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  • Toh 861
རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོའི་གཟུངས།

The Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana”

འཕགས་པ་རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
’phags pa rnam par snang mdzad kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs
The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana”

Toh 861

Degé Kangyur, vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folio 87.a

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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. Essence Dhāraṇī of Vairocana
ab. Abbreviations
n. Notes
b. Bibliography
+ 2 sections- 2 sections
· Tibetan Sources
· Other Sources
g. Glossary

s.

Summary

s.­1

The Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana”, which pays homage to the Three Jewels, the Buddha Vairocana, and the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha, contains the dhāraṇī of Vairocana or Ākāśagarbha. It lists the following benefits for one who recites it: protection from weapons, fire, water, poison, poisoned food and drink, hostile magic, kings, thieves, epidemics, pain, contagions, and so forth, and the attainment of the samādhi called stainless light.


ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.­1

This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

ac.­2

The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team. Bruno Galasek-Hul produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Rory Lindsay 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 “The Essence of Vairocana” is a short text contained in the Degé Kangyur in both the Tantra section (Toh 534) and in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 861). It is further subcategorized as an Action tantra (bya rgyud, kriyātantra).

i.­2

The Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana” lacks a narrative frame, as well as a location and interlocutors. It starts with formulaic homages to the Three Jewels, the Buddha Vairocana, and the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāsagarbha. These canonical expressions of reverence are followed by the dhāraṇī itself, which invokes the Buddha Vairocana. The text concludes with an enumeration of the benefits that accrue from reciting the dhāraṇī: the reciter will be protected from weapons, fire, water, poison, poisoned food and drink, kākhordas, kings, thieves, epidemics, pain, contagions, and so forth, and will attain a particular samādhi called stainless light.

i.­3

The dhāraṇī proper contains, besides many non-lexical phonemes, the perfectly intelligible Sanskrit phrase vairocana­raśmi sañcodite āgaccha| āryākāśa­garbha, “Come, ordered by Vairocana’s light rays, noble Ākāśagarbha (‘Essence of the Sky’)!” This exhortation to the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha suggests that this may be his dhāraṇī and not Vairocana’s. The bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha is closely associated with the Buddha Vairocana, and one of his most important roles is the purification of negative actions. This pair are especially prominent in East Asian esoteric traditions.1

i.­4

The Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana” lacks a Tibetan and Sanskrit title at the beginning and a final translators’ colophon. We have no knowledge regarding who translated it and when. To our knowledge, no Sanskrit text of this dhāṛaṇī is extant and it does not appear to have been translated into Chinese. The catalog of the early imperial translations, the Denkarma (lhan kar ma, Herrmann-Pfandt 2008), does not list it. However, it is listed under its short title in the catalog of translated works in the Kangyur that is included in Butön’s monumental fourteenth-century History of Buddhism.2 This gives us only a very wide time frame for its translation, namely, sometime between the ninth century and the first quarter of the fourteenth century.3

i.­5

The present English translation was prepared based on the two Degé witnesses (Toh 5344 and Toh 8615). We also consulted the versions contained in the Phukdrak Kangyur and Stok Palace Kangyur.


Text Body

The Noble
Essence Dhāraṇī of Vairocana

1.

The Translation

[F.87.a]


1.­1

“Homage to the Three Jewels!


Homage to the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddha, noble Vairocana, the king of light!


Homage to the bodhisattva mahāsattva6 Ākāśagarbha!

1.­2

tadyathā| kala kala| kili kili| viri viri| huru huru| vairocana­raśmi­sañcodite āgaccha| āryākāśa­garbha mahā­kāruṇikā pūraya haśāna| dhāraya buddhe viścayana| cara cara| ciri ciri svāhā7

1.­3

By reciting it, this will be accomplished: weapons, fire, water, poison, poisoned food and drink, or kākhordas will not hurt one. One will not be harmed by a king, thieves, and so forth. Wherever this is written down and stored, epidemics,8 harm, and contagions will not arise.9 What is more, one will attain the samādhi called stainless light.”

1.­4

The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana” is complete.


ab.

Abbreviations

F Phukdrak Kangyur
N Narthang Kangyur
S Stok Palace Kangyur

n.

Notes

n.­1
For details, see The Ākāśagarbha Sūtra (Ākāśa­garbha­sūtra, Toh 260), i.­1.
n.­2
Butön Rinchen Drup, folio 174.b/979: shAkya thub pa’i snying po.
n.­3
Most scholars consider the Denkarma to have been completed sometime in the first half of the ninth century (for a discussion of the different possible dates, see Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, xvii–xxii). Bu ston completed his History of Buddhism sometime before the year 1326 (for a detailed discussion, see van der Kuijp 2016, pp. 227–35).
n.­4

In the Toh 534 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.­4 of the Toh 534 version of this text.

n.­5

This text, Toh 861, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs, 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.

n.­6
F here adds thugs rje chen po dang ldan pa “who is endowed with great compassion.”
n.­7
The phrase vairocana­raśmi sañcodite āgaccha| āryākāśa­garbha “Come, ordered by Vairocana’s light rays! Noble Ākāśagarbha (“Essence of the Sky”)” in the dhāraṇī rather seems to suggest that this is the dhāraṇī of the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha.
n.­8
F here omits yams kyi nad “epidemics.”
n.­9
A similar passage can be found in The Nectar of Speech (Amṛtavyāharaṇa, Toh 197), 1.­12.

b.

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

’phags pa rnam par snang mdzad kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs. Toh 534, Degé Kangyur vol. 88 (rgyud, na), folio 99.b.

’phags pa rnam par snang mdzad kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs. Toh 861, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folio 87.a.

’phags pa rnam par snang mdzad kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 102 (rgyud, da), folio 102.a.

rnam par snang mdzad kyi snying po. Phukdrak Kangyur, vol. 116 (rgyud, tsha), folios 168.b–169.a.

Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). chos ’byung (bde bar gshegs pa’i bstan pa’i gsal byed chos kyi ’byung gnas gsung rab rin po che’i gter mdzod). In The Collected Works of Bu-Ston, vol. 24 (ya), pp. 633–1055. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71. BDRC W22106.

Other Sources

84000. The Nectar of Speech (Amṛtavyāharaṇa, Toh 197). Translated by the Dharmasāgara Translation Committee. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020.

84000. The Ākāśagarbha Sūtra (Ākāśa­garbha­sūtra, nam mkha’i snying po’i mdo, Toh 260). Translated by the Sakya Pandita Translation Group. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2014.

Braarvig, Jens, ed. “Mahāvyutpatti with sGrasbyor bam po gñis pa.” Bibliotheca Polyglotta, University of Oslo. Last accessed April 7, 2023.

Davidson, Ronald M. “Studies in Dhāraṇī III: Seeking the Parameters of a Dhāraṇī-piṭaka, the Formation of the Dhāraṇī­saṃgrahas, and the Place of the Seven Buddhas.” In Scripture:Canon::Text:Context: Essays Honoring Lewis Lancaster, edited by Richard K. Payne, 119–80. Berkeley: Institute of Buddhist Studies and BDK America, 2015.

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

Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp. “The Lives of Bu ston Rin chen grub and the Date and Sources of His Chos ’byung, a Chronicle of Buddhism in India and Tibet.” Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines 35 (April 2016): 203–308.

Schopen, Gregory (1977). “Review of The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom, by Edward Conze.” Indo-Iranian Journal 19, No. 1/2 (May/June 1977): 135–152.

Schopen, Gregory (1978). “The Bhaiṣajya­guru-Sūtra and the Buddhism of Gilgit.” PhD diss., Australian National University, 1978.


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

Ākāśagarbha

Wylie:
  • nam mkha’i snying po
Tibetan:
  • ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • ākāśagarbha AD

An important bodhisattva whose name means “essence of space.” He is one of the “eight great close sons” (aṣṭamahopa­putra, nye ba’i sras chen brgyad).

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­3
  • 1.­1
  • n.­7
g.­2

bodhisattva

Wylie:
  • byang chub sems dpa’
Tibetan:
  • བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།
Sanskrit:
  • bodhisattva AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A being who is dedicated to the cultivation and fulfilment of the altruistic intention to attain perfect buddhahood, traversing the ten bodhisattva levels (daśabhūmi, sa bcu). Bodhisattvas purposely opt to remain within cyclic existence in order to liberate all sentient beings, instead of simply seeking personal freedom from suffering. In terms of the view, they realize both the selflessness of persons and the selflessness of phenomena.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2-3
  • 1.­1
  • n.­7
  • g.­1
g.­3

contagion

Wylie:
  • ’go ba’i nad
Tibetan:
  • འགོ་བའི་ནད།
Sanskrit:
  • upasarga AD

General name for transmittable diseases.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2
  • 1.­3
g.­4

dhāraṇī

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

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 5 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1-3
  • n.­7
g.­5

epidemic

Wylie:
  • yams kyi nad
Tibetan:
  • ཡམས་ཀྱི་ནད།
Sanskrit:
  • īti AD

An epidemic disease.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2
  • 1.­3
  • n.­8
g.­6

hostile magic

Wylie:
  • byad stems
Tibetan:
  • བྱད་སྟེམས།
Sanskrit:
  • kākhorda AD

See kākhorda.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • s.­1
g.­7

kākhorda

Wylie:
  • byad stems
Tibetan:
  • བྱད་སྟེམས།
Sanskrit:
  • kākhorda AD

A term used in hostile magical rites that can alternatively refer to a class of nonhuman being or type of magical device employed against the target of the rite.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • 1.­3
  • g.­6
g.­8

mahāsattva

Wylie:
  • sems dpa’ chen po
Tibetan:
  • སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahāsattva AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The term can be understood to mean “great courageous one” or "great hero,” or (from the Sanskrit) simply “great being,” and is almost always found as an epithet of “bodhisattva.” The qualification “great” in this term, according to the majority of canonical definitions, focuses on the generic greatness common to all bodhisattvas, i.e., the greatness implicit in the bodhisattva vow itself in terms of outlook, aspiration, number of beings to be benefited, potential or eventual accomplishments, and so forth. In this sense the mahā- (“great”) is close in its connotations to the mahā- in “Mahāyāna.” While individual bodhisattvas described as mahāsattva may in many cases also be “great” in terms of their level of realization, this is largely coincidental, and in the canonical texts the epithet is not restricted to bodhisattvas at any particular point in their career. Indeed, in a few cases even bodhisattvas whose path has taken a wrong direction are still described as bodhisattva mahāsattva.

Later commentarial writings do nevertheless define the term‍—variably‍—in terms of bodhisattvas having attained a particular level (bhūmi) or realization. The most common qualifying criteria mentioned are attaining the path of seeing, attaining irreversibility (according to its various definitions), or attaining the seventh bhūmi.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2
  • 1.­1
g.­9

samādhi

Wylie:
  • ting nge ’dzin
Tibetan:
  • ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
Sanskrit:
  • samādhi AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In a general sense, samādhi can describe a number of different meditative states. In the Mahāyāna literature, in particular in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, we find extensive lists of different samādhis, numbering over one hundred.

In a more restricted sense, and when understood as a mental state, samādhi is defined as the one-pointedness of the mind (cittaikāgratā), the ability to remain on the same object over long periods of time. The Drajor Bamponyipa (sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa) commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti explains the term samādhi as referring to the instrument through which mind and mental states “get collected,” i.e., it is by the force of samādhi that the continuum of mind and mental states becomes collected on a single point of reference without getting distracted.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2
  • 1.­3
g.­10

Three Jewels

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

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha‍—the three objects of Buddhist refuge. In the Tibetan rendering, “the three rare and supreme ones.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2
  • 1.­1
g.­11

Vairocana

Wylie:
  • rnam par snang mdzad
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད།
Sanskrit:
  • vairocana AD

The name Vairocana, literally, “solar,” is used in some important Mahāyāna sūtras such as The Stem Array (g.­1377) and The Ten Bhūmis (g.­209) as an epithet for the Buddha Śākyamuni. As a distinct tathāgata, Vairocana presides over the tathāgata family among the five buddha families.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2-3
  • 1.­1
  • n.­7
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