Dàxūkōngzàng púsà niànsòng fǎ 大虛空藏菩薩念誦法
Recitation Method of the Great Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric niànsòngfǎ manual translated by Amoghavajra (不空, 705–774). Colophon: 開府儀同三司特進試鴻臚卿肅國公食邑三千戶賜紫贈司空諡大鑒正號大廣智大興善寺三藏沙門不空奉詔譯. Alternate title 虛空藏念誦法. The text explicitly cites the Vajraśekhara (瑜伽金剛頂經) as its doctrinal authority.
Abstract
The text opens by stating its programme: I now, basing myself on the Yogatantra Vajraśekhara, expound the Mantra-and-Method of Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva of the Ratna-kula (我今依瑜伽金剛頂經說寶部虛空藏菩薩真言教法). The intended audience is explicitly the householder and mountain-dwelling monastic of “thin merit and meagre virtue, lacking in resources” (在家山家薄福少德乏少資具者) — those whose worldly and supramundane wishes go unmet. The ritual programme purges karmic obstacles, expands merit, brings mental ease, and confirms unshakable bodhicitta. As an Amoghavajra Esoteric niànsòng manual, the text fills out the operative-ritual side of the Ākāśagarbha-cult complementarily with KR6j0362 (the qiúwénchí fǎ mnemonic-retention manual). Together with KR6j0364, KR6j0365, KR6j0366 and KR6j0367, the present text is part of the broad late-Tang Ākāśagarbha cultic complex that developed around the Vajraśekhara and Vajradhātu-mandala traditions.
Translations and research
- 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.
- Giebel, Rolf. Two Esoteric Sutras: The Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra, The Susiddhikara Sutra. BDK English Tripiṭaka Series, 2001.
Links
- CBETA T20n1146
- 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.