Wǔdà Xūkōngzàng púsà sùjí dàshényàn mìmì shì jīng 五大虛空藏菩薩速疾大神驗祕密式經
Sūtra of the Secret Method for the Swift Great-Spirit-Efficacy of the Five Great Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattvas by 金剛智 (Jīngāngzhì, Vajrabodhi, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric ritual text attributed to Vajrabodhi (金剛智, 671–741). Colophon (in archaic format): 金剛智所譯. The opening verses identify the text as based on the Yoga-sūtra (Yogatantra, 我依瑜伽經所說) and addressed to the thin-merit bhikṣus of the latter dharma-age (為像末薄福比丘) who, despite long retention of the secret words of the buddhas (久持諸佛祕密語), have not yet experienced the siddhi-fruition.
Abstract
The text expounds the practice of the Five Great Ākāśagarbhas (五大虛空藏, pañca-mahā-ākāśagarbha): the five-deity-mandala configuration of Ākāśagarbha distributed across the five families of the Vajraśekhara — Vairocana-Ākāśagarbha at the centre, plus Akṣobhya-, Ratnasaṃbhava-, Amitābha-, and Amoghasiddhi-Ākāśagarbhas in the four directions. The accompanying mantra, mudrā, and visualisation procedures are presented as an abridged but powerful method (速疾大神驗, “swift great-spirit-efficacy”) suitable for spiritual operators of limited merit and time. The text is part of the Five-Ākāśagarbha cult that became important in early Heian Japanese Esoteric Buddhism and underlies the Gokokūzō-bosatsu (五虛空藏菩薩) iconography common in Shingon temples (e.g. the famous group at Jingo-ji 神護寺). The composition or attribution to Vajrabodhi may be problematic — some Tang catalogue evidence suggests later compilation, but the Taishō and CANWWW retain the attribution.
The dating bracket follows Vajrabodhi’s translation activity at Cháng’ān (arrived 720, d. 741).
Translations and research
- Sundberg, Jeffrey, with Rolf Giebel. “The Life of the Tang Court Monk Vajrabodhi as Chronicled by Lü Xiang (呂向).” Pacific World, 3rd series, 13 (2011): 129–222.
- Chou Yi-liang. “Tantrism in China.” HJAS 8.3/4 (1945): 241–332.
Other points of interest
The text is the principal scriptural authority for the Five-Ākāśagarbha mandala in East Asian Esoteric Buddhism, including the iconographically-important Jingoji 神護寺 Gokokūzō set (Heian, 9th c.), a National Treasure of Japan.
Links
- CBETA T20n1149
- Kanseki DB
- 金剛智 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (730) — 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.