Jīngāngdǐng yīqiè rúlái zhēnshí shè dàshèng xiànzhèng dàjiàowáng jīng 金剛頂一切如來真實攝大乘現證大教王經
Sūtra of the Great-King-Teaching for the Manifest Realisation of the Mahāyāna, the True Compendium of All Tathāgatas of the Vajraśekhara (Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha; Jīngāngdǐng jīng 金剛頂經; Kongōchō-gyō) by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
The Jīngāngdǐng jīng — the Vajraśekhara-sūtra (“Diamond-Crown Sūtra”), more precisely the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha (Compendium of the True Reality of All Tathāgatas) — is the foundational scripture of the Vajradhātu (金剛界, “Vajra-Realm” or “Diamond-Realm”) transmission and the second of the two textual pillars of East Asian Esoteric Buddhism (the other being the Mahāvairocana-sūtra / Dàrì jīng KR6j0001). Translated by Bùkōng 不空 (不空, Amoghavajra, 705–774) at the imperial Dà Xīngshànsì 大興善寺 in Chángān. The received Chinese text comprises three fascicles (上, 中, 下 = upper / middle / lower scrolls) corresponding to the first chapter (the Vajradhātu Mahā-mandala chapter) only of the underlying Sanskrit Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha-tantra — a much larger Indian text that comprises four chapters. Amoghavajra translated only the first chapter; a fuller translation (the Jīngāngdǐng jīng 30-fascicle recension by Shīhù 施護, KR6j0049, T18n0882) was made by Northern Sòng translators in the 11th century.
Prefaces
The fascicle-1 colophon gives Amoghavajra’s full court-title-inscription: 開府儀同三司特進試鴻臚卿肅圀公食邑三千戶賜紫贈司空諡大鑒正號大廣智大興善寺三藏沙門不空奉詔譯 — “By imperial decree, Tripiṭaka-master Bùkōng of the Chángān Dà Xīngshànsì, Kāifǔ Yítóng Sānsī, Tèjìn, Acting Director of the Court of State Ceremonial, Lord of Sùguó, holder of a 3000-household appanage, recipient of the purple [robe], posthumously Sīkōng, with the shi-name Dàjiàn Zhènghào 大鑒正號 (= 大廣智), translated [this].” The text proper opens with the formula rúshì wǒ wén 如是我聞 (“Thus have I heard”) — the canonical sūtra-opening — followed by the sūtra’s setting at the Akaniṣṭha heaven (the highest of the rūpadhātu heavens, where the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha is preached, distinguishing it from earthly Buddhist scriptures).
Abstract
The Vajraśekhara / Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha is the foundational yoga-tantra of East Asian Esoteric Buddhism — a fully developed mature yoga stage in the Indian tantra classification (kriyā / caryā / yoga / yoga-uttara). Its principal narrative-doctrinal innovation is the awakening of Sarvārthasiddhi-bodhisattva (Yīqièyìchéng púsà 一切義成菩薩, the bodhisattva who is the cosmic equivalent of the historical Śākyamuni-bodhisattva on the eve of his enlightenment) by all the Tathāgatas of the ten directions, who teach him the five-stage attainment of Buddhahood (pañcābhisaṃbodhi) of the Vajradhātu tradition. This narrative establishes the Vajradhātu mandala — the systematic arrangement of the cosmos in 37 deities centred on Mahāvairocana, with the Five Buddhas at the centre and the 32 other deities in the four directions and the four corners — that becomes the doctrinal-iconographic foundation of the entire Vajradhātu tradition.
The text’s three Chinese fascicles correspond to the Vajradhātu Mahā-mandala chapter (Vajradhātu mahā-maṇḍala vidhi-vistara) of the Sanskrit, organised around the prathamaḥ kalpa — the construction of the principal Vajradhātu mandala, the abhiṣeka of the central Buddha and his retinue, and the sādhana prescriptions for invoking and propitiating each of the 37 deities. The text presents the Five Buddhas of the Vajradhātu — Mahāvairocana (centre), Akṣobhya (east), Ratnasambhava (south), Amitāyus (west), Amoghasiddhi (north) — each with his fourfold retinue of vajra-bodhisattvas; the four pāramitā-devis, the eight pūjā offering-goddesses, and the four guardian deities (the dvāra-pāla of the four gates).
The translation is conventionally dated to Amoghavajra’s mature Chángān period (753–774). Amoghavajra had received the Esoteric transmission in Chángān from his master Vajrabodhi (金剛智, 669/671–741); after Vajrabodhi’s death he travelled to Sri Lanka (741–746) where he received further Esoteric transmission from the master Samantabhadra-ācārya (普賢阿闍梨); on his return to Chángān (746) he commenced his great translation programme, which produced over 100 Esoteric translations. The Vajraśekhara translation is the centrepiece of his programme.
The text has been continuously canonical in the East Asian Esoteric tradition. Kūkai (空海) brought it to Japan in 806 along with the Mahāvairocanasūtra; the Vajradhātu mandala he imported (the famous Genzu-mandala 現圖曼荼羅 preserved at Tō-ji) is iconographically derived from this scripture. The text is thus the doctrinal foundation of the Vajradhātu side of the dual-mandala (兩部曼荼羅) tradition that defines East Asian Esoteric Buddhism.
The 30-fascicle Sòng recension by Shīhù (KR6j0049, T18n0882) was translated about 250 years later (early Northern Sòng, ca. 1010–1015) and represents the fuller Sanskrit text including all four chapters of the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha. The two Chinese translations are thus complementary witnesses to the Indian text — Amoghavajra’s 3-fascicle version preserves the principal first chapter in mature Tang Esoteric idiom; Shīhù’s 30-fascicle version preserves the complete Sanskrit text in classical Sòng translation idiom.
Translations and research
- Giebel, Rolf W. Two Esoteric Sutras: The Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra; The Susiddhikara Sutra. BDK English Tripiṭaka. Berkeley: Numata Center, 2001. — The standard English translation of the Vajraśekhara (T865), with introduction.
- Yamamoto Chikyō 山本智教. Vajraśekhara Sutra. Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 2009.
- Toganoo Shōun 栂尾祥雲. Mandara no kenkyū 曼荼羅の研究. Kōyasan: Kōyasan Daigaku, 1927. — Foundational study of the Vajradhātu mandala.
- Snodgrass, Adrian. The Matrix and Diamond World Mandalas in Shingon Buddhism. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 1988. — Detailed iconographic survey of the Vajradhātu / Diamond mandala.
- Goble, Geoffrey C. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia UP, 2019. — On Amoghavajra’s translation career and the political-imperial context.
- Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. New York: Columbia UP, 2002. — On the Indian background of the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha.
- Horiuchi Kanjin 堀内寛仁 (ed.). Bonzō Kanwa Yon-ben Taishō Kongōchōkyō no kenkyū 梵藏漢和四本對照金剛頂經の研究 (Sanskrit-Tibetan-Chinese-Japanese parallel edition). Kōyasan, 1983.
Other points of interest
The two principal Chinese recensions of this text — Vajrabodhi’s earlier abridged 4-fascicle Lüèchū niànsòng jīng (KR6j0030, T18n0866) and Amoghavajra’s standard 3-fascicle T865 — represent two stages of the Tang Esoteric translation tradition: Vajrabodhi’s earlier rendering preserves an abridged version organised as a ritual recitation manual (niànsòng jīng); Amoghavajra’s later rendering presents the full doctrinal-narrative form of the first chapter. Both texts have continued canonical status; together with Shīhù’s 30-fascicle Sòng version, they are the principal Chinese witnesses to the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha tradition.