Běifāng Píshāmén tiānwáng suíjūn hùfǎ zhēnyán 北方毘沙門天王隨軍護法真言
Mantra of the Northern Heavenly King Vaiśravaṇa Accompanying the Army to Protect the Dharma by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric mantra-text by Amoghavajra (不空), the second of his four-text Vaiśravaṇa state-protection cluster (KR6j0475–KR6j0478, T1247–T1250). Where the preceding text KR6j0475 is the full yíguǐ 儀軌 (ritual manual), this T1248 is the zhēnyán 真言 (mantra-only) abbreviated counterpart — the bare protective mantra together with the briefest instructions on its battlefield deployment.
Abstract
The text gives the suíjūn hùfǎ zhēnyán in transliterated Sanskrit, with brief notes on use: the mantra to be recited by ritual specialists accompanying the imperial armies on campaign, on behalf of the huguó 護國 (“state protection”) programme that constituted Amoghavajra’s chief institutional contribution to Tang Buddhism. As an abbreviated practitioner’s manual it complements KR6j0475 (T1247) and was likely intended for portable battlefield use. Date: Amoghavajra’s Chángān activity, 746–774.
Translations and research
- See KR6j0475.