Qījùzhī Zhǔntí tuóluóní niànsòng yíguǐ 七俱胝准提陀羅尼念誦儀軌
Recitation Ritual Manual of the Cundī Dhāraṇī of the Seven-Koṭi Buddhas (Cundī-dhāraṇī-sādhana-vidhi) by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric yíguǐ (儀軌, ritual manual) on the Cundī-dhāraṇī of the Seven-Koṭi Buddhas (七俱胝佛 Qījùzhī Fó) translated by Amoghavajra (不空). The deity Cundī (准提 Zhǔntí — variant Sinicisations 准胝 Zhǔnzhī, 准提觀音 Zhǔntí Guānyīn) is one of the principal female emanations of Avalokiteśvara, eighteen-armed, depicted as the prajñāpāramitā-mother of all Buddhas. Her cult is one of the most popular Esoteric Avalokiteśvara cults in East Asian Buddhism, second only to Tārā in Tibetan-Vajrayāna and to the Sahasra-bhuja (thousand-armed) Avalokiteśvara in Chinese popular Buddhism. The text is preserved only in the Wàn Xùzàngjīng (X02n0191), parallel to the Taishō Cundī texts T1075 and T1076.
Abstract
The text opens directly with the operative ritual procedure: “Should one cultivating this dhāraṇī wish to attain accomplishment, he must first bathe and don pure clothing. He should adorn the bodhimaṇḍa, install the principal-deity, and according to his means and means…” The yíguǐ unfolds with the maṇḍala-construction (a four-cubit maṇḍa dug to a depth of three cubits, cleared of bricks, evil-soil, hair-and-bone, ash-and-charcoal, and insects-and-ants, then filled with pure earth and pounded flat — a remarkably detailed specification of the abhiṣeka-bhūmi preparation). The text continues with the abhiṣeka sequence, the visualisation of Cundī (eighteen-armed, white-bodied, holding the cintāmaṇi, vajra, triśūla, lotus, and the various ritual implements), the mūla-mantra (the Cundī-dhāraṇī: namaḥ saptānāṃ samyak-saṃbuddha-koṭīnāṃ tadyathā oṃ cale cule cundī svāhā — “Homage to the seven koṭi of fully-awakened Buddhas — thus: oṃ cale cule cundī svāhā”), the mudrā-repertoire, the homa offerings, and the closing dedication.
This is the principal Esoteric ritual manual for the Cundī cult in Chinese Buddhism, providing the operative procedure that Amoghavajra developed for the Tang court Esoteric establishment. The Cundī cult would become enormously popular in Chinese popular Buddhism, especially from the Sòng period onward, and remains a central form of Avalokiteśvara devotion in contemporary Chinese-Buddhist communities.
Translations and research
- Gimello, Robert M. “Icon and Incantation: The Goddess Zhunti and the Role of Images in the Occult Buddhism of China.” In Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara (eds.), Images in Asian Religions, 71–95. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2004 — definitive study of the Cundī cult.
- Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993.