Mantra of Light

The Mantra of Light (Japanese: kōmyō shingon, 光明真言, pinyin: guangming zhenyan; Sanskrit: prabhāsa-mantra) is a Buddhist mantra associated with Amoghapāśa, which is important in various sects of Japanese Buddhism, including inShingon, Tendai, Kegon and Zen. The mantra also has various other names including the Mantra of the Light of Great Consecration (Ch: 大灌頂光真言), Mantra of Amoghapāśa (Unfailing Noose), Heart essence of Amoghapāśa (skt. amoghapāśahṛdaya) and Unfailing King (Amogharāja).
The mantra is found in the Amoghapāśa-kalparāja-sūtra (Chinese translation at Taisho no. 1092 and Korean Buddhist Canon no. K.287, translated by Bodhiruci) as well as in the Sutra of the Mantra of the Unfailing Rope Snare of the Buddha Vairocana's Great Baptism (不空羂索毘盧遮那佛大灌頂光真言一卷, Taisho no. 1002) and is associated with the deity Amoghapāśa (lit. "Unfailing Rope"), a form of Avalokiteshvara. It is also the mantra associated with the consecration (abhiseka) of Amoghapāśa by myriad Buddhas (hence its name as "mantra for the mudrā consecration" in the Tibetan version of the text).
The "mantra of light" is the following:
Sanskrit
Chinese script
Japanese
Korean
Vietnamese
Tibetan
The translation of this mantra, according to Professor Mark Unno, is roughly:
Another translation according to the Dharmachakra Translation Committee is:
The mantra appears in various Mahayana sutras related to the deity Amoghapāśa. These include several short sutras which contain the mantra and basic instructions for its use (found in Chinese at Taisho no. 1092 and in Tibetan at Toh 682), and a much longer ritual manual called Amoghapāśakalparāja (Toh 686, tib. ’phags pa don yod pa’i zhags pa’i cho ga zhib mo’i rgyal po) which contains the shorter sutra in the first chapter along with extensive later chapters. The short Amoghapāśa sutras include:
Regarding the longer Amoghapāśakalparāja (Toh 686), which also exists in a Sanskrit manuscript, modern scholars consider it to be a collection of various ritual manuals related to Amoghapāśa which likely circulated independently and were later collected together.
Another text which contains the mantra is The Mantra of Light of the Empowerment of Vairocana of Amoghapāśa (Bukong juansuo piluzhenafo daguangdingguang zhenyan 不空羂索毘盧遮那佛大灌頂光眞言, Taisho no. 1002) which was translated by the Indian vajracarya Amoghavajra (705–774) during the Tang dynasty.
In the shorter Chinese editions of the sutra, the mantra is used as a salvific mantra that can help deceased beings attain birth in the Pure Land of Amitabha as well as heal diseases.
In the Amoghapāśakalparāja, the heart dhāraṇī / mantra is called "Amogharāja" (Amogha King), the “heart essence of Amoghapāśa” (amoghapāśahṛdaya), and a "maṇḍala of liberation" (skt. vimokṣamaṇḍala, meaning any practice which is itself sufficient to produce liberation). The mantra is also used as a consecration mantra by the Buddhas of the ten directions which appear to ritually consecrate the bodhisattva Amoghapāśa (不空羂索, Unfailing Rope), a form of Avalokiteśvara who carried a rope and net (symbolizing the ability to save sentient beings and to bind the defilements). The longer compendium also contains discussions of the various emanations and dhāraṇīs of Amoghapāśa (including many short and longer dhāraṇīs other than the Mantra of Light), as well as Amoghatārā, a form of Tārā, who is the feminine consort of Amoghapāśa and also has her own dhāraṇī.
The popular Chinese edition of the sutra (Amoghavajra's edition) mentions how it is to be used to save even the dead and lead them to the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha by reciting it over sand and spreading the sand on the dead:
The sutra also states that the mantra can be recited 1008 times in front of a sick person to remove the karmic obstacles of their sickness. In the Tibetan version of the larger ritual compendium (Toh 686), the passage which introduces the mantra states:
Initially, the mantra received little mention in East Asian Buddhist texts. However, it is mentioned in Zongxiao 's (1151–1214) Lebang wenlei (樂邦文類) which discusses how the Tiantai monk Zhiyuan 智圓 (976–1022) in the Song Dynasty used the mantra on sand to attempt to save his deceased mother.
Although Kukai brought a copy of Amoghavajra's sutra to Japan in the 9th century, there are no records that he ever utilized it in tantric practices. Records show gradually increasing use in the Heian Period (794–1185). Some of the earliest reports of the regular use of the mantra come from 10th century Tendai societies on Mount Hiei, specifically that of the Twenty-Five Samādhi Assembly (Nijūgo zanmai e 二十五三昧会), which included the monk Genshin and focused on birth in Amida's pure land.
In the 13th century, the Mantra of Light was widely popularized by the monk Myōe (1173–1232), and later by Shingon monks Eison and Ninshō in their ministries. Myōe famously taught the Mantra of Light as a way to purify bad karma and to achieve birth in Sukhavati (or other pure lands if one wished), seeing it as an alternative to the nembutsu. He even wrote a work on it, Recommending Faith in the Sand of the Mantra of Light (Kōmyō shingon dosha kanjinki 光明真言土砂勸信記). He recommended the mantra widely to his followers, especially to laypersons.
Myōe came to see the Mantra of Light as "the mother of all mantras, most excellent among the miraculous teachings of Dharma granted by the Tathagata Vairocana". He tended to focus on the motif of the mantra's power of transformation, especially its ability to convert sand or dirt (with its associations with impurity) into something sacred and pure. According to Myōe:
Eison (1201–1290) is known for convening "Mantra of Light Assemblies" at Saidaiji, which were joined by male and female monastics and laypersons who took the eight precepts for seven days and recited the Mantra of Light.
Both the Mantra and the nembutsu were often incorporated by medieval Buddhists at one time or another, often in the same service. A common practice for the Mantra of Light was to sprinkle pure sand, blessed with this mantra, on the body of a deceased person or their tomb, based on teachings expounded in the Sutra. The belief was that a person who had accumulated much bad karma, and possible rebirth in Hell would be immediately freed and allowed a favorable rebirth into the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha. This practice is known as dosha-kaji (土砂加持) in Japanese.
Today, the mantra remains one of the most popular mantras in Shingon Buddhism and is also used in Tendai, Zen and Kegon liturgy.
Mainly due to the efforts of Wang Hongyuan 王弘願 (1876–1937), the mantra's use has been revived in Chinese Buddhism. Hongyuan learned the use of the mantra from Japanese Shingon Buddhists and compiled texts on its use in Chinese, promoting the practice among his followers. His ritual manual called A Study on the Mantra of Light (guangming zhenyan zhi yanjiu 光明真言之研究) was distributed among his followers as a guide to the mantra. Hongyuan's work led to a new form of modern Chinese Pure Land devotion which blends Pure Land practice with elements of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism.