Jīngāngdǐng jīng yújiā Wénshūshīlì púsà fǎ 金剛頂經瑜伽文殊師利菩薩法
Method of Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva from the Yoga of the Vajraśekhara-sūtra by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric ritual manual translated by Amoghavajra (不空, 705–774). Sanskrit title (per CANWWW): Trailokyavijayamahākalparāja. Alternate title 五字呪法 (“Method of the Five-Syllable Spell”). 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. 1171 [cf. No. 1175]. The text is the foundational manual of the Mañjuśrī Five-Syllable (Mañjuśrī Pañcākṣarī, A-Ra-Pa-Ca-Na) cult — first text of a coordinated cycle that includes KR6j0396 (T1172), KR6j0397 (T1173, Vajrabodhi parallel), KR6j0398 (T1174, Amoghavajra verses), KR6j0399 (T1175, Amoghavajra ritual manual), KR6j0400 (T1176, Amoghavajra yoga-method).
Abstract
The text opens with Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva in the great assembly of Vairocana Buddha rising from his seat, prostrating, and addressing the Buddha: I now expound the root five-syllable dhāraṇī. Whoever — be he kula-putra or kula-duhitṛ — recites this even once, will obtain merit equal to that of reciting the Sūtra-piṭaka of all Tathāgatas of the doctrines they have ever expounded. Vairocana grants permission. The text then expounds the A Ra Pa Ca Na five-syllable formula — the canonical bīja-cluster of Mañjuśrī derived from the Indic Mañjuśrī-Pañcākṣarī-sādhana tradition. The five-syllable practice is the core ritual of Wǔzì Wénshū (五字文殊) Mañjuśrī, an iconographically distinctive form (typically depicted with five locks of hair, riding a lion, holding a prajñā-pāramitā-sūtra-bundle) that became the principal Esoteric Mañjuśrī figure in late-Tang and post-Tang Chinese Buddhism. Amoghavajra’s translation is the foundational text underlying the Wǔtáishān Mañjuśrī cult and its export to Japan as Go-jí Monju (五字文殊).
Translations and research
- Birnbaum, Raoul. Studies on the Mysteries of Mañjuśrī. Boulder: Society for the Study of Chinese Religions, 1983.
- Lamotte, Étienne. “Mañjuśrī.” T’oung Pao 48 (1960): 1–96.
- Goble, Geoffrey. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019.
Other points of interest
The A-Ra-Pa-Ca-Na five-syllable formula is one of the most widely-attested Indic Mañjuśrī mantras, appearing already in Gāndhārī manuscripts of the early common era. Its presence in the Vajraśekhara system represents a Buddhist-Esoteric integration of an older meditative-mnemonic device.
Links
- CBETA T20n1171
- 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.