འཕགས་པ་བཀྲ་ཤས་བརྒྱད་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.7

intro.7

This sūtra was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in 542 ce by Gautama Prajñāruci, a monk from Vārāṇasī, with the title The Group of Eight Buddhas’ Names (Babu foming 八部佛名, Taishō 429).⁸ In the Taishō edition of the Chinese Tripiṭaka, this sūtra is found together with four translations of the Aṣṭa­buddhaka­sūtra (Taishō 427, 428, 430, 431) which is translated as The Eight Buddhas (Toh 271) in the Tibetan canon. The earliest Chinese translation of the Aṣṭa­buddhaka­sūtra (Taishō 427) dates to 222–29 ce, indicating that the materials presented in these sūtras have their roots in very early Indian Mahāyāna.