佛說金剛香菩薩大明成就儀軌經

Fóshuō Jīngāngxiāng púsà dàmíng chéngjiù yíguǐ jīng 佛說金剛香菩薩大明成就儀軌經

Sūtra of the Mahā-Vidyā-Accomplishment Ritual Manual of Vajra-Gandha Bodhisattva Spoken by the Buddha by 施護 (Shīhù, Dānapāla, 譯)

About the work

A three-fascicle Northern Sòng Esoteric ritual sūtra translated by Dānapāla (施護, fl. 982 – d. 1017). Alternate title 金剛香儀軌經. Colophon: 西天譯經三藏朝散大夫試鴻臚卿傳法大師臣施護奉詔譯. The text expounds the ritual programme for Vajra-Gandha (金剛香 Vajra-Gandha, “Vajra-Fragrance”) — a deity of the Vajraśekhara-mandala system, properly classed as one of the eight inner-offering bodhisattvas (aṣṭa-pūjā-bodhisattva).

Abstract

The sūtra opens with the Buddha at Tuṣita Heaven (覩史多天), the celestial abode of Maitreya, accompanied by an immeasurable hundred-thousand-koṭi-fold bodhisattva-assembly. The deva-multitude includes Mahā-Sahā-girhāmavata-Maheśvara (娑多儗哩呬摩嚩多 = perhaps Sa-Tāra-Hima-vat), Aniśvara-Mahākāla (難儞枳濕嚩囉摩訶迦攞), Maheśvara (摩醯濕嚩囉), Vejayanta (吠惹演多), Nārāyaṇa (那羅延), and many others — a comprehensive Esoteric deva-pantheon including both Buddhist and Brahmanical figures, characteristic of the Sòng-period Indic-Pāla translation idiom. The three fascicles work through the Vajra-Gandha ritual programme: mandala-construction, abhiṣeka, mudrā and mantra cycles, and the siddhi-applications including the eight inner-offering activities. Dānapāla’s distinctive late-tenth-century North-Indian Pāla translation idiom is on display, with a much heavier load of phonetic Sanskrit transliteration than typical Tang esoteric texts. The text contributes to the Sòng-period systematic translation of the Vajraśekhara-system mandala-deity ritual literature, one of the major projects of the Imperial Translation Bureau under Tàizōng (太宗) and Zhēnzōng (真宗).

Translations and research

• Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2003.
• Bowring, Richard. “Brief Notes on the Sung Buddhist Translation Project.” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 7 (1993): 137–146.

Links

• CBETA T20n1170
• Kanseki DB
• 施護 DILA
• Dazangthings date evidence (1000) — 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.