This scripture is a praise to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The eight maidens indicated by the title may be inferred as each speaking a different verse, together providing a range of perspectives.
Translated by David Mellins, Kaia Fischer, and Geshé Lobsang Dawa, with 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.
This scripture is a praise to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Each of the eight maidens indicated by the title may be inferred as each speaking a different verse, together providing a range of perspectives. These figures do not themselves appear in the body of the text, which lacks an introductory narrative. The first two verses are praises of Mañjuśrī’s radiance. The third verse praises the glittering jewels of his uṣṇīṣa, the fourth his ambrosial voice, the fifth his purifying agency, the sixth his fearsome appearance and manner, the seventh his beatific visage, and the eighth verse concludes the encomium with a presentation of immense offerings. While the text is relatively straightforward in its description of Mañjuśrī’s physical and metaphysical attributes, it has several striking turns of phrase that present his features as indicative of the teachings themselves, which serve to inform devotional practice.
This popular praise appears twice in the Tengyur in the works of Saṃvarabhadra. The opening verse appears in his A Ritual for Offering a Maṇḍala (Maṇḍalavidhi, Toh 2121), and the scripture in its entirety is found in his A Sādhana of “Reciting the Names of Mañjuśrī” (Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṅgītisādhana, Toh 2108). The opening verse has also been cited by prominent masters from all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and continues to be found in prayer liturgies memorized and recited by monastics to this day.
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 Degé Kangyur version (Toh 552) in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), with all major divergences recorded in the notes.3
This concludes “The Eight Maidens’ Praise.”
This scripture is a praise to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The eight maidens indicated by the title may be inferred as each speaking a different verse, together providing a range of perspectives.
Translated by David Mellins, Kaia Fischer, and Geshé Lobsang Dawa, with 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.
This scripture is a praise to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Each of the eight maidens indicated by the title may be inferred as each speaking a different verse, together providing a range of perspectives. These figures do not themselves appear in the body of the text, which lacks an introductory narrative. The first two verses are praises of Mañjuśrī’s radiance. The third verse praises the glittering jewels of his uṣṇīṣa, the fourth his ambrosial voice, the fifth his purifying agency, the sixth his fearsome appearance and manner, the seventh his beatific visage, and the eighth verse concludes the encomium with a presentation of immense offerings. While the text is relatively straightforward in its description of Mañjuśrī’s physical and metaphysical attributes, it has several striking turns of phrase that present his features as indicative of the teachings themselves, which serve to inform devotional practice.
This popular praise appears twice in the Tengyur in the works of Saṃvarabhadra. The opening verse appears in his A Ritual for Offering a Maṇḍala (Maṇḍalavidhi, Toh 2121), and the scripture in its entirety is found in his A Sādhana of “Reciting the Names of Mañjuśrī” (Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṅgītisādhana, Toh 2108). The opening verse has also been cited by prominent masters from all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and continues to be found in prayer liturgies memorized and recited by monastics to this day.
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 Degé Kangyur version (Toh 552) in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), with all major divergences recorded in the notes.3
This concludes “The Eight Maidens’ Praise.”
According to the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), here the Yongle, Peking, Narthang, and Lhasa Kangyur versions read dam pa’i chos kyi rin chen mdzod (“O precious treasury of the holy Dharma”).
The possession of a begging bowl may indicate Mañjuśrī’s emanation as a buddha, which is attested in scriptures such as The Array of Virtues of Mañjuśrī’s Buddha Realm (Mañjuśrībuddhakṣetraguṇavyūha, Toh 59), The Sūtra for the Benefit of Aṅgulimāla (Aṅgulimālīyasūtra, Toh 213), and The Sūtra of the Great Parinirvāṇa (Toh 119).
In Saṃvarabhadra’s A Sādhana of “Reciting the Names of Mañjuśrī,” where the present scripture is presented in its entirety, this line reads instead shes rab ral gri mnga’ gzhu ’dzin, which might be glossed as, “We pay homage to you, O Mañjuśrī / Who has the sword of wisdom and bears a bow,” an apparent reference to forms of Mañjuśrī bearing these hand implements, such as the figure identified as Tīkṣṇa-Mañjuśrī in Clark 1937, p. 264.
The essentially pure nature of mind is obscured and afflicted by various psychological defilements, which destroy the mind’s peace and composure and lead to unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, acting as causes for continued existence in saṃsāra. Included among them are the primary afflictions of desire (rāga), anger (dveṣa), and ignorance (avidyā). It is said that there are eighty-four thousand of these negative mental qualities, for which the eighty-four thousand categories of the Buddha’s teachings serve as the antidote.
Kleśa is also commonly translated as “negative emotions,” “disturbing emotions,” and so on. The Pāli kilesa, Middle Indic kileśa, and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit kleśa all primarily mean “stain” or “defilement.” The translation “affliction” is a secondary development that derives from the more general (non-Buddhist) classical understanding of √kliś (“to harm,“ “to afflict”). Both meanings are noted by Buddhist commentators.
One of the three poisons (dug gsum) along with aversion, or hatred, and attachment, or desire, which perpetuate the sufferings of cyclic existence. It is the obfuscating mental state which obstructs an individual from generating knowledge or insight, and it is said to be the dominant characteristic of the animal world in general. Commonly rendered as confusion, delusion, and ignorance, or bewilderment.
The lord of death in Indian mythology, he judges the dead and rules over the hells and the realm of the pretas.
An epithet of Mañjuśrī.
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.
bu mo brgyad kyis bstod pa. Toh 552, Degé Kangyur vol. 89 (rgyud, pa), folios 15.b.6–16.a.4.
bu mo brgyad kyis bstod pa. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the
’jam dpal gyi sangs rgyas kyi zhing gi yon tan bkod pa (Mañjuśrībuddhakṣetraguṇavyūha). Toh 59, Degé Kangyur vol. 41 (dkon brtsegs, ga), folios 248.b–297.a. English Translation in Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2021.
’phags pa yongs su mya ngan las ’das pa chen po’i mdo (Āryamahāparinirvāṇasūtra). Toh 119, Degé Kangyur vol. 52 (mdo sde, nya), folios 1.b.1–343.a.6.
’phags pa sor mo’i phreng ba la phan pa zhes bya ba thegs pa chen po’i mdo (Āryāṅgulimālīyanāmamahāyānasūtra). Toh 213, Degé Kangyur vol. 62 (mdo sde, tsha), folios 126.a.1–206.b.7.
Saṃvarabhadra. maN+Dala gyi cho ga (Maṇḍalavidhi). Toh 2121, Degé Tengyur vol. 49 (rgyud ’grel, tshi), folios 161.a.4–161.b.5.
Saṃvarabhadra. ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi mtshan yang dag par brjod pa’i sgrub thabs (Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītisādhana). Toh 2108, Degé Tengyur vol. 49 (rgyud ’grel, tshi), folios 143.a.2–146.a.7.
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.
Clark, Walter Eugene. Two Lamaistic Pantheons. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1937.
Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. The Array of Virtues of Mañjuśrī’s Buddha Realm (Mañjuśrībuddhakṣetraguṇavyūha, Toh 59). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.
