Jīngāngdǐng yújiā hùmó yíguǐ 金剛頂瑜伽護摩儀軌
Vajraśekhara-yoga Homa Ritual Manual (recension A) by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric homa (hùmó 護摩, fire-offering) ritual manual by Amoghavajra (不空) for the Vajradhātu yoga-tantra tradition. Homa is one of the central ritual practices of Esoteric Buddhism — a fire-offering ceremony in which substances are offered to the deities through a consecrated fire-altar (homa-kuṇḍa), with each offering accompanied by mudrā-mantra-visualisation triplets.
Abstract
The Hùmó yíguǐ covers the four-fold karman of homa practice: (i) śāntika (pacification of obstacles); (ii) pauṣṭika (augmentation of merit); (iii) vaśikaraṇa (subjugation / drawing-in); and (iv) abhicāra (conquest of obstacles / wrathful subjugation). For each, the text gives the appropriate fire-altar shape, posture, direction of facing, offering substances, mudrā, mantra, and visualisation. The four are sometimes supplemented by a fifth — raudra-karman (the wrathful), bringing the total to five.
The text is one of the principal Tang Esoteric homa manuals; its companion text is KR6j0080 (T909, an alternate recension under the same title). The composition dates from Amoghavajra’s mature Chángān period (746–774).
Translations and research
- Yamasaki Taikō. Shingon: Japanese Esoteric Buddhism. Boston: Shambhala, 1988. — Discusses homa practice in the East Asian Esoteric tradition.
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.
- Goble, Geoffrey C. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia UP, 2019.