Jīngāngdǐng jīng yújiā shíbāhuì zhǐguī 金剛頂經瑜伽十八會指歸
Pointing-to-the-Aim of the Eighteen Assemblies of the Vajraśekhara-yoga by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric overview text by Amoghavajra (不空) cataloguing the structure of the Vajraśekhara-tantra as an “eighteen-assembly” (shíbāhuì) cycle — the Indian-tantric framework according to which the Vajraśekhara-yoga tradition comprises eighteen assemblies (sannipāta) of one hundred thousand verses each (shíwàn jì 十萬偈), of which Amoghavajra’s translated Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha (KR6j0024, T865) is the first assembly only. The text is the principal Tang-Chinese documentation of the larger Indian-tantric framework within which the Chinese translations were produced.
Prefaces
The colophon gives Amoghavajra’s full court-title-inscription, confirming the imperial commission. The text opens directly:
金剛頂經瑜伽有十萬偈十八會。初會名一切如來真實攝教王，有四大品：一名金剛界，二名降三世，三名遍調伏，四名一切義成就表四智印。
— “The Vajraśekhara-yoga has 100,000 verses in 18 assemblies. The first assembly is named Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha-rāja-tantra, and has four great chapters: 1. Vajradhātu, 2. Trailokyavijaya (Conqueror-of-the-Three-Worlds), 3. Sarvavinaya (All-Subduing), 4. Sarvārthasiddhi (All-Aim-Accomplishing) — manifesting the catur-jñāna-mudrā (Four-Wisdom-Seal).”
Abstract
The Shíbāhuì zhǐguī is the principal Tang Chinese documentation of the Indian-tantric “eighteen-assembly” framework of the Vajraśekhara-yoga tradition. Amoghavajra summarises each of the eighteen assemblies — its name, its structure (chapters, mandalas), and its principal doctrinal content. The text thus provides a unique outline of the Indian-tantric tradition within which Amoghavajra’s own translations were produced; it allows modern scholars to reconstruct the wider Indian-tantric horizon that the Chinese translations only partially reflect.
The eighteen assemblies are: (1) Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha (translated as T865); (2) Sarvatathāgatasaṃgraha-yoga; (3) Trailokyavijaya-yoga; (4) Vajradhātu-yoga; (5) Vajra-mudrā-yoga; (6) Vajra-akṣa-yoga; (7) Buddha-saṃvara-yoga; (8) Trailokya-vijaya-saṃvara-yoga; (9–18) further yoga and yoga-uttara cycles. Many of these were never translated into Chinese; some were translated only in fragments by later translators (Faxian, Shīhù, Dānapāla in the early Northern Sòng).
The text is foundational for modern scholarly understanding of the Indian-tantric tradition behind East Asian Esoteric Buddhism. Translation date: Amoghavajra’s mature Chángān period (746–774).
Translations and research
- Giebel, Rolf W. “The Chin-kang-ting ching yü-ch’ieh shih-pa-hui chih-kuei: An Annotated Translation.” Journal of Naritasan Institute for Buddhist Studies 18 (1995): 107–201. — The standard scholarly translation and annotation.
- Goble, Geoffrey C. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia UP, 2019.
- Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism. New York: Columbia UP, 2002.