Dàshèng Miàojíxiáng púsà zuìshèng wēidé mìmì bāzì tuóluóní xiūxíng niànsòng yíguǐ cìdì fǎ 大聖妙吉祥菩薩最勝威德祕密八字陀羅尼修行念誦儀軌次第法
Practice-Recitation Ritual Manual of the Most-Excellent Majestic Secret Eight-Syllable Dhāraṇī of the Great Holy Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva by 義雲法金剛 (Yìyún Fǎjīngāng) and 菩提仙 (Pútíxiān, Bodhiseṇa, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle parallel re-edition of the Mañjuśrī Eight-Syllable Maṇḍala-Vidhi, preserved in the Manji Xuzangjing (卍 Xù zàng jīng = X181 / Z 2-1) rather than in the main Taishō. Compared to T1184 (KR6j0409), the present text gives an expanded practice-recitation sequence and an alternate abhiṣeka protocol; both texts ultimately derive from Bodhiseṇa’s oral teaching as transmitted through his Chinese disciple-scribe Yìyún (here under the elevated name 義雲法金剛 “Yìyún the Dharma-Vajra”).
Abstract
The text begins by stating its prerequisites: 「我今依真言次第法門說。行人先當從阿闍梨得受灌頂及親傳受巳乃再入持明悉地灌頂…」 (“I now expound according to the true-mantra graduated method-gate. The practitioner must first receive abhiṣeka from the ācārya and personally receive transmission, and then re-enter the vidyādhara-siddhi abhiṣeka…”).
The body of the text gives the practical sequence:
- Compassion-based motivation — the practitioner cultivates the unconditioned compassion that is the precondition of efficacy;
- Site-purification and altar-construction — choice of site, gandha-maṇḍala construction with fragrant powder or paste, and the cǎnfán (烹凡) site-blessing;
- Eight-syllable recitation — the principal mantra of the cycle, oṃ a vī ra hūṃ kha ca raḥ, with its mudrā-and-visualization sequence;
- Daily practice cycle — recitations per session, sessions per day, length of retreat;
- Special-purpose rites — for the protection of beings in dire circumstances and for the deliverance of the dying.
The text supplements T1184 (KR6j0409) with detailed practical material absent from the parent text. The two should be read together as constituting the full Bodhiseṇa-Yìyún Eight-Syllable corpus.
The dating bracket (736–800) brackets Bodhiseṇa’s arrival in Cháng’ān (730s) and the late-Táng preservation of the text in the Esoteric tradition. The text was eventually preserved through Japanese Esoteric channels and printed in the Manji Xuzangjing rather than the imperial canon.
Translations and research
- Birnbaum, Raoul. Studies on the Mysteries of Mañjuśrī. Boulder: Society for the Study of Chinese Religions, 1983.