Mìzhòu yuányīn wǎngshēng jí 密呪圓因往生集
Compendium of the Perfectly-Caused Rebirth-by-Secret-Dhāraṇī by 智廣 (等集)
About the work
A one-fascicle (1卷) Western Xià dhāraṇī-compilation for the practice of wǎngshēng 往生 (Pure Land rebirth), compiled (biānjí 編集) by the Western Xià monks Zhìguǎng 智廣 and Huìzhēn 慧真. Preserved as T46 no. 1956 in the Taishō. The catalog meta names only Zhìguǎng (with the function-marker děngjí 等集 = “and others compiled”); the source colophons explicitly name both Zhìguǎng and Huìzhēn as co-compilers. The Zhìguǎng of this work is not the Tang-dynasty Xītán zìjì author (DILA A010624) but a different Western Xià namesake (DILA A001291).
Prefaces
The opening Mìzhòu yuányīn wǎngshēng jí xù 密呪圓因往生集序 is by the Western Xià Counselor of the Secretariat-Chancellery zhōngshūxiāng 中書相 賀宗壽 Hè Zōngshòu and dated Dàxià Tiānqìng 7, gēngshēn 庚申, mid-autumn full-moon-day = 24 August 1200. The preface frames the doctrinal context: “the zǒngchí 總持 has no script — it transcends layered profundity outside transformation; secret expressions have form — disclosing great function within the realm.” It surveys the soteriological power of dhāraṇī recitation: “carrying it through, it penetrates the mind in the present recollection; reciting it, it extinguishes accumulations from this life … releasing the three triple-asaṃkheya kalpas in an instant, the wǔzhì 五智 (five wisdoms) become manifest; rounding the liùdù 六度 (six perfections) in a kṣaṇa (instant), the shíshēn 十身 (ten-body buddha-state) is fully attained.” Hè Zōngshòu records that he was struck by long illness, and during his treatment turned to the Buddhist secret-canon; the Yuányīn compilation is the result, undertaken with the support of the two compiler-monks Zhìguǎng and Huìzhēn.
Abstract
The Mìzhòu yuányīn wǎngshēng jí is a compendium of dhāraṇīs ordered for the soteriological purpose of wǎngshēng (rebirth in Sukhāvatī, the Pure Land of Amitābha), prefaced and dated by the Western Xià court counselor Hè Zōngshòu in 1200 CE. The work is one of the most important surviving Western Xià Buddhist texts and reflects the distinctive Western Xià Buddhist culture’s Tibetan-Chinese synthesis: dhāraṇī-and-vidyāmantra practice in the Vajrayāna mode is combined with the Pure Land devotional framework characteristic of Sòng-period Chinese Buddhism. The text passed through the Yuán dynasty into the Sòng-Yuán Yánshèng canon and ultimately into the Taishō. Composition: Western Xià, c. 1190–1200.
Translations and research
- Ruth Dunnell, The Great State of White and High: Buddhism and State Formation in Eleventh-Century Xia (University of Hawaii Press, 1996) — discusses Western Xià Buddhism extensively.
- Solonin, K. J., “The Buddhist Tradition of Xixia (Western Xia) — A Synopsis,” Tang Studies 17 (2006) — overview of the Western Xià Buddhist textual corpus.
Other points of interest
The work is one of relatively few Western Xià Buddhist texts to enter the standard Chinese canonical tradition; most Western Xià Buddhist literature was lost or remained in Tangut-language Khara-Khoto manuscripts. The 1200 CE preface gives the work a precise terminus.