Guānzìzài púsà shuō Pǔxián tuóluóní jīng 觀自在菩薩說普賢陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Samantabhadra-Dhāraṇī Spoken by Avalokiteśvara by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric sūtra translated by Amoghavajra (不空) in which Avalokiteśvara speaks the Samantabhadra (普賢) dhāraṇī. The interesting feature of this text is the transposition of the speaker: in most Samantabhadra dhāraṇī literature it is Samantabhadra himself who speaks the dhāraṇī (as in the Avataṃsaka “Practice of Samantabhadra” chapter); here Avalokiteśvara is the speaker, signalling a reframing of the Samantabhadra dhāraṇī within Avalokiteśvara-centric Esoteric practice. Compare KR6j0236 Qīngjìng Guānshìyīn pǔxián tuóluóní jīng (T1038) by Zhìtōng, which has a parallel concept under a different title.
Abstract
The text fits within Amoghavajra’s broader Avalokiteśvara liturgical corpus (cf. KR6j0228–KR6j0231) but differs in that the dhāraṇī-content is the Samantabhadra dhāraṇī rather than an Avalokiteśvara-specific dhāraṇī. The integration of Samantabhadra-dhāraṇī content into Avalokiteśvara-speaker frame reflects the increasing fluidity of the Esoteric maṇḍala-system in the eighth century, where major bodhisattvas could function as speakers of one another’s dhāraṇī within ritually-flexible yoga-tantra configurations. The presence of a parallel text KR6j0236 under Zhìtōng’s earlier authorship suggests that this conceptual transposition was already being made in the seventh century; Amoghavajra’s translation simply gives it a fresh recension within the Tángmì framework.
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.
Links
- CBETA T20n1037
- 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.