Introduction
i.1The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī is a short text revealed to Avalokiteśvara in the pure land of Sukhāvatī. In essence, it is a dhāraṇī centered on twelve epithets of the goddess of wealth and a short ritual instruction concerning its recitation. Lists of the epithets of a deity are a common type of dhāraṇī, and such texts can sometimes be extremely long (for example, Reciting the Names of Mañjuśrī). An alternative version of this text is The Sūtra of Mahāśrī, from which it differs in only minor details.
i.1《大吉祥天女十二名號經》是一部短篇經典，由觀自在菩薩在極樂世界所傳。本質上，它是一部以財富女神的十二個尊號為中心的陀羅尼，附帶關於其誦持的簡短修習指導。列舉諸尊神號的陀羅尼是常見的類型，這類經典有時篇幅極長（例如《文殊師利菩薩名號經》）。本經還有另一版本《大吉祥經》，與之僅在細節上略有不同。
i.2Mahāśrī, or simply Śrī, or commonly Lakṣmī, is a goddess who is perhaps more prevalent in the brahmanical tradition, where she is said to be the great god Viṣṇu’s consort. She is associated with well-being and prosperity. Here her names constitute the inner core of the dhāraṇī, which is promised to provide prosperity. This text styles her a bodhisattva.
i.2大吉祥天女（簡稱吉祥天，或通常稱為拉克什米），是一位在婆羅門傳統中可能更加盛行的女神，據說她是偉大的天神毘紐天的妃子。她與福祉和繁榮密切相關。在這裡，她的名號構成了陀羅尼的內核，該陀羅尼承諾能夠帶來繁榮。這部經文將她尊為菩薩。
i.3The text is extant in Sanskrit in the old palm-leaf Nepalese Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha). Two such witnesses have been published by Hidas. The first is unfortunately fragmentary, and we cannot determine what the end of the text looked like. The second witness concludes the text with the application of the dhāraṇī, which is not mirrored in the Tibetan but is paralleled by the penultimate section of The Sūtra of Mahāśrī. Another difference is that in the Sanskrit, the name-dhāraṇī is revealed not only to Avalokiteśvara, but also to Mañjuśrī.
i.3該文本以梵文形式存在於古老的尼泊爾棕櫚葉手抄本《陀羅尼集》中。希達斯已出版了兩份這樣的文獻。第一份遺憾的是不完整的，我們無法確定文本的結尾是什麼樣的。第二份文獻以陀羅尼的應用來結束該文本，這在藏文版本中沒有對應內容，但與《大吉祥經》的倒數第二部分相平行。另一個區別是，在梵文版本中，名號陀羅尼不僅向觀自在菩薩所揭示，也向文殊師利菩薩所揭示。
i.4The Tibetan translation dates from the imperial period, sometime in the early ninth century. It is listed in both imperial catalogs, and the colophon attributes it to the famous translator-duo Jinamitra and Yeshé Dé. We know of at least one Dunhuang copy of the Tibetan translation; this was copied on the back of a Chinese scroll in a somewhat unusual way, in columns.
i.4藏文譯本產生於帝國時期，大約在九世紀早期。它被列入兩份帝國目錄中，其譯文後記將其歸功於著名的翻譯家二人組寂友和慧德。我們至少知道有一份敦煌藏文譯本的副本；它以某種不尋常的方式被抄寫在中文卷軸的背面，採用分欄的排列方式。
i.5The Chinese translation dates to the Tang dynasty and holds the distinction of being the earliest attestation of the text, which thus must have been in circulation before the middle of the eighth century. Although some catalogs list this translation as one item (Taishō 1252), in fact, what we have here is not one, but two translations of the same text. Both are attributed to Amoghavajra, arguably the most influential master to propagate esoteric Buddhist lore at the Tang court. A part of the dhāraṇī portion is also included here in the siddham script. There are some differences when compared to the Sanskrit and the Tibetan: the male bodhisattva to whom the name-dhāraṇī is revealed is Samantabhadra, and this version also transmits some passages on the application of the spell, as well as another dhāraṇī, which is quite similar to the famous dhāraṇī of the Heart Sūtra, (gate gate, etc.)
i.5漢譯版本的時代可以追溯到唐代，具有成為現存最早文本證據的殊榮，因此該經文必定在八世紀中葉之前就已經流傳。雖然一些目錄將此譯本列為一項（大正1252），但實際上我們所擁有的不是一個，而是同一部經文的兩個譯本。兩個譯本都歸屬於不空金剛，他可以說是在唐代宮廷傳播密乘佛教知識最有影響力的大師。陀羅尼的一部分也在此處以悉曇字形式呈現。與梵文和藏文版本相比存在一些差異：向其傳授名號陀羅尼的男性菩薩是普賢菩薩，此版本還傳承了一些關於咒語應用的段落，以及另一個陀羅尼，其內容與著名的心經陀羅尼相當相似（掲掲等）。
i.6This translation was made principally on the basis of 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 editions of two Sanskrit witnesses, the Dunhuang version, the Stok Palace Kangyur, and The Sūtra of Mahāśrī.
i.6本翻譯主要以德格版甘珠爾中密續部和陀羅尼集內的西藏譯本為基礎進行，同時參考了兩份梵文文獻、敦煌版本、斯托克宮版甘珠爾以及《大吉祥經》。