The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla
Chapter 22: Rites for Causing and Halting Rainfall
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 22: Rites for Causing and Halting Rainfall
“Now I will present the chapter on breaking up and gathering clouds. When there is a substantial amount rain, one should go to a charnel ground and recite the mantra for the eight-armed form five thousand times, incant five thousand blue water lilies, and perform the fire offering. [F.76.b] The rain will surely subside.
“One should go to the edge of town, sit on a cow’s skull, and smear their body with human fat. One should set up an image of Mahābhairava and focus on it while performing a fire offering with five thousand dark blue water lilies. One should satiate themselves with meat, alcohol, blood, drink, and food.
The mantra is:
oṁ kṣaṁ ū ū ū sphoṭaya sphoṭaya māraya maraya garjja garjja ruta ruta haḥ hūṃ phaṭ | aṣṭanāgānāṃ kha kha khāhi khāhi ūḥ ūḥ.290
“When recited, the clouds will surely disperse, and the rain will subside. If one washes themselves with offering water and then recites the mantra well, all manner of good qualities will result.
“One should go to a place with a solitary liṅga, sit beneath a tree, place their left forefinger in their mouth, and recite the mantra of the sixteen-armed form five thousand times while imagining a lion in their hand.291 The clouds will certainly disperse and depart.
“One should go to a pavilion, sit on a lion skin, and fill their mouth with blood from their calves.292 If one incants dung293 one thousand times with the mantra for the sixteen-armed form, the deluge will certainly cease.
“One should mix dark blue butterfly-pea flowers, molasses, and sesame and perform five thousand fire offerings as before. The mantra is:
“After reciting only this, this procedure for dispersing clouds, which is wondrous in the human realm, will certainly end the rain.
“When there is a drought, one should go to an empty house, dig a pit one cubit deep in the middle of a square maṇḍala, and offer one thousand flowers as a fire offering. The mantra is:
“After reciting only this, it will surely rain.”
The Blessed One next taught an advanced procedure: “On the outskirts of town, one should take a seat on a monkey’s skull, rub their body with human fat, and drink alcohol according to the proper procedure. A yogin who craves food and drink will undoubtedly succeed. [F.77.a] One should perform five thousand fire offerings with butterfly-pea flowers, or otherwise visualize themselves in the form of a lion and aggressively recite the following mantra after an initial roar:
“One should then cup their hands and say, ‘Rain on me,’ while imagining the rain spreading from their own dwelling to fall on the entire vessel-like world.”
This is chapter twenty-two in The Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla, “Rites for Causing and Halting Rainfall.”
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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