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Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, popular for centuries as an important facet of Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhism’s traditional approach to personal and communal misfortunes of all kinds. It addresses a range of human ailments, as well as misfortunes such as robbery, natural disaster, and criminal punishment, thought to be brought on especially through the animosity of non-human spirit entities. The sūtra stipulates the invocation of these spirit entities, which it separates into hierarchically ordered groups and thus renders subordinate to the command of the Buddha and members of his saṅgha. The Buddha stipulates that just “upholding” or intoning their names and the mantra formula for each will quell the violent interventions of non-human entities and even hasten them to provide for the pragmatic needs of the saṅgha and its surrounding communities.

The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī opens at Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni introduces a saṅgha of monks and bodhisattvas to the goddess Mārīcī by listing her unique qualities and powers. The Buddha then teaches the saṅgha six dhāraṇī mantras related to the goddess Mārīcī.

The King of Ritual Manuals from the Tantra of Māyā Mārīcī’s Arising contains instructions for the visualization and ritual propitiation of the goddess Mārīcī. The text covers rites for protecting oneself from perilous situations, rites for increasing wealth and intelligence, elaborate battlefield magic rites, and rites for protecting livestock from predators.

The Maṇḍala Rites of Noble Mārīcī contains a collection of elaborate instructions for the visualization and depiction of a number of maṇḍalas and forms of the goddess Mārīcī and her retinue of vidyā goddesses.

This text presents a spell (vidyā) featuring the female deity Sitātapatrā (White Umbrella Goddess), which issues from the uṣṇīṣa of the Buddha Śākyamuni as he rests in samādhi among the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. The text details a litany of dangers, illness, and threats and provides spell formulas that can be recited to avert them. Sitātapatrā and her spell have enjoyed a long history and sustained popularity as a source of security against illness and misfortune, and her spell is widely used in contemporary Buddhist communities to this day.

This text presents a spell (vidyā) featuring the female deity Sitātapatrā (White Umbrella Goddess), which issues from the uṣṇīṣa of the Buddha Śākyamuni as he rests in samādhi among the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. The text details a litany of dangers, illness, and threats and provides a spell formula that can be recited to avert them. Sitātapatrā and her spell have enjoyed a long history and sustained popularity as a source of security against illness and misfortune, and her spell is widely used in contemporary Buddhist communities to this day.

This text presents a dhāraṇī featuring the female deity Sitātapatrā (White Umbrella Goddess) that provides a magical means to avert a litany of dangers, illness, and threats. Sitātapatrā and her spell have enjoyed a long history and sustained popularity as a source of security against illness and misfortune, and her spell is widely used in contemporary Buddhist communities to this day.

This text presents a dhāraṇī featuring the female deity Sitātapatrā (White Umbrella Goddess), which issues from the uṣṇīṣa of the Buddha Śākyamuni as he rests in samādhi among the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. The text details a litany of dangers, illness, and threats and provides a spell formula that can be recited to avert them. Sitātapatrā and her spell have enjoyed a long history and sustained popularity as a source of security against illness and misfortune, and her spell is widely used in contemporary Buddhist communities to this day.

The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a number of short rites for its recitation.

The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a number of short rites for its recitation.

The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a short rite for its recitation.

The Noble Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī That Purifies All Lower Rebirths opens with an account of the god Supratiṣṭhita, who seeks the god Śakra’s advice after learning of his own impending death and rebirth in the lower realms. Realizing that the Tathāgata is the only true refuge from lower rebirth, Śakra goes to the Buddha, who explains to him the benefits of the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī and a number of rituals related to it that can liberate Supratiṣṭhita and all beings from rebirth in the lower realms.

A Ritual Manual for the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a number of short rites for its recitation.

The Dhāraṇī for a Caitya is a short manual on the ritual preparation for and casting of small caityas from clay. The ritual has three main parts: a description of the general transformative power of the dhāraṇī, the preparation rituals for the ground and clay, and rituals for the consecration of the cast images.

In Auspicious Night, the deity Candana appears before a monk in Rājagṛha and asks if he knows of the Buddha’s teaching called Auspicious Night. Since the monk has never heard of it, the deity encourages the monk to ask the Buddha himself, who is staying nearby. At the monk’s request, the Buddha teaches him how to continuously remain in a contemplative state by following these guidelines: do not follow after the past, do not be anxious about the future, and do not be led astray or become distracted by presently arisen states. The Buddha then teaches several mantras and incantations for the welfare of all sentient beings and explains the apotropaic and salvific benefits of the instructions.

Invited to visit the city of Vaiśālī, which has been ravaged by a terrible epidemic, the Buddha instructs Ānanda to stand at the city’s gate and recite a proclamation, a long mantra, and some verses that powerfully evoke spiritual well-being. Ānanda does so, and the epidemic comes to an end. One of the mahāsūtras related to the literature of the Vinaya, this text, like other accounts of the incident, has traditionally been recited during times of personal or collective illness, bereavement, and other difficulties.

The Dhāraṇī of Refuge for the Preta Flaming Mouth recounts the nocturnal encounter of the monk Nanda with a gruesome preta (“hungry ghost”) who predicts his imminent death. After recounting his experience to the Buddha, he is taught a dhāraṇī and an associated food offering ritual to allay the sufferings of pretas and avert his prophesied fate.

This short text narrates Ānanda’s nocturnal encounter in the Banyan Grove in Kapilavastu with a gruesome female preta, or “hungry ghost,” with a burning mouth. The ghost tells Ānanda that he will die imminently and be reborn in the realm of the pretas unless he satisfies innumerable pretas with offerings of food the following morning. Terrified, Ānanda goes quickly to the Buddha and asks for advice. The Buddha then teaches Ānanda a dhāraṇī and an associated food offering ritual that together will satisfy innumerable ghosts and will cause offerings to the Three Jewels to multiply. The Buddha then instructs Ānanda to memorize and widely propagate this practice.

This brief discourse is identified more precisely in its colophon as a supplementary chapter from The Great Cloud on “the array of winds that bring down rainfall.” It describes a visit from the Buddha Śākyamuni to the realm of the nāgas. The assembly of nāgas pays homage to the Buddha with a grand panoply of magically emanated offerings, and their king asks him to explain how the nāgas can eliminate their own suffering and aid sentient beings by causing timely rain to fall. The Buddha, in response, extols the benefits of loving-kindness and then teaches them a dhāraṇī that when accompanied by the recitation of a host of buddha names will dispel the nāgas’ suffering and cause crops to grow. At the nāga king’s request, the Buddha then teaches another long dhāraṇī that will cause rain to fall during times of drought. The discourse concludes with instructions for constructing an altar and holding a ritual rainmaking service.

The Buddha teaches The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati to Ānanda at Vulture Peak. He recites the mantra, then gives a brief account of the protective benefits accrued by its daily recitation.

The Tantra of Great Gaṇapati is a work in fifteen chapters that detail offering rites, mantra recitation practices, and meditation practices for propitiating various forms of the elephant-headed deity Gaṇapati.

The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla opens with Hayagrīva summoning Mahākāla from his abode in the palace called Joyous, located in a sandalwood grove in the great southeastern charnel ground, Aṭṭahāsa. This prompts the great king Virūpakṣa to request that Hayagrīva teach the rites and practices related to Mahākāla. Hayagrīva then delivers a series of instructions on the propitiation and worship of Mahākāla and rituals for destroying the enemies of the Buddhist teachings.

The Dhāraṇī of Glorious Mahākāla opens at the Vajra Seat under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgayā shortly after the Buddha Śākyamuni has defeated Māra and his demonic horde and attained awakening. As Śākyamuni sits under the Bodhi tree, Mahākāla approaches him, prostrates at his feet, sits to one side, and offers to give him a vidyā, or “spell,” as a gift. Mahākāla then pronounces his vidyā and tells Śākyamuni that it can be used to prevent diseases and ward off potentially harmful spirit beings. The text then concludes with Mahākāla’s promise to Śākyamuni to act as a guardian of temples and maṇḍalas and to protect the Three Jewels.

The Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses is a short work that contains a Mahākāla dhāraṇī recitation practice for removing illness from various parts of the body. The dhāraṇī progresses through a list of body parts, invoking Mahākāla to free each region from illness and disease.

The Dhāraṇī of Devī Mahākālī opens at the Bodhi tree in Bodhgayā shortly after the Buddha Śākyamuni has attained perfect awakening. As Śākyamuni sits at the base of the Bodhi tree, Devī Mahākālī circumambulates him three times and offers a vidyā, or “spell,” in homage at the Blessed One’s feet. Śākyamuni then expresses his wish that Mahākālī’s vidyā be used to bind all beings from the highest heaven down through the lowest hell of the desire realms.

This extremely brief text provides a mantra of the Buddha Aparimitāyus, thus seeming to confirm its existence as a mantra on its own as well as being part of the dhāraṇī contained in the most widely used version of The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra.

The Buddha, while at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvastī, tells Mañjuśrī of a buddha realm far above the world, in which lives the Buddha Aparimitāyur­jñāna. He states that those who recite, write, hear, and so on, the praise of this buddha, or make offerings to this text, will have numerous benefits, including a long life and a good rebirth. As vast numbers of buddhas recite it, the mantra, or dhāraṇī, of this buddha is repeated numerous times. This is the best known of the two versions of this sūtra in the Kangyur.

The Buddha, while at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvastī, tells Mañjuśrī of a buddha realm far above the world, in which lives the Buddha Aparimitāyur­jñāna. He states that those who recite, write, hear, and so on, the praise of this buddha, or make offerings to this text, will have numerous benefits, including a long life and a good rebirth. As vast numbers of buddhas recite it, the mantra, or dhāraṇī, of this buddha is repeated numerous times. This is the lesser known of the two versions of this sūtra in the Kangyur, but possibly represents the earlier translation.

The Dhāraṇī “Essence of Immeasurable Longevity and Wisdom” opens at a pool by the Ganges, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with five hundred monks and a great saṅgha of bodhisattvas. The Buddha begins with a short set of verses on the Buddha Aparimitāyus, who dwells in the realm of Sukhāvatī, telling the gathering that anyone who recites Aparimitāyus’ name will be reborn in that buddha’s realm.

The Dhāraṇī that Praises the Qualities of the Immeasurable One contains a short dhāraṇī mantra praising the tathāgata Amitābha and brief instructions on the benefits that result from its recitation.

The Amogha­pāśa­kalpa­rāja is an early Kriyātantra of the lotus family. Historically, it is the main and largest compendium and manual of rites dedicated to Amoghapāśa, one of Avalokiteśvara’s principal emanations, who is named after and distinguished by his “unfailing noose” (amoghapāśa). The text is primarily soteriological, with an emphasis on the general Mahāyāna values of compassion and loving kindness for all beings. It offers many interesting insights into early Buddhist ritual and the development of its terminology.

In this short sūtra, the bodhisattva Samantabhadra asks the Buddha to reveal The Mother of Avalokiteśvara, a powerful dhāraṇī that helps practitioners progress on the path to awakening. The Buddha grants his request and relates how he had himself received the dhāraṇī. Samantabhadra then speaks the dhāraṇī, after which the Buddha states its benefits.

In this scripture of the Action Tantra genre, the Buddha gives instructions to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī on the rituals and mantras associated with the goddess Tārā. The tantra includes a description of Tārā, a nine-deity maṇḍala and related initiations, and a litany of ritual practices associated with the four activities.

In this sūtra, the goddess Tārā recites a dhāraṇī before an assembly of gods, asuras, and spirits of various types, which brings them peace and stills their speech. The assembled beings then sing praise for Tārā in the form of one hundred and eight epithets of the goddess. Tārā gives a pithy teaching on the importance of seeking liberation and on the right attitude needed for this endeavor. Finally, the goddess gives encouragement and extols the power of the dhāraṇī.

The Dhāraṇī of Tārā is a short dhāraṇī that invokes the goddess Tārā, seeking her intervention in the face of obstacles and negative forces.

The Dhāraṇī “Tārā’s Own Promise” is a short dhāraṇī invoking the goddess Tārā.

In this sūtra, the goddess Tārā warns the gods of the desire realm about the miseries of saṃsāra and offers a pithy Dharma teaching to free them from harm. Tārā begins by vividly portraying the various kinds of suffering endured by beings in each of the six realms of saṃsāra and then points out the futility of reciting mantras without maintaining pure conduct. She goes on to encourage the listeners to engage in virtue, which puts an end to saṃsāra, and she bestows on them a dhāraṇī that will help them to achieve this goal, a praise of her qualities, and a request for her divine protection that they should recite.

The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī is a short dhāraṇī dedicated to the piśācī Parṇaśavarī, who is renowned in Buddhist lore for her power to cure disease, avert epidemics, pacify strife, and otherwise protect those who recite her dhāraṇī from any obstacles they may face.

In Praise of the Glorious Goddess Sarasvatī presents a series of lyrical verses in praise of the deity Sarasvatī, the patron goddess of spoken and written eloquence. With evocative imagery and inspiring language, the praise pays tribute to Sarasvatī’s unimpeded speech, memory, and knowledge, and to her physical majesty and compassionate nature. The praise includes petitions requesting Sarasvatī to grant the devotee a level of eloquence and learning equal to that of the goddess herself. In the tradition of the Great Vehicle, the praise aligns the attainments of eloquent speech, strong memory, and great learning with the intention to use them for the benefit of other beings.

This sūtra recounts an event that took place in the buddha realm of Sukhāvatī. The discourse commences with the Buddha Śākyamuni relating to the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara the benefits of reciting the various names of Śrī Mahādevī. The Buddha describes how Śrī Mahādevī acquired virtue and other spiritual accomplishments through the practice of venerating numerous tathāgatas and gives an account of the prophecy in which her future enlightenment was foretold by all the buddhas she venerated. The Buddha then lists the one hundred and eight blessed names of Śrī Mahādevī to be recited by the faithful. The sūtra ends with the Buddha Śākyamuni giving a dhāraṇī and a brief explanation on the benefits of reciting the names of Śrī Mahādevī, namely the eradication of all negative circumstances and the accumulation of merit and happiness.

The Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations” is a relatively brief text consisting of a short dhāraṇī and a passage about its applications and benefits. Most applications have to do with death and funerary rituals, as the text provides many methods to aid the departed toward a favorable rebirth.

The Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra is a Buddhist esoteric manual on magic and exorcism. The instructions on ritual practices that constitute its main subject matter are intended to give the practitioner mastery over worldly divinities and spirits. Since the ultimate controller of such beings is Vajrapāṇi in his form of Bhūtaḍāmara, the “Tamer of Spirits,” it is Vajrapāṇi himself who delivers this tantra in response to a request from Śiva. Notwithstanding this esoteric origin, this tantra was compiled anonymously around the seventh or eighth century ce, introducing for the first time the cult of its titular deity. Apart from a few short ritual manuals (sādhana), this tantra remains the only major work dedicated solely to Bhūtaḍāmara.

In this concise text, Vajrapāṇi, through the power and blessings of the Buddha and all bodhisattvas, proclaims a series of powerful dhāraṇī-mantras. The text concludes with verses on the benefits of the dhāraṇī and a simple ablution ritual.

The Tantra of Subāhu’s Questions is a Kriyātantra scripture that presents a series of practices and rites that can be employed in diverse Buddhist ritual contexts, rather than for a specific deity or maṇḍala. The tantra records a conversation between the Buddhist deity Vajrapāṇi and the layman Subāhu, whose questions prompt Vajrapāṇi to share a wealth of instructions on ritual practices primarily intended to bring about the accomplishment of worldly goals. The rites described in The Tantra of Subāhu’s Questions address concerns about health, spirit possession, the accumulation of wealth and prosperity, and warding off destabilizing and obstructing forces. Special attention is given to rites for animating corpses and using spirits and spirit mediums for divination purposes. Despite the generally worldly applications for the rites explained to Subāhu, Vajrapāṇi is careful to establish the Mahāyāna orientation that must frame them: the quest for complete liberation guided by ethical discipline, insight into the faults of saṃsāra, and the motivation to alleviate the suffering of other beings and assist them in reaching awakening.

This short text contains a set of verses spoken by the Buddha as he put an end to the epidemic of Vaiśālī, extracted from one of the two main accounts of that episode. The verses call for well-being, especially by invoking the qualities of the Three Jewels and a range of realized beings and eminent gods.

The Threefold Ritual contains a short liturgy for invoking the pantheon of worldly deities, inviting these beings to seize the rare opportunity to listen to the Dharma, and proclaiming the aspiration that all the worldly beings that have gathered to hear the Dharma receive their share of the merit one has generated.

The Threefold Invocation Ritual invokes all the deities of the threefold world that have “entered the path of compassion” and are “held by the hook of the vidyāmantra” to gather, pay heed to the person reciting this text (or the person for whom it is recited), and bear witness to the proclamation of that person’s commitment to the Buddhist teachings. A profound aspiration to practice ten aspects of a bodhisattva’s activity is then followed by a dedication and a prayer for the teachings.

The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch starts with a profound conversation between the Buddha and the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī on the nature of the dharmadhātu, buddhahood, and emptiness. The bodhisattva Dharma­mati then enters the meditative absorption called the infinite application of the bodhisattva’s jewel torch and, at the behest of the millions of buddhas who have blessed him, emerges from it to teach how bodhisattvas arise from the presence of a tathāgata and progress to the state of omniscience. Following Dharma­mati’s detailed exposition of the “ten categories” or progressive stages of a bodhisattva, the Buddha briefly teaches the mantra of the dhāraṇī and then, for most of the remainder of the text, encourages bodhisattvas in a long versified passage in which he recounts teachings by a bodhisattva called Bhadraśrī on the qualities of bodhisattvas and buddhas. Some verses from this passage on the virtues of faith have been widely quoted in both India and Tibet.

The Dhāraṇī of the Tathāgata Jñānolka opens with a description of a group of four tathāgatas and four bodhisattvas, who are seated in the celestial palace of the Sun and the Moon. The deities of the Sun and Moon return to their celestial palace from elsewhere and, seeing these tathāgatas and bodhisattvas, both wonder whether they might obtain a dhāraṇī that would allow them to dispel the darkness and shine a light upon all beings. The tathāgatas, perceiving the thoughts of the Sun and Moon, provide them with the first dhāraṇī in the text. The bodhisattva Samanta­bhadra then provides a second dhāraṇī and instructs the deities of the Sun and Moon to use it to free beings who are bound for rebirth in the lower realms—even those who have been born in the darkest depths of the Avīci hell.

The Buddha, while at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvastī, tells Mañjuśrī of a buddha realm far above the world, in which lives the Buddha Aparimitāyur­jñāna. He states that those who recite, write, hear, and so on, the praise of this buddha, or make offerings to this text, will have numerous benefits, including a long life and a good rebirth. As vast numbers of buddhas recite it, the mantra, or dhāraṇī, of this buddha is repeated numerous times. This is the best known of the two versions of this sūtra in the Kangyur.