Mǎmíng púsà chéngjiù xīdì niànsòng 馬鳴菩薩成就悉地念誦
Aśvaghoṣa Bodhisattva Siddhi-Accomplishment Recitation by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric ritual text on Aśvaghoṣa Bodhisattva, attributed to Amoghavajra (不空, 705–774). Preserved in the Manji Zokuzōkyō (卍續藏經) outside the main Taishō. The internal note 吉備大臣持來 records that the text was brought back to Japan by Lord Kibi (吉備真備 Kibi no Makibi, 695–775), the Japanese statesman and pilgrim who travelled to Tang China twice (717–735, 752–754); thus a text of demonstrable historical Tang-to-Japan transmission. Colophon: 大興善寺三藏沙門大廣智不空奉詔譯. Companion to KR6j0388 (T1166, Vajrabodhi’s earlier Mǎmíng manual).
Abstract
The text opens with Aśvaghoṣa Bodhisattva addressing the Buddha: he possesses a “great spirit-power utterly secret dhāraṇī” (大神力極祕密陀羅尼) for the salvation of the future-age beings of the latter-dharma defiled-mixture world (末法雜染世界), and asks permission to expound it. The Buddha praises him: Excellent! All Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and devas listen with consenting joy; speak swiftly! The bodhisattva, hands joined and head bowed, joyously circumambulates the Buddha thrice clockwise, withdraws to one side, and proclaims the mahā-vidyā. The text presents the siddhi-accomplishment programme as the Esoteric ritual yoga of Aśvaghoṣa — focused on the rapid attainment of worldly siddhi (worldly accomplishment, especially material provision and clothing) and para-mārtha siddhi (supramundane accomplishment toward Buddhahood). Together with KR6j0388 this constitutes the principal Tang-period Aśvaghoṣa ritual cycle. The Kibi-no-Makibi transmission-note ties the text directly to the early eighth-century introduction of Tang Esoteric Buddhism to Japan.
The dating bracket follows Amoghavajra’s translation activity at Cháng’ān (746–774); the Kibi-no-Makibi return-to-Japan transmission can be dated narrowly to 754 (Kibi’s second return).
Translations and research
- Borgen, Robert. Sugawara no Michizane and the Early Heian Court. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. (Includes Kibi-no-Makibi context.)
- Bender, Ross. “The Edicts of the Last Emperor of Tang.” Various journal contributions on Tang-Nara cultural transmission.
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.
Other points of interest
The Kibi no Makibi transmission-note is a rare instance of a canonical text preserving documentation of its own historical mode of transmission to Japan. Compare similar transmission-notes attached to Sō-ei materials at KR6j0377 (T1156B).