Yúsènǐshā pízuǒyě tuóluóní 于瑟抳沙毘左野陀囉尼
Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya Dhāraṇī by 指空 (Dhyānabhadra / Chigong, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Goryeo-period (高麗) recension of the Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya-dhāraṇī by Dhyānabhadra (指空 Zhǐkōng / Kor. Chigong), the late-Indian (Magadhan) Buddhist master who travelled through Yuán China and resided in Goryeo Korea (1326–1328 visit; later activity in Yuán capital Dadu through 1363). The title preserves the Sanskrit uṣṇīṣa-vijayā in transliterated form yú-sè-nǐ-shā pí-zuǒ-yě 于瑟抳沙毘左野 (= Skt. uṣṇīṣa-vijayā) — a distinctively non-Chinese, highly Sanskritised translation register that reflects Dhyānabhadra’s training in the late Pāla-Sena Indian Buddhist tradition.
Abstract
Dhyānabhadra (Skt. Śūnyādiśya in some sources; Tib. Stong-pa-nyid bzang-po; Korean Chigong 指空; Chinese Zhǐkōng 指空; ca. 1289–1363) was a Magadhan Buddhist master who claimed descent from the Pāla royal lineage and trained at Nālandā and Vikramaśīla in the late phase of those institutions before their destruction. He travelled through Tibet, Yuán China (Dadu = Beijing), and Goryeo Korea, where he resided 1326–1328 and exerted decisive influence on the Korean Buddhist establishment of the late Goryeo period (his disciples included 懶翁慧勤 Lǎnwēng Huìqín / Naong Hyegeun [1320–1376] and the Goryeo king Gongmin’s chief preceptor). The present Uṣṇīṣa-vijaya-dhāraṇī recension is one of four texts attributed to Dhyānabhadra in the East Asian canon (the others are Esoteric meditation manuals and a vinaya-mantra text). The Sanskritised transliteration register and the non-standard Chinese phonological conventions distinguish his translation from both the Tang and the Yuán Sino-Tibetan recensions.
Translations and research
- Waley, Arthur. “New Light on Buddhism in Medieval India.” Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques 1 (1932): 355–376. — earliest Western study of Dhyānabhadra.
- Heo Heungsik 許興植. Goryeo-ro omgin Indo-ui deungbul: Jigong Seonhyeon 高麗로 옮긴 印度의 등불——指空禪賢. Seoul: Iljogak, 1997. — definitive Korean monographic study.
- Sørensen, Henrik H. “Esoteric Buddhism in Korea up to the Koryŏ Period.” In Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011.