Shèng Wúnéngshèng jīngāng huǒ tuóluóní jīng 聖無能勝金剛火陀羅尼經
Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī of the Holy Invincible Vajra-Fire by 法天 (Fǎtiān, Dharmadeva, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle dhāraṇī-sūtra translated by Fǎtiān (法天) at the early Sòng Institute for Sūtra Translation in Kāifēng. This is the fourth and final text of his Aparājita cluster (KR6j0461–KR6j0464, T1233–T1236), and it shifts the focus from the Aparājita-Vidyārāja proper to the cognate Aparājita-Vajra-Fire 無能勝金剛火 — the deity’s wrathful fire-emanation associated with homa (burnt-offering) rites. Korean Tripiṭaka K1157; Zhōnghuá H1267; Nanjio 0833.
Abstract
The text expounds the dhāraṇī of the Holy Aparājita-Vajra-Fire together with its specifically homa-oriented rite — the sacrificial fire being the principal vehicle of the deity’s protective and destructive powers. The narrative-frame names the practitioner’s situation (battle, threat, demonic affliction); the mantra-power is held to manifest as a flame that consumes hostile forces and protects the practitioner. This is the fire-aspect counterpart to the vidyā-aspect mantra of T1233–T1235, completing the Aparājita ritual repertoire that Fǎtiān transmitted into Sòng Sinitic Esoteric practice. Date: Fǎtiān’s Kāifēng activity, 980–1001.
Translations and research
- See KR6j0461.