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.
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. The translation was produced by Adam Krug and then checked against the Tibetan and edited by Andreas Doctor.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
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.
There is no known Sanskrit version of this text, nor does it appear as an independent work in the Chinese canon. It is, however, found in the early ninth-century Denkarma royal Tibetan catalog of translated works.1 The translators’ colophon tells us that it was translated by the Indian preceptor Prajñāvarman and the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé, both of whom were active in the late eighth century.
This English translation is based on the recensions found in the Tantra Collection (Toh 669) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (Toh 1086) in the Degé Kangyur,22 in consultation with the Comparative Edition of the Kangyur (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur.
tadyathā | hana hana rājadhūtena daha daha rājadhūtena paca paca rājadhūtena bahuśrave bahuparipāri bahupariśodhane imaṃ jāracaṇḍalaṃ hana hana
oṃ suṃbha nisuṃbha śira muñca cakṣu muñca śrotra muñca ghrāṇa muñca jihvā muñca kaṇṭha muñca grīva muñca pṛṣtha muñca5 kaṭikā muñca kukṣa muñca ūru muñca jānu6 muñca hasta muñca pādau muñca aṅguli muñca aṅgapratyaṅga muñca7 apasara anyasmiñca gaccha8 jvara mukto ’si me9 svāhā
oṃ jvala mā aṅguli hūṁ sarvajvarānan10 phaṭ |
This concludes “The Noble Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses.”
This text was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Prajñāvarman and the great editor-translator Bande Yeshé Dé.
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.
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. The translation was produced by Adam Krug and then checked against the Tibetan and edited by Andreas Doctor.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
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.
There is no known Sanskrit version of this text, nor does it appear as an independent work in the Chinese canon. It is, however, found in the early ninth-century Denkarma royal Tibetan catalog of translated works.1 The translators’ colophon tells us that it was translated by the Indian preceptor Prajñāvarman and the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé, both of whom were active in the late eighth century.
This English translation is based on the recensions found in the Tantra Collection (Toh 669) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (Toh 1086) in the Degé Kangyur,22 in consultation with the Comparative Edition of the Kangyur (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur.
tadyathā | hana hana rājadhūtena daha daha rājadhūtena paca paca rājadhūtena bahuśrave bahuparipāri bahupariśodhane imaṃ jāracaṇḍalaṃ hana hana
oṃ suṃbha nisuṃbha śira muñca cakṣu muñca śrotra muñca ghrāṇa muñca jihvā muñca kaṇṭha muñca grīva muñca pṛṣtha muñca5 kaṭikā muñca kukṣa muñca ūru muñca jānu6 muñca hasta muñca pādau muñca aṅguli muñca aṅgapratyaṅga muñca7 apasara anyasmiñca gaccha8 jvara mukto ’si me9 svāhā
oṃ jvala mā aṅguli hūṁ sarvajvarānan10 phaṭ |
This concludes “The Noble Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses.”
This text was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Prajñāvarman and the great editor-translator Bande Yeshé Dé.
This text, Toh 1086, and all those contained in this same volume (rgyud ’bum, ba), are listed as being located in volume 101 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version displayed by the 84000 Reading Room—list this work as being located in volume 102. This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed another text—which forms a whole, very large volume—the Vimalaprabhānāmakālacakratantraṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med ’od, Toh 845), before the volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags (catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation.
Toh 669 and Toh 1086: brjod par bya ste. S: brjod par bya ba ste. The phrase “the dhāraṇī of” has been added to the English translation for the sake of clarity.
D and S: phyogs gang dang gang du bltas pa der bdag la rims nad med par gyur cig. The text does not state this in any explicit way here, but the actual content of the dhāraṇī that follows indicates that the “place” or “location” where one might direct one’s gaze refers to any location on the body.
This translation follows Toh 1086 and S: priSh+Tha muny+tsa. Toh 669: preSh+Tha muny+tsa. The Tibetan transliteration priṣṭha is amended to reflect the correct Sanskrit vowel for the term pṛṣṭha.
Toh 669, Toh 1086, and S read dza nau muny+tsa. This translation amends the Tibetan transliteration dza nau to the proper spelling of the Sanskrit term for the “knee,” or jānu. The declension of jānu has been dropped in line with the prevailing pattern established in the dhāraṇī.
Following Toh 1086, K, N, and H: aM ga pra tyaM ga muny+tsa. Toh 669 and S: oM ga pra tyaM ga muny+tsa.
Toh 669: a pa sa ra a n+ya sI muny+tsa/ gats+tshaH. Toh 1086: a ba sa ra/ a n+ya si maM gats+tsha. S: a ba sa ra/ ar+ya swI muny+tsa/ gats+tshaH. This transliteration corrects the corruption in the Tibetan transliteration to the Sanskrit apasara anyasmiñca gaccha, which translates “depart (apasara) and go elsewhere (anyasmiñca gaccha).” We are grateful for Péter-Dániel Szántó for this suggested correction to the Tibetan transliteration of the Sanskrit.
Toh 669 and Toh 1086: dzwa ra mu to si bdag la. S: dzwa ra mu to si/bdag la. This translation amends the Tibetan transliteration of this phrase, where the reading jvara mutosi bdag la appears to be a corruption of the Sanskrit jvara mukto ’si me, which translates “illness, you are released by me.” The Tibetan translation bdag la likely reflects a misinterpretation of the shortened form of the Sanskrit genitive singular first-person pronoun (Skt. me) as the shortened form of the dative singular first-person pronoun (Skt. me). In this case, the genitive form functions as an instrumental pronoun.
This transliteration follows Toh 669, Toh 1086: sarba dzwa rA nan phaT. S: sarba dzwA ra nan phaT. The Tibetan transliteration of this phrase is likely a corruption of the Sanskrit sarvajvarān hana phaṭ, but the reading in the Tibetan witnesses has been retained here to reflect the transmission of Mahākāla’s dharaṇī in this particular textual tradition.
Yeshé Dé (late eighth to early ninth century) was the most prolific translator of sūtras into Tibetan. Altogether he is credited with the translation of more than one hundred sixty sūtra translations and more than one hundred additional translations, mostly on tantric topics. In spite of Yeshé Dé’s great importance for the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet during the imperial era, only a few biographical details about this figure are known. Later sources describe him as a student of the Indian teacher Padmasambhava, and he is also credited with teaching both sūtra and tantra widely to students of his own. He was also known as Nanam Yeshé Dé, from the Nanam (sna nam) clan.
Mahākāla is a wrathful Buddhist protector deity. In Tibetan, the name Mahākāla was mostly translated literally with nag po chen po (“Great Black One”) but on occasion it was rendered mgon po nag po (“Black Lord”). In Toh 440, for which the Sanskrit is extant, we have an attested example of this. Hence we have rendered both Tibetan terms in this text as Mahākāla. Outside the Buddhist tradition, Mahākāla is also a name for a wrathful form of Śiva.
A Bengali paṇḍita resident in Tibet during the late eighth and early ninth centuries. Arriving in Tibet at the invitation of the Tibetan king, he assisted in the translation of numerous canonical scriptures. He is also the author of a few philosophical commentaries contained in the Tengyur (bstan ’gyur).
’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa. Toh 669, Degé Kangyur vol. 91 (rgyud ’bum, ba), folio 202.a.
’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa. Toh 1086, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs ’dus, waM), folio 252.b.
’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House) 2006–9, vol. 91, pp. 739–41.
’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House) 2006–9, vo. 98, pp. 879–81.
’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 105 (rgyud, pha), folios 178.b–179.a.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan [/ lhan] dkar gyi chos ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Degé Tengyur, vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
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C Choné (co ne)
D Degé (sde dge bka’ ’gyur)
H Lhasa (lha sa/zhol)
J Lithang (li thang)
K Kangxi (kang shi)
N Narthang (snar thang)
S Stok Palace (stog pho ’brang)
U Urga (phyi sog khu re)
Y Yongle (g.yong lo)
