Sadhanamala: Avalokitesvara Section

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The Sadhanamala (SM) is one of the most important materials for the study of visualization of Tantric Buddhist deities. B. Bhattacharyya edited the SM in 1925 (Vol. 1) and 1928 (Vol. 11). Since then, his edition has been regarded as the standard edition of the SM. Although there are about forty manuscripts of the SM around the world, the edition is based on the only eight which were available in those days. The book, Sadhanamala: the Ava1okitcvara Section Sanskrit and Tibetan Texts, aims at providing a critical edition of the SM by using manuscripts not employed in the Bhattacharyya edition.

This volume, Asian Iconography Series III, includes the sadhanas of Avalokitesvara. Sadhana is a religious practice of visualizing a deity. Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is one of the most popular Buddhist deities in Asian countries, such as India, Tibet, Nepal, China and Japan. The Bodhisattva has been worshipped as a symbol of compassion by non-Tantric and Tantric Buddhists from laymen to educated monks.

Tibetan translations of the SM have been regarded as the authoritative sadhana collections in Tibetan Buddhism. For example, the Sakya pa chapter of the Grub mtha’ sel gyi me lon (A Crystal Mirror of Systematic Doctrines), which was written by Thu’u bkwan Blo bzan chos kyi ni ma (AD. 1737-1802), refers to one of the translations of the SM: sGrub thabs rgya mtsho. This Tibetan translation is mentioned as one of the basic instructions of the Sakya sect. We should not overlook that a study of the SM also has great importance to Tibetan Buddhism.

Ruriko Sakuma (D. Litt., Nagoya University, Japan [2001] is research fellow at the Eastern Institute, Inc., Tokyo, Japan. She teaches Sanskrit at Aichibunkyo University, Komaki, Japan. Her publications include “Lokesvara Images Preserved at the Nepalese Buddhist Temple Caturbrahma Mahavihara in Bhaktapur” (Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism: Sambhasa 14 [1993] and “Sanskrit Manuscripts of the Sadhanamala” (Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism: Samhasa 21 [2001].

The Sadhanamala (SM) is one of the most important materials for the study of visualization of Tantric Buddhist deities. B. Bhattacharyya edited the SM in 1925 (Vol. I) and 1928 (Vol. II). Since then, his edition has been regarded as the standard edition of the SM Although there are about forty manuscripts of the SM around the world, the edition is based on the only eight which were available in those days. The present work aims at providing a critical edition of the SM by using manuscripts not employed in the Bhattacharyya edition.

This volume, Asian Iconography Series III, includes the sadhanas of Avalokitesvara. Sadhana is a religious practice of visualizing a deity. Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is one of the most popular Buddhist deities in Asian countries, such as India, Tibet, Nepal, China and Japan. The Bodhisattva has been worshipped as a symbol of compassion by non-Tantric and Tantric Buddhists from laymen to educated monks.

Tibetan translations of the SM have been regarded as the authoritative sadhana collections in Tibetan Buddhism. For example, the Sakya pa chapter of the Grub mtha’ sel gyi me lon (A Crystal Mirror of Systematic Doctrines), which was written by Thu’u bkwan Blo bzan chos kyi ni ma (A.D.1737-1802), refers to one of the translations of the SM: scrub thabs rgya mtsho. This Tibetan translation is mentioned as one of the basic instructions of the Sakya sect. We should not overlook that a study of the SM also has great importance to Tibetan Buddhism.

This work is part of my doctoral dissertation submitted to Nagoya University, Japan. Jam grateful to have been awarded Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists: no. 09710014, 1997-1998 (The Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan) for a study on the Avalokitesvara section of the SM. My special thanks are due to Prof. Junsho Kato (Nagoya University, Japan), Prof. Toshihiro Wada (Nagoya University, Japan) and Prof. Musashi Tachikawa (National Museum of Ethnology, Japan), who have encouraged me to accomplish my dissertation. I also wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Fujio Taniguchi (Nagoya Women’s University) and Prof. Gudrun Buhnemann (Wisconsin University, U.S.A.) for helpful suggestions.