Summary
s.1The Ratnaketu Dhāraṇī is one of the core texts of the Mahāsannipāta collection of Mahāyāna sūtras that dates back to the formative period of Mahāyāna Buddhism, from the first to the third century ᴄᴇ. Its rich and varied narratives, probably redacted from at least two independent works, recount significant events from the lives, past and present, of the Buddha Śākyamuni and some of his main followers and opponents, both human and nonhuman. At the center of these narratives is the climactic episode from the Buddha’s life when Māra, the personification of spiritual death, sets out to destroy the Buddha and his Dharma. The mythic confrontation between these paragons of light and darkness, and the Buddha’s eventual victory, are related in vivid detail. The main narratives are interwoven with Dharma instructions and interspersed with miraculous events. The text also exemplifies two distinctive sūtra genres, “prophecies” (vyākaraṇa) and “incantations” ( dhāraṇī ), as it includes, respectively, prophecies of the future attainment of buddhahood by some of the Buddha’s followers and the potent phrases that embody the Buddha’s teachings and are meant to ensure their survival and the thriving of its practitioners.
s.1《寶幢陀羅尼經》是大乘佛教大集經集合中的核心典籍之一，其年代可追溯至大乘佛教的形成時期，即西元一至三世紀。這部經典敘述豐富多彩，可能是從至少兩部獨立的著作編纂而成，記述了佛陀釋迦牟尼及其主要追隨者和對手（無論是人類或非人類）生平中的重大事件，跨越過去和現在。這些敘述的中心是佛陀生平中最關鍵的一段：魔—代表靈性死亡的化身—決定摧毀佛陀及其教法。光明與黑暗的這兩位象徵人物之間的神話對抗，以及佛陀最終的勝利，都被詳細生動地描述出來。主要敘述與法門教導交織在一起，並穿插著神奇的事件。這部經典還體現了兩種獨特的經文類型——「授記」和「陀羅尼」，它分別包含了對佛陀某些追隨者未來證得佛果的預言，以及蘊含佛陀教法的有力咒語，這些咒語旨在確保教法的延續和修持者的興盛。