The King of Ritual Manuals from the Tantra of Māyā Mārīcī’s Arising

[F.158.b]

Homage to the Three Jewels.

This is the ritual manual of The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Mārīcī that was received by Vairocana’s great king.12 Visualize Mārīcī on a sun and moon disk. Imagine a needle and thread emerge before her out of her rays and sew shut the mouths and eyes of wicked beings. Set up a boundary to any external observation and imagine, while reciting the “was dwelling in Śrāvastī” line, that the goddess Mārīcī emerges in her complete form from the light of the sun and moon.13 Continue, saying, “ ‘There is a certain goddess named Mārīcī,’ the Victor said, ‘who arrives just before the sun and moon, but even the many hordes of gods cannot see her.’ ” Then, continue to where it says, “ ‘may I, too, not be seen,’ ” and so forth. Those are the three sets of nine.14 The mantra verse is recited as follows: oṃ padākramasi15 parākramasi udayamasi pudamasi nairamasi antardhānamasi.

One can add a specific name to the section that reads, “Goddess Mārīcī, protect me on the path. Protect me from the wrong path. Protect me from perils involving kings, fire, enemies, and lions. Always bring me profit and success. namo ratnatrayāya oṃ ālo kālo tālo sacchalo saṁmurti rakṣa rakṣa māṃ sarvabhayeṣu svāhā. Homage to she who possesses the Three Jewels.16 oṃ varāli vatāli vattāli varāli varāhamukhi17 [F.159.a] sarvaduṣṭānām mukhaṃ bandha bandha,” and that person will always be well protected.

The forty-four-syllable invocation is the names of the three oceans, the heart mantra with the syllable oṃ, and the twenty-two and the six-syllable mantras.18 It offers protection from all manner of perils.

If one bears this heart mantra in mind, one will have a keen intellect. When this mantra is recited along with the introductory verses, she grants boons such as increasing one’s wealth, stores of grain, and attendants.

To that end, someone who wants to perform the sādhana should draw her image on a canvas or wooden board. Draw Aśokamārīcī seated on a lotus at the base of an aśoka tree adorned with all her ornaments. She is yellow and wears a blue upper garment and shawl.19 Her head is crowned with a caitya, she is youthful, and her eyes look to the left. Following the aforementioned ritual procedure, gaze at the painting in front of you while reciting the heart mantra of the supreme sādhana, oṃ mārīcyai svāhā, one thousand times. This supreme heart mantra will certainly grant the highest siddhi, eliminate all fevers, and eliminate all illnesses.

Reciting the mantra along with a fire offering causes Mārīcī to increase one’s wealth. A fire offering of yogurt and dūrvā grass eliminates illness. A fire offering of honey and ghee enthralls kings. A fire offering of yogurt, rice, and molasses allows one to acquire a yakṣiṇī. One thousand fire offerings of mustard oil and leafy neem branches eliminates fever and illnesses. One should perform one thousand fire offerings using one’s own blood, a bone, poison,20 and black mustard, and the enemy will die. Perform the fire offering with milk, and it will be pacified.

If one recites the mantra continually, it neutralizes poison and easily subdues ḍākinīs. If one recites it one hundred and eight times each day one will develop a keen intellect.

Mārīcī’s heart mantra is oṃ varāli vadāli vattāli varāhamukhi21 sarvaduṣṭapraduṣṭānāṃ bandha bandha mukhaṃ svāhā. [F.159.b]

Blessed Mārīcī’s six-syllable secret heart mantra is oṃ mārīcyai svāhā.

This is the hand mudrā for the heart mantra: Hold the hands parallel with the palms either together or open. Draw the thumbs in slightly and make a circular shape with the two middle fingers touching each other. Sit with the legs crossed and rest the hands at the navel.22

When one recites Blessed Mārīcī’s name eight times23 one will be protected, given refuge, and defended.

This ritual manual comes from the Vidyādhara Basket.25

Another application of her mantra is as follows: Visualize a golden boar, and visualize Mārīcī mounted on it wearing a white skirt. Her head is crowned with a caitya, and her left hand holds a blooming aśoka branch. When confronted with any of the great perils, one should visualize oneself surrounded by a pack of boars. One should hold the hem of the upper garment at one’s heart and chant the mantra seven times while making seven knots, and one will not be overcome by robbers and the like. Afterward, the knots should be untied.

One should imagine the syllable laṃ on the moon disk at one’s heart.27 One should recite it mentally and meditate on the fact that [F.160.a] all phenomena are devoid of identity. Then one should imagine oneself in space in the form of Vairocana seated on a teakwood throne in the center of a lotus with legs crossed in the vajra posture. He has a golden complexion and bears the hand mudrā of supreme awakening. He has attained meditative concentration, wears a crown of matted locks, and is peaceful. Perform the mental recitation with the syllable māṃ.

Mārīcī appears on a moon disk before you out of Vairocana’s light rays. While reciting the mantra oṃ mārīcyai svāhā, imagine that she is before you holding a golden needle and thread with which she sews shut the eyes and mouths of wicked beings. Recite the vidyā of the root mantra once over a protection cord with twenty-one threads spun by a young girl. Then recite the following mantra one hundred and eight times:

To protect oneself, make seven knots in the protection cord while reciting the following mantra:

To do this for an associate, make a single knot while bearing their name in mind. A traveler should tie the cord to his waist and recite Mārīcī’s vidyā along with the introductory verses, and she will travel in front of him. If he does that, he will protect himself.

Make a moon disk at night and a sun disk during the day in one’s location according to the previous instructions.32 Then recite the following vidyā seven times just as it was taught:

That is the vidyā called [F.160.b] she who possesses the Three Jewels.

This has been confirmed as a supreme heart mantra of Blessed Mārīcī:

This has been confirmed as a supreme heart mantra of Blessed Mārīcī:

He should perform the recitation with the mantras:

And:

Any of the following mantras may be recited to protect oneself:44

There are other rites as well. The supreme mantra oṃ mārīcyai svāhā can be used for rites of pacifying, increasing, enthralling, subjugating, [F.161.a] and attracting. To use it for oneself, imagine the heart mantra at the heart with the syllables tri and oṃ added to it. Imagine the target standing in a whirling firebrand and perform the attracting rite with the hook and noose mudrās.46 This will attract a divine woman who is within one hundred leagues.

Another application is as follows: Perform the following rite at sunrise. Recite the Kumārī mantra one hundred times and install her in a maṇḍala made with cow dung. Smear her body with white flowers and sandalwood,47 wash her thoroughly, dress her in a white robe, and perform an incense offering with bdellium. Smear the thumbs with red lac and black oil48 and recite the mantra one hundred and eight times, and this will show that one has been consecrated.49 Then invoke all the gods and the like with this king of mantras:

Recite the mantra oṃ māḥ50 aloud one hundred and eight times to incant the lamp, present it to Kumārī, and, just as before, they will see you.51 Listen for an auspicious or inauspicious sign from the entire horde of mātṛs while reciting the mantra oṃ vatāli yaṃ muḥ ten thousand times, and it will be revealed.

If one wants an enemy to contract a fever, mix ground human bone, ashes from a charnel ground, and the soil of both banks of a river with soil from a footprint and make an effigy. Write the augmented mantra with poison, copper, black mustard, and gold mixed with milk on cloth from a charnel ground. Perform one hundred and eight recitations of the following mantra:

If the cloth is hidden in the enemy’s house, they will contract a fever.

One can also write the enemy’s name on a skull with the aforementioned substances, place four a syllables inside it, and place it in a fire surrounded by the syllable māṃ. Then the wrathful one should heat it in a fire kindled with teakwood.52 Remove the skull53 and hide it in the enemy’s house, and they will immediately contract a fever. It can also be hidden in a charnel ground.

If one wants to kill an enemy, [F.161.b] one should write their name on a skull in the middle of the two syllables hūṁ and phaṭ with ink made of poison, salt, black mustard, and blood using a pen made of human bone, and they will be killed. One should surround it with the mantra oṃ mārīcyai hūṁ, kill [insert name], hūṁ. One should recite the mantra one thousand and eight times, and the target will die. If the mantra is written in a charnel ground, the target will die within three days.

If one wants to expel someone, one should hold a crow’s wing while reciting one thousand and eight times the mantra oṃ mārīcyai cala cala pracala pracala śīghraṃgamini, expel [insert name], hūṁ phaṭ. One should carefully hide it in the enemy’s house and visualize the target mounted on a camel, and they will be expelled immediately.

If one wants to sow discord, one should make sure that each effigy is made to look like the target using ash from a charnel ground, the soil of both banks of a river, and soil from a footprint and placed back-to-back.54 One should tie them with hair from the heads of a buffalo and a horse and smear their bodies with poison, black mustard, and salt. Then one should write the targets’ names, augmented with the syllable hūṁ, in the middle of four phaṭ syllables with buffalo and horse blood on a piece of cloth from a charnel ground, and one should surround this with the syllable māṃ. One should place the effigies in the center and recite the mantra while visualizing the two of them mounted on a buffalo and a horse as if they were fighting, and it will sow discord.

One should bury an effigy55 of Hara with Durgā in a hole in a charnel ground while reciting the mantra oṃ mārīcyai, sow discord between [insert name] and [insert name], hūṁ svāhā.

Another application is as follows: The images should be made on a buffalo’s horn and a horse’s bone, and the names should be written at the heart centers with buffalo and horse blood mixed with feces and white dūrvā grass seeds. Then, this should be thrown into a fire kindled with teakwood while reciting the mantra, and it will immediately sow discord. One can also hide them in the enemy’s house, and it will sow discord.

Now I will explain the instruction from The Great Tantra of Mārīcī’s Arising,56 which teaches the verses that should be recited to paralyze an enemy’s army. If trying to disrupt a king’s forces wherever they may be and bring an adversary’s kingdom to ruin, this rite should be performed and offering made right after the king arrives. [F.162.a] The ācārya should request permission from the king’s counselor and then enter meditative concentration with a benevolent attitude and love toward all beings. He should have a competent assistant provide him with all the necessary ritual implements and assist with the rite. He should set up the painting of Blessed Mārīcī, anoint the maṇḍala with white sandalwood, scatter white flowers on it, and present incense, perfume, flower garlands, and a bali offering. Then he should make offerings of yogurt, honey, and molasses while reciting the following mantra seven times:

He should perform the offering to Blessed Mārīcī and then recite the dedication. When she has been pleased, he should see himself in the form of Blessed Mārīcī and recite the mantra thirty thousand times with pride.58 That is the preliminary worshiping rite, and it will reveal any inauspicious sign.

After that, he should perform the fire offering. Following the aforementioned ritual instructions, he should light fire pits for all the ritual actions59 using butea, bodhi tree, and uḍumbara branches, and he should offer one thousand and eight individual pieces of dūrvā grass that have been dipped in yogurt, milk, and ghee. Then he can perform all the ritual actions.

The paralyzing mantra is oṃ vattāli vadāli varāli varāhamukhi60 sarvaripusyaibhyaṃ staṃbhaya61 svāhā. This mantra can be used for any paralyzing ritual. The recitation and fire offering should be performed using this mantra.

After that, he should add the names of the king and royal priest who are the target of the mantra and write them on a piece of birch bark or cloth using red saffron or bovine bezoar. He should encircle it with the syllable māṃ, surround that with the four syllables oṃ, māṃ, vāṃ, and māṃ, and draw the mantra wheel surrounded on the outside by the letter va. If he touches the troops with this on the crown or throat, they will be protected in everything they do. When they go to battle, no weapon will pierce [F.162.b] their bodies, and they will win the battle.

Then the vajrācārya should mount the lead elephant or the lead chariot, face the battlefield, and hoist a yellow victory banner over an unfurled painting of Blessed Mārīcī. He should wear a lower robe of yellow cloth and a yellow turban, hold the ritual implements, vajra, and bell, and, with confidence, visualize himself as Mārīcī atop a chariot drawn by wild boar as before while reciting the following mantra:

He should recite this while visualizing the target surrounded by wild boar, and it will bring immediate victory over the enemy army.

This mantra wheel should be drawn with a liquid made of yellow arsenic or turmeric on a piece of cloth from the corpse of a person who was slain in battle or on a piece of cloth from a charnel ground. An effigy of the enemy’s general should be fashioned out of soil from both sides of a riverbank or soil from a mountaintop mixed with ash from a charnel ground and placed in the center of the mantra wheel. The image of a wild boar should be drawn using the same soil mixed with a liquid base of rice and turmeric, and the effigy of the enemy should be placed face down in the boar’s mouth. The boar should be placed inside of a vessel with a lid and left there, situated so that it faces the enemy army. He should perform a bali offering with boiled rice, fish, and raw meat, and he should strike and pierce the ground with an eight-inch teakwood dagger while reciting the mantra. He should recite the mantra one thousand and eight times with the power of vajrakrodha, and the enemy army will be paralyzed.

For another depiction of the mantra wheel, he should surround it with the syllables of the target’s name, and surround that with the syllable ca. He should make a circle between those two with the mantra garland that begins with vattāli, surround that with the syllable māṃ, and surround it again with the four syllables. He should mark the edge of the square boundary with vajras, and it will instantly paralyze and weaken the enemy army‍—let there be no doubt. This mantra wheel called supreme victory over the enemy army [F.163.a] should be learned from an ācārya’s instructions.

The following is another mantra wheel for performing paralyzing rites, rites to sow discord, and killing rites for protecting one’s close allies and getting rid of people who create obstacles. The wise one should prepare a spot in a charnel ground, carefully unfurl the painting, and make a maṇḍala of cow dung in front of it. The wrathful one should perform an offering using the five prescribed offerings, put on a black robe, wear a black turban, clasp the ritual implements, vajra, and bell, and visualize himself as Mārīcī as before.

He should imagine himself as Mārīcī with three boar faces that have three eyes and bare their fangs. Her tongue strikes fear like a flash of lightning. She shines and radiates a light equal to twelve suns. She wears a sapphire-blue lower robe, a blue jacket, and a multicolored upper garment and shawl. She is adorned with all her ornaments and has eight arms. She holds an arrow, vajra, needle, and hook in her right hands and a bow, noose, aśoka branch, and thread in her left hands. The hair on her head is like a caitya. She stands on a sun disk with her right leg extended. She is wrathful and tramples the target of the rite with her foot.

He should make the effigy out of soil from a riverbank, ground human bone, and ash from a charnel ground. He should write the mantra augmented with the target’s name with ink containing the three spices, poison, blood, salt, black mustard, and datura on a piece of cloth from a corpse, place it in the middle, and add the target’s name to the following mantra:

He should make a pill with dried human flesh and bdellium, mix it with human fat, and perform one thousand and eight fire offerings [F.163.b] into a fire kindled with wood that has been used to burn a corpse. Then he should write65 the name of the king of the opposing army with black mustard oil. If he wants to kill him, he should make a smoke offering with it, and he will die. If he wants him to be paralyzed, he will be paralyzed. Or he can face the battlefield and perform a fire offering and mantra recitation with a mixture of ground human bone and human fat, and the enemy’s forces will instantly be paralyzed.

Another application of the mantra is as follows: If he wants to pacify jackals that are threatening livestock, he should go to the cattle pasture and write the mantra clearly on the arch of the pasture gate. He should place the mantra on top of a white victory banner and write the mantra on two boards, with the names of the eldest bull and the herders added to each respective board with an ink containing white sandalwood, red saffron, and bovine bezoar. Then he should hang the mantra wheel on the bull’s horns and around the herders’ necks. He should make the mantra wheel with the syllables oṃ, māṃ, vāṃ, and māṃ surrounded by the syllable va and then surrounded by the syllable cyai. It should be encircled on the outside with the syllable māṃ. He should wrap a teakwood dagger measuring eight fingers to the gate with five-colored thread and stab the gate with a dagger while reciting the following mantra seven times:

That is the dagger mantra for dispelling vighnas.

After that, the wise one should carefully unfurl the painting of Blessed Mārīcī in the middle of the cattle pen so that it is facing east. He should dig a fire-offering pit in front of the painting in the shape of a square measuring one cubit across. He should set out vases for perfumed water on the four sides of the square and fill them with perfumed water and the five grains. They should be anointed with white sandalwood, tied with two strips of white cloth, and ornamented with leafy branches from the following five trees: banyan, bodhi tree, uḍumbara, mango, and giant milkweed. He should incant them with the mantra one hundred and eight times and then plant a teakwood dagger at each of the four sides of the fire pit while reciting the mantra explained above.

After that, he should make a maṇḍala66 with dung [F.164.a] and scatter upon it a bali offering of blood, a garland of red, blue, and white lotuses, and fragrant flowers. He should sprinkle it with perfume and sandalwood water and perform the deity food offering with a morsel that contains yogurt, honey, and molasses. He should decorate it with a row of butter lamps and hang a flower garland on the ornamental canopy. He should write the mantra at the top of a victory banner made of white cloth and plant it in the ground. Then he should make a smoke offering of bdellium.

When the offering to the blessed goddess Mārīcī has been properly performed and she is pleased, he should perform the mantra recitation with the mantra mentioned above while making all the requisite offerings.

In front of the painting, he should dig a square pit for the fire offering that is four cubits across. He should make an altar that is four fingers across, surrounded by vajras, and made to look like a lotus with the stalk attached. He should make the sign of a vajra in the middle of the lotus, make a maṇḍala with cow dung, and scatter flowers on it. Then the mantrin should bathe, purify himself, put on white clothes, wear the proper white turban, hold a vajra and bell, and begin with confidence.67

He should expel the vighnas in front of the fire pit with the mantra and plant teakwood daggers in the four corners on the outside of the fire pit. Then, just as above, he should sit on the east side of the fire pit facing west68 on a pile of kuśa grass while reciting the blessing with the mantra and hand mudrā. He should spread the kuśa grass on the four sides of the fire pit, incant all the implements with the mantra one hundred times, and place them on the right side. He should place a water bowl on the left side and set up a water-offering bowl filled with perfumed water and with flowers in front of it. He should set out the yogurt, molasses, and honey, place a fire in the fire pit that has been produced with a hearth stick, and kindle the fire with banyan, uḍumbara, and butea branches.

Then he should visualize that the syllable oṃ [F.164.b] transforms into a moon disk with the syllable raṃ on it, and that Agni appears out of that. He should invoke Agni with the following Agni invocation mantra:

Then he should recite the following Agni mantra:

He should imagine Agni seated on the moon disk with a round, white face, four arms, and three blazing eyes. Agni is beautiful and stainless, like the light of the autumn moon.70 He is peaceful and emits a stream of amṛta. He holds a staff, a water jar, and a rosary, and he displays the boon-granting hand mudrā. He should give him the water offering and offer three oblations of the fivefold offering in the aforementioned vessel into the deity’s mouth and sprinkle it again with water.71

For the pacifying rite, as the fire rekindles, he should imagine the goddess Mārīcī again seated there on a moon disk. White like an autumn moon, she is youthful, has eyes like blue lotuses, and wears white garments. For the pacification rite, she holds a vase of various types of amṛta that flow forth. He should imagine that the youthful goddess arises like a divine blazing flower and showers beings with a stream of amṛta,72 and he should offer one ladle into her mouth. Then he should mix yogurt, honey, butter, and milk with dūrvā grass and the bones and hair from the head of an animal and perform one thousand and eight fire offerings.73

Moreover, he should go outside the cattle pen and prepare a ball of sweets containing the five bali offerings for all manner of beings‍—yogurt, sweet rice,74 and milk mixed with rice flour and molasses; kṛśara oil, rice, māṣa beans, alcohol, meat, and fish; a soup with beans in it; and a cake that contains a mixture of māṣa beans and molasses. He should incant them with the mantra seven times and then present the offering.

The sweet rice is for the nāgas. The yogurt and milk are for the asuras. The yogurt [F.165.a] and milk are for the gods. The kṛśara oil is for the yakṣas. The mixture of rice flour and molasses made into a ball is for Gaṇapati. The cake is for the piśācas. The rice mixed with māṣa beans is for the bhūtas. The meat is for the rākṣasas. The fish is for the pretas.

He can also enter the deity’s abode,75 recite the mantra oṃ bhāva76 khāhi khāhi gṛhṇa gṛhṇa hūṁ sarvabhūtabaliṃ svāhā one hundred and eight times, and then sprinkle a vase filled with water on the lead bull. After that, the threat of jackals will be pacified.

To perform the same action, if he performs the fire offering three times per day for seven days while reciting the pacification mantra, they will be pacified.

oṃ mārīcyai svāhā.77 He should make the sign by placing the hands together with his two palms joined or open at the top. He should draw the thumbs in, coil the two index fingers around the middle fingers, sit in a cross-legged position, and rest it at the navel.78

This is the supreme hand mudrā. It is effective for all rites. It will undoubtedly pacify elephants, horses, beasts, buffalo, men, women, kings, and fools.

The descriptions of the fire pits for the fire offering are as follows: For the pacification rite, the fire pit should be round in the shape of a white lotus with the stalk attached. The center of the lotus should be marked with a vajra. There should be a circular altar that is ornamented and encircled by a chain of vajras. The fire should be kindled with butea and banyan branches in a fire pit that is dug to a cubit deep, and the dūrvā grass should be offered to the fire one piece at a time.

If he wishes to perform it as a long life and pacification rite, he should perform the fire offering for the pacification rite to the form of Pāvaka Agni,79 who is clad entirely in white.

For the increasing rite, the altar should be square and measure four fingers. It should be decorated with a chain of vajras and ornamented with a lotus, wheel, and jewel. The perimeter of the fire pit should be marked with double vajras. The fire should be kindled with giant milkweed and uḍumbara branches, and he should perform the fire offering with red, blue, and white lotus flowers anointed with a substance that is a mixture of yogurt, butter, and honey [F.165.b] so that they have a golden color. If he imagines Agni there perfectly adorned and yellow in color, he will have all the gold he could want. That is called the increasing rite.

For the enthralling rite, the fire pit should be triangular and shaped like a bodhi tree leaf. It should have a three-pointed vajra atop a lotus and bodhi tree leaf in the middle, and the altar should be decorated with a chain of vajra hooks. He should use bodhi tree branches, sesame, salt, and black mustard as the offering substances. He should imagine Agni in his “inciting passion” form, as red as the scarlet mallow and hibiscus flower and wearing red robes, a red garland, and red sandalwood.

For the subjugating rite, the fire pit should be made in the shape of a half-moon, and the altar should be decorated with a chain of vajras with an open-pronged vajra in the middle. He should use wood for burning a corpse, and he should burn the offering substances of human flesh, ground human bone, and human fat in a fiercely burning fire. The visualization for the subjugating rite is the “Krodhana” form of Agni, who is black, wears black clothing, has a terrifying mouth baring its fangs, and arises like the fire that consumes the world at the end of an eon.