十一面觀自在菩薩心密言念誦儀軌經

Shíyīmiàn Guānzìzài púsà xīn mìyán niànsòng yíguǐ jīng 十一面觀自在菩薩心密言念誦儀軌經

Heart-Secret-Mantra Recitation Manual Sūtra of the Eleven-Faced Avalokiteśvara by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)

About the work

A three-fascicle yíguǐ manual on the Eleven-Faced Avalokiteśvara (Skt. Ekādaśa-mukha Avalokiteśvara) translated by Amoghavajra (不空). The senior-court titles at the colophon (開府議同三司特進試鴻臚卿肅國公食邑三千戶賜紫贈司空謚大鑒正號大廣智大興善寺三藏沙門) place the rendering in the post-746 phase of his career under 肅宗 Sùzōng and 代宗 Dàizōng. The text presents the Ekādaśa-mukha as a major variant of Avalokiteśvara distinct from the Sahasrabhuja — eleven faces representing the bodhisattva’s upāya in eleven directions — and gives the full kalpa-cycle ritual.

Abstract

The opening (“如是我聞。一時薄伽梵住補陀落山大聖觀自在宮殿中”) situates the discourse at Avalokiteśvara’s palace on Mount Potalaka, which the text describes as a luxuriant landscape of śāla, tamāla, and campaka trees. The three fascicles work through the standard Tangmí ritual sequence applied to the eleven-faced deity: bodhicitta and saṃvara-śīla, abhiṣeka, maṇḍala-construction, mudrā / mantra recitation, homa, and dedication. The work is the principal Tángmì Ekādaśa-mukha manual and circulated alongside the older Northern-Zhōu and Tang sūtra-translations of the same deity (KR6j0276 by 耶舍崛多 Yáoshèjuéduō, KR6j0277 by 玄奘 Xuánzàng) — establishing the Ekādaśa-mukha as one of the standard Esoteric Avalokiteśvara forms in Tángmì practice. CANWWW (T20N1069) cross-references KR6j0276 (T20N1070, Northern Zhōu) and KR6j0277 (T20N1071, 玄奘 Xuánzàng); the older sūtra-translations are the canonical scriptural background, while the present yíguǐ is the Tangmí ritual implementation.

Translations and research

• Soper, Alexander. Literary Evidence for Early Buddhist Art in China. Ascona: Artibus Asiae, 1959 — discussion of the Ekādaśa-mukha iconography in Tang sources.
• Orzech, Charles D., Henrik Sørensen, and Richard Payne, eds. Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011.

Links

• CBETA T20n1069
• 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.