Dàjīngāng Miàogāoshān lóugé tuóluóní 大金剛妙高山樓閣陀羅尼
The Great Vajra Sumeru-Pavilion Dhāraṇī
by 施護 (譯)
About the work
A short single-juan dhāraṇī translated at the Sòng 譯經院 by 施護 Shīhù (Dānapāla, d. 1017). CANWWW restores the Sanskrit title as Mahā-vajra-meru-śikhara-kūśikhara-dhāraṇī. CANWWW alt-title 妙高山樓閣陀羅尼經. Miàogāoshān 妙高山 = Skt. Sumeru (the cosmic central mountain), lóugé 樓閣 = kūṭāgāra (jewelled-pavilion / pinnacled hall) — the vidyā invokes the cosmic Sumeru-vajra-pavilion of esoteric Buddhist iconography.
Abstract
The text consists chiefly of the vidyā itself, preceded by a long compound refuge: homage to the Three Jewels, to all Buddhas and bodhisattvas, to the wrathful Caṇḍa-Vajrapāṇi mahā-yakṣa-senāpati and his retinue (Vajrāyudha-rāja, Vajra-śaṅkara-rāja, Vajra-saṃghara-related figures, etc.). The dhāraṇī opens namo ratna-trayāya, namaḥ sarva-buddha-bodhisattvebhyaḥ, athāto vajra-krodha-vidyā-rāja-namaḥ-svayaṃ-namo buddhāya, namo dharmāya, namaḥ saṅghāya, namaḥ saptebhyaḥ samyaksaṃbuddhebhyaḥ saśrāvaka-bodhisattva-saṅghebhyaḥ, namaḥ-Caṇḍa-Vajrapāṇaye Mahāyakṣa-senāpataye, namo Vajrāyudha-koś-vidyā-rājāya, namo Vajra-śaṅkarāya, namo Vajra-saṃghāya…. The text exemplifies the late-tenth-century Indian-Sòng Buddhist vidyādhara-pavilion-cosmology where vajra-class deities are summoned by name in graded sequence around the cosmic Sumeru-axis. Recorded in the Dàzhōngxiángfú fǎbǎo lù; Nanjio N0842.
Translations and research
For the vajra-meru-śikhara-kūṭāgāra iconography:
- Linrothe, Rob. Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art. London: Serindia, 1999.
- Snellgrove, David L. Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. London: Serindia, 1987.