Fóshuō bùkōng juànsuǒ tuóluóní yíguǐ jīng 佛說不空羂索陀羅尼儀軌經
Sūtra of the Ritual Manual of the Amoghapāśa-Dhāraṇī Spoken by the Buddha (alternate title: Bùkōng juànsuǒ jiàofǎ mìyán 不空羂索教法密言) by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, here under the alt-name 阿目佉 Āmùqū, 譯)
About the work
A two-fascicle Tang Esoteric yíguǐ (儀軌, ritual manual) on the Amoghapāśa cycle. The Taishō colophon attributes the translation to 師子國三藏阿目佉 — “Tripiṭaka-master Amogha of Siṃhala (Sri Lanka)” — using the phonetic transliteration 阿目佉 (Āmùqū = Skt. Amogha) rather than the more usual semantic translation 不空. The DILA Buddhist Person Authority equates 阿目佉 with Amoghavajra (不空, 705–774), whose extensive sojourn in Siṃhala (741–746) is consistent with the colophon’s “of Siṃhala” attribution. The variant alternate title 不空羂索教法密言 (“Secret Words of the Amoghapāśa Doctrine”) records that the text was also known by this hortatory name in early Tang Esoteric circulation.
Abstract
The discourse is set in the Śuddhāvāsa heaven (淨居天) before the Buddha and the Mahā-Brahma, Indra, Maheśvara, and Iśvara deva-kings. Avalokiteśvara, in the standard Lotus-style narrative-frame, rises from his lion-jewelled-lotus throne, prostrates, kneels with palms joined, and announces the hṛdaya-dhāraṇī he calls Bùkōng juànsuǒxīn (不空羂索心 — Amogha-pāśa-hṛdaya). The text expounds the mantra-formulae, the mūla-spell, the secondary vidyā-formulae, the maṇḍala construction (with iconographic specifications for the central Amoghapāśa-Avalokiteśvara and the eight retinue-deities at the eight directions), the abhiṣeka sequence, the homa-fire offerings, the siddhi-applications, and the ritual-calendrical specifications.
As the yíguǐ form of the Amoghapāśa material, this text complements the discursive-doctrinal kalpa-rāja T1092 (KR6j0300) and the various hṛdaya-sūtra parallel translations (KR6j0301–KR6j0305, KR6j0307) by providing the operative ritual-procedural manual for the cult. The dating is uncertain — if the attribution to Amoghavajra (under the Amogha phonetic) is correct, the work would belong to his post-746 Chángān productive period; if the attribution is to a distinct Sīhala translator, the dating could be earlier.
Translations and research
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993.
- Orzech, Charles D. Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of Chinese Buddhism. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998 — Amoghavajra’s translation programme.
- Orzech, Charles D., Henrik H. Sørensen, and Richard K. Payne (eds.). Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011 — chapter on the Amoghapāśa cycle.
Links
- CBETA T20n1098
- 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.