Dà Pílúzhēnà Fóyǎn xiūxíng yíguǐ 大毘盧遮那佛眼修行儀軌
Practice Ritual Manual of the Great-Vairocana Buddha-Eye recorded by 一行 (Yīxíng, 記)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric ritual manual recorded (jì 記) by Yīxíng (一行) — Śubhakarasiṃha’s principal Chinese disciple and the systematiser of the Mahāvairocana commentarial tradition — for the Buddha-Eye (Foyǎn / Buddha-locanā 佛眼) practice. The Buddha-Eye practice centres on the goddess-emanation of Vairocana’s mother (Buddha-locanī mātā) and provides a yoga-tantra-grade meditation framework integrated with the Mahāvairocana-sūtra (KR6j0001) Garbhadhātu mandala system.
Abstract
The text records a Buddha-Eye practice transmitted from Śubhakarasiṃha to Yīxíng during their joint translation period (716–727, ending with Yīxíng’s death). The Buddha-Eye (Buddha-locanā / Mahā-locanā 大佛眼) is the visualised feminine principle of seeing-as-Vairocana, anchoring the Garbhadhātu mandala’s central deity-family. The ritual presents the four-fold yoga practice (visualisation of the deity, mantra-recitation, mudrā-engagement, dedication-of-merit) as a meditative pathway to darśana of Vairocana’s vision. The text became one of the principal foundations for the Japanese Shingon Buddha-Eye (Butsugen 佛眼) tradition, especially through the Tendai-Esoteric (Taimitsu) lineage of Annen (安然) and Enchin (圓珍). Yīxíng’s “jì” attribution indicates oral-recording-and-redaction rather than translation in the strict sense — the standard mode for the Mahāvairocana commentarial corpus that Yīxíng compiled from Śubhakarasiṃha’s lectures.
Translations and research
- Osabe Kazuo 長部和雄. Ichigyō zenji no kenkyū 一行禅師の研究. Kobe: Kobe Shōka Daigaku, 1963. — definitive monograph on Yīxíng.
- Keyworth, George. “Yixing.” In Encyclopedia of Buddhism, ed. R. Buswell. New York: Macmillan, 2004.