The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla
Chapter 16: Sādhanas for Acquiring a Servant
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 16: Sādhanas for Acquiring a Servant
The Blessed One continued, “If someone is interested in attaining kingship, they should focus on kingship; if someone is interested in attaining the mercury siddhi, they should focus on the mercury siddhi; if someone is interested in attaining the corporeal siddhi, they should focus on the corporeal siddhi; if someone is interested in attaining ultimate reality, they should focus on ultimate reality; and if someone is interested in attaining the sense objects, they should focus on the sense objects. Goddess, once they have attained one of those goals, they can easily be successful in all of them, while those who attempt to succeed in other goals without them will find their efforts fruitless. [F.70.b]
“At a solitary liṅga, a cremation ground, or a riverbank, one should sit on top of an intact corpse that has not begun to decompose. After the mantra has been recited one hundred eight times, the corpse will stick out its tongue at the end of the mantra recitation, at which point one should cut it out and hold it in their right hand. One will then attain the sword siddhi.
“I will explain some other procedures.
“One should take some salt and hit the corpse with it. It will spit out six or eight pieces of gold.
“On the eighth, tenth, or fourteenth day of the lunar month, one should take their own catuḥsama251 and anoint their body with it. They should then take a seat on a brahmin’s skull and light lamps to the five goddesses and so forth along with mutaka252 and olibanum and recite the mantra one thousand times within a vajra dwelling. The king of mantras that one should recite for this rite is oṁ mahācaṇḍa hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā.
“Then, on the eighth day of the waning moon, one should go to a riverbank and make a maṇḍala using butterfly-pea flowers. Then, on the sand at that riverbank one should make an image in the likeness of the yakṣa Kelīkīla and smear its body with various perfumes. Next, one should recite the mantra oṃ suḥ ṣaḥ hūṁ five thousand times while sitting in that maṇḍala. The yakṣa will approach and say, ‘I am going to eat you,’ but the practitioner should not be afraid and should say to him, ‘Servant, you must do my bidding.’ When offering water is poured on his head he will give five hundred palas of gold every day, as well as the mercury siddhi and alchemy siddhi. If this does not happen, one should take sulfur, mica, and suparṇamakṣī253 with the left hand and slap the top of his head three times, and he will surely come. If he does not come, his head will burst open like the flowering top of a wild basil plant. If the practice was performed following the proper procedure, he will do whatever one wants. The eight yakṣas will also come if one performs that practice.
“The yogin should go to edge of a city and recite the mantra for the four-armed Mahākāla five thousand times. After that he should set up Mahākāla’s maṇḍala, grind rattleweed root, jataka bark, [F.71.a] and timira root, and rub it on the body. After Mahābhairava arrives with a great roar, he should present offering water that has been infused with sandalwood and rainwater. The yogin should not be afraid when he sees him. This practitioner’s assistant should be seated in the north and addressed as ‘son.’254 Once the yogin issues a command three times,255 he will do whatever the yogin wants.
“Alternatively, one should go to a park and take a seat on a tiger skin under an aśoka tree, naked and with their topknot undone. One should perform everything up to the self-protection rite as before and rub their body with a juice from the leaves of a sūpāśimbī tree. They should then recite the mantra of the two-armed Mahākāla one thousand times and perform a bali offering that is well supplied with ghee, honey, cooked grains, black gram, beleric myrobalan fruits, alcohol, and meat. After that, they should brandish a sword and utter ‘approach’ three times. Mahānanda will clap his hands and approach. A yogin who seeks siddhi should look at him without being frightened, and he will grant one thousand palas of gold.
“One should go to a solitary liṅga, face east, and recite Mahākāla’s mantra one thousand times or more while rubbing their body with the five ambrosias. After reciting the mantra one hundred more times, one should rub their body with sūpāśimbī juice. While seated on a corpse, one should recite the mantra oṁ muḥ hūṁ jaḥ vaṃ hīḥ for three watches, and a yakṣiṇī taking one among a number of forms will arrive bearing an excellent offering of various substances. She will become one’s companion and no one else’s, will provide five palas of gold every day, and will protect one as if one is at the foot of a protective tree or at the foot of a flowering tree.256
“I will now thoroughly explain another rite. To summon Candra and Sūrya, one should go to a place where there is an image of the Buddha and make a large bali offering. One should then smear their body with lac mixed with water and sandalwood, [F.71.b] sit on a corpse while facing east, smear their body with the five ambrosias, and recite the mantra in a loud voice five thousand times. Sūrya will come, and once he has arrived the practitioner should sit in the north and offer him water infused with cow bezoar and sandalwood. Sūrya will ask, ‘What can I do for you?’ at which point the practitioner should say, ‘Please grant me the alchemy siddhi’257 three times.258 If one leaves a bali offering furnished with the seven root plants beneath star jasmine following the proper ritual procedure and then sits on scattered lotus flowers while reciting the mantra, Candra will certainly come and do whatever one wishes.
“A yogin should enter meditative equipoise in a vajra dwelling259 and rub their body with vermillion and perfumed water. While seated on a human skull, they should recite the mantra eight thousand times before a painting of Mahākāla, and Kālikā will come. If she does not come, then they should perform the head-slapping mudrā,260 and she will surely come. She will provide one hundred gold coins each day and become one’s servant. Additionally, in order to gain accomplishment through Carcikā, one should use the left-hip mudrā. She will come and provide one with gems and precious jewels.
“There are additional ways to gain accomplishment through them. Someone who wants the two yoginīs to grant the mercury and alchemy siddhis should recite the invoking mantra oṁ kṣaḥ hūṁ phaṭ.261 The yoginīs will make the sound cha cho,262 and they will come with great sound of phaṭ.263 The practitioner should look at them without fear, and while seated in the north they should say, ‘You should act as my servants.’
“One should go to a charnel ground, take a seat on a buffalo skull before a painting of Mahākāla, enter equipoise, and recite the mantra for one week. After the third watch has passed, Mahākāla will come with his retinue. One should not be afraid when seeing them. When he says, ‘Hey practitioner, I am going to eat you,’ the practitioner, seated in the north, should say ‘Hūṁ kill!’ while offering water infused with cow bezoar and sandalwood. [F.72.a] After that, Mahākāla will ask, ‘Great hero, why did you summon me?’ The practitioner, seated in the north, should respond, ‘Carry out the task I require, whenever I ask of you.’ Then he will say, ‘I will grant whatever siddhi you wish.’ If the practitioner then displays the lion mudrā, they will obtain the form of a lion that is so difficult to gain. Through this they will be granted various substances and siddhis. The mantra for that practice is oṁ āgaccha mahā hūṁ ho ho.”
This is chapter sixteen in The Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, “Sādhanas for Acquiring a Servant.”
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) |
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