Yīqiè rúlái báisǎngài dàfódǐng tuóluóní 一切如來白傘蓋大佛頂陀羅尼
Dhāraṇī of the All-Tathāgata White-Parasol Great-Buddha-Crown by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang-period transmission of the Sitātapatra-dhāraṇī by Amoghavajra (不空), preserved in the Fángshān 房山 stone-engraved canon (vol. 27, no. 1048) rather than in the Sòng-edited canonical compilations. The text gives Amoghavajra’s translation of the Sitātapatra dhāraṇī as a stand-alone uṣṇīṣa dhāraṇī — distinct from the Sitātapatra portion of his Śūraṅgama-mantra (KR6j0118) — and is one of the two attested Tang-period Chinese translations of the Sitātapatra-dhāraṇī alongside the anonymous T975 (KR6j0158).
Abstract
The Fángshān stone-canon preservation indicates that the text circulated as an independent ritual-liturgical dhāraṇī in the late-Tang and early-Sòng Esoteric ritual tradition before being engraved on stone slabs at Yúnjū-sì 雲居寺 in the Liáo period. The attribution to Amoghavajra is consistent with his prolific uṣṇīṣa-corpus translation programme during the Cháng’ān period (746–774). The dhāraṇī begins with the standard Sitātapatra invocation 一切如來頂髻白傘蓋 (“All-Tathāgata-uṣṇīṣa White-Parasol”) and closes with the aparājitā unconquerability formula. Together with KR6j0162 (Cíxián’s parallel Liáo recension, also Fángshān-preserved), the text forms the principal Tang-Liáo recensional pair predating the Yuán Sino-Tibetan retranslations.
Translations and research
- Liu Shufen 劉淑芬. Mièzuì yǔ dùwáng — Fódǐng zūnshèng tuóluóní jīngchuáng zhī yánjiū. Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2008. — for the Fángshān stone-canon Esoteric corpus.
- Lin Guangming 林光明 (ed.), Xīnbiān Dàzàng quánzhòu 新編大藏全咒. Taipei: 嘉豐出版社, 2001.