Fó shuō Bǎozàngshén dàmíng mànnáluó yíguǐ jīng 佛說寶藏神大明曼拏羅儀軌經
Sūtra of the Great-Mantra Maṇḍala Ritual Manual of the Treasure-Treasury Spirit, Spoken by the Buddha by 法天 (Fǎtiān, Dharmadeva, 譯)
About the work
A two-fascicle Esoteric ritual scripture (儀軌經) translated by Dharmadeva (法天, d. 1001), one of the three principal translators of the early Sòng Institute for the Translation of Sūtras (譯經院). The deity is Bǎo-zàng-shén 寶藏神 (Skt. Jambhala, the Tantric Buddhist wealth-deity, derived from but distinct from Vaiśravaṇa / 毘沙門), reconstructed by Édouard Huber, F. W. Thomas and others as the Jambhalajalendra-yathālabdha-kalpa. The text is the principal Tang–Sòng canonical witness for the Jambhala-maṇḍala rite in Chinese.
Abstract
The opening frame: the Buddha is in the country of Laṅkā 楞伽國, attended by King Vibhīṣaṇa-Rākṣasa (尾鼻瑟拏羅叉王 Vibhīṣaṇa-rākṣasa) and King Candra-Sena Rākṣasa (月軍羅叉王), all of whom have attained the irreversible stage in the Buddha-dharma, together with great-virtue bodhisattvas. The Buddha exercises his supernatural power to ascend to the Vairambhaka 吠覽婆 wind-realm and descend to seat himself beneath a nimbatree (曩尼嚕閉祖摩里那 / nimba tree) of the wind-realm. The Treasure-Treasury Spirit Jambhala then arrives, attended by yakṣa-kings, asura-kings, the nāga-king Mucilinda (母唧隷那), the five-knot gandharva-prince, the rākṣasa-king Kīlakīla, and the five-knot kiṃnara-king, requesting the Buddha to expound the great-mantra maṇḍala rite.
The body of the scripture (in two fascicles) gives:
- the mantras of Jambhala and his retinue, including the great-light-mantra (大明 mahāvidyā);
- the maṇḍala layout for the rite — a Jambhala-mandala of geometric design with the wealth-deity in the centre and the yakṣa, gandharva, kiṃnara, and other retinue in the outer enclosures;
- the procedure for abhiṣeka (灌頂) and consecration of the practitioner;
- the homa (護摩) procedures for the four operative aims (śāntika, pauṣṭika, vaśīkaraṇa, abhicāra);
- the catalogue of anuśaṃsā — wealth, treasure, abundant grain, gold-and-silver, the seven precious things, and protection against illness, demonic affliction, and obstacles.
The dating bracket follows Dharmadeva’s tenure at the Translation Institute: he was installed as one of the three principal translators in TàipíngXīngguó 7 (982) under Sòng Tàizōng, was given the purple robe and the title Chuánjiào dàshī 傳教大師 (“Master Who Transmits the Teaching”), and continued translating until his death in Xiánpíng 4 (1001). This text and its companion KR6j0515 (T1284) appear to render parallel Sanskrit recensions of the same Jambhala-cycle source.
Translations and research
- Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh. The Indian Buddhist Iconography. 2nd ed. Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1958 — Jambhala iconography.
- Misaki Ryōshū 三崎良周. Taimitsu no kenkyū 台密の研究. Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1988 — for the East Asian Esoteric wealth-deity cult.
- Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003 — context for the Sòng Institute for the Translation of Sūtras and Dharmadeva’s translation programme.
- Jan Yün-hua. “Buddhist Relations between India and Sung China.” History of Religions 6, no. 1 (1966): 24–42 and no. 2 (1966): 135–168.