Liùzì shénzhòu jīng 六字神呪經
Sūtra of the Six-Syllable Divine Spell by 菩提流志 (Pútíliúzhì, Bodhiruci, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle dhāraṇī text translated by Bodhiruci (菩提流志, 572–727), giving the Mañjuśrī Six-Syllable mantra and its recitation method. Catalogued in the Kāi-yuán shìjiào lù (730) under Bodhiruci’s translations, with a colophon reading 南天竺國三藏菩提流志奉詔譯.
Abstract
The text opens with the same six-syllable spell rendered as 唵婆髻馱那(上)莫 (oṃ vākye-da namaḥ — the standard ṣaḍakṣarī of Mañjuśrī, identifying him with the personification of speech-syllabary). The body of the text expands the brief vidhi found in the parallel anonymous T1179 (KR6j0404) into a fuller liturgical sequence:
- Three-times-daily ablution at fixed hours (post-fifth-watch chūshí; post-noon; post-dusk to first night-watch);
- Three sets of clean robes (one per ablution period);
- Six-hundred-thousand recitations as the initial offering to Mañjuśrī;
- Painting the Mañjuśrī icon on uncut white felt with non-glue pigments mixed with fragrant water, depicting Mañjuśrī seated on a lotus throne, right hand in the vyākhyāna-mudrā (“teaching” gesture) and left hand at the breast.
The text is the canonical Bodhiruci version of the Mañjuśrī Six-Syllable cycle, paired with the anonymous T1179 (KR6j0404). It serves as a foundational scriptural authority for the Mañjuśrī ṣaḍakṣarī practice, which became one of the core dhāraṇī formulas associated with Mt. Wǔtái Mañjuśrī devotion in mid- to late-Tang.
The dating bracket follows Bodhiruci’s documented translation activity at Cháng’ān/Luòyáng under the WǔZhōu and Kāiyuán courts (693–727).
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- CBETA T20n1180
- Kanseki DB
- 菩提流志 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (720) — 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.