo 渡辺章悟. Hannya shingyō: tekusuto, shisō, bunka 般若心経 テキスト・思想・文化. Tokyo, 2009. 71-80.

McRae, John."Ch'an Commentaries on the Heart Sūtra: Preliminary Inferences on the Permutation of Chinese Buddhism." JIABS 11, no. 2 (1988): 88-89.

Entry author: Michael Radich

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No

[CSZJJ]  Sengyou 僧祐. Chu sanzang ji ji (CSZJJ) 出三藏記集 T2145. — T2145 (LV) 10c16-11a27

In his own list of works of Kumārajīva in CSZJJ, Sengyou lists 35 works. The full list is given below, with identifications with texts extant in T (some identifications tentative).

By contrast, the present T ascribes over 50 translation works to Kumārajīva (we do not count here T1775 or T1856). The ascription of the following works ascribed to Kumārajīva in T is not supported by Sengyou's list: T35, T123, T201, T245, T250, T307, T310(26), T335, T426, T484, T614, T617, T625, T703, T988, T1484, T1489, T1659, T2046, T2047, T2048.

新大品經二十四卷(偽秦姚興弘始五年四月二十二[三M]日於逍遙園譯出至六年四月二十三日訖), T223
新小品經七卷(弘始十年二月六日譯出至四月二十日訖), T227
新法華經七卷(弘始八年夏於長安大寺譯出), T262
新賢劫經七卷(今闕), lost?
華首經十卷(一名攝諸[稱S]善根經), cf. 華手[v.l.SP首]經 T657
新維摩詰經三卷(弘始八年於長安大寺出), T475
新首楞嚴經二卷, T642
十住經五卷(或四卷定五卷什與佛駄耶舍共譯出), T286
思益義經四卷(或云思益梵天問經), T586
持世經四卷(或三卷), T482
自在王經二卷(弘始九[元SYM]年出), T420
佛藏經三卷(一名選擇諸法或為二卷), T653
菩薩藏經三卷(一名富樓那問亦名大悲心或為二卷), T310(17)
稱揚諸佛功德經三卷(一名集華), ?, T382?
無量壽經一卷(或云阿彌陀經), T366
彌勒下生經一卷, T454?
彌勒成佛經一卷, T456?
金剛般若經一卷(或云金剛般若波羅蜜經), T235
諸法無行經一卷, T650
菩提經一卷(或云文殊師利問菩提[薩SYM]經), T464
遺教經一卷(或云佛垂般泥洹略說教戒經), T389
十二因緣觀經一卷(闕[+本SYM]), ???
菩薩呵色欲[+經YM]一卷, T615
禪法要解二卷(或云禪要經), T616?
禪經三卷(一名菩薩禪法經與坐禪三昧經問), T613?
雜譬喻經一卷(比丘道略所集), T208?
大智論百卷(於逍遙園譯出或分為七十卷), T1509
成[誠SYM]實論十六卷, T1646
十住論十卷, T1521
中論四卷, T1564
十二門論一卷, T1568
百論二卷(弘始六年譯出), T1569
十誦律六十一卷(已入律錄), T1435
十誦比丘戒本一卷, T1436
禪法要三卷(弘始九年𨳝月五日重校正), T616?

Entry author: Michael Radich

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No

[Watanabe 1990]  Watanabe Shōgo 渡辺章悟. "Kyōroku kara mita Makahannyaharamitsu shinju kyō to Makahannyaharamitsu daimyōju kyō" 経録からみた『摩訶般若波羅蜜神呪経』と『摩訶般若波羅蜜大明呪経』." Indogaku Bukkyōgaku kenkyū 印度学仏教学研究 39, no. 1 (1990): 54-58.

Watanabe explores the relationship between traditions about a (lost) Heart Sūtra ascribed to Zhi Qian 支謙, the Mohe bore boluomi shenzhou jing 摩訶般若波羅蜜神呪經, and the Mohe bore boluomi damingzhou jing 摩訶般若波羅蜜大明呪經T250 ascribed to Kumārajīva, the oldest extant version of the text. He concludes that, despite the evidence from the catalogues, the ascription of the former to Zhi Qian and the latter to Kumārajiva is not reliable.

According to the catalogues, there were two versions of the Shenzhou jing 神咒經 (A and B) and one of the Damingzhou jing 大明咒經 (C). In general, the traditional bibliographies divided into two lines:

(1) on the one hand, Fajing's 法經 Zhongjing mulu 眾經目錄 T2146, echoed by Yancong's 彥琮 Zhongjing mulu 眾經目錄 T2147 and Jingtai's 靜泰 Zhongjing mulu 眾經目錄 T2148, assert that A and B are two different versions, and the translators are unknown (失訳).

(2) On the other hand, Fei Changfang's 費長房 Lidai sanbao ji 歷代三寶記 T2034, which is itself a unreliable source, attributes A to Zhi Qian and does not mention B. The Datang neidian lu 大唐內典錄 T2149 and the Gujin yinjing tuji 古今譯經圖紀 T2152 follow the attribution of Fei Changfang, and remark that the translator of B is unknown. The Kaiyuan Shijiao lu 開元釋教錄 T2154 follows T2034 and considers A and B to be the same text (同本).

It is in KYL that C, attributed to Kumārajīva, first made its appearance. KYL is then followed in this regard by the Zhenyuan xinding Shijing mulu 貞元新定釋經目錄 T2157. Watanabe contends that C must be considered an apocryphon that imitated the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā (大品般若經) and other Chinese translations of the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya-sūtra (般若心經).

Entry author: Chia-wei Lin

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