ད་བཞན་གཤགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱ་གཙག་ཏར་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས་རྟག་པ་དང་བཅས་པ intro.7

intro.7

The primary uṣṇīṣavijayā text (Toh 597) was first translated into Chinese by Buddhapāli in the late seventh century, and then at least five times subsequently.⁶ Several ritual manuals for the dhāraṇī’s recitation were also translated into Chinese,⁷ including the present text, which was translated into Chinese by Dharmadeva between 973 and 981 and is found in the Chinese canonical collection as Taishō 978.⁸ The primary uṣṇīṣavijayā text was significant in East Asia, and one scholar has even identified it as the most important esoteric Buddhist scripture translated into Chinese in the seventh century.⁹ Practices connected with the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī were important in China, in particular in conjunction with funerary rites, where the dhāraṇī was written on pillars near tombs, especially from the mid-Tang to Ming dynasties (ca. 800–1600 ce).¹⁰ In addition to its ritual uses, in China this dhāraṇī receives mention in poems and tales of miracles and is analyzed in philosophical commentaries.¹¹