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一切如來心祕密全身舍利寶篋印陀羅尼經

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Text ID
KR6j0215
Date
746–774
Dynasty
唐

Yīqiè rúlái xīn mìmì quánshēn shèlì bǎoqièyìn tuóluóní jīng 一切如來心祕密全身舍利寶篋印陀羅尼經

Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī of the Seal of the Jewel-Casket Containing the Whole-Body Relic, the Secret Heart of All Tathāgatas by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)

About the work

A one-fascicle Esoteric translation by Amoghavajra (不空) of the Sarva-tathāgatādhiṣṭhāna-vyūha-mahā-mantra / Sarva-tathāgata-adhiṣṭhana-hṛdaya-guhya-dhātu-karaṇḍa-mudrā-dhāraṇī — known in Chinese as the Bǎoqièyìn tuóluóní 寶篋印陀羅尼 (“Jewel-Casket Seal Dhāraṇī”). One of the most popular and historically influential dhāraṇī-sūtras in East Asian Buddhism: it is the canonical authority for the practice of installing dhāraṇī-printed scrolls inside Buddhist stūpa and pagodas, and is the principal text invoked in the founding deposits of the famous Wúyuè 吳越 eighty-four-thousand stūpa programme of King Qián Hóngchù 錢弘俶 (959 CE). The Recension A (T1022A) is conventionally taken as the Korean-canon text; Recension B (T1022B = KR6j0216) is the Sòng-Qī-shā 磧砂 textual line.

Abstract

The Bǎoqièyìn tuóluóní jīng (“Sūtra of the Jewel-Casket-Seal Dhāraṇī”) presents a dhāraṇī said to be the quánshēn shèlì 全身舍利 (“whole-body relic”) of all Tathāgatas — i.e. the dhāraṇī itself functions as the relic-equivalent of a Buddha’s body, such that its installation within a stūpa converts that stūpa into a relic-stūpa even in the absence of physical remains. This doctrinal claim is what made the text so transformative for East Asian relic-practice: it allowed the construction of a vastly expanded population of relic-stūpa via dhāraṇī-deposits. The 959-CE programme of King Qián Hóngchù to construct 84,000 miniature stūpa each containing a printed copy of the dhāraṇī is documented in archaeological finds from Hāngzhōu and surrounding areas (notably the Léifēng Pagoda 雷峰塔 deposits, recovered in 2001). The text was also the dhāraṇī installed in the Hōryū-ji 法隆寺 Hyakumantō Darani 百萬塔陀羅尼 of Empress Shōtoku (770 CE) — though that programme used a different version of the dhāraṇī text, the genealogical descent is clear. Hidas (2021) provides the most comprehensive recent treatment.

Translations and research

  • Hidas, Gergely. Powers of Protection. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021. — covers the Bǎoqièyìn tuóluóní as one of the most important East Asian rakṣā texts.
  • Schopen, Gregory. “The Bodhigarbhālaṅkāralakṣa and Vimaloṣṇīṣa Dhāraṇīs in Indian Inscriptions.” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens 29 (1985): 119–149.
  • Copp, Paul. The Body Incantatory: Spells and the Ritual Imagination in Medieval Chinese Buddhism. New York: Columbia UP, 2014.
  • Brose, Benjamin. “Resurrecting Xuefeng Yicun: Time, Place, and Lineage in the Yuelu Manuscripts.” T’oung Pao 102.1–3 (2016): 73–127. — for the Wúyuè stūpa programme.

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