Mañjuśrī’s Promise
Toh 547
Degé Kangyur vol. 89 (rgyud ’bum, pa), folios 14.a.6–14.b.1
Imprint
Translated by the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2023
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Table of Contents
Summary
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.
Acknowledgements
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.
Introduction
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 ᴄᴇ,1 but earlier than the flourishing of the scholar Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364), who listed it, along with the other texts of this collection, in his History of Buddhism.2
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.
Text Body
Mañjuśrī’s Promise
The Translation
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.
Notes
Bibliography
Tibetan Sources
’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.
Western Language Sources
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
Glossary
Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language
Attested in source text
This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.
Attested in other text
This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.
Attested in dictionary
This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.
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.
Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.
Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.
Source unspecified
This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.
dhāraṇī
- gzungs
- གཟུངས།
- dhāraṇī
eon
- bskal pa
- བསྐལ་པ།
- kalpa
Mañjuśrī
- ’jam dpal
- འཇམ་དཔལ།
- mañjuśrī