Běidǒu qīxīng hùmó fǎ 北斗七星護摩法
Homa Method of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper attributed to 一行 (Yīxíng, 撰)
About the work
A one-fascicle Esoteric homa ritual-manual for the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper, ascribed to Yīxíng (一行, 683–727) but generally regarded as Pseudo-Yīxíng by modern scholarship. The full canonical title carries the gloss 複熾盛光法 (“also a Fierce Luminosity Method”), associating the rite with the Tejaprabha / Chìshèngguāng 熾盛光 cult of the Buddha-Sun-King (the radiant solar-Buddha protective form, T963/T964 cycle). It is a parallel and partial duplicate of KR6j0537 T1306 (anonymous / 不空 attributed), in less coherent ritual order — Kotyk (2018) has accordingly argued that T1310 is a Tang-Song compilation drawing on T1306, T1305, and the Pseudo-Yīxíng cycle.
Abstract
The text supplies a sequence of mudrās and Sanskrit-transliterated mantras for the homa fire-rite to the Seven Dipper Stars and their associated planetary deities. The opening Néngjíxiáng zhēnyán 能吉祥真言 (“All-Auspicious Mantra”) is followed in turn by:
- The Seven-Star mudrā (北斗七星印) — citing the Ātuómìjīng 阿陀蜜經 (probably a transliteration of Skt. Atimitra / Adhimitra, but the source has not been identified).
- Sun deity mudrā (日天印) — with mantra Oṃ amogha-śāya śatre svāhā.
- Moon deity mudrā (月天印) — with Oṃ candra-nakṣatra-rāja śatre svāhā.
- Mudrās for Mars (南方火星), Mercury (北方水天 — note the directional reversal: in this scheme Mercury is in the north, not Saturn as in the standard wǔxíng directional matching), Jupiter (東方木星), Venus (西方金星), and Saturn (中宮土星).
- The eight nakṣatra-circuit mudrās corresponding to the eight directions and the Big Dipper rotation.
- Concluding homa-fire visualisation instructions.
The mantras are given in late-Tang transcriptional style with double-Sanskrit elements (二合 èrhé conjunct-consonant marks), characteristic of the post-Bù-kōng generation of Tantric translators (良賁 Liángbì, 含光 Hán Guāng, etc.). Together with the Chìshèngguāng 熾盛光 sub-title, this places the text closer to the post-Bù-kōng late-Tang Esoteric milieu than to Yīxíng’s documented mid-Tang style.
The dating bracket (c. 750–900) reflects: a terminus a quo after Yīxíng’s death (727) and the Bùkōng/Yáng Jǐngfēng Xiùyàojīng recension (764); a terminus ad quem of the late-9th or 10th century, before the text entered the early Sòng catalogues. Like its companion KR6j0540 T1309, it belongs to the Pseudo-Yīxíng astrological cycle assembled in the late Tang and Five Dynasties period.
Translations and research
- Kotyk, Jeffrey. “Yixing and Pseudo-Yixing: A Misunderstood Astronomer-Monk.” Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies 31 (2018): 1–37.
- Osabe Kazuo 長部和雄. Tōdai mikkyō shi zakkō 唐代密教史雜考. Kobe shoka daigaku, 1971.
- Mollier, Christine. Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face. University of Hawai’i Press, 2008 — chapter 4 places T1310 in the Big-Dipper cult.
- Yano Michio. Mikkyō senseijutsu 密教占星術. Rev. ed., Tōyō shoin, 2013.
- Orzech, Charles D., and Henrik H. Sørensen, eds. Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Brill, 2011 — chapters on the Tejaprabha / Chì-shèng-guāng cult are directly relevant.
- Payne, Richard K. The Tantric Ritual of Japan: Feeding the Gods, the Shingon Fire Ritual. Aditya Prakashan, 1991 — for the homa apparatus continued in Shingon.