Jìngliúli jìngtǔ biāo 淨瑠璃淨土摽
Iconographic Diagram of the Pure Lapis-Lazuli Pure Land (anonymous)
About the work
A one-fascicle anonymous text on the iconographic diagram (biāo 摽 = biāozhì 標幟, “marker / sign”) of the Pure Lapis-Lazuli Pure Land (Jìngliúli jìngtǔ 淨瑠璃淨土 = Vaiḍūryanirbhāsa-buddhakṣetra) — the eastern Pure Land presided over by Bhaiṣajyaguru. The text describes the iconographic-mandalic representation of the Pure Land for use in visualisation practice.
Abstract
The text provides the iconographic-mandalic specifications for the Pure Lapis-Lazuli Pure Land: its central deity (Bhaiṣajyaguru with his retinue of two attendant Bodhisattvas, Sūryaprabha 日光 and Candraprabha 月光), the architectural features (the pavilions, gardens, jewel-trees), the cosmological setting, and the visualisation prescriptions. Anonymous transmission; conventionally dated to the late Táng period (8th–10th c.).
Translations and research
- Birnbaum, Raoul. The Healing Buddha. Boulder: Shambhala, 1979.