Mìzàng dàdàoxīn qūcè fǎ 𡇪大道心驅策法
Method of Compelling the Great-Bodhi-Mind of the [Kṣitigarbha] Esoteric-Treasury (variant title; the leading two characters are CJK gaiji glyphs reading 峚𡇪 / 密藏) by anonymous
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric ritual text on the Kṣitigarbha-related qūcè (“compelling and driving”) rite. The leading two graphs in the title are Tang-period gaiji that scholarly editions read as 密藏 (mìzàng, “Secret Treasury”) — sometimes alternately transcribed 峚𡇪. The Taishō prints the text under the composite number 1159, with two pieces (A and B); the present is the A portion. Closely related to KR6j0381 (T1159B). No translator-colophon. Catalog meta lacks dynasty; the text-style and the Esoteric qūcè ritual frame point to Tang composition or transmission.
Abstract
The text opens with the Tathāgata at Vulture Peak (靈鷲山) seated on the lion-throne under the Bhāgavatī-vṛkṣa (薄伽樹), surrounded by a hundred-thousand-million-nayuta-fold assembly of abhiṣikta-bodhisattvas who have entered the irreversible (灌頂轉不退轉) and whose renown surpasses Mount Sumeru. The narrative then introduces a bodhisattva (the text refers to him as 是時菩薩, suggesting Kṣitigarbha by context) wandering through the kingdoms instructing beings, who arrives at the foot of Vipula-mountain (毘富羅山) and the household of Gāotízhǎngzhě (高提長者, Gautama-gṛhapati or Uttara-gṛhapati) where five hundred members have been seized by evil ghosts who steal their vital essence (奪其精氣) and lie unconscious for ten days. Kṣitigarbha witnesses this and inaugurates the qūcè (driving-and-compelling) rite — exorcism via mantric compulsion of the yakṣa and bhūta class spirits. The text thus belongs to the protective-exorcistic sub-genre of the Esoteric Kṣitigarbha cycle, presenting Kṣitigarbha not in his familiar naraka-saviour role but as a powerful exorcist of disease-spirits.
Translations and research
- Zhiru. The Making of a Savior Bodhisattva: Dizang in Medieval China. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2007.
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins: Le bouddhisme tantrique en Chine. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.
Other points of interest
The text is one of the relatively few Esoteric Kṣitigarbha ritual texts in the Taishō, distinguishing the qūcè exorcism-frame from the more familiar Bhūmigarbha-praṇidhāna (本願) and daśa-cakra (十輪) Kṣitigarbha textual traditions.