The Great Cloud (2)
Ritual Procedure
Toh 235
Degé Kangyur, vol. 64 (mdo sde, wa), folios 250.b–263.a
- Śīlendrabodhi
- Jinamitra
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
Imprint
Translated by the Mahamegha Translation Team
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2023
Current version v 1.0.9 (2023)
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Table of Contents
Summary
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.
Acknowledgements
This translation was produced by Joshua Capitanio for the Mahamegha translation team. It was further revised by the 84000 editorial team after comparing it with the available Sanskrit sources.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Text Body
The Great Cloud
Ritual Procedure
One who desires to produce a great rainfall should first go to an open, clean area and erect a blue canopy, decorating it with blue pennants. The Dharma practitioner should bathe their body, abide by the eightfold precepts, and don clean blue garments. Having anointed themselves with pleasant-smelling incense, they should consume the three white foods and seat themselves upon a blue cushion, facing east. After supplicating all the tathāgatas, they should read aloud this chapter on the array of winds from The Great Cloud, day and night without interruption.
They should set out four vases filled with blue water, together with as much offering cakes, incense, and flowers as they can gather. The Dharma practitioner should then use liquified cow dung to draw figures in the four directions. [F.263.a] In the eastern direction they should use cow dung to draw a three-headed nāga king, three cubits tall, with a retinue of various nāga attendants. In the southern direction they should draw a five-headed nāga king, five cubits tall, with a retinue of various nāga attendants. In the western direction they should draw a seven-headed nāga king, seven cubits tall, with a retinue of various nāga attendants. In the northern direction they should draw a nine-headed nāga king, nine cubits tall, with a retinue of various nāga attendants. The Dharma practitioner should guard their own body, abiding in loving-kindness, and establish an attitude of compassion toward all sentient beings. Then, they should supplicate all the buddhas and bodhisattvas and share the virtuous roots with the nāgas. This is the ritual procedure.
If one reads aloud this chapter on the array of winds from The Great Cloud during a time of drought, then within one full day, two full days, or up to seven full days, it is certain that rain will fall. The ocean may recede with the tides, but this ritual for bringing rainfall, the speech of the Great Sage, will never change. That being the case, however, one must abide in discipline and virtuous qualities and abandon lax discipline, meat, fish, and the like. One should consume rice gruel, curds, milk, rice with sugar, the three sweets, and so forth. In this fashion, the ritual will be successful. As this was spoken by the King of Sages, there should be no doubts about this.
From the noble Mahāyāna sūtra “The Great Cloud,” this is the sixty-fourth chapter “The Array of Winds That Send Down Rainfall” together with its ritual manual.
Bibliography
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