co.

Table of Contents

s.

Summary

s.­1

The Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses is a short work that contains a Mahākāla dhāraṇī recitation practice for removing illness from various parts of the body. The dhāraṇī progresses through a list of body parts, invoking Mahākāla to free each region from illness and disease.

ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.­1

Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. The translation was produced by Adam Krug and then checked against the Tibetan and edited by Andreas Doctor.

ac.­2

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

i.

Introduction

i.­1

The Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses is a short work that contains a Mahākāla dhāraṇī recitation practice for removing illness from various parts of the body. The dhāraṇī progresses through a list of body parts, invoking Mahākāla to free each region from illness and disease.

i.­2

There is no known Sanskrit version of this text, nor does it appear as an independent work in the Chinese canon. It is, however, found in the early ninth-century Denkarma royal Tibetan catalog of translated works.1 The translators’ colophon tells us that it was translated by the Indian preceptor Prajñāvarman and the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé, both of whom were active in the late eighth century.

i.­3

This English translation is based on the recensions found in the Tantra Collection (Toh 669) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (Toh 1086) in the Degé Kangyur,2 in consultation with the Comparative Edition of the Kangyur (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur.

Text Body

The Noble Mahākāla Dhāraṇī:
A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses
1.

The Translation

[F.202.a]


1.­1

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.


I will recite the dhāraṇī3 of Mahākāla, the great black being with sharp yellow fangs, the great fanged one who cures all diseases and illnesses. Wherever I direct my gaze, may I be free of disease and illness.4

1.­2

tadyathā | hana hana rājadhūtena daha daha rājadhūtena paca paca rājadhūtena bahuśrave bahuparipāri bahupariśodhane imaṃ jāracaṇḍalaṃ hana hana

1.­3

oṃ suṃbha nisuṃbha śira muñca cakṣu muñca śrotra muñca ghrāṇa muñca jihvā muñca kaṇṭha muñca grīva muñca pṛṣtha muñca5 kaṭikā muñca kukṣa muñca ūru muñca jānu6 muñca hasta muñca pādau muñca aṅguli muñca aṅgapratyaṅga muñca7 apasara anyasmiñca gaccha8 jvara mukto ’si me9 svāhā

1.­4

oṃ jvala mā aṅguli hūṁ sarvajvarānan10 phaṭ |

1.­5

This concludes “The Noble Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses.”

c.

Colophon

c.­1

This text was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Prajñāvarman and the great editor-translator Bande Yeshé Dé.

ab.

Abbreviations

C Choné (co ne)
D Degé (sde dge bka’ ’gyur)
H Lhasa (lha sa/zhol)
J Lithang (li thang)
K Kangxi (kang shi)
N Narthang (snar thang)
S Stok Palace (stog pho ’brang)
U Urga (phyi sog khu re)
Y Yongle (g.yong lo)
n.

Notes

n.­1
Denkarma, 303.b.3. See also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, pp. 248–49, no. 435.
n.­2

Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 1086 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 1086, n.­2, for details.

n.­3
Toh 669 and Toh 1086: brjod par bya ste. S: brjod par bya ba ste. The phrase “the dhāraṇī of” has been added to the English translation for the sake of clarity.
n.­4
D and S: phyogs gang dang gang du bltas pa der bdag la rims nad med par gyur cig. The text does not state this in any explicit way here, but the actual content of the dhāraṇī that follows indicates that the “place” or “location” where one might direct one’s gaze refers to any location on the body.
n.­5
This translation follows Toh 1086 and S: priSh+Tha muny+tsa. Toh 669: preSh+Tha muny+tsa. The Tibetan transliteration priṣṭha is amended to reflect the correct Sanskrit vowel for the term pṛṣṭha.
n.­6
Toh 669, Toh 1086, and S read dza nau muny+tsa. This translation amends the Tibetan transliteration dza nau to the proper spelling of the Sanskrit term for the “knee,” or jānu. The declension of jānu has been dropped in line with the prevailing pattern established in the dhāraṇī.
n.­7
Following Toh 1086, K, N, and H: aM ga pra tyaM ga muny+tsa. Toh 669 and S: oM ga pra tyaM ga muny+tsa.
n.­8
Toh 669: a pa sa ra a n+ya sI muny+tsa/ gats+tshaH. Toh 1086: a ba sa ra/ a n+ya si maM gats+tsha. S: a ba sa ra/ ar+ya swI muny+tsa/ gats+tshaH. This transliteration corrects the corruption in the Tibetan transliteration to the Sanskrit apasara anyasmiñca gaccha, which translates “depart (apasara) and go elsewhere (anyasmiñca gaccha).” We are grateful for Péter-Dániel Szántó for this suggested correction to the Tibetan transliteration of the Sanskrit.
n.­9
Toh 669 and Toh 1086: dzwa ra mu to si bdag la. S: dzwa ra mu to si/bdag la. This translation amends the Tibetan transliteration of this phrase, where the reading jvara mutosi bdag la appears to be a corruption of the Sanskrit jvara mukto ’si me, which translates “illness, you are released by me.” The Tibetan translation bdag la likely reflects a misinterpretation of the shortened form of the Sanskrit genitive singular first-person pronoun (Skt. me) as the shortened form of the dative singular first-person pronoun (Skt. me). In this case, the genitive form functions as an instrumental pronoun.
n.­10
This transliteration follows Toh 669, Toh 1086: sarba dzwa rA nan phaT. S: sarba dzwA ra nan phaT. The Tibetan transliteration of this phrase is likely a corruption of the Sanskrit sarvajvarān hana phaṭ, but the reading in the Tibetan witnesses has been retained here to reflect the transmission of Mahākāla’s dharaṇī in this particular textual tradition.
b.

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa. Toh 669, Degé Kangyur vol. 91 (rgyud ’bum, ba), folio 202.a.

’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa. Toh 1086, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs ’dus, waM), folio 252.b.

’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa. 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. 739–41.

’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa. 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, vo. 98, pp. 879–81.

’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 105 (rgyud, pha), folios 178.b–179.a.

Reference Works

Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan [/ lhan] dkar gyi chos ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Degé Tengyur, vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.

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.

Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Wien: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.

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.

g.

Glossary

Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language

AS

Attested in source text

This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.

AO

Attested in other text

This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.

AD

Attested in dictionary

This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.

AA

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.

RP

Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.

RS

Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.

SU

Source unspecified

This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.

g.­1

Bande Yeshé Dé

  • ban+de ye shes sde
  • བནྡེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།
  • —

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Yeshé Dé (late eighth to early ninth century) was the most prolific translator of sūtras into Tibetan. Altogether he is credited with the translation of more than one hundred sixty sūtra translations and more than one hundred additional translations, mostly on tantric topics. In spite of Yeshé Dé’s great importance for the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet during the imperial era, only a few biographical details about this figure are known. Later sources describe him as a student of the Indian teacher Padmasambhava, and he is also credited with teaching both sūtra and tantra widely to students of his own. He was also known as Nanam Yeshé Dé, from the Nanam (sna nam) clan.

g.­2

Mahākāla

  • nag po chen po
  • mgon po nag po
  • ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ།
  • མགོན་པོ་ནག་པོ།
  • mahākāla

Mahākāla is a wrathful Buddhist protector deity. In Tibetan, the name Mahākāla was mostly translated literally with nag po chen po (“Great Black One”) but on occasion it was rendered mgon po nag po (“Black Lord”). In Toh 440, for which the Sanskrit is extant, we have an attested example of this. Hence we have rendered both Tibetan terms in this text as Mahākāla. Outside the Buddhist tradition, Mahākāla is also a name for a wrathful form of Śiva.

g.­3

Prajñāvarman

  • pradz+nyA barma
  • པྲཛྙཱ་བརྨ།
  • prajñāvarman RP

A Bengali paṇḍita resident in Tibet during the late eighth and early ninth centuries. Arriving in Tibet at the invitation of the Tibetan king, he assisted in the translation of numerous canonical scriptures. He is also the author of a few philosophical commentaries contained in the Tengyur (bstan ’gyur).

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84000. The Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses (nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar byed, Toh 669). Translated by Dharmachakra Translation Committee. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025. https://84000.co/translation/toh669.Copy
84000. The Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses (nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar byed, Toh 669). Translated by Dharmachakra Translation Committee, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025, 84000.co/translation/toh669.Copy
84000. (2025) The Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses (nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar byed, Toh 669). (Dharmachakra Translation Committee, Trans.). Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh669.Copy
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