Jīngāng cuīsuì tuóluóní 金剛摧碎陀羅尼
The Vajra-Crushing Dhāraṇī
by 慈賢 (譯)
About the work
A short single-juan dhāraṇī translated by 慈賢 Cíxián (Skt. Maitrībhadra / Maitrīśrī; fl. mid-eleventh century), the Sòng Qìdān guóshī 宋契丹國師, “State Preceptor of the Sòng-Khitan”, a central-Indian (Magadha) translator-monk active first in the Liáo-Khitan and then in the Sòng dynasty. The translator-colophon — 宋契丹國師中天竺摩竭陀國三藏法師慈賢譯 — uniquely positions Cíxián within the Sòng/Liáo-Khitan diplomatic-cum-Buddhist nexus. The dating window 1004–1058 covers his attested translation activity, with the bulk falling in the 1030s–1050s. The Sanskrit Vajra-vidāraṇa-nāma-dhāraṇī is well-attested in extant Sanskrit and Tibetan canonical witnesses.
Abstract
The text is the bare vidyā. The opening homage runs: “Namo ratna-trayāya, namaś-Caṇḍa-Vajrapāṇaye, mahā-yakṣa-senā-pataye, tadyathā oṃ traṭa-ya traṭa-ya troṭ-ya troṭ-ya sphoṭa-sphoṭa sphoṭ-aya sphoṭ-aya gṛhṇa gṛhṇa gṛhṇāpaya gṛhṇāpaya sarva-sattva-ni bodhaya bodhaya saṃ-bodhaya saṃ-bodhaya brama saṃ-brama saṃ-brama sarva-bhūta-ni kuṭa kuṭa saṃ-kuṭa-ya saṃ-kuṭa-ya sarva-śatru gha-ṭa gha-ṭa saṃ-gha…” — a wrathful vajra-vidāraṇa spell summoning Caṇḍa-Vajrapāṇi to crush demonic foes, awaken beings, enlighten bhūta-classes, and pulverise enemies. The Vajra-vidāraṇī-dhāraṇī is one of the most widely-used wrathful vidyā texts in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, regularly chanted for protection in tantric liturgy. Cíxián’s translation, made under Sòng / Liáo-Khitan patronage, is a key Chinese textual witness independent of the better-known Táng Tantric translations.
Translations and research
- Lin Wei-cheng 林韋成. “Cíxián de fānyì shìyè jí qí shídài bèijǐng” 慈賢的翻譯事業及其時代背景, in Tang–Song Esoteric Buddhism studies — for Cíxián’s role in the Liáo / Sòng transmission of late Indian Tantric vidyā texts.
- Davidson, Ronald M. “Studies in Dhāraṇī Literature III: Seeking the Parameters of a Dhāraṇī-piṭaka,” in R. K. Payne (ed.), Tantric Buddhism in East Asia, Boston: Wisdom, 2006. — for the vajra-vidāraṇī tradition.