The Epithets of Mañjuśrī is a concise scripture consisting of a salutation to Mañjuśrī that highlights the qualities of his speech, a thirty-six-syllable Sanskrit dhāraṇī, and a one-sentence statement of the benefit accrued by twenty-one recitations thereof.
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.
The Epithets of Mañjuśrī is the fourth of six dhāraṇī scriptures (Toh 545–550) gathered together within the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur that provide instruction in incantatory practices that feature the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Five of these scriptures (Toh 547 omitted) also appear in the Dhāraṇī section of the Degé Kangyur as Toh 892–896.
A concise scripture, it consists of a salutation to Mañjuśrī that highlights the qualities of his speech, a thirty-six syllable Sanskrit dhāraṇī, and a one-sentence statement of the benefit accrued by twenty-one recitations thereof. The dhāraṇī itself consists of six mantras, each six syllables in length, that each express epithets of Mañjuśrī. The single stated benefit accrued by recitation of this dhāraṇī is the purification of karmic obscurations incurred by the five misdeeds with immediate retribution.
The six mantras that constitute the Sanskrit dhāraṇī in this text also appear, with only minor variation, in chapter 7 of The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī. There, the Buddha explains that this dhāraṇī has been taught by 760 million buddhas to tame beings, instruct them in the development of skillful means, and exhort them to adopt the practice of mantra.1
A Sanskrit version of The Epithets of Mañjuśrī is to our knowledge no longer extant, and it appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon that might have offered information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. The text’s absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century
This English translation is based on the two versions in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (Toh 548) and the other in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 894),44 in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace Kangyur.
oṁ vākyetejāya | oṁ vākyeśeṣa sva5 | oṁ vākyekhañjaye | oṁ vākyeniṣṭhāya6 | oṁ vākyeya namaḥ | oṁ vākyeda7 namaḥ ||8
Reciting these epithets of noble Mañjuśrī9 twenty-one times will purify all the karmic obscurations resulting from the five misdeeds with immediate retribution.
This concludes the noble “Epithets of Mañjuśrī.”
The Epithets of Mañjuśrī is a concise scripture consisting of a salutation to Mañjuśrī that highlights the qualities of his speech, a thirty-six-syllable Sanskrit dhāraṇī, and a one-sentence statement of the benefit accrued by twenty-one recitations thereof.
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.
The Epithets of Mañjuśrī is the fourth of six dhāraṇī scriptures (Toh 545–550) gathered together within the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur that provide instruction in incantatory practices that feature the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Five of these scriptures (Toh 547 omitted) also appear in the Dhāraṇī section of the Degé Kangyur as Toh 892–896.
A concise scripture, it consists of a salutation to Mañjuśrī that highlights the qualities of his speech, a thirty-six syllable Sanskrit dhāraṇī, and a one-sentence statement of the benefit accrued by twenty-one recitations thereof. The dhāraṇī itself consists of six mantras, each six syllables in length, that each express epithets of Mañjuśrī. The single stated benefit accrued by recitation of this dhāraṇī is the purification of karmic obscurations incurred by the five misdeeds with immediate retribution.
The six mantras that constitute the Sanskrit dhāraṇī in this text also appear, with only minor variation, in chapter 7 of The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī. There, the Buddha explains that this dhāraṇī has been taught by 760 million buddhas to tame beings, instruct them in the development of skillful means, and exhort them to adopt the practice of mantra.1
A Sanskrit version of The Epithets of Mañjuśrī is to our knowledge no longer extant, and it appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon that might have offered information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. The text’s absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century
This English translation is based on the two versions in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (Toh 548) and the other in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 894),44 in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace Kangyur.
oṁ vākyetejāya | oṁ vākyeśeṣa sva5 | oṁ vākyekhañjaye | oṁ vākyeniṣṭhāya6 | oṁ vākyeya namaḥ | oṁ vākyeda7 namaḥ ||8
Reciting these epithets of noble Mañjuśrī9 twenty-one times will purify all the karmic obscurations resulting from the five misdeeds with immediate retribution.
This concludes the noble “Epithets of Mañjuśrī.”
See Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī, Toh 543 (2020), 7.6.
This text, Toh 894, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, e), are listed as being located in volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version displayed by the 84000 Reading Room—list this work as being located in volume 101. This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed another text—which forms a whole, very large volume—the Vimalaprabhānāmakālacakratantraṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med ’od, Toh 845), before the volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags (catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation.
In the seventh chapter of The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī, 7.7, the Buddha Śākyamuni recites, with only minor orthographic variations, the same sequence of mantras. He then extols their virtues: “These six mantras of yours, Mañjuśrī, each numbering six syllables, are of great power and equal in their great potency. They are the supreme heart mantras that bring the highest accomplishment, as if they originated from the Buddha himself. They have been proclaimed by every buddha for the benefit of all beings. They involve and activate the samaya and are suitable for all types of activity. They are signposts for the road to awakening and are the most important mantras of the Tathāgata family. They can be employed in all three levels of ritual, the highest, the medium, and the lowest. They bring the ripening of the fruit of virtuous karma. They will lead to accomplishment at the time when the Buddha’s teaching has disappeared.”
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.
The five most negative actions. Upon death, those who have committed one or more of these immediately proceed to the hells without first experiencing the intermediate state. They are (1) killing an arhat, (2) killing one’s mother, (3) killing one’s father, (4) creating a schism in the saṅgha, and (5) maliciously drawing blood from a tathāgata’s body.
Obscurations or obstructions caused by past deeds that prevent progress on the path to awakening in the present.
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.
A formula of words or syllables that are recited aloud or mentally in order to bring about a magical or soteriological effect or result. The term has been interpretively etymologized to mean “that which protects (trā) the mind (man)”.
’jam dpal gyi mtshan. Toh 548, Degé Kangyur vol. 89 (rgyud ’bum, pa), folios 14.b.1–14.b.2.
’jam dpal gyi mtshan. Toh 894, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, e), folios 167.b.3–167.b.4.
’jam dpal gyi mtshan. 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. 54.
’jam dpal gyi mtshan. 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. 97, p. 497.
’jam dpal gyi mtshan. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 102 (rgyud, da), folios 495.b.1–495.b.3.
’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi rtsa ba’i rgyud (Āryamañjuśrīmūlakalpa). Toh 543, Degé Kangyur vol. 88 (rgyud, na), folios 105.a.–351.a. English translation in Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2020.
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). The Collected Works of Bu-Ston. Edited by Lokesh Candra. 28 vols. Śata-piṭaka Series 41–68. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71. BDRC W22106.
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.
Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). gsang sngags rgyud sde bzhiʼi gzungs ʼbum. In The Collected Works of Bu-Ston, vol. 16 (ma), folios 1.a–278.a/pp. 1–556. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71.
Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī (Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, Toh 543). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020.
