Mañjuśrī’s Sworn Oath provides instruction in an incantatory practice focused on Mañjuśrī, in the form of a vidyā that Mañjuśrī himself pronounces. The vidyā unfolds in a series of forceful imperatives suggestive of battle, conquest, and celebration, and after enunciating it, Mañjuśrī explains that its recitation will lead to virtuosity in the memorization of scriptural verses. The benefits of recitation are then enumerated in more detail, relative to the number of times it is recited and whether the recitation is accompanied by ritual performance. As indicated by the title, Mañjuśrī then swears an oath to assure the vidyā’s efficacy, pledging to take on the karmic burden of the five misdeeds with immediate retribution should its promised benefits fail to ensue.
Translated by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer, with Geshé Lobsang Dawa and Phakyab Rinpoche (Geshé Ngawang Sungrab), under the auspices of the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York. Introduction by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer. Special thanks to Paul Hackett for generously sharing his bibliographic expertise and resources. This translation would not have been possible without the kind and dedicated tutelage of Gen Lozang Jamspal, Executive Director, Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Mañjuśrī’s Sworn Oath is the second of six short dhāraṇī scriptures (Toh 545–550) gathered together within the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur that provide instruction in incantatory practices that feature the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Five of these scriptures (Toh 547 omitted) also appear in the Dhāraṇī section of the Degé Kangyur as Toh 892–896.
The scripture begins with a salutation to the Three Jewels and to Mañjuśrī under the epithet “Gentle Protector.” It then presents a narrative of the dhāraṇī’s revelation: Mañjuśrī bows to the Blessed One and suggests that the sublime vidyā be spoken. The Blessed One and the assembled retinue agree and request Mañjuśrī to speak it. Mañjuśrī bows to “all dharmas, the essence of all buddhas” and, having qualified that his recitation is empowered by the Blessed One himself, commences the vidyā. In form and content, this petition resembles framing narratives found in The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī (Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa), which likewise preface Mañjuśrī’s recitation and instruction of various vidyās, mantras, and associated rites.
The vidyā itself begins with salutations to the tathāgatas and to Mañjuśrī himself, even as the vidyā is spoken by Mañjuśrī, and then unfolds in a series of forceful imperatives suggestive of battle, conquest, and celebration. After his utterance of the vidyā, Mañjuśrī explains that its recitation will lead to virtuosity in the memorization of scriptural verses. The benefits of recitation are then enumerated in more detail relative to the number of recitations and whether the recitation is supported by ritual performance.
As indicated by the title, Mañjuśrī then swears an oath to assure the vidyā’s efficacy, pledging to take on the karmic burden of the five misdeeds with immediate retribution should its stated benefits fail to ensue. This oath resembles the “promise” (dam bcas pa) sworn by bodhisattvas in other, similar texts.1 A more complete expression of this vow also appears in a handful of Sanskrit practice manuals in the Sādhanamālā.2
The Oath Sworn by Mañjuśrī bears no Sanskrit title, and no Sanskrit version of the text is to our knowledge extant. It also appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon, so we have no information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. Its absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs3 suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century
This English translation is based on the two versions in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (Toh 546) and the other in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 893),66 in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace Kangyur. Where divergences may point to a plausible or significant alternative reading, they appear in the notes.
Thereupon Mañjuśrī the ever youthful rose from his seat, draped his upper garment over one shoulder, and knelt down on his right knee, and bowing toward the Blessed One with palms joined, he lowered his head to the Blessed One’s feet and enjoined the Blessed One thus:
“Blessed One, I have seen the vidyā—how wonderful if this sublime vidyā were to be spoken!”[F.14.a]
The entire retinue applauded the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mañjuśrī, “Very good, Mañjuśrī, very good indeed. O Mañjuśrī, speak the vidyā!”
“It is by means of the Blessed One’s speech that I shall do so,” he said. Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mañjuśrī bowed to all dharmas, the essence of all buddhas,7 and spoke the vidyā:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatebhyo | namo mañjuśriye bodhisattvāya || oṁ mañjuvara mañjughoṣa hana hana | paca paca | mata mata | matha matha | vidhvaṃsaya vidhvaṃsaya | kara kara | truṭa truṭa | bhañja bhañja | āviśa āviśa | tuṭa tuṭa | truṭa truṭa | sphuṭa sphuṭa | hṛdayabandhani namaḥ sambodhani praveśa praveśa | lota lota | kṛta kṛta | krida krida | krīḍa krīḍa8 |[F.167.b] hasa hasa | prabandha prabandha | āviśa āviśa | hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ | phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā ||9
“Those who recite this thrice at midnight, or alternatively seven times during the day, will acquire the great vidyā. Such persons will be able to memorize three hundred ślokas.
“As for the associated ritual, having made a maṇḍala from sandalwood and offered lamps of clarified butter, if one recites the vidyā eight thousand times, it will be accomplished. Even if it is not accomplished, one will memorize two hundred stanzas each day.
“O Blessed One, if what I have declared does not ensue even for someone who has committed the five misdeeds with immediate retribution, then I, too, will have committed the five misdeeds with immediate retribution.”
This concludes the noble dhāraṇī “Mañjuśrī’s Sworn Oath.”
Mañjuśrī’s Sworn Oath provides instruction in an incantatory practice focused on Mañjuśrī, in the form of a vidyā that Mañjuśrī himself pronounces. The vidyā unfolds in a series of forceful imperatives suggestive of battle, conquest, and celebration, and after enunciating it, Mañjuśrī explains that its recitation will lead to virtuosity in the memorization of scriptural verses. The benefits of recitation are then enumerated in more detail, relative to the number of times it is recited and whether the recitation is accompanied by ritual performance. As indicated by the title, Mañjuśrī then swears an oath to assure the vidyā’s efficacy, pledging to take on the karmic burden of the five misdeeds with immediate retribution should its promised benefits fail to ensue.
Translated by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer, with Geshé Lobsang Dawa and Phakyab Rinpoche (Geshé Ngawang Sungrab), under the auspices of the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York. Introduction by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer. Special thanks to Paul Hackett for generously sharing his bibliographic expertise and resources. This translation would not have been possible without the kind and dedicated tutelage of Gen Lozang Jamspal, Executive Director, Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Mañjuśrī’s Sworn Oath is the second of six short dhāraṇī scriptures (Toh 545–550) gathered together within the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur that provide instruction in incantatory practices that feature the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Five of these scriptures (Toh 547 omitted) also appear in the Dhāraṇī section of the Degé Kangyur as Toh 892–896.
The scripture begins with a salutation to the Three Jewels and to Mañjuśrī under the epithet “Gentle Protector.” It then presents a narrative of the dhāraṇī’s revelation: Mañjuśrī bows to the Blessed One and suggests that the sublime vidyā be spoken. The Blessed One and the assembled retinue agree and request Mañjuśrī to speak it. Mañjuśrī bows to “all dharmas, the essence of all buddhas” and, having qualified that his recitation is empowered by the Blessed One himself, commences the vidyā. In form and content, this petition resembles framing narratives found in The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī (Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa), which likewise preface Mañjuśrī’s recitation and instruction of various vidyās, mantras, and associated rites.
The vidyā itself begins with salutations to the tathāgatas and to Mañjuśrī himself, even as the vidyā is spoken by Mañjuśrī, and then unfolds in a series of forceful imperatives suggestive of battle, conquest, and celebration. After his utterance of the vidyā, Mañjuśrī explains that its recitation will lead to virtuosity in the memorization of scriptural verses. The benefits of recitation are then enumerated in more detail relative to the number of recitations and whether the recitation is supported by ritual performance.
As indicated by the title, Mañjuśrī then swears an oath to assure the vidyā’s efficacy, pledging to take on the karmic burden of the five misdeeds with immediate retribution should its stated benefits fail to ensue. This oath resembles the “promise” (dam bcas pa) sworn by bodhisattvas in other, similar texts.1 A more complete expression of this vow also appears in a handful of Sanskrit practice manuals in the Sādhanamālā.2
The Oath Sworn by Mañjuśrī bears no Sanskrit title, and no Sanskrit version of the text is to our knowledge extant. It also appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon, so we have no information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. Its absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs3 suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century
This English translation is based on the two versions in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (Toh 546) and the other in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 893),66 in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace Kangyur. Where divergences may point to a plausible or significant alternative reading, they appear in the notes.
Thereupon Mañjuśrī the ever youthful rose from his seat, draped his upper garment over one shoulder, and knelt down on his right knee, and bowing toward the Blessed One with palms joined, he lowered his head to the Blessed One’s feet and enjoined the Blessed One thus:
“Blessed One, I have seen the vidyā—how wonderful if this sublime vidyā were to be spoken!”[F.14.a]
The entire retinue applauded the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mañjuśrī, “Very good, Mañjuśrī, very good indeed. O Mañjuśrī, speak the vidyā!”
“It is by means of the Blessed One’s speech that I shall do so,” he said. Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mañjuśrī bowed to all dharmas, the essence of all buddhas,7 and spoke the vidyā:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatebhyo | namo mañjuśriye bodhisattvāya || oṁ mañjuvara mañjughoṣa hana hana | paca paca | mata mata | matha matha | vidhvaṃsaya vidhvaṃsaya | kara kara | truṭa truṭa | bhañja bhañja | āviśa āviśa | tuṭa tuṭa | truṭa truṭa | sphuṭa sphuṭa | hṛdayabandhani namaḥ sambodhani praveśa praveśa | lota lota | kṛta kṛta | krida krida | krīḍa krīḍa8 |[F.167.b] hasa hasa | prabandha prabandha | āviśa āviśa | hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ | phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā ||9
“Those who recite this thrice at midnight, or alternatively seven times during the day, will acquire the great vidyā. Such persons will be able to memorize three hundred ślokas.
“As for the associated ritual, having made a maṇḍala from sandalwood and offered lamps of clarified butter, if one recites the vidyā eight thousand times, it will be accomplished. Even if it is not accomplished, one will memorize two hundred stanzas each day.
“O Blessed One, if what I have declared does not ensue even for someone who has committed the five misdeeds with immediate retribution, then I, too, will have committed the five misdeeds with immediate retribution.”
This concludes the noble dhāraṇī “Mañjuśrī’s Sworn Oath.”
Similar statements are made by the bodhisattva Siṃhanāda in The Dhāraṇī of Siṃhanāda, the bodhisattva Maitreya in The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge,” and Ārya Tārā in The Dhāraṇī “Tārā’s Own Promise,” all of which include the Tibetan term dam bcas pa in their titles.
Bhattacharyya 1968, pp. 47–48, 52, 54. The statement can be found in two works with the title Siṃhanādasādhana (sādhana nos. 17 and 21) and the Siṃhanādadhāraṇī (no. 23). An example of this statement from the Siṃhanādadhāraṇī reads, “If this is not accomplished after seven, thirteen, or twenty-one days, even for one who has committed the five misdeeds with immediate retribution, I myself will be one who has committed the five misdeeds with immediate retribution” (yadi saptame divase trayodaśe divase ekaviṃśatitame vā divase pañcānantaryakāriṇo ’pi na sidhyaty ayaṃ tadā ’ham eva pañcānantaryakārī bhaviṣyāmi).
Three of the six texts in this series (Toh 545, Toh 548, and Toh 549) are listed in the Denkarma and Phangthangma catalogs, while three (Toh 546, Toh 547, and Toh 550) are not.
This text, Toh 893, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, e), are listed as being located in volume 100 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 101. 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 846 reads kṛta kṛta krida krida krīṭa krīṭa. Toh 893 reads krida krida kṛta kṛta, exchanging the order of these combinations and omitting krīṭa krīṭa.
Provisional translation: “Homage to all the tathāgatas, homage to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī! Oṁ, Mañjuvara Mañjughoṣa, strike, strike, cook, cook, mata mata, churn, churn, crush, crush, act, act, split, split, break, break, possess, possess, tuṭa tuṭa, split, split, burst, burst! O captivator of hearts, homage to you! You who cause to understand, enter, enter, lota lota, cut, cut, krida krida, play, play, laugh, laugh, tightly bind, bind, possess, possess, hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ, svāhā!”
In Buddhist literature, this is an epithet applied to buddhas, most often to Śākyamuni. The Sanskrit term generally means “possessing fortune,” but in specifically Buddhist contexts it implies that a buddha is in possession of six auspicious qualities (bhaga) associated with complete awakening. The Tibetan term—where bcom is said to refer to “subduing” the four māras, ldan to “possessing” the great qualities of buddhahood, and ’das to “going beyond” saṃsāra and nirvāṇa—possibly reflects the commentarial tradition where the Sanskrit bhagavat is interpreted, in addition, as “one who destroys the four māras.” This is achieved either by reading bhagavat as bhagnavat (“one who broke”), or by tracing the word bhaga to the root √bhañj (“to break”).
A being who is dedicated to the cultivation and fulfilment of the altruistic intention to attain perfect buddhahood, traversing the ten bodhisattva levels (daśabhūmi, sa bcu). Bodhisattvas purposely opt to remain within cyclic existence in order to liberate all sentient beings, instead of simply seeking personal freedom from suffering. In terms of the view, they realize both the selflessness of persons and the selflessness of phenomena.
The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and so it can refer to the special capacity of practitioners to memorize and recall detailed teachings. It can also refer to a verbal expression of the teachings—an incantation, spell, or mnemonic formula—that distills and “holds” essential points of the Dharma and is used by practitioners to attain mundane and supramundane goals. The same term is also used to denote texts that contain such formulas.
An epithet used for the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī.
The five most negative actions. Upon death, those who have committed one or more of these immediately proceed to the hells without first experiencing the intermediate state. They are (1) killing an arhat, (2) killing one’s mother, (3) killing one’s father, (4) creating a schism in the saṅgha, and (5) maliciously drawing blood from a tathāgata’s body.
An epithet of Mañjuśrī.
Literally a “disk” or “circle,” in the ritual context maṇḍala is a sacred space on the ground or a raised platform, arranged according to a pattern that varies from rite to rite.
Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.
A type of stanza with four lines of eight syllables.
A frequently used synonym for buddha. According to different explanations, it can be read as tathā-gata, literally meaning “one who has thus gone,” or as tathā-āgata, “one who has thus come.” Gata, though literally meaning “gone,” is a past passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. Tatha(tā), often rendered as “suchness” or “thusness,” is the quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms. Therefore, this epithet is interpreted in different ways, but in general it implies one who has departed in the wake of the buddhas of the past, or one who has manifested the supreme awakening dependent on the reality that does not abide in the two extremes of existence and quiescence. It is also often used as a specific epithet of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha—the three objects of Buddhist refuge. In the Tibetan rendering, “the three rare and supreme ones.”
This term may, according to context, refer to exoteric or esoteric knowledge, a goddess, her associated dhāraṇī, or some combination of these. In the body of this scripture, the dhāraṇī is referred to as a vidyā. In tantric literature these two terms are frequently used interchangeably.
’jam dpal gyis dmod btsugs pa. Toh 546, Degé Kangyur vol. 89 (rgyud, pa), folios 13.b.5–14.a.5.
’jam dpal gyis dmod btsugs pa. Toh 893, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, e), folios 167.a.3–167.b.3.
’jam dpal gyis dmod btsugs 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. 89, pp. 48–49.
’jam dpal gyis dmod btsugs 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. 97, pp. 494–95.
’jam dpal gyis dmod btsugs pa. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 102 (rgyud, da), folios 494.b.1–495.a.4.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Āryamaitripratijñānāmadhāraṇī). Toh 643, Degé Kangyur vol. 91 (rgyud, ba), folios 127.b.2–128.a.3; and Toh 890, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, e), folios 165.b.4–166.a.4.
’phags ma sgrol ma rang gis dam bcas pa’i gzungs (Āryatārāsvapratijñānāmadhāraṇī). Toh 730, Degé Kangyur vol. 94 (rgyud, tsha), folios 222.a–222.b; and Toh 1002, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, waM), folios 160.a–160.b. English Translation in Lhasey Lotsawa Translations and Publications 2021.
’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi rtsa ba’i rgyud (Āryamañjuśrīmūlakalpa). Toh 543, Degé Kangyur vol. 88 (rgyud, na), folios 105.a–351.a. English Translation in Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2020.
seng+ge sgras dam bcas pa’i gzungs. Toh 912, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, e), folios 242.a7–242.b3.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
Phangthangma (dkar chag ’phang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). chos ’byung (bde bar gshegs pa’i bstan pa’i gsal byed chos kyi ’byung gnas gsung rab rin po che’i gter mdzod). In The Collected Works of Bu-Ston, vol. 24 (ya), folios 1.a–212.a/pp. 633–1055. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71.
Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh, ed. Sādhanamālā. 2 vols. First published, Baroda: Central Library, 1925. Reprint, Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1968.
Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī (Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, Toh 543). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020.
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
Lhasey Lotsawa Translations and Publications, trans. The Dhāraṇī “Tārā’s Own Promise” (Āryatārāsvapratijñānāmadhāraṇī, Toh 730). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.
