Fó shuō huànhuàwǎng dà yújiā jiào shí fènnù míngwáng dàmíng guānxiǎng yíguǐ jīng 佛說幻化網大瑜伽教十忿怒明王大明觀想儀軌經
Sūtra of the Visualisation Ritual Manual of the Great Brilliant Mantras of the Ten Wrathful Vidyārājas in the Great Yoga Teaching of the Net of Magical Manifestations (Skt. Māyājāla-mahāyoga-tantra-ten-krodha-vidyārāja-vidhi?) by 法賢 (Fǎxián, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Sòng-period Esoteric ritual manual by Fǎxián (法賢) on the ten Wrathful Vidyārājas (shí fènnù míngwáng 十忿怒明王) within the Māyājāla (幻化網 Huànhuàwǎng) tradition — one of the principal Indian yoga-uttara-tantra cycles. The Wrathful Vidyārājas (krodha-vidyārāja) are the wrathful protectors of the Esoteric tradition, deriving from the Indian Mahābhairava and related wrathful-deity literature.
Abstract
The text presents the ritual visualisation procedure for invoking the ten Wrathful Vidyārājas. Each vidyārāja has its specific bīja, mudrā, iconographic form (typically multi-armed, with weapons, in dancing or trampling pose), and mantra. The Māyājāla tradition — to which this text belongs — is one of the principal late-Indian yoga-uttara-tantra cycles, attested in Sanskrit and Tibetan; the Sòng Chinese translation of the wrathful-deity ritual manual is one of the few surviving witnesses in Chinese.
The translation dates from Fǎxián’s career at the Sòng Yìjīngyuàn (987–1001).
Translations and research
- Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism. New York: Columbia UP, 2002. — On the Māyājāla tradition and the Wrathful Vidyārājas.