This text presents a series of dhāraṇīs for the attainment of each of the perfections.
This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team. Paul G. Hackett produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Rory Lindsay edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Sameer Dhingra was in charge of the digital publication process.
This text presents a series of dhāraṇīs1 for the attainment of each of the perfections, with no additional explanation. Although a common theme, there are no obvious parallels with other texts in the canon. No Sanskrit title is provided for this text, and its title is given on the basis of the Tibetan alone.
This translation of the text into English relied primarily on the Degé recension while making reference to variant readings in other recensions as noted in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and validated in the source texts—notably Narthang—as well as the Stok Palace and Phukdrak recensions.22 No previous translation of this text into a language outside the Tibetan sphere of influence is known. Meisezahl (1957) provides a diplomatic edition of the dhāraṇīs found in the Linden Museum Tibetan collection.
oṃ namas tasyai3[F.281.b] bhagavati dānādhipataye svāhā |4
By hearing this essence mantra of ethics, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of ethics:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatānāṃ mahākāmātmakānām5 | namo bhagavatyai | śīlaparipūrṇas īraye6 śīlaṃ me | sādhaya sādhaya | kiṃ tiṣṭha saṃbuddho bhagavan dharmasya samājñānapayati | svāhā |7
By hearing this essence mantra of patience, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of patience:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatāya acintya gocarya | namaḥ kṣantaye8 bahubhyaḥ | tathāgatānām bhūtakoṭibhiḥ parivartita ye rakṣa kuru turu turu samayam anusmara | śākyamuni sarvatathāgatānām pāramitājñānagocaro jñānagocaro 'jñānam apāyati9 | svāhā |10
By hearing this essence mantra of effort, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of effort:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatānām acintya visayānām | namo stute bhagavate viryapāramitā | viryan kuru vīrye vīrye mahāvīrye tathāgata sarvājñānam apayati11 svāhā |12
By hearing this essence mantra of meditative concentration, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of meditative concentration:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatānām | oṃ vimale nirmale dhyāne dhyāne dhyānapriye hūṃ phaṭ |13
By hearing this essence mantra of wisdom, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of wisdom:
namas tathāgatāya aparimitājñānagocarāya | namo bhagavate jñānapāramitā | ye jñānam | me kuru kuru vigaṇa14 | tathāgatasya samayam anusmara | hi hi hi hi jñā jñā jñā jñā hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ |15
This completes “The Dhāraṇī for Retaining the Six Perfections.”
This text presents a series of dhāraṇīs for the attainment of each of the perfections.
This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team. Paul G. Hackett produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Rory Lindsay edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Sameer Dhingra was in charge of the digital publication process.
This text presents a series of dhāraṇīs1 for the attainment of each of the perfections, with no additional explanation. Although a common theme, there are no obvious parallels with other texts in the canon. No Sanskrit title is provided for this text, and its title is given on the basis of the Tibetan alone.
This translation of the text into English relied primarily on the Degé recension while making reference to variant readings in other recensions as noted in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and validated in the source texts—notably Narthang—as well as the Stok Palace and Phukdrak recensions.22 No previous translation of this text into a language outside the Tibetan sphere of influence is known. Meisezahl (1957) provides a diplomatic edition of the dhāraṇīs found in the Linden Museum Tibetan collection.
oṃ namas tasyai3[F.281.b] bhagavati dānādhipataye svāhā |4
By hearing this essence mantra of ethics, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of ethics:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatānāṃ mahākāmātmakānām5 | namo bhagavatyai | śīlaparipūrṇas īraye6 śīlaṃ me | sādhaya sādhaya | kiṃ tiṣṭha saṃbuddho bhagavan dharmasya samājñānapayati | svāhā |7
By hearing this essence mantra of patience, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of patience:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatāya acintya gocarya | namaḥ kṣantaye8 bahubhyaḥ | tathāgatānām bhūtakoṭibhiḥ parivartita ye rakṣa kuru turu turu samayam anusmara | śākyamuni sarvatathāgatānām pāramitājñānagocaro jñānagocaro 'jñānam apāyati9 | svāhā |10
By hearing this essence mantra of effort, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of effort:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatānām acintya visayānām | namo stute bhagavate viryapāramitā | viryan kuru vīrye vīrye mahāvīrye tathāgata sarvājñānam apayati11 svāhā |12
By hearing this essence mantra of meditative concentration, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of meditative concentration:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatānām | oṃ vimale nirmale dhyāne dhyāne dhyānapriye hūṃ phaṭ |13
By hearing this essence mantra of wisdom, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of wisdom:
namas tathāgatāya aparimitājñānagocarāya | namo bhagavate jñānapāramitā | ye jñānam | me kuru kuru vigaṇa14 | tathāgatasya samayam anusmara | hi hi hi hi jñā jñā jñā jñā hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ |15
This completes “The Dhāraṇī for Retaining the Six Perfections.”
Of the four types of dhāraṇīs described by the fourth-century scholar-yogi Asaṅga—Dharma dhāraṇīs (dharmadhāraṇī; chos kyi gzungs), meaning dhāraṇīs (arthadhāraṇī; don gyi gzungs), mantra dhāraṇīs (mantradhāraṇī; gsang sngags kyi gzungs), and bodhisattva forbearance dhāraṇīs (bodhisattvakṣāntilābhāyadhāraṇī; byang chub sems dpa’ bzod pa ’thob par byed pa’i gzungs)—this text falls into the category of bodhisattvakṣāntilābhāyadhāraṇīs, which enable one to progress along the path through the acquisition of the six perfections. Cf. Grounds of Bodhisattvas (Bodhisattvabhūmi; byang chub sems dpa’i sa; Toh 4037, folio 144.a). A discussion of various classifications of dhāraṇīs is given in Pagel 2007.
Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 936 version of this text within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 936, n.2, for details.
This text, Toh 936, 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.
This dhāraṇī translates as, “Homage to you, O Bhagavatī, sovereign over giving. May auspiciousness abound.”
This dhāraṇī translates as, “Homage to all the tathāgatas, those who are the embodiment of great bliss. Homage to the Bhagavatī. Cause my ethics to be elevated to fully complete ethics. Succeed. Succeed. Wherever it abides, cause all ignorance of the teachings of the perfect buddha bhagavāns to disappear. May auspiciousness abound.”
This dhāraṇī translates as, “Homage to all the tathāgatas, inconceivable in their range. Homage to the one abounding in patience. O you who traverse the limits of the tathāgatas. Protect. Act. Perform. Perform. Remember the commitments. O Śākyamuni, the range of the perfection of wisdom and the range of the exalted wisdom of all tathāgatas is such that it causes ignorance to disappear. May auspiciousness abound.”
This dhāraṇi translates as, “Homage to all the tathāgatas, inconceivable objects of knowledge. Homage and praise to the Bhagavātī, the perfection of effort. Engage in effort. Be heroic. Be heroic. Be greatly heroic. O Tathāgata, cause all ignorance to disappear. May auspiciousness abound.”
This dhāraṇī translates as, “Homage to all the tathāgatas. oṃ. Stainless. Spotless. Concentration. Concentration. Beloved concentration. hūṃ phaṭ.”
This dhāraṇī translates as, “Homage to the tathāgatas, limitless in their range of exalted wisdom. Homage to the Bhagavatī, the perfection of exalted wisdom. O Knowledgeable One. Take notice of me. Act. Act. Remember the commitments of the tathāgatas. Hi hi hi hi. Jñā jñā jñā jñā. Hūṃ phaṭ.” Meisezahl’s version adds mahākili curu curu mahācuru mili mili mahāmili tili tili mahātili dhume dhume mahādhume cale cale mahācale khiri khiri mahākhiri cili cili mahācili | svāhā.
From the Sanskrit verb dhṛ (“to hold”), the term refers to the ability to hold or retain the Buddha’s teachings in the memory, and the specific mnemonic formulas or aids to doing so, which also distill the teachings into shorter utterances. From there the term also carries a strong sense that such formulas or devices, when spoken or rehearsed in the mind, have extraordinary power to effect change in the world and in oneself.
The fourth of the six or ten perfections, this refers to a state of mind characterized by joyful persistence when engaging in virtuous activity.
Morally virtuous or disciplined conduct and the abandonment of morally undisciplined conduct of body, speech, and mind. In a general sense, moral discipline is the cause for rebirth in higher, more favorable states, but it is also foundational to Buddhist practice as one of the three trainings (triśikṣā) and one of the six perfections of a bodhisattva. Often rendered as “ethics,” “discipline,” and “morality.”
The first of the six or ten perfections, often explained as the essential starting point and training for the practice of the others.
Dhyāna is defined as one-pointed abiding in an undistracted state of mind, free from afflicted mental states. Four states of dhyāna are identified as being conducive to birth within the form realm. In the context of the Mahāyāna, it is the fifth of the six perfections. It is commonly translated as “concentration,” “meditative concentration,” and so on.
A term meaning acceptance, forbearance, or patience. As the third of the six perfections, patience is classified into three kinds: the capacity to tolerate abuse from sentient beings, to tolerate the hardships of the path to buddhahood, and to tolerate the profound nature of reality. As a term referring to a bodhisattva’s realization, dharmakṣānti (chos la bzod pa) can refer to the ways one becomes “receptive” to the nature of Dharma, and it can be an abbreviation of anutpattikadharmakṣānti, “forbearance for the unborn nature, or nonproduction, of dharmas.”
In the context of the perfections, wisdom is the sixth of the six perfections. The translation of prajñā (shes rab) by “wisdom” here defers to the precedent established by Edward Conze in his writings. It has a certain poetic resonance which more accurate renderings—“discernment,” “discriminative awareness,” or “intelligence”—unfortunately lack. It should be remembered that in Abhidharma, prajñā is classed as one of the five object-determining mental states (pañcaviṣayaniyata, yul nges lnga), alongside “will,” “resolve,” “mindfulness,” and “meditative stability.” Following Asaṅga’s Abhidharmasamuccaya, Jamgon Kongtrul (TOK, Book 6, Pt. 2, p. 498) defines prajñā as “the discriminative awareness that analyzes specific and general characteristics.”
pha rol tu phyin pa drug gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs. Toh 580, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folio 203.b.
pha rol tu phyin pa drug gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs. Toh 936, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs ’dus, e), folios 281.a–281.b.
pha rol tu phyin pa drug gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs. (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. 90, pp. 654–56.
pha rol tu phyin pa drug gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs, Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 104 (rgyud, pa), folios 195.a–195.b.
pha rol tu phyin pa drug gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs, Phukdrak Kangyur vol. 118 (rgyud, wa(a)), folios 150.b–152.b.
Meisezahl, Richard O. “Die tibetischen Handschriften und Drucke des Linden-Museums in Stuttgart.” Tribus 7 (1957): 1–166, 102–3 (item 71 566, Nr. 9).
Pagel, Ulrich. Mapping the Path: Vajrapadas in Mahāyāna Literature. Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2007.
