Xūkōngzàng púsà néngmǎn zhūyuàn zuìshèng xīn tuóluóní qiúwénchí fǎ 虛空藏菩薩能滿諸願最勝心陀羅尼求聞持法
Method of Seeking-Hearing-and-Retention by the Most-Excellent-Heart Dhāraṇī of Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva who Fulfils All Wishes by 善無畏 (Shànwúwèi, Śubhakarasiṃha, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric ritual manual translated by Śubhakarasiṃha (善無畏, 637–735). The internal heading: 出金剛頂經成就一切義品 — i.e. extracted from the Sarvārthasiddhi chapter of the Vajraśekhara. Colophon: 大唐中印度三藏善無畏奉制譯.
Abstract
The text presents the qiúwénchí fǎ (求聞持法, “method for seeking-hearing-and-retaining”), a memorisation-empowerment ritual associated with Ākāśagarbha (虛空藏菩薩, Ākāśagarbha-bodhisattva). The Buddha enters the Sarva-pāramitāsamatā-samādhi (諸波羅蜜平等性三摩地) and after rising propounds the “supreme heart-dhāraṇī of Ākāśagarbha that fulfils all wishes”. The dhāraṇī is the principal vehicle of a forty-nine-day intensive recitation-retreat aimed at attaining unshakable mnemonic retention of the Buddha-dharma — śruta-dhāraṇī-as-yoga. The text is the canonical source of the Japanese Gumonji-hō (求聞持法) tradition that became central to early Japanese esoteric monasticism: it is the practice that Kūkai 空海 reportedly performed in his pre-China retreat at Cape Murotsu (室戶), and it underlies the Heian-period Shingon mnemonic-yoga tradition. The fact that this text is the source for Gumonji-hō makes it one of the most consequential Tang Esoteric texts for the formation of Japanese Buddhism.
Translations and research
- Abe, Ryūichi. The Weaving of Mantra: Kūkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.
- Kotyk, Jeffrey. “Buddhist Astrology and Astral Magic in the Tang Dynasty.” Ph.D. dissertation, Leiden University, 2017.
- Hakeda, Yoshito S. Kūkai: Major Works. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972.
Other points of interest
The work is the textual basis of the Kokūzō Gumonji-hō (虛空藏求聞持法) — among the most influential Tang Esoteric ritual transmissions to Japan. Its impact on Heian Buddhist intellectual history vastly exceeds its modest length.
Links
- CBETA T20n1145
- Kanseki DB
- 善無畏 DILA
- Wikipedia (Gumonji-hō)
- Dazangthings date evidence (720) — 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.