Jīngāng shòumìng tuóluóní jīng 金剛壽命陀羅尼經
Vajra-Longevity Dhāraṇī Sūtra (Vajra-āyuṣ-dhāraṇī-sūtra) by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric jīng (經, “sūtra”) form of the Vajra-Longevity Dhāraṇī translated by Amoghavajra (不空) — the third in his trio of Vajra-āyuṣ-dhāraṇī texts together with KR6j0348 (T1133, recitation method) and KR6j0349 (T1134A, sūtra-method). The colophon: 特進試鴻臚卿大辨正大廣智三藏奉詔譯. The Taishō head-note: No. 1134B [cf. Nos. 1133, 1134A].
Abstract
The text preserves the canonical-sūtra form of the Vajra-āyuṣ-dhāraṇī. The three Amoghavajra Vajra-Longevity texts represent three operative-textual treatments of the same Indic source-material: T1133 as the niànsòngfǎ operative recitation manual; T1134A as the jīngfǎ combining sūtra and ritual; T1134B as the canonical sūtra proper. Together they form the principal Tang Esoteric apparatus for the longevity-cycle, with the canonical sūtra-form (T1134B = present text) functioning as the doctrinal anchor.
The longevity-prolongation aspect of the practice — central to all three texts — links them to the broader Esoteric āyuṣ-cult in the Tang court and to the longevity-Buddha (Aparimita-āyuṣa / Amitāyus) devotional tradition that became prominent in late-Tang and Sòng-period Chinese Buddhism, eventually feeding into the popular Pure-Land integration of the Aparimita-āyuṣa cult with the dominant Amitābha / Sukhāvatī tradition.
Translations and research
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.
- Orzech, Charles D. Politics and Transcendent Wisdom. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998.
Links
- CBETA T20n1134B
- 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.