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ལས་ཀྱི་སྒྲིབ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་རྣམ་པར་སྦྱོང་བའི་གཟུངས།

The Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations”

Sarva­karmāvaraṇaviśodhanī­nāma­dhāraṇī
འཕགས་པ་ལས་ཀྱི་སྒྲིབ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་རྣམ་པར་སྦྱོང་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
’phags pa las kyi sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sbyong ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs
The Noble Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations”
Ārya­sarva­karmāvaraṇaviśodhanī­nāma­dhāraṇī

Toh 743

Degé Kangyur, vol. 94 (rgyud, tsha), folios 236.a–236.b

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co.

Table of Contents

ti. Title
im. Imprint
co. Contents
s. Summary
ac. Acknowledgements
i. Introduction
tr. The Translation
+ 1 section- 1 section
1. Purifying All Karmic Obscurations
ap. Appendix
ab. Abbreviations
n. Notes
b. Bibliography
+ 2 sections- 2 sections
· Source Texts
· Other Sources
g. Glossary

s.

Summary

s.­1

The Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations” is a relatively brief text consisting of a short dhāraṇī and a passage about its applications and benefits. Most applications have to do with death and funerary rituals, as the text provides many methods to aid the departed toward a favorable rebirth.


ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.­1

This text was translated and introduced by the Buddhapīṭha Translation Group (Gergely Hidas and Péter-Dániel Szántó).

ac.­2

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Andreas Doctor edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.


i.

Introduction

i.­1

The Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations” is a short but important text providing many teachings to aid the dead toward a favorable rebirth. The text provides glimpses into the types of practices Buddhist communities in India and Tibet undertook for a situation that affects us all: the death of a loved one. The most important canonical text in this regard is The Tantra Purifying All Evil Destinies (Toh 483), and indeed, if the form of the dhāraṇī is anything to go by, our text does seem to have some kind of connection with that major scripture.

i.­2

The evidence for the original Sanskrit is somewhat thin: a mere fragment of two and a half lines in an Indian Compilation of Dhāraṇīs.1 However, even from this small fragment, which contains the full dhāraṇī and a passage from the applications, we can surmise that the version transmitted in India was somewhat different. We also know of an eponymous goddess who is clearly a personified dhāraṇī from the Indian tradition. The distinguished and influential scholar Abhayākaragupta in his Niṣpanna­yogāvalī describes her as an inhabitant of the Dharmadhātuvāgīśvara maṇḍala, green in color and holding a white lotus with a red tint marked by a vajra scepter with three prongs.2

i.­3

The Tibetan translation is recorded in the imperial catalogs3 and there is at least one Dunhuang witness available to us.4 Unfortunately, the identity of the translators was not recorded, or if there was once a record, this has not survived. This witness from the famous Dunhuang collection is, despite its age, not a perfect copy. However, it provides some interesting variant readings, which we discuss in the notes to the translation. This text is included in both the Action Tantra section (Toh 743) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section (Toh 1009) of the Degé Kangyur and other Tshalpa-lineage Kangyurs that include such a separate section. As far as we are aware, there is no extant Chinese translation.

i.­4

This English translation was made principally on the basis of the Tibetan translations of the text found in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus) of the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Stok Palace Kangyur. We also compared these texts carefully against the Dunhuang witness, as will be evident from the notes that mark all major discrepancies. Additionally, we consulted the Sanskrit manuscript fragment, a transcript of which we include here in an appendix.


Text Body

The Noble Dhāraṇī
Purifying All Karmic Obscurations

1.

The Translation

[F.236.a]


1.­1

Obeisance to the Blessed Akṣobhya!


namo ratna­trayāya | oṃ kaṅkani kaṅkani rocani rocani troṭani troṭani trāsani trāsani pratihana pratihana sarva­karma­param­parāṇi me svāhā |5


1.­2

The application of this dhāraṇī is as follows:

If one recites it constantly,6 the entire succession of karma will be purified one by one.

If one recites it at the three junctures of the day,7 even the five sins of immediate retribution will be purified.

If one recites it once, bad omens, bad dreams, and inauspicious events will disappear.

If one holds it on one’s body or writes it into a booklet and8 wears it tied around one’s neck, one will never experience any of the untimely deaths.

If one is overcome with compassion and recites it into the ears of a moribund9 beast, bird, human, or nonhuman being, that being will not be reborn in the unfavorable destinies.

1.­3

Moreover, if somebody has died some time ago and one recites it one hundred, one thousand, or one hundred thousand times, with friendly kindness and compassion, in the name of the dead person,10 that sentient being will be liberated at that very moment, even if they have already been born in the hells.

1.­4

If one recites it over some earth, or sesame seeds, or mustard seeds, or water and scatters that over the corpse, or washes the corpse,11 and then has it cremated,12 or places it for keeping in a caitya,13 or if one writes the spell [F.236.b] and places it on their head, that person will certainly be liberated in seven days, even if already born in an unfavorable destiny. That person will be reborn in a favorable destiny, among the gods, or wherever the aspirational prayer wished.

1.­5

If one undergoes purification by ritually bathing throughout the waxing fortnight of the moon, changes clothes three times a day, fasts or eats white meals, and recites the spell one hundred thousand times in the name of a dead person,14 while circumambulating a caitya containing a relic, that person will be liberated from the lower realms. That person will then be reborn among the gods of the Pure Abodes and appear in front of the practitioner,15 perform worship, manifest his own appearance,16 congratulate the practitioner,17 circumambulate him three times, and then finally disappear.

1.­6

If one writes down a dead person’s name, recites the spell, and creates one hundred thousand caityas18 worshiped with parasols, banners, streamers,19 and so on, and casts them into the sea or a great river, then that person will be liberated from the hells, and so on.20

1.­7

Alternatively, having performed worship in the same way, if at the end one constructs a great caitya at a crossroads, worships it with parasols, banners, streamers, and so on, and then offers a meal and makes donations to the noble monastic community in worship21‍—as well as proclaims, “May this become a root of merit for so-and-so!22 Indeed, by this,23 may he attain a favorable rebirth among the gods!”‍—that person will be reborn there, manifest his own appearance, offer one congratulations,24 and then disappear.

1.­8

25Whether one has committed the five sins of immediate retribution, or whether one is an apostate of the true Dharma, or whether one has disrespected the noble ones, if one sees this dhāraṇī, say, written on a wall at the time of death, all one’s karmic obscurations will cease, how much more so if one chants and recites it! That very tathāgata shall come to one and say “Noble son! Come to me!”26

1.­9

Here ends “The Noble Dhāraṇī ‘Purifying All Karmic Obscurations’.”


ap.
Appendix

Appendix

ap1.­1

This is a revised reading of the manuscript fragment Cambridge University Library Ms. Add. 1680.8.3 (+ denotes a lost akṣara):


namo bhagavate ’kṣobhyāya tathāgatāyārhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya | tadyathā oṃ hūṃ kakani kakani | vākani vākani | rocani rocani | troṭani | troṭani | saṃtrāsani | saṃtrāsani + + + 2 pratihana 2 sarva­karma­paramparāni me svāhā | ya imāṃ dhāraṇīm antaśaḥ kuḍyalikhitām api paśyet tasya pañcānantaryāṇi parikṣayaṃ [explicit]


ab.

Abbreviations

Z The Dunhuang witness of the text, Pelliot tibétain 49.3

n.

Notes

n.­1
Published from Cambridge University Library Ms. Add. 1680.8.3 and marked at the time as “unidentified” in Hidas 2021, p. 42.
n.­2
Lee 2004, p. 79: Sarva­karmāvaraṇaviśodhanī haritā tri­śūka­vajrāṅkasitaraktakamaladharā; Toh 3141, folios 127.b–128.a: las dang sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sel ba ljang gu ste rdo rje rtse gsum pas mtshan pa’i padma dkar dmar ’dzin pa’o ||. The Tibetan translation las dang is surprising, as we would expect las kyi.
n.­3
Denkarma, folio 303.a; no. 415 in Herrmann-Pfandt, pp. 237–38; and no. 382 in Kawagoe 2005, p. 21.
n.­4
Pelliot tibétain 49.3; Pelliot tibétain 49 itself is a kind of proto-Compilation of Dhāraṇīs. The identity of the text was first determined by Lalou 1939, pp. 16–17.
n.­5
The translation of this dhāraṇī is: “Obeisance to the Three Jewels! Oṃ, kaṅkani kaṅkani radiant, radiant, destroyer, destroyer, trembler, trembler, remove, remove my entire succession of karma, svāhā!” The reading in the Dunhuang manuscript (henceforth marked as Z) is corrupt at the end: na mo rad na tra ya ya | om ka ka ni | ka ka ni | ro tsa ni | ro tsa ni | tro tha ni | tro tha ni | tra sa ni | tra sa ni | pra ti hA ni | pra ti hA ni | sa rwa pA ra mA | pA ra mA | pA ri ni mA swA hA. Also, note that the Sanskrit differs slightly.
n.­6
Z is marred by a serious eyeskip here: the text jumps two sentences, reading, “If one recites it constantly […] bad omens,” etc., with the bracketed ellipsis marking the omitted text.
n.­7
Normally “the three times” (dus gsum) refers to “the past, the present, and the future,” but in the present context, it must mean “at the three junctures” (i.e., dawn, noon, and dusk). Cf. Candrakīrti’s Pradīpoddyotana (Chakravarti 1984, p. 189 and p. 215 respectively): triṣkālaṃ sandhyātraye and triṣkālaṃ trisandhyam.
n.­8
Z reads “or” (sam) instead of “and” (nas). The canonical reading is not impossible if we understand the booklet to be very small.
n.­9
Z reads “at the time of death” (’chi ba’i tshe) instead of “of a moribund” (’chi ba’i).
n.­10
That is to say, the dhāraṇī is customized by replacing the me (“my”) with the name of the beneficiary in the genitive.
n.­11
If the empowered substance was water.
n.­12
The Stok Palace manuscript reads “worshipped” (mchod) instead of “cremated” (bsreg), which is also the reading of Z.
n.­13
A funerary caitya (mchod rten); Z has a fascinating variant, “tomb” (mchad pa). It is not impossible that the text was customized to fit local practices around Dunhuang.
n.­14
See n.­10.
n.­15
Z reads “shadow” (bsgrib pa) for “practitioner” (sgrub pa po); if the reading is not a corruption, it must mean the shadow cast by the aforementioned caitya. In that case, understand the following elements to refer to the caitya, not the ritualist.
n.­16
The string “manifest his own appearance” is not found in Z. It is possible that it is a contamination from a similarly phrased passage below, in the penultimate paragraph.
n.­17
Lit. “will say, ‘Well done!’ ” ( legs so), which usually corresponds to sādhu in Sanskrit. Z repeats the words (legs so legs so).
n.­18
These are clearly small votive caityas.
n.­19
The difference between the two, at least according to Bhavabhaṭṭa, a commentator of the Catuṣpīṭha­tantra, is that banners (dhvaja) have an emblem or design (cihna) on them. Ad 2.3.11: patāketi cihnarahitā matsyapakṣyādicihnāṅko dhvajaḥ (Szántó 2012, vol. 1, p. 288 and vol. 2, pp. 91–92); the Tibetan is slightly different, but the import is the same, see Toh 1607, folio 180.b: ba dan zhes bya ba ni nya dang ngang pa la sogs pa’i ri mo med pa’o || rgyal mtshan zhes bya ba ni ri mo dang bcas pa’o.
n.­20
Z does not transmit “etc.”
n.­21
Up to here, Z reads merely, “Or, having fashioned a caitya, having worshiped it…”; it is quite likely that some text was lost here. Having said that, it is odd that the canonical reading has “having performed worship in the same way” and then repeats the articles of worship. Therefore, it appears that we have some contamination.
n.­22
Instead of “so-and-so” (che ge mo zhig), Z transmits “this person” (myi ’di).
n.­23
Instead of “indeed, by this [merit]” (’di kho nas), Z transmits “from this transmigration” (’di ’i ’khor nas), which may well be the original reading.
n.­24
See n.­17.
n.­25
This last paragraph is not transmitted in Z. Some parts of it are, however, attested in the Sanskrit fragment. The sentence with “written on a wall” is attested in the fragment as antaśaḥ kuḍyalikhitām api. It is also noteworthy that antaśaḥ here means “ultimately” and not “at the time of death” as the Tibetan would suggest.
n.­26
This passage proves that the initial obeisance to Akṣobhya (also see the expanded obeisance in the Sanskrit fragment) is part of the text and not the translators’ obeisance, despite the fact that it is also not transmitted in Z. No other tathāgata was mentioned before. The invitation refers to Akṣobhya’s pure land, Abhirati. Alternatively, emend de nyid to nyid and understand it as a reference to a generic tathāgata with an emphasis (i.e., “the tathāgata himself”).

b.

Bibliography

Source Texts

’phags pa las kyi sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sbyong ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Ārya­sarva­karmāvaraṇaviśodhanī­nāma­dhāraṇī). Toh 743, Degé Kangyur vol. 94 (rgyud, tsha), folios 236.a–236.b.

’phags pa las kyi sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sbyong ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Ārya­sarva­karmāvaraṇaviśodhanī­nāma­dhāraṇī). Toh 1009, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs ’dus, waṃ), folios 178.a–179.a.

’phags pa las kyi sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sbyong ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 108 (rgyud, tsa), folios 88.a–89.b.

Pelliot tibétain 49.3. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Accessed through The International Dunhuang Project: The Silk Road Online.

Other Sources

Chakravarti, Chintaharan. Guhyasamāja­tantra­pradīpodyotanaṭīkā-ṣaṭkoṭīvyākhyā. Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series no. 25. Patna: Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute, 1984.

Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.

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

Hidas, Gergely. Powers of Protection: The Buddhist Tradition of Spells in the Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha Collections. Beyond Boundaries 9. Boston: de Gruyter, 2021.

Kawagoe, Eishin, ed. dKar chag ’Phang thang ma. Tōhoku Indo Chibetto Kenkyū Sōsho 3. Sendai: Tohoku Society for Indo-Tibetan Studies, 2005.

Lalou, Marcelle. Inventaire des Manuscrits tibétains de Touen-houang conservés à la Bibliothèque Nationale (Fonds Pelliot tibétain nos. 1 - 849), vol. 1. Paris: Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1939.

Lee, Yong Hyun. The Niṣpannayogāvalī by Abhayākaragupta. Seoul: Baegun Press, 2004.

Szántó, Péter-Dániel. “Selected Chapters from the Catuṣpīṭhatantra.” 2 vols. Unpublished DPhil diss., University of Oxford, 2012.


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

Abhayākaragupta

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • abhayākaragupta

An influential scholar active at Vikramaśīla Monasery in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • i.­2
g.­2

Akṣobhya

Wylie:
  • mi ’khrugs pa
Tibetan:
  • མི་འཁྲུགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • akṣobhya

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Lit. “Not Disturbed” or “Immovable One.” The buddha in the eastern realm of Abhirati. A well-known buddha in Mahāyāna, regarded in the higher tantras as the head of one of the five buddha families, the vajra family in the east.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • n.­26
g.­3

aspirational prayer

Wylie:
  • smon lam
Tibetan:
  • སྨོན་ལམ།
Sanskrit:
  • praṇidhāna

A declaration of one’s aspirations and vows, and/or an invocation and request of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, etc.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­4
g.­4

banner

Wylie:
  • rgyal mtshan
Tibetan:
  • རྒྱལ་མཚན།
Sanskrit:
  • dhvaja

A banner with a crest.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­6-7
  • n.­19
  • g.­14
g.­5

caitya

Wylie:
  • mchod rten
Tibetan:
  • མཆོད་རྟེན།
Sanskrit:
  • caitya

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Tibetan translates both stūpa and caitya with the same word, mchod rten, meaning “basis” or “recipient” of “offerings” or “veneration.” Pali: cetiya.

A caitya, although often synonymous with stūpa, can also refer to any site, sanctuary or shrine that is made for veneration, and may or may not contain relics.

A stūpa, literally “heap” or “mound,” is a mounded or circular structure usually containing relics of the Buddha or the masters of the past. It is considered to be a sacred object representing the awakened mind of a buddha, but the symbolism of the stūpa is complex, and its design varies throughout the Buddhist world. Stūpas continue to be erected today as objects of veneration and merit making.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4-7
  • n.­13
  • n.­15
  • n.­18
  • n.­21
g.­6

dhāraṇī

Wylie:
  • gzungs
Tibetan:
  • གཟུངས།
Sanskrit:
  • dhāraṇī

See “spell.”

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1-4
  • 1.­2
  • 1.­8
  • n.­5
  • n.­10
g.­7

five sins of immediate retribution

Wylie:
  • mtshams med pa lnga
Tibetan:
  • མཚམས་མེད་པ་ལྔ།
Sanskrit:
  • pañcānantarya

These are killing one’s mother, father, or an arhat; drawing blood from a thus-gone one; or causing a schism in the saṅgha.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­8
g.­8

karmic obscurations

Wylie:
  • las kyi sgrib pa
Tibetan:
  • ལས་ཀྱི་སྒྲིབ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • karmāvaraṇa

The persistent physical, mental, or emotional obstacles to spiritual progress.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­8
g.­9

parasol

Wylie:
  • gdugs
Tibetan:
  • གདུགས།
Sanskrit:
  • chattra

First of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata. In general Indian iconography it is a symbol of protection and royalty. In Buddhism it symbolizes protection from the blazing heat of afflictions, desire, illness, and harmful forces, just as a physical parasol protects one from the blazing sun or the elements. It is also included in the eight auspicious emblems.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­6-7
g.­10

Pure Abodes

Wylie:
  • gnas gtsang ma
Tibetan:
  • གནས་གཙང་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • śuddhāvāsika

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The five Pure Abodes are the highest heavens of the Form Realm (rūpadhātu). They are called “pure abodes” because ordinary beings (pṛthagjana; so so’i skye bo) cannot be born there; only those who have achieved the fruit of a non-returner (anāgāmin; phyir mi ’ong) can be born there. A summary presentation of them is found in the third chapter of Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa, although they are repeatedly mentioned as a set in numerous sūtras, tantras, and vinaya texts.

The five Pure Abodes are the last five of the seventeen levels of the Form Realm. Specifically, they are the last five of the eight levels of the upper Form Realm‍—which corresponds to the fourth meditative concentration (dhyāna; bsam gtan)‍—all of which are described as “immovable” (akopya; mi g.yo ba) since they are never destroyed during the cycles of the destruction and reformation of a world system. In particular, the five are Abṛha (mi che ba), the inferior heaven; Atapa (mi gdung ba), the heaven of no torment; Sudṛśa (gya nom snang), the heaven of sublime appearances; Sudarśana (shin tu mthong), the heaven of the most beautiful to behold; and Akaniṣṭha (’og min), the highest heaven.

Yaśomitra explains their names, stating: (1) because those who abide there can only remain for a fixed amount of time, before they are plucked out (√bṛh, bṛṃhanti) of that heaven, or because it is not as extensive (abṛṃhita) as the others in the pure realms, that heaven is called the inferior heaven (abṛha; mi che ba); (2) since the afflictions can no longer torment (√tap, tapanti) those who reside there because of their having attained a particular samādhi, or because their state of mind is virtuous, they no longer torment (√tap, tāpayanti) others, this heaven, consequently, is called the heaven of no torment (atapa; mi gdung ba); (3) since those who reside there have exceptional (suṣṭhu) vision because what they see (√dṛś, darśana) is utterly pure, that heaven is called the heaven of sublime appearances (sudṛśa; gya nom snang); (4) because those who reside there are beautiful gods, that heaven is called the heaven of the most beautiful to behold (sudarśana; shin tu mthong); and (5) since it is not lower (na kaniṣṭhā) than any other heaven because there is no other place superior to it, this heaven is called the highest heaven (akaniṣṭha; ’og min) since it is the uppermost.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­5
g.­11

relic

Wylie:
  • sku gdung
Tibetan:
  • སྐུ་གདུང་།
Sanskrit:
  • dhātu

The physical remains or personal objects of a previous tathāgata, arhat, or other realized person that are venerated for their perpetual spiritual potency. They are often enshrined in stūpas and other public monuments so the Buddhist community at large can benefit from their blessings and power.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­5
g.­12

root of merit

Wylie:
  • dge ba’i rtsa ba
Tibetan:
  • དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • kuśalamūla

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

According to most lists (specifically those of the Pāli and some Abhidharma traditions), the (three) roots of virtue or the roots of the good or wholesome states (of mind) are what makes a mental state good or bad; they are identified as the opposites of the three mental “poisons” of greed, hatred, and delusion. Actions based on the roots of virtue will eventually lead to future happiness. The Dharmasaṃgraha, however, lists the three roots of virtue as (1) the mind of awakening, (2) purity of thought, and (3) freedom from egotism (Skt. trīṇi kuśala­mūlāni | bodhi­cittotpādaḥ, āśayaviśuddhiḥ, ahaṃkāramama­kāraparityāgaśceti|).

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­7
g.­13

spell

Wylie:
  • gzungs
Tibetan:
  • གཟུངས།
Sanskrit:
  • dhāraṇī

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and so it can refer to the special capacity of practitioners to memorize and recall detailed teachings. It can also refer to a verbal expression of the teachings‍—an incantation, spell, or mnemonic formula‍—that distills and “holds” essential points of the Dharma and is used by practitioners to attain mundane and supramundane goals. The same term is also used to denote texts that contain such formulas.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4-6
  • g.­6
g.­14

streamer

Wylie:
  • ba dan
Tibetan:
  • བ་དན།
Sanskrit:
  • patākā

A banner without a crest.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­6-7
g.­15

tathāgata

Wylie:
  • de bzhin gshegs pa
Tibetan:
  • དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • tathāgata

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A frequently used synonym for buddha. According to different explanations, it can be read as tathā-gata, literally meaning “one who has thus gone,” or as tathā-āgata, “one who has thus come.” Gata, though literally meaning “gone,” is a past passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. Tatha­(tā), often rendered as “suchness” or “thusness,” is the quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms. Therefore, this epithet is interpreted in different ways, but in general it implies one who has departed in the wake of the buddhas of the past, or one who has manifested the supreme awakening dependent on the reality that does not abide in the two extremes of existence and quiescence. It is also often used as a specific epithet of the Buddha Śākyamuni.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­8
  • n.­26
  • g.­9
  • g.­11
g.­16

The Tantra Purifying All Evil Destinies

Wylie:
  • ngan song thams cad yongs su sbyong ba’i rgyud
Tibetan:
  • ངན་སོང་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོངས་སུ་སྦྱོང་བའི་རྒྱུད།
Sanskrit:
  • sarva­durgati­pari­śodhana­tantra

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • i.­1
g.­17

Three Jewels

Wylie:
  • dkon mchog gsum
Tibetan:
  • དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ།
Sanskrit:
  • ratnatraya

The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha‍—the three objects of Buddhist refuge.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • n.­5
g.­18

three junctures of the day

Wylie:
  • dus gsum
Tibetan:
  • དུས་གསུམ།
Sanskrit:
  • triṣkāla

Morning, noon, and evening.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­2
g.­19

untimely death

Wylie:
  • dus ma yin par ’chi ba
Tibetan:
  • དུས་མ་ཡིན་པར་འཆི་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • akālamaraṇa

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­2
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    84000. The Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations” (Sarva­karmāvaraṇaviśodhanī­nāma­dhāraṇī, las kyi sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sbyong ba’i gzungs, Toh 743). Translated by Buddhapīṭha Translation Group. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024. https://84000.co/translation/toh743.Copy
    84000. The Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations” (Sarva­karmāvaraṇaviśodhanī­nāma­dhāraṇī, las kyi sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sbyong ba’i gzungs, Toh 743). Translated by Buddhapīṭha Translation Group, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024, 84000.co/translation/toh743.Copy
    84000. (2024) The Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations” (Sarva­karmāvaraṇaviśodhanī­nāma­dhāraṇī, las kyi sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sbyong ba’i gzungs, Toh 743). (Buddhapīṭha Translation Group, Trans.). Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh743.Copy

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