Gānlù jūntúlì púsà gòngyǎng niànsòng chéngjiù yíguǐ 甘露軍荼利菩薩供養念誦成就儀軌
Offering, Recitation, and Accomplishment Ritual Manual of the Amṛta-Kuṇḍalin Bodhisattva by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Táng Esoteric ritual manual on Amṛta-Kuṇḍalin (甘露軍荼利 = Amṛta-kuṇḍalin; also rendered 甘露軍吒利, 軍荼利明王) — the vidyārāja of the South in the Yoga-tantra five-wisdom-king (五大明王) system — translated by Amoghavajra (不空). Title page: full elevated Amoghavajra titulature.
Abstract
The text opens with a verse-prelude: “I bow to Vajrapāṇi, / The Lord of Secrets, the Great Bodhisattva, / Who can expound the supreme vehicle…”
Amṛta-Kuṇḍalin is one of the Five Wisdom-Kings (五大明王) of the East Asian Esoteric pantheon, alongside Acala (centre), Trailokyavijaya (east), Yamāntaka (west), and Vajrayakṣa (north) — though variant orderings exist. He is iconographically a multi-armed wrathful figure with serpents wrapped around his arms (kuṇḍalī = “coiled serpent”), his name referring to the amṛta (immortality-nectar) that flows from the union of opposites, here ritualized as the union of compassion and wrath.
The body of the text gives the standard four-stage Esoteric vidhi:
- Offering (供養 gòngyǎng = pūjā) — the eight-fold offering of incense, flowers, lamps, perfume, water, food, music, and praise;
- Recitation (念誦 niànsòng = japa) — the mantra-cycle: root mantra, heart mantra, and the snake-controlling mantra specific to Kuṇḍalin;
- Visualization — Kuṇḍalin’s eight-armed wrathful form, his serpents, his weapons;
- Accomplishment (成就 chéngjiù = siddhi) — the practical attainments: protection from snakes and venomous creatures, deliverance from poisoning, longevity, and the deeper siddhi of seeing Amṛta-Kuṇḍalin face to face.
The dating bracket follows Amoghavajra’s translation activity at Cháng’ān (746–774).
Translations and research
- Goble, Geoffrey C. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019.
- Faure, Bernard. Protectors and Predators. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2016.
Links
- CBETA T21n1211
- Kanseki DB
- Wikipedia (Kuṇḍalin)
- 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.