Pǔbiàn guāngmíng qīngjìng chìshèng rúyì bǎoyìn xīn wúnéngshèng dàmíngwáng dàsuíqiú tuóluóní jīng 普遍光明清淨熾盛如意寶印心無能勝大明王大隨求陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Mahāpratisarā Great-Vidyā-King Dhāraṇī of the Universally-Radiant, Pure, Blazing, Wish-Fulfilling, Jewel-Sealed Heart, the Unconquerable (Mahāpratisarā-vidyārājñī-sūtra) by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A two-fascicle Tang Esoteric dhāraṇī sūtra translated by Amoghavajra (不空, 705–774). Sanskrit title in CANWWW: Mahāpratisarāvidyārajñī(sūtra); alternate Sanskrit Mahāpratisarādhāraṇī(sūtra). Alternate Chinese title 隨求陀羅尼經. Colophon: full Amoghavajra titulature with 大廣智大興善寺三藏沙門不空奉詔譯. Taishō head-note: No. 1153 [cf. No. 1154]. CANWWW lists the structural division as Xùpǐn 序品 (introduction-chapter) and identifies related texts KR6j0373 (T1154, the Tang-Bodhiruci II / Bǎosīwéi shorter version) and KR6j0372 (T2242, a related ritual collection in the Vidyādhara-piṭaka).
Abstract
The sūtra opens with an elaborate cosmic Esoteric stage-setting: the Buddha (婆伽梵 Bhagavān) abides on the Great-Vajra Mount-Sumeru-Peak Pavilion (大金剛須彌盧峯樓閣), entered into the Mahā-vajra-samādhi, with the Mahā-vajra-kalpa-vṛkṣa (great vajra-eon-tree) for adornment, lotuses radiating in the great vajra-pool, vajra-sand strewn on the ground, and the Mahā-vajra-bodhimaṇḍa — the Indra-pavilion — empowered by the great Vajra-blessing. The narrative then frames the Mahāpratisarā Vidyā-rājñī (隨求大明王) — the Great-Following-Wishes Vidyā-Queen — as a vast composite incantation containing the praṇidhāna (prayer-vow) power of all Buddhas. The dhāraṇī is presented as a universal apotropaic-and-wish-granting formula. Its iconographic correlate is the eight-armed Mahāpratisarā goddess holding cakra, vajra, lotus, sword, palm-leaf scripture, etc. Amoghavajra’s translation of T1153 is the longer, more elaborate authoritative version against which the earlier T1154 (Bǎosīwéi, KR6j0373) is the shorter recension. The Mahāpratisarā dhāraṇī had vast circulation as an inscribed amulet — surviving Tang and Nánzhào-period archaeological specimens (e.g. the bronze-sheet amulets from Xī’ān and Sìchuān) confirm the sūtra’s importance as a talismanic text. The structural division in CANWWW gives only the Xùpǐn introduction-chapter, with the bulk of the work given over to dhāraṇī, mudrā and ritual procedure rather than narrative-divided chapters.
The dating bracket follows Amoghavajra’s late translation activity at Cháng’ān (post-758, peak imperial-patronage period under Sùzōng and Dàizōng).
Translations and research
- Hidas, Gergely. Mahāpratisarā-Mahāvidyārājñī: The Great Amulet, Great Queen of Spells. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 2012. (Critical edition of the Sanskrit and full English translation with extensive contextualisation.)
- Copp, Paul. The Body Incantatory: Spells and the Ritual Imagination in Medieval Chinese Buddhism. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014. (Detailed treatment of the dhāraṇī’s amulet-form transmission in Tang China.)
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.
Other points of interest
The Mahāpratisarā dhāraṇī is one of the most archaeologically attested Tang Esoteric formulae: surviving inscribed copper-sheet amulets, dhāraṇī-pillar inscriptions, and Dūnhuáng manuscripts demonstrate widespread devotional use across Tang China. The Copp 2014 monograph is the principal Western-language treatment of the talismanic transmission of this text.
Links
- CBETA T20n1153
- 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.