The Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra
Chapter 6
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 6
“Now I will teach [F.245.a] the sādhana practice for female and male servants from the great sovereign Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra.81
“The mantra for trading the meat of a black goat:
“Oṁ, Rāhu, Rāhu! Seize, seize the great servant spirits in order to benefit those who are poor! Oṁ, hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ! Grant me magical power over meat! Svāhā!82
“The practitioner should go at night to a charnel ground and recite the mantra one thousand and eight times; all his endeavors concerning the trading of meat will be successful.
“He should then go to a charnel ground and, holding one pound of meat, look in the four directions and call out, ‘Great female spirits who inhabit charnel grounds, do you want to buy any meat?’83 A great female spirit inhabiting the charnel ground will then appear before the practitioner in the form of a brahmin and say, ‘Hey great one, what do you wish for?’ The practitioner should say, ‘I want gold,’ and she will offer one pound of gold. He should then give her the meat. If she does not take it, she will burst at the forehead and die.”
Maheśvara-Mahādeva, surrounded in this great gathering by a retinue of many tens of millions of vidyādharas and many hundreds of thousands of apsarases, kinnaras, nāgas, and mahoragas, circumambulated the glorious Vajradhara, the supreme master Great Wrath, three times, bowed to his feet, and said to the lord, “May the great bodhisattva please teach the secret maṇḍala of the great king of the three realms whose instructions are perfect; who instills fear in all the bhūtas, nāgas, yakṣas, and vidyādharas; who removes all obstacles, afflictions, and pain; and who kills all the pretas,84 vetālas, and pūtanas dwelling in charnel grounds—the secret maṇḍala that accomplishes everything.”
Then, in this great gathering, the great bodhisattva, the princely youth Mañjuśrī, applauded Mahādeva, the lord of spirits, “Well done! Well done, Mahādeva! [F.245.b] In order to benefit the people of Jambudvīpa in the future, in times to come, may the supreme master Great Wrath teach the practice of engaging all the female bhūtas, nāgas, kinnaras, and yakṣas as servants.”
This concludes the chapter that contains detailed instructions on the mantras, mudrās, and sādhana practices.
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.