co.

Table of Contents

s.

Summary

s.­1

The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas details a brief exchange between the Buddha and the four guardian kings of the world, that is, the four divine beings who rule over the cardinal directions in the Indian Buddhist tradition. Pursuant to a description of the fears that plague mankind, the Buddha declares that he will provide remedies for them. Invoking the presence of numberless buddhas in the limitless world systems described in Buddhist cosmology, the Buddha and the four kings provide several mantras of varying lengths meant for daily recitation, with the stated benefits not only of averting all manner of calamities‍—untimely death, illness, and injury chief among them‍—but of attracting the attention and blessings of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and ensuring good health and benefit for the practitioner and all beings.

ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.­1

The translation was produced by David Gitlen, who also wrote the introduction. The translator would like to express his gratitude to Khensur Geshe Wangdak Rinpoche, Phil Stanley, Sarah Harding, and Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen for their help and guidance.

This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

i.

Introduction

i.­1

The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas records an encounter between the Buddha and the four guardians of the world at an unspecified site on the banks of the Ganges River. The Buddha himself initiates the dialogue, describing four great fears‍—aging, sickness, decrepitude, and death‍—declaring death to be the chief among them, and promising to provide remedies for them. With a snap of his fingers, the Buddha summons the attention and presence of buddhas throughout the reaches of space in the ten directions, and they recite, in unison, the longest of the dhāraṇī incantations found in the text. Each of the four guardians, in turn, goes on to pledge his assistance and provides a shorter dhāraṇī mantra as a supplement to the main one. The Buddha succinctly describes the various applications and benefits of the recitation, reading, writing, and wearing of these mantras, accruing not only to the individual, but to the very place in which they are recited and to those with whom they are connected. Finally, he explains how such practices fit in with commonly accepted ideas of accumulating merit through acts of devotion.

i.­2

The original Sanskrit text for The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas has not been located, but a Chinese translation does exist (Taishō 1346). The Chinese text lists the translator as Devendraprajñā, whose exact dates are uncertain, but who was active in China as a translator under Tang dynasty patronage by the last decade of the seventh century. The Chinese version is quite close to the Tibetan (although it has a different title),1 but it does contain a number of differences and additional lines or fragments, as well as a short section at the end, not found in the Tibetan versions, describing a ritual procedure for constructing altars and making offerings.2 In the Degé Kangyur The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas is included among the tantras belonging to the Action (kriyā) class (Toh 513) and it is also reproduced in the Dhāraṇī (gzungs ’dus) section (Toh 856).3 The attribution in the colophon of the Tibetan version to the translators Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Yeshé Dé puts its translation somewhere around the end of, or shortly after, the reign of King Trisong Detsen, at the turn of the ninth century. Its inclusion in the Denkarma (ldan dkar ma) catalog of the canon, compiled in 812 ᴄᴇ, supports this.4 Lastly, it should be mentioned that an English translation of this text by Joan Nicell was published online in 2007.

i.­3

This English translation was produced based on both Toh 513 and Toh 856 in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), the Stok Palace Kangyur, and the Chinese translation (Taishō 1346).

Text Body

The Noble Dhāraṇī “Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas”
1.

The Translation

[F.26.a] [F.43.a]5


1.­1

Homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas!


Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling on the bank of the great river Gaṅgā together with the four guardians of the world.

1.­2

At that time, the Blessed One said to those four great kings including Vaiśravaṇa, “All men, women, young boys, and girls have four great fears. Which four? These four: aging, sickness, decrepitude, and death.6 Among them, the single greatest fear is of the Lord of Death, in that death is cruel,7 cannot be remedied, and is always in close pursuit.8 Great kings, I will now pronounce the remedy for this single great fear.”

The four great kings replied,9 “Blessed One, it is our great fortune that the Blessed One will care for all beings by bestowing life for their sake!”

1.­3

The Blessed One was seated facing10 east, and with the sound of a finger snap he invoked all the tathāgatas, saying, “May all the tathāgatas, the worthy ones, the perfect buddhas, who have fully awakened to unsurpassable and perfect awakening out of love for sentient beings, assist me! Having been blessed here by all the buddhas, I will avert the untimely deaths of all beings! I will turn a second wheel of Dharma that has not been turned before!” [F.26.b][F.43.b]

1.­4

Likewise, he invoked all the tathāgatas of the south, west, north, above, and below, saying, “May all the tathāgatas, the worthy ones, the perfect buddhas, who have fully awakened to unsurpassable and perfect awakening out of love for sentient beings, assist me!”

1.­5

Likewise, in every intermediate direction he spoke these words, so that beings’ life spans, physical strengths, and complexions would be perfect, and so that fear of an untimely death would not arise, saying, “May all the buddhas assist me!”

1.­6

Then there appeared before the Buddha’s eyes as many world systems as there are elements of earth throughout the ten directions, filled with blessed buddhas like a sesame pod. These tathāgatas pledged their assistance, and all spoke the following:11

1.­7

tadyathā calā calā cale vinati svastike cakrāṅgati praśamantu sarvarogānatre kunaṭe mahākunaṭe care carere hemagiri hemagauri hemaniśunti hemasisi kaurave kauravave hekurare kurare kumati piṣasamaṇe śiṣuvi cale cale vicale mā vilamba humu humu svāhā!

1.­8

The lords of the guhyakas, as many as there were, from their places beside all those tathāgatas, also spoke, saying “hūṁ hūṁ si si svāhā!” and the tathāgatas vanished from sight.

1.­9

Then the great king Vaiśravaṇa said, “Blessed One, I, too, with the blessing of the tathāgatas, will act as a guardian, and will avert untimely death! tadyathā śvete śvete lelili!”

1.­10

Virūḍhaka also spoke, saying [F.27.a][F.44.a] “mātaṅge mātaṅge mātaṅgini śūmā śūmū!”

Dhṛtarāṣṭra also spoke, saying “care carere svāhā!”

Virūpākṣa also spoke, saying “balampipa!”

1.­11

The Blessed One responded, “Great Kings, when a son or daughter of noble family recites at least once a day, every day, these vidyāmantras seen12 by all the buddhas, that son or daughter of noble family should be regarded as a teacher. That son or daughter of noble family will never again be reborn in the three lower realms and will be of benefit to the lives of all beings. Anyone who recites these words once a day for the benefit of all beings, or even reads them, will have no fear of untimely death. Their bodies will be free of disease. At no time will they drown, or be killed by fire, by weapons, by poison, or by lightning. It should be known that wherever a child of the victors recites these vidyāmantras, he or she will secure the attention of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Anyone who writes this down, or has it written down, will be serving the blessed buddhas with every respect and honor. If one wonders why this is, it is because the tathāgatas have declared that serving sentient beings is serving the buddhas. If someone, having written this, affixes it to a limb,13 all their limbs will be protected.”14

1.­12

When the Blessed One had spoken thus, the four great kings, the entire retinue, and the world with all its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

1.­13

This concludes the Noble Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas.

c.

Colophon

c.­1

[F.27.b][F.44.b] This was translated and edited by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla and the translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé. It was then revised according to the new lexicon and finalized.

n.

Notes

n.­1
The Chinese title is simply The Gathering of All Buddhas Dhāraṇī Scripture 諸佛集會陀羅尼經.
n.­2
The translations of this section and the other variations are included as notes inserted in the relevant places.
n.­3

Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 856 version of this text within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 856, n.­3, for details.

n.­4
Denkarma, 302.b.6. See also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, 222, no. 389.
n.­5

Two sets of folio references have been included in this translation due to a discrepancy in volume 88 (rgyud ’bum, na) of the Degé Kangyur between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings. In the latter case, an extra work, Bodhi­maṇḍasyālaṃkāra­lakṣa­dhāraṇī (Toh 508, byang chub snying po’i rgyan ’bum gyi gzungs), was added as the second text in the volume, thereby displacing the pagination of all the following texts in the same volume by 17 folios. Since the eKangyur follows the later printing, both references have been provided, with the highlighted one linking to the eKangyur viewer.

n.­6
The Chinese here lists the more frequently encountered “birth, old age, sickness, and death” 生老病死.
n.­7
I am following the Mahāvyutpatti in translating btsam pa med pa, the reading found in the Narthang, Peking, and Yongle editions, as Skt. niṣṭhura, “cruel.” The Degé and others have the variant reading brtsam pa med pa.
n.­8
Instead of this line, the Chinese only states that the fear of death is “the most difficult to get rid of” 然於其中死怖一種最難除遣.
n.­9
In the Chinese text, the four great kings rise from their seats and bow with their palms joined before speaking.
n.­10
Translated based on Yongle, Lithang, Peking, and Cone versions, where the word thugs is missing. It appears, however, in both the Degé and Stok Palace editions. In the Chinese version the Buddha rises from his seat before turning to the east.
n.­11
While there is a fair amount of variation in some of the mantra syllables across the various Kangyur witnesses, these have not been noted here.
n.­12
The Chinese has here “born from all Buddhas and known by all Buddhas” 從於一切諸佛所生。一切諸佛共所知見.
n.­13
The Chinese version states “Whoever wishes to protect their body should write down this mantra and wear it on their body” 若有專欲擁護其身。當書此呪佩著身上. It additionally inserts “Wherever it is, there will be sons and daughters of noble family, and others, with deep faith in the Dharma” 若所在之處有深信法善男子善女人等.
n.­14
The Chinese text includes an entire additional section here: “First find a pure, clean place, cover the ground in sandalwood, and construct a square altar with dimensions of seven cubits. Beginning on the eighth day of the lunar month, you should wash yourself in a bath of fragrant water and put on clean, new clothes. You should take the eight upāsaka precepts and abstain from any food except sweet rice porridge. Take black and camphor incense, and place two full measures on the altar. Also take white sandalwood incense or quality aloeswood incense, or camphor incense, or a combination of clove incense and kakubha incense, and place that upon the altar. You should recite the dhāraṇī over all the incense seven times, seven times a day, for seven days. On the fifteenth day of the lunar month, you should abstain from taking the noontime meal, and make twenty-one small altars with saffron incense. The first should be dedicated to the tathāgata, and the remaining twenty should be dedicated to the vajrarājas. Around them you should make four small altars, dedicated to the four great kings, with incense of musk, camphor, white sandalwood, saffron, and red sandalwood. Then you should make offerings to the tathāgata altar by strewing and anointing it, as well as making offerings of incense to it and all the other altars in turn. Also take buttermilk, yogurt, and sugar, and, sequentially, place them in the mouths of four new flasks as offerings, which should be placed separately upon the altars of the four great kings. Fill these flasks with fresh water, and place in them the flowers of the twelve fruit trees. Burn ten lamps filled with fragrant oil on the altar of the tathāgata, with the intention to make offerings to the buddhas of the ten directions, and burn one lamp on each of the other altars. Take the incense over which you recited the dhāraṇī, as well as camphor and quality aloeswood, and burn it to honor the tathāgata. Burn the remaining incense on the other altars. While the incense is burning on the altars, chant the various divine dhāraṇīs. Any being who smells this incense will never die prematurely or accidentally. When the incense has burned out, the various offerings should be scattered in a clean place.” 先當簡擇清淨之處。以栴檀末而塗其地 。成一方壇縱廣七肘。其人應從月初八日。香湯洗浴著新淨衣受八戒齋。唯食粳米石 蜜牛乳。取黑沈香及龍腦香。共滿一兩置於壇上。又取白檀香或沆水香。或龍腦香或 復丁香迦矩羅香。而置於壇。其人誦此陀羅尼呪。呪此諸香。於日日中皆七七遍滿于 七日。至十五日一日不食其日中時。以欝金香於其壇上作二十一小壇。其一處中名如 來壇。餘二十壇名金剛王壇。又於壇外作四小壇。名四天王壇復取麝香龍腦白檀欝金 之香及紫檀末。於如來壇若散若塗而為供養。自餘諸壇隨取一香而供養之。又取乳酪 酥及沙糖。如其次第以新瓶四口。各別盛之置四天王壇上。又以淨水著於瓶內。採十 二種果樹之花而置其中。又以香油然十支燈置如來壇。為欲供養十方佛故。自餘諸壇 各然一支。於前所呪諸香之內。取龍腦及沈水。於如來壇而燒供養。其餘壇上然自餘 香。將然香時其如來壇及餘壇香。復應各別誦此神呪而以呪之。若有眾生得聞此香。 非時夭橫靡不除滅。先所呪香並燒盡已。然後收彼四天王食散於淨處.
b.

Bibliography

’phags pa sangs rgyas thams cad kyi yan lag dang ldan pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs. (Ārya­sarva­buddhāṅgavatī­nāma­dhāraṇī). Toh 513, Degé Kangyur, vol. 88 (rgyud ’bum, na), folios 26.a–27.b.

’phags pa sangs rgyas thams cad kyi yan lag dang ldan pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan pe 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), 2006–2009, vol. 88, pp 126–31.

諸佛集會陀羅尼經. 中華電子佛典協會. 大正新脩大正藏經 (Chu fo chi hui t’o lo ni ching). Vol. 21, no. 1346.

Braarvig, Jens. “Dhāraṇī and Pratibhāna: Memory and Eloquence of the Bodhisattvas.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 8, no.1 (1985): 17–29.

Davidson, Ronald M. “Studies in Dhāraṇī Literature I: Revisiting the Meaning of the Term Dhāraṇī.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 37 (2009): 97–147.

Davidson, Ronald M. “Studies in dhāraṇī literature II: Pragmatics of dhāraṇīs.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 77 (2014): 5–61.

Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan [/ lhan] dkar gyi chos ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Degé Tengyur, vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b - 310.a.

Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Wien: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.

Lamotte, Étienne. History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Śaka Era. Translated from the French by Sara Webb-Boin under the supervision of Jean Dantinne. Louvain-la-Neuve: Université catholique de Louvain, Institut orientaliste, 1988.

Nattier, Jan. A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003.

Nicell, Joan. The Dharani Called “Possessing the Limbs of All the Buddhas.” Portland: FPMT Inc., 2007.

g.

Glossary

Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language

AS

Attested in source text

This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.

AO

Attested in other text

This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.

AD

Attested in dictionary

This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.

AA

Approximate attestation

The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names where the relationship between the Tibetan and source language is attested in dictionaries or other manuscripts.

RP

Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.

RS

Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.

SU

Source unspecified

This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.

g.­1

Dānaśīla

  • dA na shI la
  • དཱ་ན་ཤཱི་ལ།
  • dānaśīla

“Charitable,” an Indian paṇḍita who traveled to Tibet during the time of King Trisong Detsen to serve as a translator.

g.­2

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

  • yul ’khor srung
  • ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྲུང་།
  • dhṛtarāṣṭra

“Protector of the Realm” (Tib.) or “Whose Realm is Stable,” (Skt.) guardian of the eastern direction. Also the name of a king in the Mahābhārata.

g.­3

four great kings

  • rgyal po chen po bzhi
  • རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་བཞི།
  • catur mahārāja

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Four gods who live on the lower slopes (fourth level) of Mount Meru in the eponymous Heaven of the Four Great Kings (Cāturmahā­rājika, rgyal chen bzhi’i ris) and guard the four cardinal directions. Each is the leader of a nonhuman class of beings living in his realm. They are Dhṛtarāṣṭra, ruling the gandharvas in the east; Virūḍhaka, ruling over the kumbhāṇḍas in the south; Virūpākṣa, ruling the nāgas in the west; and Vaiśravaṇa (also known as Kubera) ruling the yakṣas in the north. Also referred to as Guardians of the World or World Protectors (lokapāla, ’jig rten skyong ba).

g.­4

four guardians of the world

  • ’jig rten skyong ba bzhi
  • འཇིག་རྟེན་སྐྱོང་བ་བཞི།
  • catur lokapāla

See the “four great kings.”

g.­5

Gaṅgā

  • gang gA
  • གང་གཱ།
  • gaṅgā

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Gaṅgā, or Ganges in English, is considered to be the most sacred river of India, particularly within the Hindu tradition. It starts in the Himalayas, flows through the northern plains of India, bathing the holy city of Vārāṇasī, and meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal, in Bangladesh. In the sūtras, however, this river is mostly mentioned not for its sacredness but for its abundant sands‍—noticeable still today on its many sandy banks and at its delta‍—which serve as a common metaphor for infinitely large numbers.

According to Buddhist cosmology, as explained in the Abhidharmakośa, it is one of the four rivers that flow from Lake Anavatapta and cross the southern continent of Jambudvīpa‍—the known human world or more specifically the Indian subcontinent.

g.­6

Jinamitra

  • dzi na mi tra
  • ཛི་ན་མི་ཏྲ།
  • jinamitra

“Friend of the Victor,” an Indian paṇḍita who traveled to Tibet during the time of King Trisong Detsen to serve as a translator.

g.­7

lord of the guhyaka

  • gsang ba pa’i bdag po
  • གསང་བ་པའི་བདག་པོ།
  • guhyakādhipati

Epithet of Vaiśravaṇa.

g.­8

upāsaka (precepts)

  • dge bsnyen
  • དགེ་བསྙེན།
  • upāsaka

The upāsaka precepts for lay practitioners include the five fundamental vows (pañcaśīla) not to (1) kill, (2) steal, (3) commit sexual misconduct, (4) lie, or (5) use intoxicants. Additionally, three other precepts are taken on full-moon and new-moon days for a total of eight (aṣṭāṅgaśīla): not to (6) eat after the noon meal, (7) engage in entertainment or adorn oneself with ornaments or cosmetics, or (8) sleep on high beds.

g.­9

Vaiśravaṇa

  • rnam thos kyi bu
  • རྣམ་ཐོས་ཀྱི་བུ།
  • vaiśravaṇa

The “Son of Viśrava (Completely Renowned),” guardian of the northern direction. He and his father are both also referred to as Kubera, and he is also known as Jambhala. He rules over spirits called guhyakas (literally “secret/hidden ones”), described in various capacities, giving rise to his epithet Guhyakādhipati, “Lord of the Guhyakas.”

g.­10

vidyāmantra

  • rig sngags
  • རིག་སྔགས།
  • vidyāmantra

Knowledge or awareness mantra.

g.­11

Virūḍhaka

  • ’phags skyes po
  • འཕགས་སྐྱེས་པོ།
  • virūḍhaka

“Noble Birth” (Tib.) or “Sprouting/Growing Forth,” (Skt.) guardian of the southern direction. Also the name of a king of Kosala during the lifetime of Śākyamuni Buddha.

g.­12

Virūpākṣa

  • mig mi bzang
  • མིག་མི་བཟང་།
  • virūpākṣa

“Deformed Eyes,” nāga king and guardian of the western direction. Also common epithet of Śiva, where it indicates his odd number of eyes.

g.­13

Yeshé Dé

  • ye shes sde
  • ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།
  • —

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Yeshé Dé (late eighth to early ninth century) was the most prolific translator of sūtras into Tibetan. Altogether he is credited with the translation of more than one hundred sixty sūtra translations and more than one hundred additional translations, mostly on tantric topics. In spite of Yeshé Dé’s great importance for the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet during the imperial era, only a few biographical details about this figure are known. Later sources describe him as a student of the Indian teacher Padmasambhava, and he is also credited with teaching both sūtra and tantra widely to students of his own. He was also known as Nanam Yeshé Dé, from the Nanam (sna nam) clan.

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84000. The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas (Sarva­buddhāṅgavatī­dhāraṇī, sangs rgyas thams cad kyi yan lag dang ldan pa’i gzungs, Toh 513). Translated by David A. Gitlen. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025. https://84000.co/translation/toh513.Copy
84000. The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas (Sarva­buddhāṅgavatī­dhāraṇī, sangs rgyas thams cad kyi yan lag dang ldan pa’i gzungs, Toh 513). Translated by David A. Gitlen, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025, 84000.co/translation/toh513.Copy
84000. (2025) The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas (Sarva­buddhāṅgavatī­dhāraṇī, sangs rgyas thams cad kyi yan lag dang ldan pa’i gzungs, Toh 513). (David A. Gitlen, Trans.). Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh513.Copy
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