Empowered by Mañjuvajra: A Study of the abhiṣeka Section of Dīpaṃkarabhadra’s *Guhyasamājamaṇḍalavidhi and its Commentary by Ratnākaraśānti

Abstract

The present study examines the abhiṣeka (initiation) section of Dīpaṃkarabhadra’s *Guhyasamājamaṇḍalavidhi, an influential ninth-century Buddhist tantric ritual text which belongs to the Jñānapāda school of Guhyasamāja exegesis, and Ratnākaraśānti’s commentary thereon (eleventh century). The importance of Dīpaṃkarabhadra’s *Guhyasamājamaṇḍalavidhi and Ratnākaraśānti’s commentary is reflected by the fact that they were widely studied and quoted extensively by the late eleventh and early twelfth-century Indian master Abhayākaragupta and the fourteenth-century Tibetan scholar-monk Tsong-kha-pa in his sNgags rim chen mo. We can safely say that Dīpaṃkarabhadra’s *Guhyasamājamaṇḍalavidhi is influential until today through the sNgags rim chen mo.

The study begins with an introduction, followed by a study on the history of the texts, such as the dates, lives and works of Dīpaṃkarabhadra and Ratnākaraśānti, and the transmission of both Dīpaṃkarabhadra’s root text and Ratnākaraśānti’s commentary in India and Tibet. Special attention is also given to the Yogācāra ideas found in Ratnākaraśānti’s commentary.

The main part of the study consists of critical editions and an annotated English translation. By making use of the newly discovered second Sanskrit manuscript of Dīpaṃkarabhadra’s root text, I produce here a new critical edition of the abhiṣeka section in Sanskrit, together with its Tibetan translation (making use of two extra-canonical Tibetan editions). The study also includes a critical edition of the Tibetan translation of the corresponding portion of Ratnākaraśānti’s commentary. The critical editions are preceded by a detailed description of manuscripts and editions used, and a detailed discussion on Sanskrit-Tibetan textual criticism.

Attached as appendices are selected passages from *Vaidyapāda’s commentary on Dīpaṃkarabhadra’s root text, and selected passages from Abhayākaragupta’s Vajrāvalī.