The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
Toh 855
Degé Kangyur, vol. 100 (gzungs ’dus, e), folios 74.b–76.a
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
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 1.1.17 (2023)
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Table of Contents
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is structured as a dialogue between the Buddha and a retinue of gods from the Śuddhāvāsa realm. The dialogue revolves around the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa and the role that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa can play in continuing to guide beings in his absence until the next tathāgata appears in the world. The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is then introduced as the specific instruction that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa should preserve and propagate after Śākyamuni has departed. The Buddha then provides a list of benefits that members of the saṅgha can accrue by reciting this dhāraṇī.
Acknowledgements
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. The translation was produced by Adam Krug and then checked against the Tibetan and edited by Ryan Damron.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Introduction
The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is structured as a dialogue between the Buddha and a retinue of gods from the Śuddhāvāsa realm. The dialogue revolves around the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa and the role that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa can play in continuing to guide beings in his absence until the next tathāgata appears in the world. The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is then introduced as the specific instruction that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa should preserve and propagate after Śākyamuni has departed. The Buddha then provides a list of benefits that members of the saṅgha can accrue by reciting this dhāraṇī.
The translators’ colophon tells us that The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence was translated by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla along with the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé (ca. eighth and ninth centuries). The text appears in the Phangthangma1 imperial Tibetan inventory of translated works among the collection of various dhāraṇī. In the Denkarma inventory’s list of dhāraṇī, there are two texts entitled The Buddha’s Essence (’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi snying po),2 and while neither of them matches the full title of the present work, the second mention is the more likely to correspond to it judging by the recorded length of the text (thirty-eight ślokas); the first record (fifty-five ślokas) probably corresponds to another, slightly longer text with a similar title, The Dhāraṇī Discourse on the Buddha’s Essence (’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs kyi chos kyi rnam grangs, Toh 514, 854). These works appear alongside each other in the Degé Kangyur in both the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus).3
The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence does not appear in the Kangyurs of mainly Thempangma lineage, but it is present in the predominantly Tshalpa Kangyurs and in a number of mixed, Bhutanese, and Mongolian Kangyurs, and is mentioned in the catalog of the old Mustang Kangyur.4 Butön recorded the mantra from this text in his Collection of Dhāraṇī of the Four Classes of Secret Mantra (gsang sngags rgyud sde bzhi’i gzungs ’bum).5
The text was translated into Chinese in 650 ᴄᴇ by Xuanzang6 (Taishō 918) and again in the late tenth century by Fatian7 (Taishō 919). No Sanskrit witness to this text has been identified to date.
This translation is based on the Tibetan translations of the text from the Tantra Collection and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs in the Degé Kangyur in conjunction with the text as it appears in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur.
Text Body
Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
The Translation
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was seated upon a lion throne in a seashore grove surrounded on all sides by the forest that was the Buddha’s domain. There, he taught the Dharma to a retinue of gods that had gathered around and paid their respects to him.
The Blessed One addressed [F.75.a] the gods of the Śuddhāvāsa realm such as Maheśvara, Suvrata,9 and the rest, saying, “Gods, listen well, pay attention, and I will teach. The Thus-Gone One, in order in future times to gather a fourfold retinue, look after them, care for them in all manner of ways, and cause them to advance, to bring those who possess all the teachings and their meanings to perfection, and to bring all who are properly established in the Great Vehicle to specific attainment in all its aspects, teaches and explains the dhāraṇī discourse called The Buddha’s Essence. You should retain it and, both now and in future times after I have passed into parinirvāṇa, teach and explain it to all members of the fourfold retinue who are properly established in the Great Vehicle. Never forsake it, and always teach it and promote it. As long as there are beings who are destitute and affected by the obscurations, you should preserve the teaching of the Thus-Gone One for them, teach it, and promote it.”
The gods replied, “Blessed One, we will do just that. We will sincerely and perfectly carry out the Thus-Gone One’s command.”
The Blessed One addressed them, saying, “Gods, this is the Dharma discourse called The Buddha’s Essence:
tadyathā amale nirmale sarvākārārthapariprāpte asamantasarvakunākāre tryadhvāsaṅgānāvṛte samantadaśadiśaparipūrṇajñāne sarvāsaṅgadarśanaprāpte sarvadharmam aviśataparipūrṇe sarvākārasaṅgasamanvite samantāpra tihatateje tryadhvadaśasu dikṣupariprāptārthe śānta-prāśanta-upaśānta-samaśānta-vimokṣānuprāpte supratibuddhadharmadhātu atyantasunisrite sarvākāraniḥsaraṇa [F.75.b] anavaśeṣaparaṅgate vipramukta asaṁyoga viprayoga-sthite dharmate gaganasama-prakṛtipariśuddha-nirmale asamanta-tryadhvānugata-suprāpte pūrvānta-aparanta madhyatryadhvasamantānuprapte anavaśeṣa parijñāprahana-bhavana-sakṣātkriyaparamaparaṅgate yathāvati tathākāri sarvākārasaṁpanne sarvākāramahā maitrimahākaruṇā sarvākārasamasagrahānuprāpte
“Gods, this is the dhāraṇī discourse called The Buddha’s Essence. If noble sons or daughters from the fourfold community who are properly established in the Great Vehicle wear it on their bodies, recite it well, and uphold it, they will never give rise to inferior mental states. The Thus-Gone One will likewise remain with them, seated above the crowns of their heads. Some will certainly see the Buddha, some will hear him teach, some will become Dharma teachers, and some will gain the dhāraṇī power of not forgetting. Students who are on the path will never have that path interrupted, and they will have a continual stream of Dharma teachers. They will understand everything, never forget it, and be only one birth away from awakening. With those qualities, they will gain the power of retaining the entire ocean of knowledge.10 They will receive all the attainments, beginning with acceptance of the fact that phenomena do not arise up to becoming fully liberated, perfect buddhas who are free from obscurations. You gods will understand the meaning of my teachings in this lifetime. You should teach it and promote it among the sons and daughters of the lineage. Do not cast it aside, do not forsake it, and do not forget it!”
The gods responded, “Blessed One, we shall do just as you have said. We will teach and explain the Blessed One’s dhāraṇī discourse called The Buddha’s Essence [F.76.a] to the fourfold assembly, without hesitation, in its entirety. We will teach it and promote it among noble sons and daughters. It will be just as the Thus-Gone One has said. We will fully comprehend the Thus-Gone One’s holy Dharma, and for the noble sons and daughters will be of great meaning and something of great benefit.”
The Blessed One replied, “That is why you gods must do as I have said. This is the teaching that I give to you.”
After the Blessed One had spoken, the gods of the Śuddhāvāsa realm such as Maheśvara and Suvrata, along with the entire assembly, praised the Blessed One’s words.
This concludes “The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence.”
Notes
This text, Toh 855, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, e), are listed as being located in volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version displayed by the 84000 Reading Room—list this work as being located in volume 101 . This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed another text—which forms a whole, very large volume—the Vimalaprabhānāmakālacakratantraṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med ’od, Toh 845), before the volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags (catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation.
In the Toh 515 version of the text there is a slight discrepancy in the folio numbering between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings of the Degé Kangyur. Although the discrepancy is irrelevant here, further details concerning this may be found in n.8 of the Toh 515 version of this text.
Bibliography
Source Texts
’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Āryabuddhahṛdayaṁnāmadhāraṇī). Toh. 515, Degé Kangyur vol. 88 (rgyud ’bum, na), folios 46.b–48.a.
’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Āryabuddhahṛdayaṁnāmadhāraṇī). Toh. 855, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs ’dus, e), folios 74.b–76.a.
’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Āryabuddhahṛdayaṁnāmadhāraṇī). 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), 2006–2009, vol. 88, pp. 141–46.
’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Āryabuddhahṛdayaṁnāmadhāraṇī). 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), 2006–2009, vol. 97, pp. 195–200.
Reference Works
Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). “gsang sngags rgyud sde bzhi’i gzungs ’bum.” In The Collected Works of Bu-ston, edited by Lokesh Chandra, vol. 16, pp. 21–576. Śata-Piṭaka Series. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–1971.
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.
Phangthangma (dkar chag ’phang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
Edgerton, Franklin. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2004.
Lancaster, Lewis R. The Korean Buddhist Canon. Accessed November 16, 2018. http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/index.html.
Monier-Williams, Monier. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2005.
Negi, J.S. Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary (bod skad dang legs sbyar gyi tshig mdzod chen mo). Sarnath: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, 1993.
Resources for Kanjur and Tanjur Studies, Universität Wien. Accessed November 20, 2018. http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=514&typ=1.
Yoshimuri, Shyuki. The Denkar-Ma: An Oldest Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons. 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
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acceptance of the fact that phenomena do not arise
- mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa thob pa
- མི་སྐྱེ་བའི་ཆོས་ལ་བཟོད་པ་ཐོབ་པ།
- anutpattikadharmakṣāntilabha
Maheśvara
- dbang phyug chen po
- དབང་ཕྱུག་ཆེན་པོ།
- maheśvara
Śuddhāvāsa
- gnas gtsang ma’i ri
- གནས་གཙང་མའི་རི།
- śuddhāvāsa
Suvrata
- dka’ thub bzang po
- དཀའ་ཐུབ་བཟང་པོ།
- suvrata
- munisuvrata