Wúliàngshòu rúlái guānxíng gòngyǎng yíguǐ 無量壽如來觀行供養儀軌
Visualisation-Practice and Offering Ritual Manual for Amitāyus Tathāgata by 不空 Bùkōng (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric ritual manual by Amoghavajra (不空) for the practice of Amitāyus 無量壽 (literally “Limitless-Life” — the cosmic-life aspect of Amitābha-Amitāyus, the Buddha of the western Pure Land Sukhāvatī). The text presents the Esoteric framework for the popular Pure Land devotional practice.
Abstract
The text establishes the Esoteric framework for the Amitāyus practice: the mudrā-mantra-visualisation triplets, the offering sequences, the japa of the Amitāyus mūla-mantra (the Wúliàngshòu chéngfó zhēnyán — Skt. amṛta-bhava mantra) and ancillary mantras, and the visualisation of Amitāyus and the Sukhāvatī Pure Land. The text is a foundational work in the Esoteric-Pure Land synthesis that became widely influential in East Asian Buddhism — integrating the Pure Land devotional cult (centred on rebirth in Sukhāvatī) with the Esoteric Vajra-mandalic framework.
The composition dates from Amoghavajra’s mature Cháng’ān period (746–774).
Translations and research
- Sharf, Robert H. “On Pure Land Buddhism and Ch’an/Pure Land Syncretism in Medieval China.” T’oung Pao 88 (2002): 282–331.
- Goble, Geoffrey C. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia UP, 2019.
Links
- CBETA T19n0930
- Kanseki DB
- 不空 Bùkōng DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (CBETA / Taishō; date: 750)