Mòlìzhī típó huāmán jīng 末利支提婆華鬘經
Garland Sūtra of Mārīcī-devī (Skt. Mārīcī-dhāraṇī-sūtra) by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric scripture on Mārīcī-devī 末利支提婆 (Skt. Mārīcī, “Ray of Light”) — the goddess of the dawn-light who is invisible and unstoppable, prayed to for invisibility, protection on the road, and victory — translated by Amoghavajra (不空). This is the first text of the Mārīcī cluster in the Taishō (KR6j0483–KR6j0489, T1254–T1259), and it serves as the principal scriptural exposition of the goddess in the Tang Esoteric repertoire. Sanskrit affiliation in canwww: Mārīcī-dhāraṇī-sūtra. Alternate title 末利支華鬘經. Korean Tripiṭaka K1377; Zhōnghuá H1511; Nanjio 0845.
Abstract
The framing-narrative develops the goddess’s mythology: Mārīcī rides ahead of the sun, invisible and unstoppable, and accordingly grants her devotees the power to be unseen by enemies and to travel safely across hostile territory. The body of the text gives: her iconography (typically a beautiful goddess seated on a chariot drawn by seven boars, often with multiple arms holding bow, arrow, vajra, and sūcī needle); the dhāraṇī (transliterated Sanskrit); the rite for its recitation; and the anuśaṃsā catalogue (invisibility, protection on the road, escape from enemies, victory in conflict). The huāmán 華鬘 (“flower-garland”) of the title denotes the ritual offering of flower-garlands appropriate to the goddess.
The Mārīcī cult, transmitted through Amoghavajra and his successors to Heian Japan, became foundational for the Japanese Marishi-ten 摩利支天 cult — invoked by samurai for invisibility and victory in battle, and an important deity of the medieval bushidō military religious culture. Date: Amoghavajra’s Chángān activity, 746–774.
Translations and research
- Hall, David A. The Buddhist Goddess Marishiten: A Study of the Evolution and Impact of Her Cult on the Japanese Warrior. Leiden: Brill, 2014. (Comprehensive English-language monograph on the Mārīcī cult and its East-Asian reception.)
- Goble, Geoffrey C. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019.