The Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra
Chapter 21
Toh 747
Degé Kangyur, vol. 95 (rgyud ’bum, dza), folios 238.a–263.a
- Buddhākaravarma
- Chökyi Sherab
Imprint
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2020
Current version v 1.0.15 (2024)
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Table of Contents
Summary
The Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra is a Buddhist esoteric manual on magic and exorcism. The instructions on ritual practices that constitute its main subject matter are intended to give the practitioner mastery over worldly divinities and spirits. Since the ultimate controller of such beings is Vajrapāṇi in his form of Bhūtaḍāmara, the “Tamer of Spirits,” it is Vajrapāṇi himself who delivers this tantra in response to a request from Śiva. Notwithstanding this esoteric origin, this tantra was compiled anonymously around the seventh or eighth century ᴄᴇ, introducing for the first time the cult of its titular deity. Apart from a few short ritual manuals (sādhana), this tantra remains the only major work dedicated solely to Bhūtaḍāmara.
Acknowledgements
This translation was produced by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. Wiesiek Mical translated the text from the Sanskrit manuscripts, prepared the Sanskrit edition, and wrote the introduction. Thomas Doctor then compared the translation against the Tibetan translation found in the Degé Kangyur and edited the text. Special thanks are owed to Dr. Péter-Dániel Szántó for making available his transcript of the manuscript, “Göttingen Xc 14/50 I,” which was our default source for the reconstruction of the Sanskrit text.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Text Body
Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra
Chapter 21
Then each of the six312 kinnarīs present in the gathering rose up, respectfully bowed to the feet of the glorious Vajradhara, and offered him her heart mantra:
“The practitioner should go to the top of a mountain and recite the mantras one thousand and eight times. When the recitation of the six kinnarī mantras is complete, he should prepare an elaborate pūjā and light incense of cow meat mixed with bdellium. He should then recite the mantra until midnight when, unfailingly, a kinnarī will arrive. He should not be afraid of her. She will say, ‘Hey practitioner! What do you command me to do?’ The practitioner should reply, ‘Kind one, please be my wife.’ Taking him upon her back, she will carry him to the god realm. She will offer delicious divine food.
“The practitioner should go to the foot of a mountain or to a monastery and recite the mantra ten thousand times. At the end of the recitation, the goddess herself320 will touch his feet with her lotus-like hands. He should promptly make love to her. She will become his wife and will offer eight dinars and a pair of garments.
“Having gone to a riverbank, the practitioner should recite the mantra ten thousand times, and continue to recite all night. A kinnarī is certain to arrive at dawn. Once she has arrived, she will become his wife and will offer five dinars every day.
“The practitioner should go at night to the confluence of two rivers and recite the mantra one thousand and eight times. [F.259.a] A kinnarī is certain to arrive when the recitation is complete. On the first day she will merely show herself. On the second, she will stand in front of the practitioner and speak to him. On the third, he should make love to her. The sādhana will inevitably have an effect on her, and she will perform the duties of a wife. Every day she will offer eight dinars and a pair of garments.
“The practitioner should go to the top of a mountain every day, partake of a dish of meat,321 and recite the mantra ten thousand times. A kinnarī will soon appear in front of him in the form of an apsaras. Embracing and kissing her, he should make love to her in silence. She will become his wife and will offer eight dinars and delicious divine food.”
This concludes the chapter from the great sovereign “Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra” that contains detailed instructions on the sādhanas of the kinnarīs.
Abbreviations
Abbreviations Used in the Sanskrit Appendix
Critical apparatus
| + | plus signs replace illegible text |
|---|---|
| ] | a right square bracket marks the lemma, i.e., the adopted reading for which variants are adduced |
| conj. | conjectured |
| em. | emended |
| om. | omitted |
| ° | an upper ring indicates truncation of a word |
| † | daggers enclose unintelligible text |
Sigla or acronyms of textual witnesses
Manuscripts
| A | Tokyo University Library (New 274 / Old 567) |
|---|---|
| B | Tokyo University Library (New 273 / Old 483) |
| G | Göttingen University Library (Göttingen Xc 14 / 50 I) |
Published Works
| SM | Sādhanamālā, the sādhana of Bhūtaḍāmara (sādhana no. 264) |
|---|---|
| Tib. | Tibetan text of the Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra in the Degé canon (Toh 747) |
Bibliography
Sanskrit and Tibetan Sources
Bhūtaḍāmaratantram. Rāya, Kṛṣṇa Kumāra, ed. Vārāṇasī: Prācya Prakāśana, 1933.
Bhūtaḍāmaratantra. University of Göttingen Library, Xc 14/50 I.
Bhūtaḍāmaramahātantrarāja. University of Tokyo Library, New 274/Old 567.
Bhūtaḍāmaramahātantrarāja. University of Tokyo Library, New 273/Old 483.
Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh, ed., Sādhanamālā (pp. 512−28). Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1968.
’byung po ’dul ba zhes bya ba’i rgyud kyi rgyal po chen po (Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra). Toh 747, Degé Kangyur vol. 95 (rgyud ’bum, dza), folios 238.a–263.a.
Secondary Sources
Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh. “The Cult of Bhūtaḍāmara.” Proceedings and Transactions of the Sixth All-India Oriental Conference: 349−70. Patna: Bihar and Orissa Research Society, 1933.
———. The Indian Buddhist Iconography Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Sanskrit Texts and Rituals. Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1958.
Bühnemann, Gudrun. “Buddhist Deities and Mantras in the Hindu Tantras I: The Tantrasārasaṃgraha and the Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati.” Indo-Iranian Journal 42:4 (1999): 303–34.
Cabezón, José Ignacio. The Buddha’s Doctrine and the Nine Vehicles. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Pal, Pratapaditya. Hindu Religion and Iconology According to the Tantrasāra. Los Angeles: Vichitra Press, 1981.