Dàyún jīng qíyǔ tánfǎ 大雲經祈雨壇法
Altar-Method for Rain-Praying from the Great Cloud Sūtra by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle ritual companion to Amoghavajra’s Mahāmegha recension (KR6j0176 T989), giving the construction-instructions for the rain-praying maṇḍala altar, the offering sequences, the Nāga-king visualisation diagrams, and the recitation procedure. Together with T989 it forms the canonical Tang Esoteric rain-magic ritual pair.
Abstract
The qíyǔ tánfǎ genre prescribes the spatial-iconographic-ritual setting in which the Mahāmegha rain-summoning vidyā was to be performed. The altar comprises a square enclosure oriented to the four cardinal directions with the four Nāga-kings positioned at the cardinal centres; the central maṇḍala features the offering-bowl-pond into which the rain-water is to descend. The ritual integrates the recitation of the Nāga-king names and the rain-petitioning vidyā with formal offerings (eight outer offerings of flowers, incense, food, light) and the yoga visualisation of the rain-cloud-wheel descending from the Nāga-realm. The text was the principal liturgical reference for the Tang court rain-rites and was repeatedly cited in the Sòng Fózǔ tǒngjì 佛祖統紀 (KR6r0012) and Fózǔ lìdài tōngzài 佛祖歷代通載 (KR6r0013) records of imperial drought-rituals.
Translations and research
- Forte, Antonino. Political Propaganda and Ideology in China at the End of the Seventh Century. Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1976.
- Sørensen, Henrik H. “Esoteric Buddhism under the Tang.” In Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011.