Text: T2865; 護身命經; 救護身命經

Summary

Identifier T2865 [T]
Title 救護身命經 [Lowe 2014]
Date [None]

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

Edit

  • Title: 護身命經
  • Identifier: T2865

Yes

[Lowe 2014]  Lowe, Bryan D. “The Scripture on Saving and Protecting Body and Life: An Introduction and Translation.” Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies 27 (2014): 1-34.

The Taisho text is based upon Pelliot 2340; there also exists a Nanatsu-dera manuscript. The text is ascribed to Zhu Tanwulan by Fei Changfang (LDSBJ), but this ascription, like many to Tanwulan, is dubious. Lowe identifies the following signs of Chinese composition, and concerns typical of this period: 1) A vision of the endtimes as a 五濁惡世; 2) concern with practice of the "venomous arts" 蠱道; 3) recitation of the names of divine beings as an apotropaic measure, including deities with Daoist-sounding names; 4) a specific group of lesser known deities known as the 六神; 5) the idea of copying the text on "fine paper" 好紙 as a localised version of the more generalised "cult of the book", and another apotropaic practice to ward off the evils the text warns of.

Lowe summarises: "The text...preserves the words of a Chinese author: it was likely composed in China in either the late Six Dynasties period (220-589) or the very early Sui period (581-618)." Lowe refers to Masuo 1996 for further details on dating. Lowe presents additional evidence that he thinks supports a dating to the six dynasties, based upon content: "...eschatological visions of venom sorcery and demon attacks, and...unusual references such as the six spirits and fine paper...placed this sutra within a cultic and material context of Six Dynasties China..." (18).

Entry author: Michael Radich

Edit

  • Title: 救護身命經