Jīngāngdǐng yújiā xiūxí Pílúzhēnà sānmódì fǎ 金剛頂瑜伽修習毘盧遮那三摩地法
Method of Cultivating the Mahāvairocana Samādhi in the Vajraśekhara-yoga by 金剛智 (Vajrabodhi, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric meditation manual by Vajrabodhi (金剛智) on the Mahāvairocana samādhi practice within the Vajradhātu yoga tradition. The text is one of the earliest Tang Chinese expositions of the central Esoteric samādhi practice — the meditative bhāvanā in which the practitioner identifies with the dharmakāya Mahāvairocana via the Vajradhātu yoga.
Prefaces
The Taishō text opens with a Five-Dynasties-era preface — Xīndé Zhēnyuánlù dàxiǎoshèng jīngděng xù 新得貞元錄大小乘經等序 — composed by Qiáo Kuāngshùn 喬匡舜 (a Five-Dynasties official under the Southern Táng court) by imperial command. The preface relates to a recovery of the Zhēnyuán xīndìng shìjiào mùlù texts after the Five-Dynasties dispersion of the Tang Buddhist corpus, with the monk Héngān 恒安 having played a key role in the recovery. This preface is not specific to T876 but is shared editorial material for the recovered corpus.
Abstract
The Xiūxí Pílúzhēnà sānmódì fǎ presents the Vairocana samādhi as the central meditative practice of the Vajradhātu tradition. The samādhi is approached via the pañcābhisaṃbodhi (five-stage attainment of Buddhahood) of the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha: the practitioner sequentially (i) penetrates his original mind, (ii) cultivates the bodhicitta, (iii) accomplishes the vajra-mind, (iv) verifies the vajra-body, and (v) brings the Buddha-body to fullness — at which point he is identical with Mahāvairocana. The text gives the mudrā-mantra-visualisation prescriptions for each stage.
The work is one of Vajrabodhi’s most consequential ritual texts in the Vajradhātu corpus — predating Amoghavajra’s later, more elaborate codifications. Translation date: Vajrabodhi’s Chángān period (720–741).
Translations and research
- Sundberg, Jeffrey, and Rolf Giebel. “The Life of the Tang Court Monk Vajrabodhi.” Pacific World 13 (2011): 129–222.
- Giebel, Rolf W. Two Esoteric Sutras. BDK English Tripiṭaka. Berkeley: Numata Center, 2001.