The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī
Chapter 9

Now Lord Śākyamuni addressed the hosts of gods who were sitting among the entire assembly:

“Esteemed friends! Please listen to my discourse about the method for accomplishing the conduct, maṇḍala, and mantra of Mañjuśrī, the divine youth. Hear this great vidyārāja‍—the supremely secret and sublime heart mantra that was taught by all the tathāgatas for the sake of protecting the practitioner‍—by the uttering of which all mantras are uttered. {9.1}

“This vidyārāja, O hosts of gods, is inviolable. With this vidyārāja even Mañjuśrī, the divine youth, can be summoned, enthralled, and made to comply. Why say more? There are, O bodhisattvas, other mantras, both worldly and transcendental, but this unique mantra of great valor and power is said to be the best of all mantras‍—it can destroy all obstacles.681 Among all one-syllable mantras, only this one is called the syllable.682 {9.2}

“This single syllable fulfills all purposes and accomplishes every task; it nullifies all the mantras of evildoers and removes all sins;683 it makes all the other mantras effective; it brings that which is virtuous. It surpasses all other worldly and transcendental mantras. It is the impeccable essence of all the tathāgatas that fulfills all wishes. Which mantra is this? It is kḷlhīṁ.684 {9.3}

“Friends, this most secret vidyārāja called One Syllable can be employed in all rites. No being [F.145.a] [F.162.a] may transgress it; it cannot be assailed by any spirit; it constitutes the auspiciousness of all the buddhas; it makes all mantras effective; it is the master of the worlds; it is the lord of all the lords of wealth;685 it is the love for all those who hate; it awakens the compassion of all beings; and it is the remover of all obstacles. In short, whatever it is employed in, that very thing it will accomplish. It can perform tasks even when it is not fully mastered. {9.4}

“Whomever one touches while reciting this mantra686 will become enthralled. If one wears incanted clothes, one will obtain good fortune. If one bites an incanted tooth stick, one will get rid of a toothache. If one bites an incanted tooth stick from the white oleander tree,687 food will be found without one’s having to ask for it. {9.5}

“If one has eye pain, one should grind sea salt, incant it seven times, and apply it to the eye. This will remove the pain. If one has an earache, one should take a mushroom688 that has grown in elephant dung while it thundered, wrap it in a leaf of kedhuka, and cook it over a low fire until it is well cooked. Having then added a lukewarm solution of sea salt, one should incant the decoction seven times and pour it into the ear.689 The pain will be assuaged at that moment. {9.6}

“If, at the time of giving birth, a woman is having a difficult delivery and is overcome with pain, one should grind the root of Malabar nut with water that is free of living organisms and smear it over the navel area.690 She will give birth with ease. If a person with a splinter in his flesh691 drinks old ghee incanted one hundred and eight times, or smears it over the affected area, the splinter will come out. {9.7}

“In the case of indigestion with vomiting and dysentery,692 one should incant seven times some sochal salt, sea salt, or other type of salt, and eat it. One will be free from this disease the same day and will become well. In the case of the twofold dysentery or a sudden dysentery,693 one should mash the fruits694 of citron695 with water that is free of living organisms and has been incanted once or more.696 [F.145.b] [F.162.b] By this method one will be freed from the unpleasant symptoms. {9.8}

“In the case of a barren woman, or a woman who wants but is unable to conceive, one should cook the root of winter cherry with ghee,697 blend it with cow’s milk, and dilute it with more milk. One should incant it twenty-five times and give it to such a woman to drink during her period, after bathing. The householder-husband, staying away from the wives of others and avoiding inappropriate sexual conduct, should then approach her sexually, or she him. She will then conceive a son. {9.9}

“If she experiences bleeding within the next three to five years when she is with child; if she does not conceive a child for many years;698 if she is harmed by the mantra magic, medicines, or mudrās of others;699 if she suffers a miscarriage; if she falls ill; if there is any other disorder caused by others; or if she is poisoned by animate or inanimate, or natural or artificial means‍—if any of this was effected by the friendly or hostile use of any root or medicine mantras, one should chant the mantra twenty-seven times and then grind old ghee with the moon-like eye of a peacock feather, making it homogenous. When it is finely ground, one should mix it with sugar and eat an amount the size of myrobalan fruit every day over seven days. {9.10}

“The patient should be made to drink milk cooked with sugar, having incanted it again and again. If one has a headache, one should wipe the head with a crow’s pinion incanted seven times. One will become well. {9.11}

“For female disease such as hypermenorrhea, one should grind the root of nīlikā700 together with milk,701 add to it some root of the indigo plant, and incant this one hundred and eight times. One should then blend it with milk and give it to the patient to drink. Similarly, in the case of a fever, be it a quartan, one-day, two-day, three-day, chronic,[F.146.a] [F.163.a] constant, or recurrent one, one should have the patient drink milk with ghee, incanted one hundred and eight times. The patient will become well. {9.12}

“Similarly, if someone is seized by a ḍākinī or a graha,702 one should incant one’s own face one hundred and eight times and face the affected person; they will become well. Similarly, if someone is seized by any terrible and evil nonhuman being, such as a mātṛkā, a pūtanā that attacks children, a vetāla, or a graha that seizes children, one should incant one’s own hand one hundred and eight times and touch the affected person on the head. They will become well. {9.13}

“A single repetition of the mantra will protect oneself; a double repetition, one’s friends; a triple one, one’s house; a fourfold one, one’s village; a fivefold one, everybody within the greater village area; up until, with one thousand repetitions, one may protect an army. One may perform these and all the other similar minor acts, even if one has not fully mastered the mantra. {9.14}

“One who desires accomplishment should not engage in trivial activities.703 One should go alone to a secluded place at the source of a river that flows into the ocean or on the ocean shore, on the bank of the Gaṅgā, or on the bank of any big river. There, in a clean spot, one should build a hut.704 One should perform the threefold ablutions, wear the three garments, observe silence, and live on food obtained by begging or on the practitioner’s diet of milk, barley, and fruit. Living thus, one should recite the mantra three million times. Then, once the sign has been observed, one should commence the sādhana practice. {9.15}

“On that location, in the same place, one should install the superior705 painting and offer a big pūjā with lamps of gold and silver, or of copper and clay, filled with olibanum oil or ghee,706 [F.146.b] [F.163.b] with wicks made of high-quality fabric. One should prepare one hundred thousand707 such lamps and offer all of them before the painting. {9.16}

“With the lighted lamps evenly arranged in contiguous rows, light will radiate from the painting. The moment the light shines, the painting will be haloed with a blazing ring of light that pervades everywhere. In the sky above drums will sound and congratulatory cheers will be heard. {9.17}

“At that point, a vidyādhara, in a form that delights sentient beings, will emerge from the corner where the practitioner is depicted on the previously painted cloth. One should give him a welcome offering, circumambulate him, bow to all the buddhas, and seize him. As soon as one has seized him, one will fly up together with all the beings holding lamps and, perhaps, ascend to 100,001708 palaces. Surrounded by vidyādharīs playing divine instruments, singing songs in sweet voices, and dancing, one will be consecrated by them to kingship as a vidyādhara-cakravartin. Together with the holders of the lamps, one will revel in freedom from old age and death, endure for a great eon, have the luster of the rising sun and divinely beautiful limbs, and be adorned with a diverse array of garments.709 {9.18}

“The vidyādharas, for their part, will become one’s servants.710 Together with them, one will travel around as the king of all of them,711 and they will attend upon one as servants. One will become a monarch of vidyādharas. One will live long, be unassailable by all siddhas, be supremely attractive to vidyādhara girls, and will master all substances. One will worship the buddhas and bodhisattvas and will be placed on the pinnacle of their victory banners.712 One will be able to ascend even to the world of Brahmā in an instant. One will not even need to consider Śakra, let alone other vidyādharas. [F.147.a] [F.164.a] In the end, one will attain the state of awakening. Noble Mañjuśrī will become one’s spiritual friend.713 {9.19}

“There are, however, those practitioners whose714 sādhana practice is more intense. In such a case, one should go alone to a secluded place free from the distractions of attachment. One should retreat to a big forest and find a place where there is a lotus pond adjacent to a lonely mountain and fed by a stream.715 One should climb to the top of the mountain and, having chosen either the single-syllable vidyārāja taught in the Mañjuśrī’s manual of rites, one taught by the Tathāgata or another bodhisattva, or any other one prefers, one should live on lotus roots and milk products, recite the vidyāmantra three million six hundred thousand times. At the end of the recitation, one should install, following the same procedure as previously taught, the superior one of the previously taught types of painting and prepare the lotus flowers smeared with white sandalwood and saffron paste. Having lit a fire of cutch tree sticks, one should offer into the fire the already-prepared lotuses thirty-six thousand times. {9.20}

“Then, at the conclusion of the homa rite, rays of light will issue forth from the painting of Lord Śākyamuni. Having illumined the practitioner, they will dissolve into his head. As soon as one is touched by these rays, one will attain the five superknowledges. Having attained the levels of a bodhisattva, one will go about as one pleases in the form of a god. One will live thirty-six eons and will traverse thirty-six buddhafields, beholding all their might. One will memorize the teachings of the thirty-six buddhas and will delight in worshiping and serving them. In the end, dedicated to the attainment of awakening, one will be wholly taken care of by the spiritual friend, Noble Mañjuśrī, right until the ultimate state of awakening, the final nirvāṇa.” {9.21} [F.147.b] [F.164.b]