童子經念誦法

Tóngzǐjīng niànsòng fǎ 童子經念誦法

Recitation-Method for the Children-Sūtra by 善無畏 (Śubhakarasiṃha, 譯)

About the work

A short Tang-period ritual manual by Śubhakarasiṃha (善無畏, 637–735) supplying the niànsòngfǎ (recitation-method) for Bodhiruci I’s Hùzhūtóngzǐ tuóluóní jīng (KR6j0223 = T1028A). The pairing of an early-sixth-century rakṣā sūtra (Bodhiruci I’s dhāraṇī) with an early-eighth-century Esoteric ritual manual (Śubhakarasiṃha’s niànsòngfǎ) parallels Amoghavajra’s similar pairings (cf. KR6j0202 / KR6j0203) and represents one of the earliest examples of the Tang Esoteric yíguǐ method retroactively supplied for an earlier dhāraṇī.

Abstract

Śubhakarasiṃha (善無畏 Shànwúwèi), the first of the Three Great Tantric Masters (三大士) of Kāiyuán Tángmì, arrived in Chángān in 716 and worked there until his death in 735. Within his translation/composition corpus, he produced a number of short ritual manuals supplying niànsòngfǎ for earlier dhāraṇī-translations; the present text is one such manual. The text consolidates the child-protection dhāraṇī into a structured Esoteric ritual procedure with mudrā, maṇḍala, and recitation-counts, making the older Bodhiruci translation usable within the eighth-century Esoteric framework. Notable for its inclusion in the Taishō (alongside T1028A) as the yíguǐ counterpart of an older rakṣā sūtra.

Translations and research

• Goble, Geoffrey C. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia UP, 2019. — broader context.
• Chou Yi-liang. “Tantrism in China.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 8.3/4 (1945): 241–332. — classic study of the Three Great Tantric Masters.

Links

• CBETA T19n1028B
• Kanseki DB
• 善無畏 DILA
• CBETA online
• Dazangthings date evidence (720) — T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014.