Guānzìzài púsà rúyìlún yújiā 觀自在菩薩如意輪瑜伽
Yoga of the Cintāmaṇi-Cakra Avalokiteśvara by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tángmì yújiā 瑜伽 (yoga) treatise on the Cintāmaṇi-cakra Avalokiteśvara translated by Amoghavajra (不空). The text opens with a verse declaration “我今順瑜伽，金剛頂經說 …” — “I now, following the yoga [tradition], expound according to the Vajra-śekhara sūtra…” — explicitly placing the Cintāmaṇi-cakra cult within the Vajra-śekhara / yoga-tantra framework that 不空 Amoghavajra had brought back from South India. The work is parallel to 金剛智 Vajrabodhi’s KR6j0294 (T20n1087) — both bear the verse-incipit “我今順瑜伽” — and the two reflect the master-disciple lineage of the Tangmí yoga-tantra approach to the deity.
Abstract
The text expounds the Cintāmaṇi-cakra deity through the yoga method: the practitioner visualises himself as the deity (self-generation), invokes the deity’s mantras and mudrās in succession, performs the inner yoga of the five abhisaṃbodhi steps, and culminates in the mahā-mudrā. The work is denser and more technically esoteric than the recitation-manual of KR6j0292, reflecting the more advanced yoga-tantra practitioner-audience. 不空 Amoghavajra’s Yújiā and 金剛智 Vajrabodhi’s Yújiā fǎyào (KR6j0294) circulate together as a paired master-disciple corpus on the Cintāmaṇi-cakra in the Tang Vajra-śekhara lineage.
Translations and research
- Orzech, Charles D., et al., eds. Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
- Sharf, Robert H. Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002 — yoga-tantra discussion.
Links
- CBETA T20n1086
- 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.