The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla
Toh 667
Degé Kangyur, vol. 91 (rgyud ’bum, ba), folios 199.a–201.b
- Amoghavajra
- Phurbu Ö
Imprint
Translated by the Dharmacakra Translation Committee
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2023
Current version v 1.0.9 (2024)
Generated by 84000 Reading Room v2.25.1
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Table of Contents
Summary
The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla opens with Hayagrīva summoning Mahākāla from his abode in the palace called Joyous, located in a sandalwood grove in the great southeastern charnel ground, Aṭṭahāsa. This prompts the great king Virūpakṣa to request that Hayagrīva teach the rites and practices related to Mahākāla. Hayagrīva then delivers a series of instructions on the propitiation and worship of Mahākāla and rituals for destroying the enemies of the Buddhist teachings.
Acknowledgements
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. The translation was produced by Adam C. Krug and edited by Ryan Conlon.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Introduction
The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla opens with a description of the deity Mahākāla, surrounded by a retinue of nonhuman beings in a palace named Joyous located in a sandalwood grove in the great southeastern charnel ground Aṭṭahāsa. Then, in the western world system, the deity Hayagrīva, or “The King of Horses,” enters into absorption, utters a Hayagrīva mantra, and summons Mahākāla before himself and the Four Great Kings. The great king of the western quarter, Virūpakṣa, then supplicates Hayagrīva and asks him to teach the secret practices related to the deity Mahākāla.
Hayagrīva then provides instructions on Mahākāla’s sādhana and wrathful rites as well as instructions for when the rite does not work, a description of the signs of success, and a rite for generating hailstorms. As Hayagrīva notes, the enemy that is designated as the target of these rites is anyone who seeks to destroy the Buddhist teachings or create obstacles for yogins.
It is not clear how popular the eight-chapter Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla may have been in India and Nepal prior to its translation into Tibetan. We are not aware of any surviving Sanskrit version of the text, or any Indic commentary.
The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla does not appear in the Denkarma or Pangthangma royal Tibetan catalogs of translated works. Thus, based on the information from the translators’ colophon, the first Tibetan translation of the text was likely completed in the eleventh century by the Indian preceptor Amoghavajra and the Tibetan translator Phurbu Ö. The text also does not appear to have been translated into Chinese.
George Stablein notes in his study of the fifty-chapter Mahākālatantra (Toh 440) that the eight-chapter Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla is mentioned by Khedrub Jé (mkhas grub rje dge legs dpal bzang, 1385–1438) in his survey of tantras devoted to Mahākāla.1 The eight-chapter Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla also appears as the opening work in the cycle of texts on Mahākāla in Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé’s (’jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha’ yas, 1813–99) nineteenth-century publication of The Indian Works of the Five-Part Dharma Corpus of the Glorious Shangpa Lineage (dpal ldan shangs pa’i chos skor rnam lnga’i rgya gzhung), which survives in a reprinted edition published and annotated by the late Kalu Rinpoche (karma rang byung kun khyab, 1905–89). In his short note on the text, Kalu Rinpoche tells us the following:
“This tantra is in most collections of offering rituals, and in most of the catalogs of past masters, which present the common tantras, it is classified as a kriyātantra. Hayagrīva is the one who taught the tantra, [F.8.b] and given that he is of Avalokiteśvara’s family, the tantra is counted among those of the lotus family.”2
It is thus clear that the eight-chapter Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla was relatively well known in Tibet, perhaps even more than the twenty-five chapter (Toh 416) and fifty-chapter (Toh 440) Mahākālatantras.
This translation is based on the recension that appears in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) of the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur.
Text Body
The Translation
Homage to the body of Enthralling Paramāśva.
Chapter 1: The Introduction
Thus did I hear at one time. At the southeastern charnel ground Aṭṭahāsa, in the sandalwood grove called Joyous, the vināyaka Glorious Mahākāla was present in the palace where a multitude of male and female nonhuman beings gathered. At the time,3 in the midst of a retinue of cruel beings, he was known as “Mahākāla Who Controls the Life Breath of Living Beings.” [F.199.b]
At the same time, in the western world system, the King of Horses, Bringer of Death, was surrounded by an assembly of the Four Great Kings and the rest. He entered the absorption that tames arrogant beings while using the hook mudrā and reciting the mantra oṃ vajrakrodha hayagrīva hūṁ hulu hulu hūṁ vaṃ. Powerless to do otherwise, Mahākāla appeared before the King of Horses, Bringer of Death, from his abode in the Aṭṭahāsa charnel ground.4
“What can I do for you?” he asked, and politely offered his own mark, the essence of his life force, oṃ vajramahākāla kṣiṃ kṣetravighnān vināyaka hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ.
This is chapter 1 in “The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla,” the “Introduction.”
Chapter 2: The Worship Rite and Sādhana
Then King Virūpakṣa supplicated the King of Horses, Bringer of Death, with the following verses:
oṃ vajramahākāla kṣiṃ kṣetravighnān vināyaka hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ |
This is chapter 2 in “The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla” on “The Worship Rite and Sādhana.”
Chapter 3: Severing the Life Force from the Body
oṃ vajramahākāla kṣiṃ kṣetravighnān10 vināyaka hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ | oṃ mahākālāya11 śāsanopakāriṇi12 eṣa apaścimakālo ’yam idaṃ ratnatrayāya apakāriṇaṃ yadi pratijñāṃ13 smarasi tadā idaṃ duṣṭaṃ kha kha khāhi khāhi | māra māra | ghṛhṇa ghṛhṇa | bandha bandha | hana hana | daha daha | paca paca | dinam ekena māraya hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ | hūṁ vināyakavilāsa14 traṃ vi tri hūṁ ja si ma bu vināyaka create obstacles for the life force of so-and-so whose name has been written ja māraya I implore you! |
This is chapter 3 in “The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla” on “Severing the Life Force from the Body.”
Chapter 4: The Concluding Rite
This is chapter 4 in “The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla” on “The Concluding Rite.”
Chapter 5: The Enhancing Rite for When the Rite Does Not Work, and the Mending Rite
oṃ vajrakrodha hayagrīva hūṁ hulu hulu hūṁ phaṭ | phaṭ hūṁ hūṁ akayāniv nānghivarteṣk ṃiṣk alākāhamarjav oṃ |17
oṃ vajramahākāla kṣiṃ kṣetravighnān vināyaka hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ mend mend svāhā |
This is chapter 5 in “The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla” on “The Enhancing Rite for When the Rite Does Not Work and the Mending Rite.”
Chapter 6: A Series of Signs of Accomplishment
This is chapter 6 in “The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla” on “A Series of Signs of Accomplishment.”
Chapter 7: Hailstorms
oṃ vajramahākāla kṣiṃ kṣetravighnān vināyaka hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ | torment the nāga’s mind | phu create obstacles ja khroṃ śar hril bhyo20 |
This is chapter 7 in “The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla” on “Hailstorms.”
Chapter 8
Colophon
This text was translated by the Indian preceptor Amoghavajra and the Tibetan translator Phurbu Ö.
Notes
Bibliography
Tibetan Sources
dpal nag po chen po’i rgyud (Śrīmahākālatantra). Toh 667, Degé Kangyur vol. 91 (rgyud ’bum, ba), folios 199.a–201.b.
dpal nag po chen po’i rgyud (Śrīmahākālatantra). 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. 91, pp. 726–34.
dpal nag po chen po’i rgyud (Śrīmahākālatantra). Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 105 (rgyud, pha), folios 175.b–178.a.
’jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha’ yas, karma rang byung kun khyab. dpal nag po chen po’i rgyud. In dpal ldan shangs pa’i chos skor rnam lnga’i rgya gzhung. Sonada, West Bengal, vol. 1 (ka): folios 2.a–9.a. BDRC WA23922.
Reference Works
dkar chag ’phang thang ma. Pe cin: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
Edgerton, Franklin. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2004.
Lancaster, Lewis R. The Korean Buddhist Canon, accessed June 11, 2019, http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/index.html.
Monier-Williams, Sir Monier. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2005.
Negi, J.S. Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary (Bod skad legs sbyar gyi tshig mdzod chen mo). Sarnath: Dictionary Unit, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, 1993.
Resources for Kanjur and Tanjur Studies, Universität Wien, accessed June 11, 2019. http://www.rkts.org.
The Buddhist Canons Research Database. American Institute of Buddhist Studies and Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies, accessed June 11, 2019. http://databases.aibs.columbia.edu.
Yoshimuri, Shyuki. bka’ bstan dkar chag ldan dkar ma/ dbu can bris ma. Kyoto: Ryukoku University, 1950.
Secondary Sources
Lessing, Ferdinand D. and Wayman, Alex, trans. Mkhas grub rje’s Fundamentals of Buddhist Tantras. The Hague: Mouton, 1968.
Stablein, William George. “The Mahākālatantra: A Theory of Ritual Blessings and Tantric Medicine.” PhD diss., Columbia University, 1976.
Glossary
Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language
Attested in source text
This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.
Attested in other text
This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.
Attested in dictionary
This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.
Approximate attestation
The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names where the relationship between the Tibetan and source language is attested in dictionaries or other manuscripts.
Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.
Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.
Source unspecified
This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.
absorption that tames arrogant beings
- dregs pa can ’dul ba’i ting nge ’dzin
- དྲེགས་པ་ཅན་འདུལ་བའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
- —
Akṣobhya
- mi bskyod
- མི་བསྐྱོད།
- akṣobhya
Amoghavajra
- a mo g+ha badz+ra
- don yod rdo rje
- ཨ་མོ་གྷ་བཛྲ།
- དོན་ཡོད་རྡོ་རྗེ།
- amoghavajra
arrogant spirit beings
- dregs pa
- དྲེགས་པ།
- —
Black One
- nag po
- ནག་པོ།
- kāla
Black One’s sādhana
- nag po’i sgrub thabs
- ནག་པོའི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས།
- —
bodily essences
- snying sna
- སྙིང་སྣ།
- —
Bringer of Death
- mthar byed
- མཐར་བྱེད།
- antaka
concluding rite
- las mtha’ brtul ba
- ལས་མཐའ་བརྟུལ་བ།
- —
create obstacles
- hur thum
- ཧུར་ཐུམ།
- —
drop of filth
- dri yi thig le
- དྲི་ཡི་ཐིག་ལེ།
- —
enhancing rite
- spogs pa’i cho ga
- སྤོགས་པའི་ཆོ་ག
- —
Enthralling Paramāśva
- dbang gi rta mchog
- དབང་གི་རྟ་མཆོག
- —
five meats
- sha lnga
- ཤ་ལྔ།
- —
Four Great Kings
- rgyal po chen po bzhi
- རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་བཞི།
- caturmahārāja AD
four immeasurables
- tshad med bzhi po
- ཚད་མེད་བཞི་པོ།
- caturapramāṇa
Glorious Mahākāla
- dpal nag po chen po
- དཔལ་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ།
- —
Great Supreme Horse
- rta mchog chen po
- རྟ་མཆོག་ཆེན་པོ།
- —
implore
- rbad
- རྦད།
- —
Joyous
- rab tu dga’ ba
- རབ་ཏུ་དགའ་བ།
- —
King of Horses
- rta’i rgyal po
- རྟའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- —
life-force mantra
- srog sngags
- སྲོག་སྔགས།
- —
lower garment made of a tiger’s skin
- stag lpags shing gi zham thabs can
- སྟག་ལྤགས་ཤིང་གི་ཞམ་ཐབས་ཅན།
- —
Mahākāla
- nag po chen po
- mgon po nag po
- ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ།
- མགོན་པོ་ནག་པོ།
- mahākāla
Mahākāla Who Controls the Life Breath of Living Beings
- skye ’gro sems can rnams kyi srog dbugs la dbang byed pa’i nag po chen po
- སྐྱེ་འགྲོ་སེམས་ཅན་རྣམས་ཀྱི་སྲོག་དབུགས་ལ་དབང་བྱེད་པའི་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ།
- —
mending rite
- gso ba’i cho ga
- གསོ་བའི་ཆོ་ག
- —
Phurbu Ö
- phur bu ’od
- ཕུར་བུ་འོད།
- —
powerful substances
- thun rdzas
- ཐུན་རྫས།
- —
rite to make it hail
- ser ba dbab pa’i las
- སེར་བ་དབབ་པའི་ལས།
- —
samaya substances
- dam rdzas
- དམ་རྫས།
- —
sarala pine
- gdug pa’i shing
- གདུག་པའི་ཤིང་།
- —
soul stone
- bla rdo
- བླ་རྡོ།
- —
spear
- mdung
- མདུང་།
- —
syllables of the vitality mantra
- srog gi yi ge
- སྲོག་གི་ཡི་གེ
- —
Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla
- dpal nag po chen po’i rgyud
- དཔལ་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད།
- śrīmahākālatantra RP
three bloods
- khrag gsum
- ཁྲག་གསུམ།
- —
three soils
- sa gsum
- ས་གསུམ།
- —
three types of poison
- dug gsum
- དུག་གསུམ།
- —
tribal person
- mon pa
- mon
- མོན་པ།
- མོན།
- kirāta
venerable one
- ban+de
- བནྡེ།
- —
vināyaka
- bi nA ya ka
- བི་ནཱ་ཡ་ཀ
- vināyaka
western world system
- nub phyogs kyi ’jig rten gyi khams
- ནུབ་ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཁམས།
- —
Wrathful Lotus
- pad+ma khros pa
- པདྨ་ཁྲོས་པ།
- —
Wrathful Lotus Lord
- pad+ma khros pa’i bdag
- པདྨ་ཁྲོས་པའི་བདག
- —
write the name
- a mu ka bri
- ཨ་མུ་ཀ་བྲི།
- —