Huìjī jīngāng jìn bǎibiàn fǎ jīng 穢跡金剛禁百變法經
Sūtra of the Hundred-Transformations Prohibition Method of Ucchuṣma-Vajra by 阿質達霰 (Āzhìdáxiàn, Ajitasena, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric ritual manual on Ucchuṣma-Vajra 穢跡金剛 (“Filth-Tracks Vajra”), translated by Ajitasena (阿質達霰) at Ānxī during the Kāiyuán reign. This is the second of his two short Huìjī-Vajra manuals (the first being KR6j0456, T1228), and the third of his three Ucchuṣma-cycle translations (the principal scripture being KR6j0455, T1227). Korean Tripiṭaka K1264; Nanjio 0967. The alternate title is 穢跡百變法門經.
Abstract
The “hundred-transformations” (百變) of the title refers to the spectrum of demonic and evil transformations that Ucchuṣma-Vajra’s mantra is held to prohibit / arrest (禁) — the text is essentially an applied-exorcism manual. After the framing-narrative, in which Ucchuṣma rises in the assembly to expound his rite, the body of the text catalogues a great range of transformations — illness-spirits, possessing spirits, deceptive ghosts, poisonous animals, hostile sorcerers — together with the corresponding jìnfǎ 禁法 (“prohibiting / restraining methods”) that are to be applied. Each item gives the relevant mantra-verse, the mudrā, and the visualisation; many also specify ritual implements and offerings.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T21N1229) records two minor sub-units in the Korean Tripiṭaka witness:
- Pǐnmíng quē 品名闕 (chapter title missing; the unnamed opening section)
- Yìnfǎ 印法 (Mudrā-Methods)
These are not chapter-divisions in the modern sense; rather they reflect the editorial perception that the second part of the text is a self-contained mudrā-and-mantra appendix.
The dating bracket follows Ajitasena’s Kāiyuán-era activity at Ānxī (713–741).
Translations and research
- Strickmann, Michel. Mantras et mandarins: le bouddhisme tantrique en Chine. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.
- Mollier, Christine. Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2008.