Jùlìjiāluó lóngwáng yíguǐ 俱力迦羅龍王儀軌
Ritual Manual of the Kulika Nāga-King by 金剛智 (Jīngāngzhì, Vajrabodhi, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Táng Esoteric ritual manual (yíguǐ) for the Kulika Nāgarāja (俱力迦羅 = Kulika), translated by Vajrabodhi (金剛智, 669–741). Colophon: 金剛智三藏. The text develops the doctrinal and iconographic content of T1206 (KR6j0433) and T1207 (KR6j0434) into a fully practical vidhi.
Abstract
The text opens with a metaphysical statement: 「為此具最上利根人現身也…是為大日如來因位三毒煩惱行相而已」 — “For those with the highest faculties, [Kulika] manifests his body. This is the manifestation-form of the three poisons-and-afflictions in the causal stage of Mahā-Vairocana.” The doctrinal claim is that Kulika is the personification of the three poisons (lust, hatred, delusion) as wielded by Mahā-Vairocana in his causal stage (因位) — i.e., before the attainment of full Buddhahood — and that Kulika’s wrathful form is precisely the converted energy of those poisons.
The body of the text gives the standard Esoteric vidhi for the Kulika rite:
- The summons of Mahā-Vairocana and his attendants, including the vajra-warrior (vajra-krodha) servitors, who take their station to support the rite;
- The Kulika visualization as set out in T1207 (KR6j0434);
- The mantra-recitation programme: the Kulika dhāraṇī from T1206 (KR6j0433) plus the additional Vajrabodhi mantra-cycle;
- The mudrā-cycle: the coiled-dragon mudrā that mimics Kulika’s body-form;
- The deity-dispersal at the end of the rite.
Vajrabodhi’s translation is the earliest Táng Kulika manual and the doctrinal anchor for the entire later Kulika tradition. The dating bracket follows Vajrabodhi’s translation activity at Cháng’ān (720–741).
Translations and research
- Faure, Bernard. Protectors and Predators. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2016.
Links
- CBETA T21n1208
- Kanseki DB
- 金剛智 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (730) — 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.