Fódǐng zūnshèng tuóluóní biéfǎ 佛頂尊勝陀羅尼別法
Alternate Practice for the Buddha-Crown Victorious Dhāraṇī by 若那 (Ruònà / Jñāna, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang-period supplementary practice manual for the Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya-dhāraṇī, attributed to the translator Ruònà (若那 = Skt. Jñāna), presenting an “alternate” (biéfǎ 別法) practice scheme distinct from Amoghavajra’s standard T972 (KR6j0149) and Śubhakarasiṃha’s T973 (KR6j0150). The text supplies abbreviated mudrā-mantra triplets and rebirth-dedication formulas suited to the lay-devotional context of the Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya pillar cult.
Abstract
The translator Ruònà is identified in the Taishō attribution as the late-Tang figure 罽賓國三藏 (the trepiṭaka from Kāśmīra) Jñāna, conventionally distinguished from the Tang-period 智嚴 Jñānaśrī (智嚴) and from the Sòng-period 法天 Dharmadeva (法天). The “alternate practice” supplements the canonical Amoghavajra and Śubhakarasiṃha ritual frameworks by providing condensed liturgical sequences that could be performed by lay practitioners in front of jīngchuáng pillars rather than in the elaborate maṇḍala-altar context required by T972 and T973. The text is a principal documentary source for the popularised lay devotional practice of the Tang Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya cult.
Translations and research
- Liu Shufen 劉淑芬. Mièzuì yǔ dùwáng — Fódǐng zūnshèng tuóluóní jīngchuáng zhī yánjiū. Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2008.
- Copp, Paul. The Body Incantatory. New York: Columbia UP, 2014.