Introduction
i.1The Dhāraṇī “Surūpa” is a short yet important and popular text. It reveals a dhāraṇī that is to be used while making a food offering to pretas. The ritual is outlined in simple terms. This is followed by a description of the benefits of the spell and the ritual. In addition to many pretas being fed, the performer of the ritual will have a favorable rebirth in Sukhāvatī that culminates in their awakening. As is well known, the realm of the pretas is one of the five or six (and one of the three unfavorable) destinies for rebirth in saṃsāra. Its inhabitants are constantly tortured by hunger and thirst as karmic retribution for being miserly. The depiction of this realm is a popular topic in Buddhist literature and art. Pretas usually cannot eat proper meals because the food that they see turns into disgusting substances as soon as they reach it, or because they have needle-thin throats. The implication here seems to be that the power of the dhāraṇī removes these difficulties for them.
i.1《妙色陀羅尼》是一部簡短卻重要且廣為流傳的典籍。它揭示了一種陀羅尼，用於向餓鬼進行食物布施時誦持。該儀軌以簡明的方式被闡述。隨後是對該陀羅尼和儀軌功德的描述。除了能夠使許多餓鬼獲得食物外，進行此儀軌的人將在極樂世界中獲得良好的投生，最終導向菩提的證得。眾所周知，餓鬼的淨土是輪迴中五道或六道之一，也是三種不利投生道之一。其中的眾生因為前世慳吝的業而不斷遭受飢渴的折磨。這個淨土的描繪是佛教文獻和藝術中的常見主題。餓鬼通常無法食用正常的食物，因為他們看到的食物一旦靠近就會變成令人厭惡的物質，或者他們的喉嚨細如針孔。這裡的暗示似乎是陀羅尼的力量為他們解除了這些困難。
i.2We have been unable to find a self-standing transmission of the original Sanskrit text. However, it is preserved in its entirety in no fewer than three Sanskrit manuals for beginner practitioners (Skt. ādikarmika, Tib. las dang po pa): the Ādikarmāvatāra by Mañjukīrti, the Ādikarmapradīpa by Anupamavajra, and the Ādikarmavidhi by Tatakaragupta. These texts have not been translated into Tibetan, but the Tibetan canon does preserve a work that is closely related to (and very likely even based on) the aforementioned triad: The Gradual Path to Awakening (byang chub kyi gzhung lam, *Bodhipaddhati, Toh 3766), which is attributed to the famous and influential master Abhayākaragupta. This work also incorporates the entire text. Prominent Tibetan masters maintained this tradition. See, for example, the work of Butön (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364), The Easy Path Leading to Omniscience (rnam mkhyen du bgrod pa’i bde lam). These manuals describe the ritual as a bali offering to be performed by bodhisattvas on the early stages of the path.
i.2我們無法找到原始梵文的獨立傳本。然而，這部經文完整地保存在至少三部初行者梵文手冊中：文殊聲譽著的《初行者入門》、無比金剛著的《初行者燈》，以及火護著的《初行儀軌》。這些文獻尚未被翻譯成藏文，但藏文大藏經確實保存了一部與上述三部文獻關係密切、甚至很可能以之為基礎的著作：由著名且有影響力的大師無畏友所著的《菩提道次第》（藏文編號3766）。這部著作也包含了完整的經文。傑出的藏傳佛教大師們維持了這一傳統。例如，布敦（1290-1364）的著作《一切智慧的樂易之路》就是如此。這些手冊將此儀軌描述為菩薩在修行初期階段應當進行的布施食子供養。
i.3The Tibetan translation is not recorded in the imperial catalogs, and we could not identify any Dunhuang fragments. Because the canonical transmission lacks a translators’ colophon, the identity of the translators is unknown. This text is included in both the Action Tantra section (Toh 540) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section (Toh 1078) of the Degé Kangyur, as well as in other Tshalpa-lineage Kangyurs that include such a separate section. Several Tibetan witnesses leave the Sanskrit surūpa /surūpā (“beautiful” / “having a beautiful form”) element untranslated in the heading but translate it to gzugs legs in the colophon. The Sanskrit transmission seems to have “Surūpā” (with a long ending) as a description or name of the dhāraṇī. However, it is also noteworthy that the Indo-Tibetan transmission of the dhāraṇī contains an obeisance to the tathāgata Surūpa, who is otherwise unknown. It is not impossible, therefore, that *Surūpadhāraṇī (if this was indeed the form, with a short ending in surūpa ) could also be understood as The Dhāraṇī of Surūpa.
i.3藏文翻譯沒有被記錄在皇帝編纂的目錄中，我們也未能發現任何敦煌殘片。由於藏文大藏經的傳承中缺少譯者的跋文，譯者的身份不詳。這部經文被收錄在德格版藏文大藏經的事續部（Toh 540）和陀羅尼集部分（Toh 1078）中，以及其他包含獨立陀羅尼部分的藏巴版藏文大藏經裡。幾位藏文傳承者在標題中保留了未翻譯的梵文詞彙妙色（surūpa/surūpā），但在跋文中將其翻譯為「gzugs legs」（妙色）。梵文傳承似乎以「妙色」（Surūpā，長尾音）作為陀羅尼的描述或名稱。然而值得注意的是，印度-藏文陀羅尼傳承中包含對如來妙色的頂禮，而妙色如來在其他地方並不為人所知。因此，*妙色陀羅尼（如果確實是這種形式，妙色為短尾音）也有可能被理解為《妙色的陀羅尼》。
i.4The Chinese translation, The Beautiful, A Dhāraṇī-Sūtra Spoken by the Buddha (佛說妙色陀羅尼經, Taishō 1386) dates from a rather late period, between 989–99 ᴄᴇ, and is the work of Faxian, who worked under the aegis of the Northern Song dynasty’s famous Translation Bureau. Unlike the Sanskrit and Tibetan translations, which are practically identical, two significant differences can be found in the Chinese: (1) there is an introductory section in which the Buddha teaches the spell to Ānanda and a closing section in which Ānanda is delighted to have received the teaching, and (2) the text of the dhāraṇī itself is quite different.
i.4中文翻譯如下：
i.5This English translation is principally based on the Tibetan translations of the text found in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus) in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the Stok Palace Kangyur. We consulted all Sanskrit manuscripts available for the three ādikarmika texts previously mentioned and created a constituted text which we include here in an appendix.
i.5本英文翻譯主要以德格版藏文大藏經中密續部和陀羅尼集內所收的藏文譯本為依據，並參考了斯托克宮版藏文大藏經。我們查閱了前述三部初行者入門文獻所有現存的梵文手稿，並編訂了一份校勘文本，附錄於本文之後。