Cundi (Buddhism)

Stone statue of Chunda from Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh), time of Gahadavala dynasty, 11th century CE, National Museum, New Delhi.

In Hindu texts, she was considered a vindictive form of the goddess Durgā, or Pārvatī, wife of the god Śiva.[2]

The first Buddhist textual source of Cundī and the Cundī Dhāraṇī is the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra, a sūtra centered around the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara that introduced the popular mantra oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ.[3] This text is first dated to around the late 4th century CE to the early 5th century CE.[4] Cundī and the Cundī Dhāraṇī are also featured in the Cundī Dhāraṇī Sūtra, which was translated three times from Sanskrit into Chinese in the late 7th century and early 8th century by the Indian esoteric masters Divākara (685 CE), Vajrabodhi (723 CE), and Amoghavajra (8th century).[3]

While Cundī is less well known in Tibetan Buddhism, she is widely revered in East Asian Buddhism. In China, she is known as Zhǔntí Púsà (Chinese: 準提菩薩, "Cundi Bodhisattva") or Zhǔntí Fómǔ (Chinese: 準提佛母, "Cundi Buddha-Mother"). She is also sometimes considered a manifestation of Guanyin and in this form she is called Zhǔntí Guānyīn (Chinese: 準提觀音, "Cundi Avalokiteśvara"). She is known as Junje Gwan-eum Bosal (준제관음보살, Hanja: 准提觀音菩薩, "Cundi Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva") in Korean, while in Japan she is known as Jundei Kannon (准胝観音, "Cundi Avalokiteśvara") and in Vietnam she is known as Chuẩn Đề Quan Âm (Chữ Hán: 準提觀音, "Cundi Avalokiteśvara").

In Tibetan Buddhism she is known by the name Lhamo Cunda or Lhamo Chunde/Cundi,[5] (‘Lhamo’ in Tibetan is ‘Devi’ in Sanskrit, a term of veneration meaning ‘Goddess’).[6]

Robert Gimello observed that in China, the esoteric Tangmi practices of Cundī were extremely popular among both the populace and the elite. The Tantric goddess Cundi was the object of popular occult practice in Chinese Buddhism from the Tang dynasty and continued afterwards with the adoption of esoteric teachings by other sects of Buddhism in China.[7]

In modern Chinese Buddhism, she is one of the more popular manifestations of Guanyin. She is also sometimes identified with Marīci or the Queen of Heaven.[8] In Chinese Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia, statues of Cundī are traditionally enshrined in vegetarian halls (齋堂; zhaitang).[9]

Pair of bronze mirrors showing Cundi, one with a Sanskrit inscription in Ranjana script, and one with a Sanskrit inscription in Chinese script. Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). Held at the Capital Museum, Beijing. Similar instruments are still widely used in esoteric practices where practitioners will chant the Cundi dhāraṇī while looking into the smooth side of the mirror. From the practitioner's visual perspective, it would appear as though the deity were facing them from within the reflective surface.

According to the Cundī Dhāraṇī Sūtra, the dhāraṇī (incantation, spell) associated with Cundī is the following (in Chinese, Sanskrit):[10]

南無 颯哆喃 三藐三菩陀 俱胝喃 怛姪他 唵 折隸 主隸 准提 娑婆訶

namaḥ saptānāṃ samyaksaṃbuddha koṭīnāṃ tadyathā oṃ cale cule cunde svāhā

Nan Huaijin's version adds Om Bhrūm (Ong Bu Lin) to the end of the dhāraṇī.[11]

Shrine and statue of the eighteen-armed form of Cundi from the Mahavira Hall of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Cundī is usually depicted with multiple arms. The most common form has eighteen arms, each wielding implements that symbolize upaya. Her eighteen arms also represent the eighteen merits of attaining Buddhahood, as described in an appendix to the Cundī Dhāraṇī Sūtra. Forms of Cundī with four, six, sixteen or twenty-six[13] arms can also be seen.[14] The four arms of the four-armed form of Cundī symbolize the four immeasurables: loving-kindness or benevolence (maitrī), compassion (karuṇā), empathetic joy (muditā), and equanimity (upekṣā).[15] A three-faced, twenty-six armed Cundi form exists in the Rinjung Gyatsa, a collection of deities from all four classes of tantra, compiled in the sixteenth century by the Tibetan master Lama Taranatha.[16]

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  Four-armed statue of Chunda, Central Java, Vanasava, Dieng Plateau, 9th-10th century AD, bronze.
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  Ten-armed Tantric Goddess (perhaps Chunda), Central Java, Prambanan, 10th century AD, bronze.
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  Painting of the Bodhisattva Guanyin in the Form of the Buddha-Mother (Cundi). By Chen Hongshou (1599-1652). Dated 1620, Ming dynasty.
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  Cundi, flanked by devas, and with Bhaisajyaguru Buddha (left) and Amitabha Buddha (right). The Chinese text on the front of the altar reads, Namo Zhunti Wang Pusa, or "Namo Cundi King Bodhisattva." Statue located at a Chinese Buddhist temple in Kelantan, Malaysia.
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  Statue of Cundi in Shishuang Temple, Jingang, Liuyang, Hunan, China.
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  Statue of Cundi, Vietnam, 19th century AD, lacquered wood - held at the Museum of Vietnamese History, Ho Chi Minh City.
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  Shrine to Cundi (準提觀音 Zhunti Guanyin) in Mount Putuo Guanyin Dharma Realm; Zhejiang, China
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  Multi-armed figure of Quan Am (Vietnamese version of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara). Northern Vietnam, 18th century or later
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  Chinese statue of Cundi

• Chan
• Pure Land Buddhism
• Chandi

• English translation of the Cundī Dhāraṇī Sūtra