Zhǔntí xīnyào 準提心要
Heart-Essentials of the Cuṇḍā Practice by 堯挺 Yáotǐng (撰)
About the work
A one-fascicle (1卷) lay-Buddhist devotional handbook on the Cuṇḍā (Zhǔntí 準提) dhāraṇī practice, by the late-Wànlì Mǐnzhōng (Fújiàn) lay-Buddhist 堯挺 Shī Yáotǐng 施堯挺. Preserved as X59 no. 1078 in the Xùzàngjīng.
Prefaces
The opening Kè Zhǔntí xīnyào xù 刻準提心要序 frames the Cuṇḍā dhāraṇī within Mahāyāna soteriology: “All bodhisattvas’ virtues are inconceivable; how much more so the so-called seven-koṭi-buddha-mother. All zǒngchí (dhāraṇī) merits are immeasurable; how much more so the king of dhāraṇīs. Therefore those who recollect the Zhǔntí Wáng 準提王 (the Cuṇḍā King) speedily extinguish the four heavy [transgressions] and the five reverse [acts]; those who hold its dhāraṇī suddenly produce samādhi and prajñā; eradicating the bad and producing the good — its function is most efficacious.” The author dedicates the work to his “uncle-master Chángshòu — Xiāng fǎshī” 師伯長壽香法師, who had practiced the Cuṇḍā dhāraṇī for years and showed him the manual; the editor undertook to add national-language (guóxùn 國訓) annotations and have it cut for printing. The principal preface is dated Tiānyùn rénzǐ 壬子, zhǎngzhì rì 長至日 = winter solstice 1612 (Wànlì 40); an editorial supplement is dated 癸丑 = 1613 (Wànlì 41).
Abstract
The Xīnyào is a relatively concise practical handbook for the Cuṇḍā dhāraṇī liturgy: it gathers the essential dhāraṇī, the visualization sequence, the eighteen-arm bodily-signs (shíbā bì zhōng fǎwù 十八臂中法物), and the mudrā (印) protocols for the practitioner. The author records that the standard images of the Cuṇḍā eighteen arms and their attributes vary across local traditions, and provides his own systematic enumeration. Composition: 1612–1613.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.