SUVAR?APRABH?SOTTAMA-S?TRA

A Mah?y?na s?tra likely compiled in northern Indic or Central Asian regions between the first and third centuries c.e., the Suvar?aprabh?sottama-s?tra (S?tra of Golden Light) is rich and varied in content. The nineteen chapters of the Sanskrit version preserved in the Nepalese tradition include a confession ritual, several chapters that prescribe rituals surrounding the preaching or hearing of the s?tra, two chapters dealing with medicine, and three tales of the Buddha's past lives (j?taka), including a distinctive telling of the well-known "Tigress Story." Most of the s?tra's seemingly disparate parts share an emphasis upon the transformative power of the s?tra itself, represented as golden light that infuses its preachers and auditors. The role of the s?tra in protecting and sustaining the kingdom of the ruler who accords it appropriate respect is another dominant theme.

The transmission history of the text is particularly complex. The s?tra is partially or wholly extant in seven languages other than Sanskrit (Chinese, Tibetan, Khotanese, Sogdian, Tangut, Mongolian, and Old Uighur), in versions ranging from eighteen to thirty-one chapters in length. Both the Chinese and the Tibetan canons preserve several different versions of the s?tra. Many of the translations are based not on the Sanskrit s?tra but on Yijing's thirty-one chapter Chinese translation of the early eighth century. The Mongolian translations are based on the versions in the Tibetan canon. In both China and Japan the s?tra was a central text in imperial rituals and was the subject of several commentaries. In Tibet, the text was sometimes classified as a tantra rather than a s?tra.

See also:Sanskrit, Buddhist Literature in

Bibliography

Emmerick, R. E., trans. The S?tra of Golden Light, Being a Translation of the Suvar?aprabh?sottama-s?tra, 2nd edition. Oxford: P?li Text Society, 1992.

Natalie D. Gummer