The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla
Chapter 17: Enthralling Rites
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 17: Enthralling Rites
“Now I will explain the chapter on enthralling rites.
The Blessed One replied, “On the eighth day of the lunar month, one should follow the rites for a fire offering. Then one should take some fibers from giant milkweed fruit and wrap them with a strip of cloth from a cremation ground. Grind cow bezoar, the five ambrosias, and a human tongue into powder. Fashion this into a wick, place it in a copper bowl in human fat, and it will produce a collyrium. Then one should mix it with their own semen and use it as a forehead mark. Any girl that one looks at will fall under one’s spell. If she does not fall under one’s spell, then Mahākāla is not present. He will have committed an act entailing immediate retribution by abandoning his vow to protect the Buddha’s teachings.
“One should perform five thousand fire offerings using velvet bean leaves while reciting the mantra oṃ hrīḥ kṣaḥ [insert name] āgacchantu yaṃ,264 then one should meditate with an unwavering mind with their clothes off and hair loose. The power of the mantra will surely make her come and fall at one’s feet. That female servant will have a pleasing appearance, and she will not belong to someone else. If she does not come, one should reverse the order of the mantra and recite it one hundred eight times. Her head will burst open, she will die, [F.72.b] and one will be granted the supreme siddhi.
“On the fourteenth day of the waning moon during the lunar month of Māgha, one should display the red form of Mahākāla and perform an elaborate offering to him. One should face east while performing five hundred fire offerings with alcohol and red water lilies. After midnight one will enthrall even the king’s daughter, so it goes without saying that one can also enthrall someone else’s daughter. If this does not work, one should enthrall her using the mantra oṁ vajra hūṁ phaṭ svāhā, which can enthrall even the most intractable beings in Jambudvīpa.
“One should stir lotus root, cow’s tongue, sandalwood, aloeswood, and the five ambrosias in sesame oil and incant it twenty-one times with the mantra for the sixteen-armed form. One should then use it to rinse their face, and, when present in the king’s palace, even one’shostile and irreverant speech toward the king will be regarded as agreeable.
“This astonishing method has been praised by all the buddhas. One should combine vulture meat with cow bezoar, stir it together with their own semen, and give it to a young girl. She will become one’s servant if one combines this method with mantra recitation.
“This is the method for the great enthrallment rite: One should stir the fat of a cow, the fat of a parrot, and sesame oil with kakkola seeds and hit a young girl with the mixture. After that, the liquid will trickle down, and she will offer her body and remain at one’s side for as long as one lives.
“One should stir together birch bark, cow bezoar, red lac, and vermillion with emblic myrobalan juice and use the mixture to draw a circle with a triangle consisting of three parts. In the center, one should draw the first member of the third consonant group mounted slightly above the syllable ra and adorned with a nasal in the middle. The following mantra should be arranged outside of it:
oṁ joṁ [insert woman’s name] kāmadevī [insert man’s name in genitive] hāḥ haḥ haḥ phaṭ svāhā.
Wrap it in cloth from a charnel ground, place it in water infused with sandalwood, and leave it there for one watch of the day. At that point the target will certainly be enthralled, and they will do whatever one wishes. One can also incant the seeds of a bundle of datura every day with this mantra five thousand times and hit her with them, and in five days she will be coerced into marriage. [F.73.a]
“A yogin should perform five hundred fire offerings on the eighth or eleventh day of the waning moon with a mixture of dark blue water lilies, ghee, honey, and molasses while chanting the mantra oṃ strī kṣīḥ [insert name] asyā pitā vivāhena mahyaṃ dāpaya svāhā.265 Within a week, the yogin will enthrall that girl. If she is not enthralled, he should recite the mantra one hundred more times, and she will definitely be enthralled.
“One should stir soil from a charnel ground, realgar, barley potash, and molasses with their own semen and rub it on their body. This will certainly enthrall any animal.”
This is chapter seventeen in The Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, “Enthralling Rites.”
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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