• 84000
  • The Collection
  • The Kangyur
  • Dhāraṇī
  • Compendium of Dhāraṇīs
  • Toh 1006
དཔལ་གྱི་ལྷ་མོའི་མཚན་བཅུ་གཉིས་པ།

The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī

dpal gyi lha mo’i mtshan bcu gnyis pa

Toh 1006

Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs ’dus, waM), folios 172.a–172.b

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co.

Table of Contents

ti. Title
im. Imprint
co. Contents
s. Summary
ac. Acknowledgements
i. Introduction
tr. The Translation
+ 2 sections- 2 sections
1. The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī
c. Colophon
n. Notes
b. Bibliography
+ 2 sections- 2 sections
· Tibetan Sources
· Other Sources
g. Glossary

s.

Summary

s.­1

The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī is a short text revealed to Avalokiteśvara in the pure land of Sukhāvatī. In essence, it is a dhāraṇī centered on twelve epithets of the goddess of wealth. The spell is said to provide prosperity.


ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.­1

The text was translated from Tibetan by the Buddhapīṭha Translation Group (Gergely Hidas and Péter-Dániel Szántó).

ac.­2

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Andreas Doctor edited the translation and the introduction, and Laura Goetz copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.


i.

Introduction

i.­1

The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī is a short text revealed to Avalokiteśvara in the pure land of Sukhāvatī. In essence, it is a dhāraṇī centered on twelve epithets of the goddess of wealth and a short ritual instruction concerning its recitation. Lists of the epithets of a deity are a common type of dhāraṇī, and such texts can sometimes be extremely long (for example, Reciting the Names of Mañjuśrī).1 An alternative version of this text is The Sūtra of Mahāśrī,2 from which it differs in only minor details.

i.­2

Mahāśrī, or simply Śrī, or commonly Lakṣmī, is a goddess who is perhaps more prevalent in the brahmanical tradition, where she is said to be the great god Viṣṇu’s consort. She is associated with well-being and prosperity. Here her names constitute the inner core of the dhāraṇī, which is promised to provide prosperity. This text styles her a bodhisattva.

i.­3

The text is extant in Sanskrit in the old palm-leaf Nepalese Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (Dhāraṇī­saṃgraha). Two such witnesses have been published by Hidas.3 The first is unfortunately fragmentary, and we cannot determine what the end of the text looked like. The second witness concludes the text with the application of the dhāraṇī, which is not mirrored in the Tibetan but is paralleled by the penultimate section of The Sūtra of Mahāśrī. Another difference is that in the Sanskrit, the name-dhāraṇī is revealed not only to Avalokiteśvara, but also to Mañjuśrī.

i.­4

The Tibetan translation dates from the imperial period, sometime in the early ninth century. It is listed in both imperial catalogs,4 and the colophon attributes it to the famous translator-duo Jinamitra and Yeshé Dé. We know of at least one Dunhuang copy of the Tibetan translation;5 this was copied on the back of a Chinese scroll in a somewhat unusual way, in columns.

i.­5

The Chinese translation dates to the Tang dynasty and holds the distinction of being the earliest attestation of the text, which thus must have been in circulation before the middle of the eighth century. Although some catalogs list this translation as one item (Taishō 1252),6 in fact, what we have here is not one, but two translations of the same text. Both are attributed to Amoghavajra, arguably the most influential master to propagate esoteric Buddhist lore at the Tang court. A part of the dhāraṇī portion is also included here in the siddham script. There are some differences when compared to the Sanskrit and the Tibetan: the male bodhisattva to whom the name-dhāraṇī is revealed is Samantabhadra, and this version also transmits some passages on the application of the spell, as well as another dhāraṇī, which is quite similar to the famous dhāraṇī of the Heart Sūtra, (gate gate, etc.)

i.­6

This translation was made principally on the basis of the Tibetan translations of the text found in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus)7 in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the editions of two Sanskrit witnesses, the Dunhuang version, the Stok Palace Kangyur, and The Sūtra of Mahāśrī.


Text Body

The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī

1.

The Translation

[F.172.a]


1.­1

Homage to the Three Jewels.


Homage to the noble Avalokiteśvara.


Homage to Vajrapāṇi.


Homage to the great goddess Śrī.8


1.­3

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing in the realm of Sukhāvatī. Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva, the noble Avalokiteśvara, set out to where the Blessed One was residing. Having arrived, he bowed his head at the feet of the Blessed One, circumambulated the Blessed One thrice, and sat down on one side. Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva, the great goddess Śrī, also set out to where the Blessed One was residing. Having arrived, she bowed her head at the feet of the Blessed One and sat down on one side.

1.­4

Then the Blessed One looked at Mahāśrī and said this to the noble Avalokiteśvara: “Avalokiteśvara, whosoever, including monks and nuns, laymen and laywomen, gets to know, upholds, recites, accomplishes, or speaks of the twelve names of Mahāśrī here will escape destitution and become very wealthy.”9

1.­5

Then the entire host of spirits10 said, “May it be so!”

1.­6

“These are the twelve names of the great goddess Śrī: [F.172.b] “It is thus‍—Welfare, Splendor, She Who Is Wearing a Garland of Lotuses, Mistress of Wealth, White One,11 She of Great Fame, Lotus-Eyed One, She of Great Radiance, She Who Accomplishes, Bestower of Nourishment, She of Jewel-Like Gleam,12 Great Splendor. Homage to all buddhas! Homage to Avalokiteśvara! Homage to the great goddess Śrī! It is thus‍—jini ghriṇi, O Accomplisher of All Goals, simi simi nimi nimi,13 remove my destitution completely,14 svāhā.15

1.­7

Thus spoke the Blessed One, and the bodhisattva, the noble Avalokiteśvara, was gladdened and praised the speech of the Blessed One.

1.­8

Here ends “The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī.”


c.

Colophon

c.­1

This was translated, checked, and redacted by the Indian preceptor Jinamitra and the great editor-translator Bandé Yeshé Dé.


n.

Notes

n.­1
Mañjuśrī­nāma­saṃgīti (’jam dpal mtshan brjod, Toh 360).
n.­2
Mahāśrīsūtra (dpal chen mo’i mdo, Toh 740/1005). See The Sūtra of Mahāśrī.
n.­3
Hidas 2021, p. 33, item no. 3 and p. 52, item no. 40 in Cambridge University Library Ms Add. 1680.8.3 and Ms Add. 1680.8, respectively.
n.­4
Denkarma, folio 303.b; Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, pp. 247–48; Kawagoe 2005, p. 23. Interestingly, the former gives the length as 8 units, whereas the latter gives 10.
n.­5
Pelliot tibétain 68.1, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, accessed through Bibliothèque nationale de France Gallica. Already identified in Lalou 1939, p. 23.
n.­6
Da jixiang tiannu shi’er ming hao jing 大吉祥天女十二名號經 (CBETA T1252a; CBETA 1252b).
n.­7

This text, Toh 1006, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, waM), 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.

n.­8
Most if not all of these obeisance formulas are not part of the main text, but the so-called translators’ obeisance (’gyur phyag).
n.­9
The Dunhuang version (lines 12–13) adds, “Such a person will become fortunate with many riches, much grain, much livestock, much treasure, many sons, and many retainers and servants” (nor mang ba dang ’bru mang po dang / phyugs mang po dang / bang mdzod mang po dang bu tsa mang po/ + +yog mang po phun sum tshogs par ’gyur ro//; illegible letters are marked with a + sign here; we expect that the lost part was something like ’khor g.yog).
n.­10
It is not at all clear where these spirits came from, and it is still less clear why they are in Sukhāvatī.
n.­11
Gaurī is given in the Sanskrit, but the Tibetan here has “Clad in White” (dkar sham ma).
n.­12
The Tibetan of The Sūtra of Mahāśrī has rin po che rab tu sbyin ma, suggesting an underlying reading of *Ratnapradā.
n.­13
The Sanskrit differs slightly: “Here the mantra-words are jini jini glini glini kāya­viśodhani vāgviśodhani manaḥsaṃ­śodhani (‘Purifier of Body, Speech, and Mind’), sisi sisi, nimi nimi.” The Sanskrit does not transmit the three obeisance formulas.
n.­14
Here we have adopted the Dunhuang reading (myi shis pa), mirroring the Sanskrit alakṣmīṃ more faithfully, instead of Degé and Stok, which, due to a scribal error, have “ignorance” (mi shes pa).
n.­15
The names or epithets translated into Tibetan are (1) Lakṣmī, (2) Śrī, (3) Padmamālinī (4) Dhanādhipati, (5) Gaurī, (6) Mahāyaśāḥ, (7) Padmanetrī, (8) Mahādyuti, (9) Kartrī, (10) Annadāyinī, (11) Ratnaprabhā (cf. note 11), and (12) Mahāśrī.

b.

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

dpal gyi lha mo’i mtshan bcu gnyis pa. Toh 741, Degé Kangyur vol. 94 (rgyud ’bum, tsha), folios 235.a–236.b.

dpal gyi lha mo’i mtshan bcu gnyis pa. Toh 1006, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs ’dus, waM), folios 172.a–172.b.

dpal gyi lha mo’i mtshan bcu gnyis pa. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 108 (rgyud, tsa), folios 87.a–88.a.

dpal chen mo’i mdo (Mahāśrīsūtra). Toh 740, Degé Kangyur vol. 94 (rgyud ’bum, tsha), folios 234.b–235.a; Toh 1005, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs ’dus, waM), folios 171.a–172.b. English translation The Sūtra of Mahāśrī 2024.

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.

Pelliot tibétain 68.1. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, accessed through Bibliothèque nationale de France Gallica.

Other Sources

84000. The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Mahāśrīsūtra, dpal chen mo’i mdo, Toh 740). Translated by the Buddhapīṭha Translation Group (Gergely Hidas and Péter-Dániel Szántó). Online publications. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.

Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.

Hidas, Gergely. Powers of Protection: The Buddhist Tradition of Spells in the Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha Collections. Beyond Boundaries 9. Boston: de Gruyter, 2021.

Kawagoe, Eishin, ed. dKar chag ’Phang thang ma. Tōhoku Indo-Chibetto Kenkyū Sōsho 3. Sendai: Tohoku Society for Indo-Tibetan Studies, 2005.

Lalou, Marcelle. Inventaire des Manuscrits tibétains de Touen-houang conservés à la Bibliothèque Nationale (Fonds Pelliot tibétain nos. 1–849). Vol. 1. Paris: Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1939.

Skorupski, Tadeusz. A Catalogue of the Stog Palace Kanjur. Bibliographia Philologica Buddhica, Series Maior 4. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1985.


g.

Glossary

Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language

AS

Attested in source text

This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.

AO

Attested in other text

This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.

AD

Attested in dictionary

This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.

AA

Approximate attestation

The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names where the relationship between the Tibetan and source language is attested in dictionaries or other manuscripts.

RP

Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.

RS

Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.

SU

Source unspecified

This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.

g.­1

Avalokiteśvara

Wylie:
  • spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug
Tibetan:
  • སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག
Sanskrit:
  • avalokiteśvara AS

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the “eight close sons of the Buddha,” he is also known as the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. In certain tantras, he is also the lord of the three families, where he embodies the compassion of the buddhas. In Tibet, he attained great significance as a special protector of Tibet, and in China, in female form, as Guanyin, the most important bodhisattva in all of East Asia.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • i.­3
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­3-4
  • 1.­6-7
g.­2

Bandé Yeshé Dé

Wylie:
  • ban+de ye shes sde
Tibetan:
  • བནྡེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།
Sanskrit:
  • —

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

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.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • c.­1
g.­3

Bestower of Nourishment

Wylie:
  • zas sbyin ma
Tibetan:
  • ཟས་སྦྱིན་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • annadāyinī AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­4

blessed one

Wylie:
  • bcom ldan ’das
Tibetan:
  • བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
Sanskrit:
  • bhagavat AS

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

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”).

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­3-4
  • 1.­7
g.­5

bodhisattva mahāsattva

Wylie:
  • byang chub sems dpa’ sems dpa’ chen po
Tibetan:
  • བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • bodhisattva­mahāsattva AS

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The term can be understood to mean “great courageous one” or "great hero,” or (from the Sanskrit) simply “great being,” and is almost always found as an epithet of “bodhisattva.” The qualification “great” in this term, according to the majority of canonical definitions, focuses on the generic greatness common to all bodhisattvas, i.e., the greatness implicit in the bodhisattva vow itself in terms of outlook, aspiration, number of beings to be benefited, potential or eventual accomplishments, and so forth. In this sense the mahā- is closer in its connotations to the mahā- in “Mahāyāna” than to the mahā- in “mahāsiddha.” While individual bodhisattvas described as mahāsattva may in many cases also be “great” in terms of their level of realization, this is largely coincidental, and in the canonical texts the epithet is not restricted to bodhisattvas at any particular point in their career. Indeed, in a few cases even bodhisattvas whose path has taken a wrong direction are still described as bodhisattva mahāsattva.

Later commentarial writings do nevertheless define the term‍—variably‍—in terms of bodhisattvas having attained a particular level (bhūmi) or realization. The most common qualifying criteria mentioned are attaining the path of seeing, attaining irreversibility (according to its various definitions), or attaining the seventh bhūmi.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­3
g.­6

dhāraṇī

Wylie:
  • gzungs
Tibetan:
  • གཟུངས།
Sanskrit:
  • dhāraṇī AS

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

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.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1-3
  • i.­5-6
g.­7

Great Splendor

Wylie:
  • dpal chen mo ma
Tibetan:
  • དཔལ་ཆེན་མོ་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahāśrī AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī. The Sūtra of Mahāśrī gives the variant dpal chen mo.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­8

Jinamitra

Wylie:
  • dzi na mi tra
Tibetan:
  • ཛི་ན་མི་ཏྲ།
Sanskrit:
  • jinamitra AO

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Jinamitra was invited to Tibet during the reign of King Trisong Detsen (khri srong lde btsan, r. 742–98 ᴄᴇ) and was involved with the translation of nearly two hundred texts, continuing into the reign of King Ralpachen (ral pa can, r. 815–38 ᴄᴇ). He was one of the small group of paṇḍitas responsible for the Mahāvyutpatti Sanskrit–Tibetan dictionary.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • c.­1
g.­9

layman

Wylie:
  • dge bsnyen
Tibetan:
  • དགེ་བསྙེན།
Sanskrit:
  • upāsaka AS

An unordained male practitioner who observes the five precepts not to kill, lie, steal, be intoxicated, or commit sexual misconduct.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­4
g.­10

laywoman

Wylie:
  • dge bsnyen ma
Tibetan:
  • དགེ་བསྙེན་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • upāsikā AS

An unordained female practitioner who observes the five precepts not to kill, lie, steal, be intoxicated, or commit sexual misconduct.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­4
g.­11

Lotus-Eyed One

Wylie:
  • pad+ma spyan mnga’ ma
Tibetan:
  • པདྨ་སྤྱན་མངའ་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • padmanetrī AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī. The Sūtra of Mahāśrī gives the variant padma’i spyan.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­12

Mahāśrī

Wylie:
  • dpal chen mo
Tibetan:
  • དཔལ་ཆེན་མོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahāśrī AS

Name of a goddess more prevalent in the brahmanical tradition, where she is a consort of Viṣṇu. The subject of The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī, where twelve of her epithets are listed.

Located in 15 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • 1.­4
  • n.­15
  • g.­3
  • g.­7
  • g.­11
  • g.­14
  • g.­18
  • g.­19
  • g.­20
  • g.­21
  • g.­22
  • g.­24
  • g.­28
  • g.­29
g.­13

Mañjuśrī

Wylie:
  • ’jam dpal
Tibetan:
  • འཇམ་དཔལ།
Sanskrit:
  • mañjuśrī AO

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

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.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • i.­3
g.­14

Mistress of Wealth

Wylie:
  • nor bdag ma
Tibetan:
  • ནོར་བདག་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • dhanādhipati AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī. The Sūtra of Mahāśrī gives the variant nor gyi bdag mo.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­15

monk

Wylie:
  • dge slong
Tibetan:
  • དགེ་སློང་།
Sanskrit:
  • bhikṣu AS

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The term bhikṣu, often translated as “monk,” refers to the highest among the eight types of prātimokṣa vows that make one part of the Buddhist assembly. The Sanskrit term literally means “beggar” or “mendicant,” referring to the fact that Buddhist monks and nuns‍—like other ascetics of the time‍—subsisted on alms (bhikṣā) begged from the laity.

In the Tibetan tradition, which follows the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, a monk follows 253 rules as part of his moral discipline. A nun (bhikṣuṇī; dge slong ma) follows 364 rules. A novice monk (śrāmaṇera; dge tshul) or nun (śrāmaṇerikā; dge tshul ma) follows thirty-six rules of moral discipline (although in other vinaya traditions novices typically follow only ten).

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­4
g.­16

nun

Wylie:
  • dge slong ma
Tibetan:
  • དགེ་སློང་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • bhikṣuṇī AS

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The term bhikṣuṇī, often translated as “nun,” refers to the highest among the eight types of prātimokṣa vows that make one part of the Buddhist assembly. The Sanskrit term bhikṣu (to which the female grammatical ending ṇī is added) literally means “beggar” or “mendicant,” referring to the fact that Buddhist nuns and monks‍—like other ascetics of the time‍—subsisted on alms (bhikṣā) begged from the laity. In the Tibetan tradition, which follows the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, a bhikṣuṇī follows 364 rules and a bhikṣu follows 253 rules as part of their moral discipline.

For the first few years of the Buddha’s teachings in India, there was no ordination for women. It started at the persistent request and display of determination of Mahāprajāpatī, the Buddha’s stepmother and aunt, together with five hundred former wives of men of Kapilavastu, who had themselves become monks. Mahāprajāpatī is thus considered to be the founder of the nun’s order.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­4
g.­17

preceptor

Wylie:
  • mkhan po
Tibetan:
  • མཁན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • upādhyāya AO

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A person’s particular preceptor within the monastic tradition. They must have at least ten years of standing in the saṅgha, and their role is to confer ordination, to tend to the student, and to provide all the necessary requisites, therefore guiding that person for the taking of full vows and the maintenance of conduct and practice. This office was decreed by the Buddha so that aspirants would not have to receive ordination from the Buddha in person, and the Buddha identified two types: those who grant entry into the renunciate order and those who grant full ordination. The Tibetan translation mkhan po has also come to mean “a learned scholar,” the equivalent of a paṇḍita, but that is not the intended meaning in Indic Buddhist literature.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • c.­1
g.­18

She of Great Fame

Wylie:
  • grags chen ma
Tibetan:
  • གྲགས་ཆེན་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahāyaśas AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī. The Sūtra of Mahāśrī gives the variant grags pa chen mo.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­19

She of Great Radiance

Wylie:
  • ’od chen ma
Tibetan:
  • འོད་ཆེན་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahādyuti AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī. The Sūtra of Mahāśrī gives the variant ’od chen mo.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­20

She of Jewel-Like Gleam

Wylie:
  • rin chen ’od ldan ma
Tibetan:
  • རིན་ཆེན་འོད་ལྡན་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • ratnaprabhā AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­21

She Who Accomplishes

Wylie:
  • byed pa mo
Tibetan:
  • བྱེད་པ་མོ།
Sanskrit:
  • kartrī AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­22

She Who Is Wearing a Garland of Lotuses

Wylie:
  • pad+ma’i phreng thogs ma
Tibetan:
  • པདྨའི་ཕྲེང་ཐོགས་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • padmamālinī AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī. The Sūtra of Mahāśrī gives the variant padma’i phreng ba can.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­23

spirit

Wylie:
  • ’byung po
Tibetan:
  • འབྱུང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • bhūta AS

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

This term in its broadest sense can refer to any being, whether human, animal, or nonhuman. However, it is often used to refer to a specific class of nonhuman beings, especially when bhūtas are mentioned alongside rākṣasas, piśācas, or pretas. In common with these other kinds of nonhumans, bhūtas are usually depicted with unattractive and misshapen bodies. Like several other classes of nonhuman beings, bhūtas take spontaneous birth. As their leader is traditionally regarded to be Rudra-Śiva (also known by the name Bhūta), with whom they haunt dangerous and wild places, bhūtas are especially prominent in Śaivism, where large sections of certain tantras concentrate on them.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­5
  • n.­10
g.­24

Splendor

Wylie:
  • dpal ldan ma
Tibetan:
  • དཔལ་ལྡན་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • śrī AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­25

Sukhāvatī

Wylie:
  • bde ba can
Tibetan:
  • བདེ་བ་ཅན།
Sanskrit:
  • sukhāvatī AO

Sukhāvatī (Blissful) is the buddhafield to the west inhabited by the buddha Amitābha, who is also known as Amitāyus. It is classically described in The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī (Sukhāvatīvyūha).

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • 1.­3
  • n.­10
g.­26

Three Jewels

Wylie:
  • dkon mchog gsum
Tibetan:
  • དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ།
Sanskrit:
  • triratna AO

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha‍—the three objects of Buddhist refuge. In the Tibetan rendering, “the three rare and supreme ones.”

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­27

Vajrapāṇi

Wylie:
  • phyag na rdo rje
Tibetan:
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
Sanskrit:
  • vajrapāṇi AO

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Vajrapāṇi means “Wielder of the Vajra.” In the Pali canon, he appears as a yakṣa guardian in the retinue of the Buddha. In the Mahāyāna scriptures he is a bodhisattva and one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha.” In the tantras, he is also regarded as an important Buddhist deity and instrumental in the transmission of tantric scriptures.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­28

Welfare

Wylie:
  • bkra shis ma
Tibetan:
  • བཀྲ་ཤིས་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • lakṣmī AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
g.­29

White One

Wylie:
  • dkar sham ma
Tibetan:
  • དཀར་ཤམ་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • gaurī AS

One of the twelve names or epithets of Mahāśrī in The Sūtra of Mahāśrī (Toh 740/1005) and The Twelve Names of the Great Goddess Śrī. The Sūtra of Mahāśrī gives the variant dkar mo.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­6
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    84000. The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī (dpal gyi lha mo’i mtshan bcu gnyis pa, Toh 1006). Translated by Buddhapīṭha Translation Group. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024. https://84000.co/translation/toh1006.Copy
    84000. The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī (dpal gyi lha mo’i mtshan bcu gnyis pa, Toh 1006). Translated by Buddhapīṭha Translation Group, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024, 84000.co/translation/toh1006.Copy
    84000. (2024) The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī (dpal gyi lha mo’i mtshan bcu gnyis pa, Toh 1006). (Buddhapīṭha Translation Group, Trans.). Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh1006.Copy

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