Rúyìlún tuóluóní jīng 如意輪陀羅尼經
Cintāmaṇi-Cakra Dhāraṇī Sūtra by 菩提流志 (Pútíliúzhì, Bodhiruci, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang dhāraṇī-sūtra on the Cintāmaṇi-cakra Avalokiteśvara (如意輪 Rúyìlún, Skt. Cintāmaṇi-cakra) — the Wish-Granting Wheel form of Avalokiteśvara, who carries a cintāmaṇi (wish-fulfilling jewel) and a cakra (wheel). Translated by Bodhiruci (菩提流志, d. 727), the text is the principal and most influential of the four Tang Cintāmaṇi-cakra-dhāraṇī sūtras (cf. the parallel renderings by KR6j0288 Yìjìng, KR6j0289 Śikṣānanda, KR6j0290 Ratnacinta). The xù 序 note at the head — 此經出大蓮華金剛三昧耶加持祕密無障礙經 — indicates that the work is excerpted from a larger Mahā-padma-vajra-samaya-adhiṣṭhāna-rahasya-anivaraṇa sūtra.
Abstract
The sūtra opens at Mt. Kekāstra (雞喇斯山, Skt. Kheṭa-ṣaila / Khāgra-giri), with countless bodhisattvas in attendance. The Cintāmaṇi-cakra Avalokiteśvara then expounds his characteristic hṛdaya-dhāraṇī. Bodhiruci’s recension is divided into several pǐn 品 chapters: the 序品 (introduction), the dhāraṇī proper, the merit chapter, the ritual procedure (visualisation, recitation, mudrā), and the closing dedication. The Cintāmaṇi-cakra cult became a major component of mid-Tang Esoteric devotionalism and was particularly important in popular practice for kāmika (this-worldly) goals (wealth, longevity, success). CANWWW (T20N1080) cross-references KR6j0288 (T20N1081), KR6j0289 (T20N1082), and KR6j0290 (T20N1083).
Translations and research
- Forte, Antonino. “The Activities in China of the Tantric Master Manicintana from Kashmir and of his Northern Indian Collaborator Bodhiruci.” East and West 34 (1984): 301–345.
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.
Links
- CBETA T20n1080
- Kanseki DB
- 菩提流志 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (720) — 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.