Bùkōng juànsuǒ tuóluóní zìzài wáng zhòu jīng 不空羂索陀羅尼自在王呪經
Spell-Sūtra of the Sovereign-King Dhāraṇī of the Unfailing Noose (Amoghapāśa-dhāraṇī-īśvara-rāja-vidyā-sūtra) by 寶思惟 (Bǎosīwéi, Ratnacinta / Manicintana, 譯)
About the work
A three-fascicle Tang Esoteric scripture translated by Bǎosīwéi (寶思惟, Skt. Ratnacinta — also known as Manicintana / Manicintaka, fl. 693–721), the Kashmīrī monk who arrived in Chángān around 693. The work is a more elaborate parallel to the Amoghapāśa-dhāraṇī-sūtra of Lǐ Wúchǎn (KR6j0304, T20n1096), focused on the Amoghapāśa-īśvara-rāja-vidyā — the vidyā-form of Amoghapāśa as Sovereign King. The colophon: 唐天竺三藏寶思惟奉詔譯 — “Translated by Imperial Decree by the Indian Tripiṭaka-master Bǎosīwéi of the Tang.”
Abstract
The text opens with the Amoghapāśa-tuóluóní zìzài wáng (不空陀羅尼自在王) mantra given in transliterated form: 南謨囉哆那怛囉夜耶 / 南謨阿唎耶阿弭哆婆耶 / 怛他孽多耶 / 南謨阿唎耶跋嚧吉帝失筏囉耶 / 菩地薩埵耶 / 摩訶薩埵耶 / 摩訶迦嚧尼迦耶 / 怛跌他 / 唵阿慕伽 鉢囉底喝多𤙖𤙖𠰢吒娑婆訶 — i.e. Namo ratnatrayāya, namo āryāmitābhāya tathāgatāya, namo āryāvalokiteśvarāya bodhisattvāya mahāsattvāya mahā-kāruṇikāya, tadyathā oṃ amogha-pratihate hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā. The text declares the Amoghapāśa-dhāraṇī-sovereign-king mantra to be “the lord of all secret mantras” (一切祕密神呪之主): one who masters this mantra masters all spell-craft, and all karman-operations of any vidyā are brought to perfection.
The three fascicles unfold the iconographic specification of the deity, the vidyā-recitation method, the maṇḍala-construction, the abhiṣeka sequence, and the siddhi-applications (cure of disease, protection in litigation, recovery of lost goods, summoning of yakṣiṇī, attainment of vidyādhara-status, and the standard kriyā-tantra ritual repertoire). The work is closely linked in content to the comprehensive kalpa-rāja T1092 (KR6j0300) of Bodhiruci, with which Bǎosīwéi was a contemporary translator at the Wǔ Zétiān court. The notBefore date is fixed by his arrival in Chángān (693); notAfter by Bǎosīwéi’s effective retirement from the imperial translation programme c. 706.
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 — definitive on Bǎosīwéi’s career and the chronology of his Tang translations.
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993.
Links
- CBETA T20n1097
- Kanseki DB
- 寶思惟 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (710) — 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.