Editing Amoghavajra

{{Short description|8th century Buddhist monk}}
{{Distinguish|Amoghavarsha}}
[[File:Portrait of Amoghavajra, 14 century, National Museum, Tokyo.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Amoghavajra. Japan, [[Kamakura Period]] (14th century)]]
[[File:Kongokai.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Diamond Realm|Vajradhātu]] [[mandala|maṇḍala]] used in Amoghavajra's teachings from the ''{{IAST|Tattvasaṃgraha}}''.]]

'''Amoghavajra''' ({{langx|sa|अमोघवज्र}} {{IAST|Amoghavajra}}; {{CJKV|c=不空|p=Bùkōng|j=Fukū|v=Bất Không|k=불공}}, 705–774) was a prolific translator who became one of the most politically powerful [[Bhikkhu|Buddhist monks]] in [[History of China|Chinese history]] and is acknowledged as one of the Patriarchs of [[Chinese Esoteric Buddhism]] and [[Shingon Buddhism]].

==Life==
There are differing views as to where Amoghavajra's origins were from.<ref name="BrillEncyc">{{cite journal |last1=Goble |first1=Geoffrey |title=Amoghavajra |journal=Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online |date=2021 |doi=10.1163/2467-9666_enbo_COM_2087 |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/ENBO/COM-2087.xml|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Zhao Qian states that Amoghavajra was born in [[Samarkand]]<ref name="Lehnert"/> of an [[History of India|Indian]] merchant or [[Brahmin]] father as according to Feixis's Stele Inscription and a mother of [[Sogdia]]n origin.<ref name="Lehnert"/><ref name="Yang"/> Yan Ying referred to Amoghavajra simply as being "a person of the [[Western Regions]]".<ref name= "BrillEncyc" /> Alternatively, [[Quan Deyu]]'s image hall [[stele]] inscription states that Amoghavajra was from [[Sri Lanka]]. [[Yuanzhao]] also repeats the claim that Amoghavajra was from Sri Lanka.<ref name= "BrillEncyc" />

Amoghavajra went to China at age ten after his father's death. In 719, he was ordained into the [[Sangha (Buddhism)|sangha]] by [[Vajrabodhi]] 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, visiting [[Sri Lanka]], [[Indochina]] and [[India]]. During this voyage, he apparently met [[Nagabodhi]], Vajrabodhi's master, and studied the [[Tattvasaṃgraha 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 General [[Geshu Han]] of the [[Tang dynasty]], for whom he conducted large-scale tantric [[initiation]]s at his field headquarters. In 754, he translated the first portion of the Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra texts ([[Taishō Tripiṭaka]]. 865), central to the [[Outer 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 the [[An 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 emperor [[Emperor Suzong of Tang]] as a [[chakravartin]]. 

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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Acri  |first=Andrea |author-link= |date=2016  |title=Esoteric Buddhism in Mediaeval Maritime Asia: Networks of Masters, Texts, Icons|volume=27 of Nalanda-Sriwijaya series |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HV8DQAAQBAJ&dq=%22who+perceived+him+as+possessing+the+ability+to+ritually+bring+about+the+deaths+of+enemies+to+the+throne%22&pg=PA137 |location= |publisher=ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute|page=137 |isbn=978-9814695084}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sundberg  |first1=Jeffrey |date=2018  |title=Appreciation of Relics, Stupas, and Relic Stupas in Eighth Century Esoteric Buddhism: Taisho Tripitaka Texts and Archaeological Residues in Guhya Lanka_Part 2 |url=https://www.academia.edu/38669035 |journal=The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies |volume=19 |issue= |pages=211, 230 |doi= |access-date=}}</ref>

In 765, Amoghavajra used his new rendition of the [[Humane King Sutra]] in an elaborate ritual to counter the advance of a 200,000-strong army of [[Tibetan people|Tibetan]] and [[Uyghur people|Uyghurs]] which was poised to invade [[Chang'an]]. Its leader, [[Pugu Huai'en]], dropped dead in camp and his forces dispersed.

The opulent [[Jinge Temple]] on [[Mount Wutai]] was completed in 767, a pet project of Amoghavajra, one of his many efforts to promote the [[bodhisattva]] [[Manjusri|Mañjuśrī]] as the protector of China. Amoghavajra continued to perform rites to avert disaster at the request of [[Emperor Daizong of Tang]].

On his death in 774, three days of mourning were officially declared, and he posthumously received various exalted titles. The Chinese monks [[Huilang]], [[Huiguo]] and [[Huilin]]<ref name="Yang"/>{{rp|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.

==References==
{{reflist|2|refs=
<ref name="Lehnert">
{{Cite book
|last       = Lehnert
|first      = Martin
|year       = 2010
|title      = Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia
|publisher  = Brill
|page       = 351
|isbn       = 9789004204010
|url = https://brill.com/abstract/book/edcoll/9789004204010/Bej.9789004184916.i-1200_033.xml
}}
</ref>

<ref name="Yang">
{{Cite thesis
|last       = Yang
|first      = Zeng
|year       = 2010
|title      = A Biographical Study on Bukong 不空 (aka. Amoghavajra, 705-774) : Networks, Institutions, and Identities
|publisher  = University of British Columbia
|page       = 23
|doi      = 	10.14288/1.0363332
|url = https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0363332
}}
</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* Astley, Ian (1987). [http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/481/1/uk_bl_ethos_381018.pdf The Rishukyo, a translation and commentary in the light of modern Japanese scholarship], PhD thesis, The University of Leeds

==External links==
*[http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/ Digital Dictionary of Buddhism] (log in with userID "guest")
*[http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/1977 A review of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra and the Ruling Elite] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401181413/http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/1977 |date=2016-04-01 }}, by Geoffrey C. Goble
{{Buddhism topics}}
{{Notable foreigners who visited China}}
{{Chinese Buddhist Pantheon}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:8th-century Buddhist monks]]
[[Category:Chinese Buddhists]]
[[Category:Tang dynasty Buddhists]]
[[Category:705 births]]
[[Category:774 deaths]]
[[Category:Tang dynasty Buddhist monks]]
[[Category:Tang dynasty translators]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to China]]
[[Category:Shingon Buddhism]]
[[Category:Buddhist translators]]
[[Category:Vajrayana Buddhists]]
[[Category:8th-century translators]]
[[Category:Buddhist monks from the Western Regions]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–Chinese translators]]
[[Category:Buddhism in China]]