The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla
Chapter 10: The Foot-Salve Siddhi
Toh 440
Degé Kangyur, vol. 81 (rgyud ’bum, ca), folios 45.b–86.a
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Table of Contents
Summary
The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla consists of a dialogue between Mahākāla and the Goddess on a broad range of topics including the consecration rites, deity generation practices, and rituals for attaining various siddhis associated with the deity Mahākāla. The opening section of the tantra focuses on topics related to the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras (yoganiruttaratantra, bla na med pa’i rgyud kyi rnal ’byor), such as how one generates the deity, how the consecration rites are performed, and how the advanced practitioner manipulates the vital winds of the subtle body to attain perfect spontaneous union as Mahākāla. The conversation then turns to ritual instructions for the attainment of siddhis as it integrates mastery of the two-stage union practices associated with the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras with those rituals more commonly associated with the Action Tantras (kriyātantra, bya ba’i rgyud) and Conduct Tantras (caryātantra, spyod pa’i rgyud).
Acknowledgements
This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team. Adam Krug produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Ryan Damron edited the translation and the introduction, and Laura Goetz copyedited the text.
We would like to thank Paul Hackett for providing copies of the two Sanskrit witnesses of the Mahākālatantrarāja held at the University of Tokyo and Péter-Dániel Szántó for providing a copy of the twelfth-century Sanskrit manuscript discovered in Tibet by Rāhul Sāṅkṛtyāyana and for pointing us in the right direction to access additional Sanskrit witnesses located in the Royal Asiatic Society’s Hodgson Collection and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Thank you also to Wiesiek Mical for kindly sharing his list of materia medica from his translation of The Tantra of Caṇḍamahāroṣana (Toh 431).1
The generous donation that made the translation work on this text possible was dedicated to DJKR, HH Dodrupchen IV, Khenchen Pema Sherab, Choje Togdan, Gyalse Tulku, Dagpo Tulku, Dorje Bhum, Khenpo Hungtram, and Gakar Tulku by the sponsors Herlintje, Lina Herlintje, Hadi Widjaja, Ocean, Asia, Star and Gold Widjaja.
Text Body
Chapter 10: The Foot-Salve Siddhi
“Now I will explain the various utterly inconceivable characteristics related to the swift feet siddhi.”
The Blessed One continued, “For swift feet, one will attain the highest siddhi if they recite the mantra of the twelve-armed form five hundred thousand times. On the first day one should grind mercury, menstrual blood, the juice of dhak tree roots, and śabarī,156 make a paste using camel urine, and rub it on their feet. One can then move through the air. When prepared and combined with lunar water, one will attain the eight siddhis. One should infuse it with moonlight in the same manner and157 add five extra parts of grain. When one smears it on their feet they will be able to move through the air.
“Should a lunar eclipse occur, at that time one should take one one-thousandth and incant it until the eclipse has run its course. One should then smear honey on their feet, and they will be able to move through the air.158 When worshiped by a samaya holder, the Blessed One will grant them the unequaled siddhi.
“During a solar eclipse one should collect sea salt, salt, and kodo millet, incant it with the mantra of the sixteen-armed form seven times, and smear it on one’s feet. One will be able to move through the air. [F.60.b]
“One should combine a girl’s first menses, olibanum, and boiled water and incant it with the previously mentioned mantra. One should use this to wash their feet as they please, and the siddhi will attained. It will gradually subside over the course of the night.
“One should evenly mix piṇḍagolaka, dried ginger, yellow myrobalan, and marking nut and smear it on their feet. One will be able to move through the air. If this does not work, it means that one has committed one or more of the five acts entailing immediate retribution.
“One should take an appropriate amount of ghee, mix it with the twenty-five flowers, star jasmine flowers, and human fat and offer this into a fire while reciting the mantra oṁ dhamu dhamu kṣamu kṣa svāhā. One should then muddle cobra saffron, wet-flower,159 the fat of a yellow cow, and human fat and rub it on their feet. One will be able to move through the air in relation to each or all the flowers.160
“One should rub their feet with śilapataka incanted one hundred times with the mantra oṁ maṇidhāriṇī mahākāliṇī kha kha khāhi khahi ghana ghana161 ghātaya ghātaya cala cala hūṁ hrīḥ hrīḥ haḥ. One will be able to move through the air.
“A person who wants to move above the surface of the earth should take bala root, cow’s tongue root, śopagalikā,162 yellow myrobalan root, and turmeric, increase them threefold, and muddle them with a mixture of elephant musk and yellow arsenic. When one rubs the mixture on their feet with honey, one will certainly soar above the surface of the earth.”
Then the Goddess said, “I would like to faithfully explain five procedures that ensure success when properly given.163 One should gather velvet bean juice on the first day, beleric myrobalan juice on the second and third days, five sahor fruits on the fourth day,164 and banyan leaves on the fifth day. One should pour goat urine over them and let them soak for five days, leave them in buffalo milk for five days, [F.61.a] and then leave them in camel urine for five days. Then one should grind them with yellow arsenic and vetiver root and combine the two with mercury. After that, one should add sacrifice tree to make a pill, place it in some mother of pearl with one’s own semen, and rub it on both feet. One will then be able to move through the air.
“One should combine lunar water with spider lily, two phaṇikiraṇa leaves, śilapataka juice, a fragrant and extremely bitter plant,165 a pleasant-sounding plant, hiraṇyaparikara,166 and sugatramutramukhi167 and soak them in white mustard oil. If one smears them on their entire body, one will move through the air for a single watch.
“If this fails during a lunar eclipse, one should collect a black cat’s bile on the fifth day of the waxing moon during Puṣya and the saliva and bile of a peacock and a ram’s blood on the seventh day and rub them on the big toe of each foot. One will move through the air for a single watch.
“If nothing happens, then the person pursuing that practice has harmed all the teachings, and I myself will have spoken deceptively.
“One should take spider lily root and sarvadhalī,168 crush them with cow meat, rub the mixture on their feet, and then rinse it off with vetiver root. One will then move through the air.
“One should combine purple fleabane,169 vetiver root,170 cutch tree sap, sukhaṭa, castor oil, and Siamese rough-brush and pulverize them with the three metals, indarī,171 bilva fruit seeds, vatava seeds,172 neem seeds, and satani173 root and leaf and rub the mixture on their feet. One will then move through the air. If it does not work, then the practitioner has committed one of the actions entailing immediate retribution. I174 will also have committed a violation due to attachment to the entire Dharma and the tantras, and I will have spoken falsely and been deceptive. [F.61.b]
“Additionally, one should sit on a hilltop and recite the Goddess’ mantra seven times. One should crush realgar powder, daub tree leaves, and royal jasmine leaves and seeds and rub them on their feet. They will then move through the air.
“Also, if one rubs on their feet a pill made from a juice made from seven roots and camphor water175 on their feet, they will certainly move through the air.
“This supreme means of bestowing the various siddhis was composed for the sake of those people who understand ultimate reality. Such a person has been adorned with various verses.176
This is chapter ten in The Glorious Tantra of Mahākāla, “The Foot-Salve Siddhi.”
Colophon
This work was translated, edited, and finalized by the scholar Samantaśrī and the great editor and translator Ra Gelong Chörap, at the request of the at the request of the vagabond Pha in the miraculous great temple Ramoché in Lhasa.349
Abbreviations
| C | Choné (co ne) |
|---|---|
| D | Degé (sde dge bka’ ’gyur) |
| F | Phukdrak (phug brag) |
| H | Lhasa (lha sa / zhol) |
| J | Lithang (li thang) |
| K | Kanxi (kang shi) |
| N | Narthang (snar thang) |
| S | Stok Palace (stog pho ’brang) |
| Y | Yongle (g.yung lo) |
| BnFS 84 | Bibliothèque national de France (Mahākālatantrarāja) |
|---|---|
| BnFS 85 | Bibliothèque national de France (Mahākālatantrarāja) |
| ND 44-5 | NGMCP D 44-5 (Mahākālatantrarāja) |
| RASH 47 | RAS Hodgson (Mahākālatantra) |
| RST15 | Sāṅkṛtyāyana collection (Patna); Bandurski Xc 14/15 (Mahākālatantrarāja) |
| UTM 286 | Tokyo No. 286 (Mahākālatantrarāja) |
| UTM 288 | Tokyo No. 288 (Mahākālatantrarāja) |
Bibliography
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