Mañjuśrī’s Promise begins without preamble with a Sanskrit praise text in the form of a dhāraṇī that resembles other traditional encomiums that exult in the purity, grace, and triumph of bodhisattvas. The scripture then enumerates the benefits accrued by a single recitation of this dhāraṇī, which include the purification of evil deeds accumulated over eons, and the many rewards for its extensive recitation, namely erudition, exceptional powers of memorization, and finally the sight of the body of Mañjuśrī himself.
Translated by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer, with Geshé Lobsang Dawa and Phakyab Rinpoche (Geshé Ngawang Sungrab), under the auspices of the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York. Introduction by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer. Special thanks to Paul Hackett for generously sharing his bibliographic expertise and resources. This translation would not have been possible without the kind and dedicated tutelage of Gen Lozang Jamspal, Executive Director, Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Mañjuśrī’s Promise is a short dhāraṇī text that exults in the purity, grace, and triumph of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The Tibetan translation lacks Sanskrit and Tibetan titles, and the text opens simply with a salutation to Mañjuśrī in Sanskrit. This suggests that the Tibetan translators considered the salutation to be part of the dhāraṇī proper and thus did not translate it into Tibetan. Following the dhāraṇī proper, the scripture describes the benefits associated with its recitation a single time, which include the purification of evil deeds accumulated over eons, and then the rewards reaped by its extensive recitation, namely erudition, exceptional powers of memorization, and eventually the sight of the body of Mañjuśrī himself.
A Sanskrit version of the text is to our knowledge no longer extant, and it appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon, so we have no information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. Its absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma catalogs suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century
Mañjuśrī’s Promise appears as the third text in a collection of six Mañjuśrī dhāraṇī scriptures (Toh 545–550) in the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur. Interestingly, only this text among the six does not also appear in the Dhāraṇī section or in the corresponding sections of any of the other Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line. It is possible that the compilers considered the text primarily as a praise rather than a dhāraṇī per se, and this may explain the exclusion.
This English translation is based on the Degé Kangyur version (Toh 547), in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace version.
[F.14.a]namo mañjuśriye kumārabhūtāya bodhisattvāya mahāsattvāya mahākaruṇikāya || tadyathā | oṁ araje viraje | śuddhe viśuddhe | śodhani viśodhani | amale vimale | jaye vahini ru ru cale | hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ | phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā ||3
Those who uphold, read aloud, or teach this dhāraṇī will obtain a keen intellect. If they chant it a single time, they will memorize a hundred dhāraṇīs, and every single one of the evil deeds they have accumulated over a thousand eons will be purified. If they recite it a hundred thousand times, they will become erudite in the five sciences. If they recite it two hundred thousand times,[F.14.b] they will retain in memory all the teachings they have heard. If they recite it three hundred thousand times, they will behold the body of Mañjuśrī.
This concludes the dhāraṇī “Mañjuśrī’s Promise.”
Mañjuśrī’s Promise begins without preamble with a Sanskrit praise text in the form of a dhāraṇī that resembles other traditional encomiums that exult in the purity, grace, and triumph of bodhisattvas. The scripture then enumerates the benefits accrued by a single recitation of this dhāraṇī, which include the purification of evil deeds accumulated over eons, and the many rewards for its extensive recitation, namely erudition, exceptional powers of memorization, and finally the sight of the body of Mañjuśrī himself.
Translated by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer, with Geshé Lobsang Dawa and Phakyab Rinpoche (Geshé Ngawang Sungrab), under the auspices of the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York. Introduction by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer. Special thanks to Paul Hackett for generously sharing his bibliographic expertise and resources. This translation would not have been possible without the kind and dedicated tutelage of Gen Lozang Jamspal, Executive Director, Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Mañjuśrī’s Promise is a short dhāraṇī text that exults in the purity, grace, and triumph of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The Tibetan translation lacks Sanskrit and Tibetan titles, and the text opens simply with a salutation to Mañjuśrī in Sanskrit. This suggests that the Tibetan translators considered the salutation to be part of the dhāraṇī proper and thus did not translate it into Tibetan. Following the dhāraṇī proper, the scripture describes the benefits associated with its recitation a single time, which include the purification of evil deeds accumulated over eons, and then the rewards reaped by its extensive recitation, namely erudition, exceptional powers of memorization, and eventually the sight of the body of Mañjuśrī himself.
A Sanskrit version of the text is to our knowledge no longer extant, and it appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon, so we have no information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. Its absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma catalogs suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century
Mañjuśrī’s Promise appears as the third text in a collection of six Mañjuśrī dhāraṇī scriptures (Toh 545–550) in the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur. Interestingly, only this text among the six does not also appear in the Dhāraṇī section or in the corresponding sections of any of the other Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line. It is possible that the compilers considered the text primarily as a praise rather than a dhāraṇī per se, and this may explain the exclusion.
This English translation is based on the Degé Kangyur version (Toh 547), in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace version.
[F.14.a]namo mañjuśriye kumārabhūtāya bodhisattvāya mahāsattvāya mahākaruṇikāya || tadyathā | oṁ araje viraje | śuddhe viśuddhe | śodhani viśodhani | amale vimale | jaye vahini ru ru cale | hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ | phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā ||3
Those who uphold, read aloud, or teach this dhāraṇī will obtain a keen intellect. If they chant it a single time, they will memorize a hundred dhāraṇīs, and every single one of the evil deeds they have accumulated over a thousand eons will be purified. If they recite it a hundred thousand times, they will become erudite in the five sciences. If they recite it two hundred thousand times,[F.14.b] they will retain in memory all the teachings they have heard. If they recite it three hundred thousand times, they will behold the body of Mañjuśrī.
This concludes the dhāraṇī “Mañjuśrī’s Promise.”
Provisional translation: “Homage to Mañjuśrī, the ever-youthful bodhisattva great being, one of great compassion! It is: Oṁ, immaculate, untainted, pure, utterly pure, purifying one, making perfectly pure, stainless, utterly stainless, and triumphant! You who convey and move with the roaring sounds ru ru, hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ, svāhā!” Our translation of the Skt. ru ru cale is tentative. It could alternatively be interpreted as one word (rurucale), meaning “you with the movements of an antelope” and implying grace and gentleness.
The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and so it can refer to the special capacity of practitioners to memorize and recall detailed teachings. It can also refer to a verbal expression of the teachings—an incantation, spell, or mnemonic formula—that distills and “holds” essential points of the Dharma and is used by practitioners to attain mundane and supramundane goals. The same term is also used to denote texts that contain such formulas.
A cosmic period of time, sometimes equivalent to the time when a world system appears, exists, and disappears. According to the traditional Abhidharma understanding of cyclical time, a great eon (mahākalpa) is divided into eighty lesser eons. In the course of one great eon, the universe takes form and later disappears. During the first twenty of the lesser eons, the universe is in the process of creation and expansion; during the next twenty it remains; during the third twenty, it is in the process of destruction; and during the last quarter of the cycle, it remains in a state of empty stasis. A fortunate, or good, eon (bhadrakalpa) refers to any eon in which more than one buddha appears.
Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.
’jam dpal dam bcas pa. Toh 547, Degé Kangyur vol. 89 (rgyud, pa), folios 14.a.5–14.b.1.
’jam dpal dam bcas pa. 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. 89, p. 72.
’jam dpal dam bcas pa. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 102 (rgyud, da), folios 495.a.4–495.b.1.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
Phangthangma (dkar chag ʼphang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). chos ’byung (bde bar gshegs pa’i bstan pa’i gsal byed chos kyi ’byung gnas gsung rab rin po che’i gter mdzod). In The Collected Works of Bu-Ston, vol. 24 (ya), folios 1.a–212.a/pp. 633–1055. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71.
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
