Vajradhvajapariṇāmanā/Full text
The Vajradhvajapariṇāmanā (VdhP) has been characterized as a summary of the similarly titled sūtra, the chapter or, better, component text of the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra which is quoted at such length in Śāntideva's Śikṣāsamuccaya.[4] This lengthy sūtra does in fact seem to have been an important source for Śāntideva. Whether the 12 (Sanskrit) or 16 (Tibetan) verses of the VdhP, however, can be accurately characterized as a summary of it is somewhat doubtful, although they clearly reference the sūtra's main character, the bodhisattva Vajradhvaja, and recapitulate a number of its themes, including its leitmotif of the dedication of merit and its invocation of Samantabhadra and his practice. This immediately suggests a connection with the well-known Bhadracaryāpraṇidhāna or (Samanta)bhadracarīpraṇidhāna—the text goes by various names—a connection explicitly acknowledged by Śāntideva, who refers to it as the Bhadracaryāgāthā.[5] Like that longer, more popular verse text, which closes the Gaṇḍavyūha and thus the Buddhāvataṃsaka as a whole, the VdhP, i.e. the short poem, offers much more than its title might suggest, but contains in a condensed form most of the basic elements of the ritual sequence known as the Supreme Worship (anuttarapūjā): praise or paying of homage (vandanā), confession of misdeeds (pāpadeśanā), rejoicing in merit (modanā, anumodanā), requesting or exhortation to teach (adhyeṣanā), entreaty to the Buddhas to remain for the benefit of the world (yācanā), and aspiration to awakening (bodhicittotpāda), as well as dedication of merit (puṇyapariṇāmanā). We can understand it, therefore, as a conveniently short but nevertheless comprehensive expression of a key Mahāyāna Buddhist ritual programme. (Harrison, "The Vajradhvajapariṇāmanā: An Edition and Translation of the Tibetan Version," 158–59)
| Reference | Vajradhvajapariṇāmanā [वज्रध्वजपरिणामना]. rdo rje rgyal mtshan gyi yongs su bsngo ba [རྡོ་རྗེ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་གྱི་ཡོངས་སུ་བསྔོ་བ།]. [The Noble Dedication of Merit of Vajradhvaja]. Kangyur, RKTSK 856 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=856&typ=1. |
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