Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
黑耳
Pronunciations[py]Hēiěr
[wg]Heh-erh
[hg]흑이
[mc]Heug-i
[mr]Hŭg'i
[kk]コクニ
[hb]Kokuni
[qn]Hắc nhĩ
Basic Meaning: Kāla-karṇī
Senses:
(Skt. kāla-karṇī, kāla-karṇī-sahita) An avatar of the Hindu goddess Lakṣmī, who remains inseparable from her younger sister, Śriyā 吉祥/室利, the goddess of prosperity and an avatar of Viṣṇu (M-W). This is Xuanzangʼs 玄奘 rendition of the goddessʼs name (see 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論 T 1545.27.201b23; 倶舍論T 1558.29.27b3, corresponding to Pradhan 1967, 76). Paramârtha 眞諦 renders her name as 災橫 (T 1559.29.185c9), while Puguang 普光 notes that some earlier translators render as 黑闇女 (倶舍論記 T 1821.41.104b4). In either case, her name is a metonymy for the mark of change 異相, which initiates the inexorable decay of a conditioned factor 有爲法 from the stage of abiding 住位. According to the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya (Pradhan 1967, 76), certain theorists take the metaphor of Kāla-karṇī and her sister Śriyā in support of the understanding that sthityanyatā 住異 is a coordinative compound 相違釋 joining two independent characteristic marks (i.e., change-and-abiding). In another interpretation, change is yoked to abiding in a dependent compound 依主釋, in order to inculcate dissatisfaction with the extremely meager duration of the stage of abiding (i.e., change-in-abiding). Lingtai 靈泰 writes that Śriyā represents living and Kāla-karṇī represents dying (成唯識論疏抄 X819.50.171b13). Kāla-karṇīʼs name is rendered in Tibetan translation of Abhidharmâvatara 入阿毘達磨論 as sna nag ma (D3862.102.235a.2) and in the Tibetan translation of Abhidharmakośabhāṣya by Jinamitra, et al., as rna nag ma (D4090.140.80b.7–81a.1) Mochizuki (vol. 2, 1134a) explains that the goddess appears in Esoteric Buddhist 密宗 iconography as a consort 侍后 of King Yama 閻魔王. She is said to reside in the external Vajradhātu court 外金剛部院 of the womb-container world maṇḍala 胎藏界曼荼羅. [Billy Brewster; source(s): Ui, Hirakawa, Nakamura, M-W]
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[Dictionary References]
Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 315
Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)1133b
Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 462-3
Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 412c
Ding Fubao {Digital Version}
Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 1300
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Entry created: 2020-07-04