Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādanirdeśa
Article
Article
| Citation: | Matsuda, Kazunobu. "Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādanirdeśa." In Vol. 1 of Buddhist Manuscripts, edited by Jens Braarvig, Jens-Uwe Hartmann, Kazunobu Matsuda, and Lore Sander, 65–76. Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection 1. Oslo: Hermes Publishing, 2000. https://www.hermesbooks.no/bmsc-i |
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Article Summary
The Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādanirdeśa (ŚSN; The Lion's Roar Teaching of Queen Śrīmālā) is one of the most famous Mahāyāna sūtras representative of the Tathāgatagarbha theory. In this sūtra, Queen Śrīmāla, who is the daughter of King Prasenajit of Śrāvasti and is married to King Yaśomitra of Ayodhyā, relates her understanding of the true doctrine (saddharma) to which the Lord Buddha listens and gives his affirmation. This sūtra employs the narrative of Queen Śrīmālā to express the Tathāgatagarbha theory that "although all beings are enmired in afflictions (kleśa), in essence they are the same as the Buddha, that is, all living beings dwell within the womb (garbha) of the Tathāgata (i.e., Buddha)." Since this sūtra, like the Vimalakīrtinirdeśasūtra, is being expounded by a layperson instead of the Buddha, it is representative of the non-monastic form of religion typical of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and historically enjoyed immense popularity in China and Japan.
There are two Chinese translations of the sūtra: the Guṇabhadra (>.fJJ~IHtr.l) version translated
The original version of this sutra has been lost, and there are only a few fragmentary quotations in Sanskrit in the Ratnagotravibhaga and the Sik~asamuccaya. In The Scheyen Collection, however, I was able to discover three virtually complete folios that cover the final portion of the sutra as well as another two fragments related to other sections. As the sutra ends on the recto side of folio no. 3922, the verso side of the same folio begins another sutra which is the subject of the next report in this volume. In the following, I will introduce the above mentioned three folios and two fragments related to the SSN.
There are two Chinese translations of the sūtra: the Guṇabhadra (>.fJJ~IHtr.l) version translated
in A. D. 436 called the Shengman shizihou yicheng dafangbian fangguang jing
~jj!Ji~, T. 353, vol. 12 <SSN(Ch.l)>); and the Bodhiruci (Wr~rm.~) version of A. D. 710 called the Shengman furen hui (Mlfi7(A •, T. 310( 48), vol. 11 <SSN(Ch.2)> ), which is the 48th sutra of the Ratnakuta collection (Da bao ji jing *•~~T)he.r e is also a ninth century Tibetan translation called the 'Phags pa Iha mo dpal 'phren gi sen ge 'i sgra ses bya ba theg pa chen po 'i mdo <SSN(Tib.)>. The English translation by Alex and Hideko Wayman is based on the Chinese translation'. Readers are referred to this work for more detailed information. There is also a great deal of research that has been done on this sutra by Japanese scholars, which we will not touch upon here.The original version of this sutra has been lost, and there are only a few fragmentary quotations in Sanskrit in the Ratnagotravibhaga and the Sik~asamuccaya. In The Scheyen Collection, however, I was able to discover three virtually complete folios that cover the final portion of the sutra as well as another two fragments related to other sections. As the sutra ends on the recto side of folio no. 3922, the verso side of the same folio begins another sutra which is the subject of the next report in this volume. In the following, I will introduce the above mentioned three folios and two fragments related to the SSN.
