The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi
Prologue
Toh 498
Degé Kangyur, vol. 87 (rgyud ’bum, da), folios 158.a–167.a
- Celu
- Phakpa Sherab
Imprint
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Group
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2013
Current version v 3.29.12 (2024)
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Table of Contents
Summary
In the Kangyur and Tengyur collections there are more than forty titles centered on the form of Vajrapāṇi known as the “Blue-Clad One,” a measure of this figure’s great popularity in both India and Tibet. This text, The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi, is a scripture that belongs to the Conduct tantra (Caryātantra) class, the third of the four categories used by the Tibetans to organize their tantric canon. It introduces the practice of Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi, while also providing the practitioner with a number of rituals directed at suppressing, subduing, or eliminating ritual targets.
Acknowledgments
This translation was produced by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. Catherine Dalton and Andreas Doctor translated the text, with assistance from Ryan Damron and Wiesiek Mical.
This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Text Body
Prologue
Thus did I hear at one time. Blessed Akṣobhya, the buddha of the vajra family, was residing in the palace in Alakāvatī together with a retinue of millions of bodhisattvas, including Vajrapāṇi, [F.158.b] Vajra Regiment, Constant Vajra Holder, Vajra Tamer, Terrible Vajra Conqueror, Vajra Tamer of All Evil, Vajra Victor of Basic Space, Vajra Joyfully Abiding Protector, and others.
At that time, the great being, the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi himself, brandished a vajra three times at his heart center. He made three circumambulations of the Blessed One and prostrated himself.
Then, kneeling on his right knee, Vajrapāṇi requested, “Blessed One, Thus-Gone One, Great Vajra Holder, please explain the great tantra called The All-Subjugating Vajra that subjugates all bhūtas and that tames the evil ones that dwell beneath the earth. Great Vajra Holder, I supplicate you to teach! Great Lord of All, I supplicate you to teach! Great Tamer of All Evil Forces, I supplicate you to teach! Great Dispeller of All Darkness, I supplicate you to teach!”
At this request from Vajrapāṇi, the Blessed One declared, “It is excellent that you, Great Vajradhara, Secret One, have, for the benefit of sentient beings, requested from me the tantra called The All-Subjugating Vajra. Lord of Secrets, that is excellent! Great Bodhisattva, that is excellent! Thus, you who share Vajrapāṇi’s lineage, listen and remember this! I will reveal and explain the tantra called The Vajra That Subjugates the Evil Forces Below the Vajra Earth. Receive it!”
After pronouncing these words, the Blessed One, by means of the absorption of the all-subjugating vajra, entered equipoise in the absorption called vanquishing all grahas and bhūtas from below the earth.
No sooner had the Blessed One entered equipoise than a multitude of wrathful subjugators of evil forces emanated from all the pores of his body and filled the space under the earth, on the earth, and above the earth. The entire land of the underground nāgas was filled with the horrible sound hūṃ. [F.159.a] The eight nāga kings together with their retinues were tamed, and bowed before the Blessed One.
But the nāga king Anantaka then gave rise to an evil thought, intending to release a scalding breath. But the Blessed One knew his intention and blessed the Lord of Secrets, Vajrapāṇi, who spoke this mantra called the mantra that completely pacifies the anger of all nāgas: “Oṃ nīlavajra krodhanāga hūṃ phaṭ.”
Now the mind of the nāga Anantaka was completely pacified; he became endowed with the awakened mind, through which the minds of all the nāgas were completely pacified. Then all of the nāga kings like Anantaka, who live below the earth, supplicated the Blessed One, the Great Vajra Holder, with these words:
“Blessed One, we supplicate you to explain a ritual that will, in future times and onward, prevent the grahas that are living below the earth from making obstacles for sentient beings, and that will also pacify the evil of those spirits. We supplicate you to explain why we, the nāga kings and our retinues, are unable to create obstacles for that great being. We supplicate you to explain to us, the nāga kings, our purpose.”
The Blessed One, the Great Vajra Holder, glanced at the nāga kings and replied, “Nāga kings, that is excellent! Your request is timely. I will reveal this for the benefit of sentient beings. I will explain; listen!”
The nāgas and the others replied, “Excellent, Blessed One!”
They then listened appropriately. At that point, the Blessed One explained the following chapter called “Taming the Nāgas.”
Taming the Nāgas
Colophon
The translation was completed by the Kashmiri scholar Celu and the Tibetan translator Phakpa Sherab.
Bibliography
Tibetan Texts
bcom ldan ’das phyag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi rgyud ces bya ba (Bhagavannīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇitantranāma). Toh 498, Degé Kangyur vol. 87 (rgyud ’bum, da), folios 158a.6–167a.3.
bcom ldan ’das phyag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi rgyud ces bya ba. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 87, 469–90.
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Mayer, Robert. “The Importance of the Underworlds: Asuras’ Caves in Buddhism, and Some Other Themes in Early Buddhist Tantras Reminiscent of the Later Padmasambhava Legends.” Journal of the International Association for Tibetan Studies 3 (December 2007): 1–31.
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