Héyējiēlìpó xiàngfǎ 何耶揭唎婆像法
Method of the Image of Hayagrīva (translator unknown)
About the work
A short one-fascicle anonymous Tang manual on the construction of an image of Hayagrīva (transcribed 何耶揭唎婆 Héyējiēlìpó, an alternative Sanskrit transcription that preserves the full Hayagrīva against the more abbreviated Hèyěhélǐfú of KR6j0278 and the semantic 馬頭 of KR6j0279). The text is anonymous; the iconographic vocabulary places it in the Tang Esoteric milieu.
Abstract
The manual prescribes the procedure for producing the Hayagrīva painted image: secure a competent painter, do not negotiate his price; bathe him with scented water and dress him in fresh clean clothes, ordering him to maintain the eight precepts (受八戒) day after day; in a clean place construct a square water-altar (水壇) four cubits on a side; the iconographic specification of Hayagrīva — the wrathful red-bodied form with the horse-head, the vajra, the noose, the hide-skirt, etc. — is then given, along with the dedication procedure for consecrating the completed image. The work belongs to the genre of the xiàngfǎ 像法 — image-construction manuals — that proliferated in mid-Tang Esoteric practice as adjuncts to the deity-cycles. Cross-reference: KR6j0278, KR6j0279, KR6j0281.
Translations and research
- Linrothe, Rob. Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities. Boston: Shambhala, 1999.