Guānjīng biànxiàng jīngwén jìsòng 觀經變像經文偈頌
Verses for the Transformation Tableau of the Contemplation Sūtra anonymous Chinese composition; critical edition by 陳明光 (整理)
About the work
A long Buddhist biànwén 變文 (transformation-text) accompanying the Guānjīng biànxiàng 觀經變像 niche (Tableau of the Sūtra on the Contemplation of Amitāyus) at the Bǎodǐngshān 寶頂山, Dàzú — the Pure-Land biànxiàng niche on the northern cliff of Dàfówān 大佛灣. The text quotes the host sūtra (Fó shuō Guān wúliàngshòu fó jīng 佛說觀無量壽佛經, T12n0365) at the opening: “The Buddha said to Vaidehī: Dost thou not know? Amitābha is not far from this place; thou shouldst direct thy mindfulness, contemplating with care that pure land…” — and then expounds the Sixteen Visualisations (shíliù guān 十六觀).
Abstract
See KR6v0045 for the broader context. The Dàzú Guānjīng biàn is unprecedented in scale and content among surviving Chinese cave-temple Pure-Land tableaus. The most distinctive iconographic feature: where most other Chinese Pure-Land biànxiàng depict the Sixteen Visualisations through the figure of Vaidehī 韋提希夫人 alone, the Dàzú niche depicts sixteen different lay donor-figures of various social strata — male and female — each engaged in a different guān visualisation. Beside each figure, a 20-character jìsòng 偈頌 (verse) condenses the relevant scriptural passage from the Guān jīng. This format — sixteen-paired figure + sūtra-condensed verse — is unique in the surviving Chinese cave-temple corpus.
Translations and research
- See KR6v0045.
- Pas, Julian, Visions of Sukhāvatī: Shan-Tao’s Commentary on the Kuan Wu-Liang-Shou-Fo Ching (Albany: SUNY Press, 1995) — context on the Sixteen Visualisations tradition.
- Howard, Angela F., Summit of Treasures (2001) — iconographic analysis.