Jīngāngdǐng jīng jīngāngjiè dàdàochǎng Pílúzhēnà rúlái zìshòuyòngshēn nèizhèngzhì juànshǔ fǎshēn yìmíng fó zuìshàngchéng mìmì sānmódì lǐchàn wén 金剛頂經金剛界大道場毘盧遮那如來自受用身內證智眷屬法身異名佛最上乘祕密三摩地禮懺文
Penitential Liturgy of the Highest Vehicle Esoteric Samādhi: Names of the Dharmakāya Buddhas and Their Inner-Wisdom Retinue of the Self-Enjoyment-Body Mahāvairocana Tathāgata of the Great Vajradhātu Practice-Site (from the Vajraśekhara-sūtra) by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric penitential liturgy (lǐchàn wén 禮懺文) by Amoghavajra (不空) for the Vajradhātu abhiṣeka practice. The very long title encodes the doctrinal framework: a penitential liturgy addressed to (i) Mahāvairocana in his self-enjoyment body (svasaṃbhoga-kāya / zìshòuyòngshēn), (ii) the inner-wisdom retinue (nèizhèngzhì juànshǔ — the 37 Vajradhātu deities, who are reified manifestations of Mahāvairocana’s own inner self-knowing wisdom), (iii) seen as dharmakāya-buddhas under different names (fǎshēn yìmíng fó), in the highest-vehicle Esoteric samādhi.
Abstract
The text is one of Amoghavajra’s principal contributions to the East Asian Esoteric liturgical literature — a lǐchàn (homage-and-confession) ceremony specifically designed for the Vajradhātu practice context. The liturgy has the practitioner make homage and confession before each of the 37 Vajradhātu deities in turn, identifying each as a particular dharmakāya-name of Mahāvairocana. The doctrinal framework — the deities as “dharmakāya-buddhas under different names” — articulates the foundational Vajradhātu doctrine: the 37 deities are not separate beings but successive bīja-aspects of the single cosmic Mahāvairocana.
The text became a foundational liturgical text of the East Asian Esoteric tradition, particularly in the Japanese Shingon raisan (禮讚) tradition. The composition dates from Amoghavajra’s mature Chángān period (746–774).
Translations and research
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
No substantial secondary literature located. (Discussed in passing in Goble 2019 and the Japanese Shingon liturgical handbooks.)