Píshāmén yíguǐ 毘沙門儀軌
Ritual Manual of Vaiśravaṇa by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric ritual manual on Vaiśravaṇa 毘沙門 by Amoghavajra (不空) — the third text of his Vaiśravaṇa cluster (KR6j0475–KR6j0478, T1247–T1250). Where KR6j0475 / KR6j0476 are specifically the suíjūn (army-accompanying) battlefield-protection material, this text presents the general ritual programme for Vaiśravaṇa worship — broader in scope, applicable to non-military as well as military contexts.
Abstract
The text expands beyond the suíjūn battlefield programme to give the full ritual repertoire for Vaiśravaṇa: the deity’s iconography in his various aspects (the standard armoured Lokapāla; the suíjūn battlefield form; the aspect with the small stupa in the right hand; the wealth-giving aspect carrying the mongoose); the maṇḍala-construction with the parivāra-deities (the yakṣa-generals subordinate to him); the abhiṣeka protocol; the various applied rites — for general state-protection, for personal protection, for wealth-acquisition (an important secondary function of Vaiśravaṇa as god of treasures and bestower of wealth), for illness-cure, and for the granting of siddhi. The text is the broadest of Amoghavajra’s four Vaiśravaṇa manuals and was probably the principal yíguǐ used for the deity’s worship at Tang court rituals not specifically tied to military campaigns. Date: Amoghavajra’s Chángān activity, 746–774.
Translations and research
- See KR6j0475.