The Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses
Toh 669
Degé Kangyur, vol. 91 (rgyud ’bum, ba), folio 202.a
- Prajñāvarman
- Bande Yeshé Dé
Imprint
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2023
Current version v 1.0.4 (2023)
Generated by 84000 Reading Room v2.25.1
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Table of Contents
Summary
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.
Acknowledgements
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.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Introduction
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.
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.
Text Body
A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses
The Translation
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
tadyathā | hana hana rājadhūtena daha daha rājadhūtena paca paca rājadhūtena bahuśrave bahuparipāri bahupariśodhane imaṃ jāracaṇḍalaṃ hana hana
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
This concludes “The Noble Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses.”
Colophon
This text was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Prajñāvarman and the great editor-translator Bande Yeshé Dé.
Notes
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.
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.
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.
Bande Yeshé Dé
- ban+de ye shes sde
- བནྡེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།
- —
Mahākāla
- nag po chen po
- mgon po nag po
- ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ།
- མགོན་པོ་ནག་པོ།
- mahākāla