Painting of Vajrabodhi. Japan, Kamakura Period (14th century)

Vajrabodhi (Sanskrit: वज्रबोधि, Chinese: 金剛智; pinyin: Jīngāng Zhì, 671–741) was an Indian esoteric Buddhist monk and teacher in Tang China. He is one of the eight patriarchs in Shingon Buddhism. He is notable for introducing Vajrayana Buddhism in the territories of the Srivijaya Empire which subsequently evolved into a distinct form known as Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism.[1]

Biography

Vajrabodhi was the second of three Vajrayana missionaries to eighth-century China. He was a son of a Tamil aristocrat family.[2] Vajrabodhi probably converted to Buddhism at the age of sixteen, although some accounts place him at the Buddhist institution of Nālandā at the age of ten.[3]

He studied all varieties of Buddhism and was said to have studied for a time under the famous Buddhist logician Dharmakīrti. Under Santijnana, Vajrabodhi studied Vajrayāna teachings and was duly initiated into yoga.

Leaving Agastya Mala of the Pothigai mountain range of India, Vajrabodhi traveled to Sri Lanka and Sriwijaya (present-day Palembang in the south of Sumatra Island, Indonesia), where he apparently was taught a Vajrayāna tradition distinct from that taught at Nālandā. This Tamraparniyan route had been traversed by several scholars prior, and mirrored the reach of Agastya. From Srivijaya he sailed to China via the escort of thirty-five Persian merchant-vessels,[4] and by AD 720 was ensconced in the Jianfu Temple at the Chinese capital, Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). Accompanying him was his soon-to-be-famous disciple, Amoghavajra.

Like Subhakarasimha, who preceded him by four years, Vajrabodhi spent most of his time in ritual activity, in translating texts from Sanskrit to Chinese, and in the production of Esoteric art. Particularly important was his partial translation of the Sarvatathāgatatattvasagraha between the years 723 and 724. This Yoga Tantra - along with the Mahāvairocana Sutra, translated by Subhakarasimha the same year - provides the foundation of the Zhenyan school in China and the Shingon and Esoteric branch of the Tendai school in Japan. Like Subhakarasimha, Vajrabodhi had ties to high court circles and enjoyed the patronage of imperial princesses; he also taught Korean monk Hyecho; who went on to travel India and Umayyad Persia. Vajrabodhi died in 741 and was buried south of the Longmen Grottoes. He was posthumously awarded the title Guoshi ("Teacher of the Realm").

References

  1. ↑ Krishnan, Gauri Parimoo (2016). Nalanda, Srivijaya and Beyond: Re-exploring Buddhist Art in Asia. Asian Civilisations Museum and University of Hawaii Press. p. 192. ISBN 9789810999124.
  2. ↑ Cho, Yi-Liang (2006). Tantrism in China. In: Payne, Richard, K. "Tantric Buddhism in East Asia", Wisdom Publications, pp.47-51.
  3. ↑ Lowe, Roy (2016). The Origins of Higher Learning: Knowledge networks and the early development of universities. Routledge. p. 70. ISBN 9781317543275.
  4. ↑ Iranian cultural impact on south-east Asia

Bibliography

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