Guānzìzài púsà dàbēi zhìyìn zhōubiàn fǎjiè lìyì zhòngshēng xūn zhēnrú fǎ 觀自在菩薩大悲智印周遍法界利益眾生薰真如法
Method of the Wisdom-Mudrā of Avalokiteśvara’s Great Compassion, Pervading the Dharma-Realm, Benefiting Living Beings, and Perfuming Suchness by 不空 (Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A short Esoteric ritual manual by Amoghavajra (不空) presenting an Avalokiteśvara zhìyìn (wisdom-mudrā) practice elaborated in cosmological terms: the practice “perfumes” (xūn 薰) — i.e. saturates and consecrates — zhēnrú 真如 (Skt. tathatā, “suchness”, the absolute) by means of the mudrā radiating throughout the dharma-dhātu (法界, dharma-realm). The cosmological-ontological framing makes this one of the most theoretically ambitious of Amoghavajra’s shorter ritual manuals.
Abstract
The text fuses two doctrinal frames: (1) the Esoteric mudrā-yoga in which the practitioner’s body becomes the locus of bodhisattva-action through ritual gesture; and (2) the Dàshèng qǐxìn lùn / Avataṃsaka “perfuming” cosmology in which compassionate action xūn (perfumes / saturates) suchness, generating salvific effect. The synthesis presents Avalokiteśvara’s dàbēi zhìyìn (great-compassion wisdom-mudrā) as the precise ritual mechanism by which bodhicitta perfumes tathatā throughout the entire dharma-dhātu. The doctrinal sophistication of the framing — drawing on both Awakening of Faith perfuming-cosmology and Avataṃsaka dharma-dhātu (法界) holism — places this text among the more theoretically substantive of Amoghavajra’s shorter compositions.
Translations and research
- Goble, Geoffrey C. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia UP, 2019.
- Sharf, Robert H. Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002. — for the xūnxí perfuming idiom.
Links
- CBETA T20n1042
- 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.