The Dhāraṇī for Retaining the Noble Avataṃsaka
Toh 584
Degé Kangyur, vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folio 204.a
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First published 2024
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
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.
Introduction
This text presents a single dhāraṇī1 to enable the retention of the Avataṃsakasūtra2, with no additional explanation. The text appears similar in nature to the sort of dhāraṇī presented to enable retention in The Dhāraṇī for the Retention of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra in One Hundred Thousand Lines (Toh 583). 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 referring to variant readings in other recensions as noted in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and validated in the source texts—notably Narthang.3 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 dhāraṇī found in the Linden Museum Tibetan collection.
Text Body
The Translation
Homage to the Three Jewels.
oṃ nthiṃ | nāmaḥ sarvabuddhānām | oṃ māṃ bhrūṃ mūṃ | tadyathā | oṃ bhrūm |4
By taking up this dhāraṇī, one will retain the noble Avataṃsaka. One will be like someone who has written it and recited it.
This completes “The Dhāraṇī for Retaining the Noble Avataṃsaka.”
Notes
Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 940 version of this text within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 940, n.3, for details.
Bibliography
’phags pa phal po che gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs. Toh 584, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folios 204.a.
’phags pa phal po che gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs. Toh 940, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs ’dus, e), folios 282.a.
’phags pa phal po che 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. 661–62.
Other Sources
Meisezahl, Richard O. “Die tibetischen Handschriften und Drucke des Linden-Museums in Stuttgart.” Tribus 7 (1957): 1–166, 102 (item 71 566, Nr. 5).
Pagel, Ulrich. Mapping the Path: Vajrapadas in Mahāyāna Literature. Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2007.
Glossary
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