Amoghavajra (Sanskrit:अमोघवज्रAmoghavajra;Chinese:不空; pinyin:Bùkōng; Japanese:Fukū; Korean:불공; Vietnamese:Bất Không, 705–774) was a prolific translator who became one of the most politically powerfulBuddhist monks inChinese history and is acknowledged as one of the Patriarchs ofChinese Esoteric Buddhism andShingon Buddhism.
There are differing views as to where Amoghavajra's origins were from.[1]Zhao Qian states that Amoghavajra was born inSamarkand[2] of anIndian merchant orBrahmin father as according to Feixis's Stele Inscription and a mother ofSogdian origin.[2][3] Yan Ying referred to Amoghavajra simply as being "a person of theWestern Regions".[1] Alternatively,Quan Deyu's image hallstele inscription states that Amoghavajra was fromSri Lanka.Yuanzhao also repeats the claim that Amoghavajra was from Sri Lanka.[1]
Amoghavajra went to China at age ten after his father's death. In 719, he was ordained into thesangha byVajrabodhi and became his disciple. After all foreign monks were expelled from China in 741, he and some associates went on a pilgrimage to gather texts, visitingSri Lanka,Indochina andIndia. During this voyage, he apparently metNagabodhi, Vajrabodhi's master, and studied theTattvasaṃgraha Tantra at length. He returned to China in 746 with some five hundred volumes gathered from Sri Lanka.
In 750, he left the court to join the military governorship of GeneralGeshu Han of theTang dynasty, for whom he conducted large-scale tantricinitiations at his field headquarters. In 754, he translated the first portion of the Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra texts (Taishō Tripiṭaka. 865), central to theOuter Tantras of Vajrayana Buddhism, which became one of his most significant accomplishments. He regarded its teachings as the most effective method for attaining enlightenment yet devised, and incorporated its basic schema in several writings.
Amoghavajra was captured during theAn Lushan Rebellion but in 757 was freed by loyalist forces, whereupon he performed rites to purify the capital and consolidate the security of the Tang state. Two years later, he initiated the emperorEmperor Suzong of Tang as achakravartin.
Amoghavajra assisted the Tang dynasty state against the An Lushan rebellion. He carried out Vajrayana rituals which were ostensibly effective in supernaturally attacking and destroying An Lushan's army including the death of one of An Lushan's generals, Zhou Zhiguang.[4][5]
In 765, Amoghavajra used his new rendition of theHumane King Sutra in an elaborate ritual to counter the advance of a 200,000-strong army ofTibetan andUyghurs which was poised to invadeChang'an. Its leader,Pugu Huai'en, dropped dead in camp and his forces dispersed.
The opulentJinge Temple onMount Wutai was completed in 767, a pet project of Amoghavajra, one of his many efforts to promote thebodhisattvaMañjuśrī as the protector of China. Amoghavajra continued to perform rites to avert disaster at the request ofEmperor Daizong of Tang.
On his death in 774, three days of mourning were officially declared, and he posthumously received various exalted titles. The Chinese monksHuilang,Huiguo andHuilin[3]: 145, 147, 274 were among his most prominent successors. Seventy-seven texts were translated by Amoghavajra according to his own account, though many more, including original compositions, are ascribed to him in the Chinese canons.
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