金剛恐怖集會方廣軌儀觀自在菩薩三世最勝心明王經

Jīngāng kǒngbù jíhuì fāngguǎng guǐyí Guānzìzài púsà sānshì zuìshèng xīnmíngwáng jīng 金剛恐怖集會方廣軌儀觀自在菩薩三世最勝心明王經

Sūtra of the Vidyārāja of the Three-Times-Supreme Heart of Avalokiteśvara, with the Vast Ritual Procedure of the Vajra Terror Assembly by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)

About the work

A one-fascicle Esoteric sūtra-and-ritual-manual by Amoghavajra (不空) presenting an Avalokiteśvara vidyārāja (明王 míngwáng, “wisdom-king”) configuration in the Jīngāng kǒngbù 金剛恐怖 (“vajra-terror”) aspect — i.e. Avalokiteśvara in his wrathful, demon-quelling form. CANWWW alt-titles: Sānshì zuìshèng xīnmíngwáng jīng 三世最勝心明王經, Guānzìzài púsà èrshì zuìshèng xīnmíngwáng xīn jīng.

Abstract

The vidyārāja (Chinese míngwáng 明王) “wisdom-king” iconography belongs to the wrathful deity-class of late Mahāyāna and Esoteric Buddhism: each Buddha-aspect is paired with a wrathful deity who serves as the demon-conquering active manifestation. The text presents an unusually elaborated Avalokiteśvara-vidyārāja configuration: Avalokiteśvara as sānshì zuìshèng xīnmíngwáng — “supreme wisdom-king of the heart [active] in the three times”. The “vajra-terror assembly” (Jīngāng kǒngbù jíhuì) framing places the ritual within the Vajraśekhara maṇḍala system as Amoghavajra developed it. The text is one of the relatively few Tang Esoteric translations to present a wrathful-aspect Avalokiteśvara, and it attests to the increasing integration of the Avalokiteśvara cult with the wrathful vidyārāja iconography that would become characteristic of Japanese Shingon practice.

Translations and research

• Goble, Geoffrey C. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia UP, 2019.
• Yü Chün-fang. Kuan-yin. New York: Columbia UP, 2001. — for the iconographic history.

Links

• CBETA T20n1033
• Kanseki DB
• 不空 DILA
• Dazangthings date evidence (750) — 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.