Cundī (Sanskrit, IPA: [t͜ɕʊndiː]; Chinese: 準提; pinyin: Zhǔntí; Japanese: Juntei; Tibetan: ལྷ་མོ་སྐུལ་བྱེད་མ།, Wylie: lha mo skul byed ma, THL: lha-mo kül-jé-ma) or Cundā (IPA: [t͜ɕʊndaː]; Ch: 羅馬化) is a female Indian Buddhist deity who remains popular in East Asian Buddhism.

In Chinese Buddhism, she is associated with the practice of the well known Cundī dharani, which is performed along with a specific mudra (hand gesture), as well as the use of a circular mirror.

[1][2] She is considered to be able to purify negative karma, provide protection, support spiritual practice which allows one to quickly attain Buddhahood.

[1][2] Some depictions of Cundī share many iconographic and symbolic elements with another female Buddhist deity, Prajñāpāramitā Devi.

Peter Alan Roberts comments, in a note to a translation of the Tibetan version of the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra: "Cale cule cunde are the vocative forms of Calā, Culā, and Cundā, three variations of her name.

[4] In the Sādhanamālā, Cundā is considered to be affiliated with Vairocana Buddha and the Niṣpannayogāvalī states that she is the embodiment of the Cundādhāriṇī, a dharani also mentioned by Shantideva in his Śikṣāsamuccaya.

Gimello writes that the sutra "relates an occasion on which seventy-seven krore of tathagatas recited the Cundī Dhāraṇī, thereby causing a pore in Avalokitesvara's body to open and reveal in brilliant illumination a vast multitude of world systems (T. 1050: 20.63a)".

[16][17] A common form of Cundī found in East Asia has eighteen arms, each wielding implements that symbolize skillful means.

[16][17] 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).

In the remaining right hands she shows the 1. abhaya-mudrā, 2. sword, 3. garland of jewels, 4. citron, 5. arrow, 6. axe, 7. club, 8. hammer, 9. goad, 10. thunderbolt, 11. tripatākā and 12. rosary.

Kamaṇḍalu, 4. noose, 5. bow, 6. javelin, 7. discus, 8. sword, 9. tarjaṇī (raised index finger), 10. bowl, 11. bhiṇḍipāla and 12. the prajñāpāramitā Scripture.

[13] A three-faced, twenty-six armed Cundā 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.

[19] In many images of Cundā, her arms hold numerous symbolic objects or make Buddhist hand gestures - mudras.

[4] In Hindu texts, a deity also called Cundā is considered a vindictive form of the goddess Durgā, or Pārvatī, wife of the god Śiva.

"[2] According to Robert Gimello, Cundī "came to be a, if not the, central focus of esoteric Buddhist practice in late traditional Chinese Buddhism.

[2] Zanning (919-1001) mentions that Vajrabodhi (who also translated a version of the Cundīdevīdhāraṇīsūtra) conducted a Cundī ritual for the Tang emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–36) to help end a long drought, a rite which was deemed to be successful.

[2] Amoghavajra translated another version of the sutra, Cundīdevīdhāraṇīsūtra (Qi Juzhi Fomu Suo Shuo Zhun Ti Tuoluoni Jing) which is significantly larger.

[2] In the 11th century Buddhism of the Liao dynasty (916–1125), Chinese Cundī practice developed into its most well known form (which remains influential today).

During the 17th century (in the late Ming and early Qing dynasty), there was another period of growth of Cundī Esotericism, especially in southern China.

Many of the figures associated with the late Ming Buddhist revival, such as Yunqi Zhuhong (1532-1612), Hanshan Deqiing (1546-1623), and Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), were very engaged with Cundī practice.

[21] The popularity of Cundī Esotericism among the laypeople in the late Ming is also attested by German Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) who included an illustration of the deity in his famous China Illustrata (1667).

[20] In Chinese Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia, statues of Cundī are traditionally enshrined in vegetarian halls (齋堂; zhaitang).

According to Gimello, "in some later texts, the longer version is routinely framed by certain preliminary and concluding dharani uttered for purificatory and protective purposes.

If there are sentient beings with little merit, who lack the roots of goodness, natural ability, and the Factors of Bodhi, if they obtain hearing of this dhāraṇī method, they will quickly realize the attainment of Anuttarā Samyaksaṃbodhi.