Dàshèng Miàojíxiáng púsà mìmì bāzì tuóluóní xiūxíng màndáluó cìdì yíguǐ fǎ 大聖妙吉祥菩薩祕密八字陀羅尼修行曼荼羅次第儀軌法
Maṇḍala-Sequence Ritual Manual for Practising the Secret Eight-Syllable Dhāraṇī of the Great Holy Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva by 菩提仙 (Pútíxiān, Bodhiseṇa, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric ritual handbook on the Eight-Syllable Mañjuśrī dhāraṇī cycle, identified in the title-line as “extracted from the Mañjuśrī-pari-saṃgītya-sūtra’s chapter on eliminating disasters and removing obstructions” (出文殊菩薩普集會經除災救難息障品). Translated by the Indian master Bodhiseṇa (菩提仙, 704–760, Skt. transcribed in the colophon as 菩提㗚使淨智金剛) with the Chinese disciple-scribe 義雲法金剛 Yìyún (筆授).
Abstract
The text presents the Eight-Syllable Heart-Mantra of Mañjuśrī — oṃ a vī ra hūṃ kha ca raḥ — rendered as 唵引阿引入惡聲味引羅𤙖引佉左洛. The Buddha addresses Vajrapāṇi the Lord-of-Secrets (金剛密迹主), declaring that wherever this dhāraṇī is recited, the Buddha himself is present “as if alive in this world” (如佛在世無有異也). The dhāraṇī is praised as embodying the totality of Buddha-power; the text declines to fully expound its merits, claiming that even an aeon of teaching could not exhaust them.
The ritual programme that follows includes:
- The conditions for transmission — the practitioner must have received empowerment (灌頂) from a vajra-master and entered the vidyā-siddhi consecration;
- The cultivation of the maṇḍala (曼荼羅次第) — its directions, deity-arrangement, and pre-rite purification;
- The hand-gesture (mudrā) corresponding to each of the eight syllables;
- The visualization sequence in which the eight syllables descend into the practitioner’s body and transform him into Mañjuśrī.
The text is an important Esoteric primary source for the eight-syllable Mañjuśrī cycle, parallel to the five-syllable (KR6j0395 / KR6j0396), six-syllable (KR6j0404 / KR6j0405), and one-syllable (KR6j0406 / KR6j0407) cycles. It also has an alternate redaction in the Wàn xù zàng jīng (Manji Zokuzōkyō) X181 (KR6j0425), the so-called “Yì-yún” recension.
The dating bracket follows Bodhiseṇa’s documented activity (Cháng’ān stay c. 730–736 before crossing to Japan; 736 as the inferred terminus a quo for the Chinese rendering, 760 as Bodhiseṇa’s death).
Translations and research
- Birnbaum, Raoul. Studies on the Mysteries of Mañjuśrī. Boulder: Society for the Study of Chinese Religions, 1983.
Other points of interest
The colophon of this text is one of the few documentary sources for Bodhiseṇa’s career in China before his crossing to Japan — where he is the central figure in the 752 “eye-opening” consecration of the Tōdai-ji Buddha. The disciple-scribe Yìyún 義雲 is the same monk to whom the parallel X181 (KR6j0425) is attributed under the name 義雲法金剛.
Links
- CBETA T20n1184
- Kanseki DB
- 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.