大悲心陀羅尼修行念誦略儀

Dàbēi xīn tuóluóní xiūxíng niànsòng lüèyí 大悲心陀羅尼修行念誦略儀

Abridged Manual for the Cultivation and Recitation of the Great-Compassion-Heart Dhāraṇī by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)

About the work

A one-fascicle abridged yíguǐ 儀軌 setting out the recitation-practice for the Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī of KR6j0260. The colophon names the translator as Amoghavajra (不空), 唐北天竺三藏沙門大廣智. Although the yíguǐ genre is best categorised as a translated kalpa manual, in practice this abridgement was prepared at the Dàxìngshànsì 大興善寺 in the late Tángmì period as a compact recitation-practice handbook based on the Vajra-śekhara method.

Abstract

The opening (“依灌頂道場經，說修陀羅尼法門”) explicitly grounds the manual in the Guàndǐng dàocháng — the Abhiṣeka-maṇḍala — apparatus of the Tangmí Vajra-śekhara lineage, situating the Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī recitation within the yoga-tantra sādhanā framework rather than as a stand-alone popular spell. The procedure prescribed: (1) entry into the bodhi-citta and saṃvara-śīla of the Buddhas; (2) abhiṣeka into the maṇḍala; (3) self-generation as Avalokiteśvara through visualisation; (4) recitation of the Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī together with the forty-two principal mudrās of the deity; (5) closing dedication and visarjana. The work belongs with KR6j0269 (Amoghavajra’s full Mahā-karuṇā translation) and KR6j0273 (Amoghavajra’s full maṇḍala-manual) as the yíguǐ triad of the Tángmì Sahasrabhuja cycle. CANWWW (T20N1066) places the work alongside KR6j0260 as the parent text and the maṇḍala-manuals.

Translations and research

• Orzech, Charles D., Henrik Sørensen, and Richard Payne, eds. Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
• Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993.

Links

• CBETA T20n1066
• 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.