Fóshuō rúyìlún liánhuá xīn rúlái xiūxíng guānmén yí 佛說如意輪蓮華心如來修行觀門儀
Buddha-Spoken Manual of the Cultivation-Contemplation Method of the Cintāmaṇi-Cakra Lotus-Heart Tathāgata by 慈賢 (Cíxián, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Liáo-dynasty Esoteric ritual-contemplation manual on the Cintāmaṇi-cakra Padma-Hṛdaya Tathāgata translated by Cíxián (慈賢), the central-Indian Tantric master who served as State Preceptor of the Khitan-Liáo and produced an important corpus of Esoteric translations c. 1030–1080. The colophon reads 宋大契丹國師中天竺摩竭陀國三藏法師慈賢譯 — placing the translation under the Liáo “Great Khitan State Preceptor” rubric; the catalog meta gives 宋 as dynasty, but Cíxián was always a Liáo-court translator (the Sòng court had no rival foreign-tantric translator at this date). Catalog correction: the catalog meta gives 宋 but the colophonic evidence and the broader Cíxián corpus (cf. KR6j0270) consistently identify him as a Liáo State Preceptor; the dynasty is given here as 遼 in keeping with the colophonic and prosopographical evidence.
Abstract
The text expounds the Cintāmaṇi-cakra Avalokiteśvara in his Padma-Hṛdaya Tathāgata (蓮華心如來) form — i.e. as the “lotus-heart” embodiment of awakening, conceived in the Liáo Esoteric tradition as a tathāgata rather than a bodhisattva, reflecting the Indian anuttara-yoga-tantra tendency to elevate the central deity of a maṇḍala to tathāgata status. The work follows the standard kalpa sequence: visualisation of the deity on a lotus-heart throne, recitation of the mūla-mantra and supporting vidyā-spells with the corresponding mudrās, the inner yoga visualisation, the homa operations, and the dedication. As a Liáo Esoteric witness it is contemporaneous with Cíxián’s other works at Fángshān (KR6j0270 Mahā-karuṇā-dhāraṇī) and elsewhere in the late-eleventh-century Liáo translation programme.
Translations and research
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993 — for Cíxián.
- Wang Yao-t’ing. “Liao Buddhist Translations.” Sino-Platonic Papers, various issues.
Links
- CBETA T20n1090
- Kanseki DB
- 慈賢 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (1000) — 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.