The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is a short dhāraṇī centered on Maitreya, the bodhisattva who will, as alluded to in this text, awaken as the next buddha in our world. Its dhāraṇī consists of a root mantra, heart mantra, and auxiliary heart mantra and is followed by Maitreya’s vow to benefit beings. The benefits of the dhāraṇī range from receiving prophecies for awakening to acquiring one’s desired material enjoyments. Since these benefits also extend to animals, the text advocates reciting its dhāraṇī so that animals may hear it as well.
This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team. Lowell Cook 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.
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is one of two dhāraṇī works in the Degé Kangyur11 that center on Maitreya, the bodhisattva who will, as alluded to in this text, awaken as the next buddha in our world. This text appears twice in the Degé Kangyur, first in the Action Tantra (kriyātantra) section and later in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section. In the Action Tantra section, it is classified as an individual action tantra (bya ba so so’i rgyud) belonging to the tathāgata family.
According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya currently dwells in Tuṣita Heaven and, after the decline of Śākyamuni’s teachings, will appear in this world as the next buddha. Maitreya was perhaps the earliest bodhisattva to develop a devoted following in India, starting at least as early as the first centuries of the Common Era. Later, particularly in Central and East Asia, the cult of Maitreya would flourish widely from the fourth century. It was within this milieu that the text The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” first emerged.
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is comprised of two sections: the dhāraṇī and the pledge. The dhāraṇī formula is presented in three formulas: the root mantra, the heart mantra, and the auxiliary heart mantra. While terms like dhāraṇī, mantra, and vidyāmantra have different connotations and various usages throughout Buddhist literature, they can also be used interchangeably to a certain extent. In the case of this work, it appears that dhāraṇī refers to the three formulas together while mantra refers to the individual formulas themselves. This is corroborated by how the entire formula is presented as a single “dhāraṇī” in later compendiums. Following the dhāraṇī, Maitreya voices his pledge in which he describes the benefits of hearing, chanting, and contemplating the dhāraṇī and reciting it for others. The benefits primarily concern receiving a prophecy, and hence a guarantee of awakening, from Maitreya himself, which locates this dhāraṇī within a Mahāyāna-centric worldview. In addition to this, Maitreya also describes benefits of a more mundane nature, such as acquiring one’s desired material enjoyments. Maitreya makes clear that the benefits extend to any animals that hear the dhāraṇī and, thus, advocates reciting it into the ears of animals.
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is extant in Sanskrit in a number of dhāraṇīsaṃgraha or “Dhāraṇī Compendiums.” Gergely Hidas identifies at least ten dhāraṇīsaṃgrahas that contain Maitreya’s Pledge.2
The dhāraṇī was also translated into Chinese by Faxian (法賢 337–422).3 The Chinese version diverges in several ways. It begins with a narrative opening (nidāna) and includes a dialogue between the Buddha Śākyamuni and Maitreya. It would seem that these variations are unique to the version of the dhāraṇī transmitted to China since they do not appear in the Tibetan or the (albeit, much later) Sanskrit recensions.
The colophon to the Tibetan translation of The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” states that it was translated by the Indian paṇḍita Vajrapāṇi and the Tibetan translator Chökyi Sherap. According to Gö Lotsawa, Vajrapāṇi traveled to Tibet in 1066 at the age of sixty,4 which would situate the translation in the latter half of the eleventh century. As should be expected, this work is not listed in any of the extant catalogs from the Imperial Period (629–841) since it was translated during the Later Dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet (bstan pa phyi dar).
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” had a small but unmistakable presence in the later Tibetan tradition. In the fourteenth century, the dhāraṇī was reproduced by Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364) in his Grand Anthology of Dhāraṇīs from the Four Classes of Secret Mantra Tantras (gsang sngags rgyud sde bzhi’i gzungs rnams gcig tu bsdus pa’i gzungs ’bum chen mo). Later, in the eighteenth century, the dhāraṇī was included in the quadrilingual imperial collection of dhāraṇīmantras produced by the court of the Qianlong Emperor (1711–99). The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” has also been included in several other Tibetan liturgy collections, particularly among the Geluk School.
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” was not only subject to devotional reproduction in Tibet; it also inspired original composition. Most notably, the fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso (1617–82), authored an aspiration prayer to be chanted after the recitation of The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge”.5 In the eighteenth century, the third Zimok, Champa Tenzin Trinlé, penned verses to be inserted before and after (mgo mjug gi tshig[s] bcad) the text.6 The meaning of the dhāraṇī’s words was also commented on by Ngawang Nyima (1907–90), a Mongolian geshé who was an abbot of the Gomang college at Drepung Monastery.7 That this short dhāraṇī text inspired a number of notable masters to write on it speaks to the relative prominence it maintained in Tibetan monasteries throughout history. Beyond these, there are numerous references to the dhāraṇī as a part of larger liturgies, as a member of records of transmissions received (gsan yig, thob yig), and in other textual records.
To the best of our knowledge, The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” has not been the subject of any in-depth academic studies in modern times. Zsuzsa Majer does, however, observe that the nineteenth-century Russian explorer A. M. Pozdneev records in his travelog of the Khalkha Mongol lands that The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” was performed in funerary rites. Despite this, Majer writes that she never witnessed its performance during her fieldwork, which was undertaken on modern Mongolian Buddhist postmortem rites between 2016 and 2017.8 Uranchimeg Tsultemin also mentions in her examination of the iconography of Maitreya in Mongolian art that Agwaankhaidav (ngag dbang mkhas grub, 1779–1839), the Mongolian abbot of Ikh Khüree, taught a longevity and transference (’pho ba) practice predicated on extensive accumulations of the dhāraṇī.
Our translation used the versions of the dhāraṇī preserved in the Degé Kangyur as our source text. We also consulted the variant readings found in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur and the Stok Palace Manuscript Kangyur.
namo ratna trayāya | namo bhagavate | śākyamunaye | tathāgatāya | arhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya | tadyathā | oṃ ajite ajite | aparājite9 | ajitaṃ jaya | hara hara | maitri avalokite | kara kara | mahāsamayasiddhe | bhara bhara | mahābodhimaṇḍabīje | smara smara | asmakaṃ samaya bodhi bodhi | mahābodhi svāhā | |10
This was the root mantra.
oṃ mohi mohi | mahāmohi svāhā | |11
This was the heart mantra.
oṃ muni muni smara svāhā | |12
This was the auxiliary heart mantra.
“Once I have fully awakened to unsurpassed and perfectly complete enlightenment, I will be certain to search out any being who simply hears, recites, chants, correctly contemplates, or meditates on this dhāraṇī and offer them a prophecy for unsurpassed and perfectly complete enlightenment.[F.166.a] Even if this dhāraṇī is recited into the ear of a deer or bird from the animal realm, they will also receive a prophecy for unsurpassed and perfectly complete enlightenment. Whoever merely hears this will never go to the lower realms, nor will they be stained by the dirt of the lower realms. They will not be reborn in a mother’s womb. They will become a universal monarch for a thousand divine eons.[F.128.a] They will inhabit the path of the ten virtuous actions. Whichever material enjoyments they wish for and seek will appear for them. I, a blessed one, will never forget that being. Having reached the seat of awakening, I will absolutely provide them, no matter who they are, a prophecy for unsurpassed and perfectly complete enlightenment.”
This completes The Noble Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge.”
Translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Vajrapāṇi and the Tibetan translator-monk Chökyi Sherap.
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is a short dhāraṇī centered on Maitreya, the bodhisattva who will, as alluded to in this text, awaken as the next buddha in our world. Its dhāraṇī consists of a root mantra, heart mantra, and auxiliary heart mantra and is followed by Maitreya’s vow to benefit beings. The benefits of the dhāraṇī range from receiving prophecies for awakening to acquiring one’s desired material enjoyments. Since these benefits also extend to animals, the text advocates reciting its dhāraṇī so that animals may hear it as well.
This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team. Lowell Cook 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.
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is one of two dhāraṇī works in the Degé Kangyur11 that center on Maitreya, the bodhisattva who will, as alluded to in this text, awaken as the next buddha in our world. This text appears twice in the Degé Kangyur, first in the Action Tantra (kriyātantra) section and later in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section. In the Action Tantra section, it is classified as an individual action tantra (bya ba so so’i rgyud) belonging to the tathāgata family.
According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya currently dwells in Tuṣita Heaven and, after the decline of Śākyamuni’s teachings, will appear in this world as the next buddha. Maitreya was perhaps the earliest bodhisattva to develop a devoted following in India, starting at least as early as the first centuries of the Common Era. Later, particularly in Central and East Asia, the cult of Maitreya would flourish widely from the fourth century. It was within this milieu that the text The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” first emerged.
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is comprised of two sections: the dhāraṇī and the pledge. The dhāraṇī formula is presented in three formulas: the root mantra, the heart mantra, and the auxiliary heart mantra. While terms like dhāraṇī, mantra, and vidyāmantra have different connotations and various usages throughout Buddhist literature, they can also be used interchangeably to a certain extent. In the case of this work, it appears that dhāraṇī refers to the three formulas together while mantra refers to the individual formulas themselves. This is corroborated by how the entire formula is presented as a single “dhāraṇī” in later compendiums. Following the dhāraṇī, Maitreya voices his pledge in which he describes the benefits of hearing, chanting, and contemplating the dhāraṇī and reciting it for others. The benefits primarily concern receiving a prophecy, and hence a guarantee of awakening, from Maitreya himself, which locates this dhāraṇī within a Mahāyāna-centric worldview. In addition to this, Maitreya also describes benefits of a more mundane nature, such as acquiring one’s desired material enjoyments. Maitreya makes clear that the benefits extend to any animals that hear the dhāraṇī and, thus, advocates reciting it into the ears of animals.
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is extant in Sanskrit in a number of dhāraṇīsaṃgraha or “Dhāraṇī Compendiums.” Gergely Hidas identifies at least ten dhāraṇīsaṃgrahas that contain Maitreya’s Pledge.2
The dhāraṇī was also translated into Chinese by Faxian (法賢 337–422).3 The Chinese version diverges in several ways. It begins with a narrative opening (nidāna) and includes a dialogue between the Buddha Śākyamuni and Maitreya. It would seem that these variations are unique to the version of the dhāraṇī transmitted to China since they do not appear in the Tibetan or the (albeit, much later) Sanskrit recensions.
The colophon to the Tibetan translation of The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” states that it was translated by the Indian paṇḍita Vajrapāṇi and the Tibetan translator Chökyi Sherap. According to Gö Lotsawa, Vajrapāṇi traveled to Tibet in 1066 at the age of sixty,4 which would situate the translation in the latter half of the eleventh century. As should be expected, this work is not listed in any of the extant catalogs from the Imperial Period (629–841) since it was translated during the Later Dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet (bstan pa phyi dar).
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” had a small but unmistakable presence in the later Tibetan tradition. In the fourteenth century, the dhāraṇī was reproduced by Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364) in his Grand Anthology of Dhāraṇīs from the Four Classes of Secret Mantra Tantras (gsang sngags rgyud sde bzhi’i gzungs rnams gcig tu bsdus pa’i gzungs ’bum chen mo). Later, in the eighteenth century, the dhāraṇī was included in the quadrilingual imperial collection of dhāraṇīmantras produced by the court of the Qianlong Emperor (1711–99). The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” has also been included in several other Tibetan liturgy collections, particularly among the Geluk School.
The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” was not only subject to devotional reproduction in Tibet; it also inspired original composition. Most notably, the fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso (1617–82), authored an aspiration prayer to be chanted after the recitation of The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge”.5 In the eighteenth century, the third Zimok, Champa Tenzin Trinlé, penned verses to be inserted before and after (mgo mjug gi tshig[s] bcad) the text.6 The meaning of the dhāraṇī’s words was also commented on by Ngawang Nyima (1907–90), a Mongolian geshé who was an abbot of the Gomang college at Drepung Monastery.7 That this short dhāraṇī text inspired a number of notable masters to write on it speaks to the relative prominence it maintained in Tibetan monasteries throughout history. Beyond these, there are numerous references to the dhāraṇī as a part of larger liturgies, as a member of records of transmissions received (gsan yig, thob yig), and in other textual records.
To the best of our knowledge, The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” has not been the subject of any in-depth academic studies in modern times. Zsuzsa Majer does, however, observe that the nineteenth-century Russian explorer A. M. Pozdneev records in his travelog of the Khalkha Mongol lands that The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” was performed in funerary rites. Despite this, Majer writes that she never witnessed its performance during her fieldwork, which was undertaken on modern Mongolian Buddhist postmortem rites between 2016 and 2017.8 Uranchimeg Tsultemin also mentions in her examination of the iconography of Maitreya in Mongolian art that Agwaankhaidav (ngag dbang mkhas grub, 1779–1839), the Mongolian abbot of Ikh Khüree, taught a longevity and transference (’pho ba) practice predicated on extensive accumulations of the dhāraṇī.
Our translation used the versions of the dhāraṇī preserved in the Degé Kangyur as our source text. We also consulted the variant readings found in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur and the Stok Palace Manuscript Kangyur.
namo ratna trayāya | namo bhagavate | śākyamunaye | tathāgatāya | arhate samyaksaṃbuddhāya | tadyathā | oṃ ajite ajite | aparājite9 | ajitaṃ jaya | hara hara | maitri avalokite | kara kara | mahāsamayasiddhe | bhara bhara | mahābodhimaṇḍabīje | smara smara | asmakaṃ samaya bodhi bodhi | mahābodhi svāhā | |10
This was the root mantra.
oṃ mohi mohi | mahāmohi svāhā | |11
This was the heart mantra.
oṃ muni muni smara svāhā | |12
This was the auxiliary heart mantra.
“Once I have fully awakened to unsurpassed and perfectly complete enlightenment, I will be certain to search out any being who simply hears, recites, chants, correctly contemplates, or meditates on this dhāraṇī and offer them a prophecy for unsurpassed and perfectly complete enlightenment.[F.166.a] Even if this dhāraṇī is recited into the ear of a deer or bird from the animal realm, they will also receive a prophecy for unsurpassed and perfectly complete enlightenment. Whoever merely hears this will never go to the lower realms, nor will they be stained by the dirt of the lower realms. They will not be reborn in a mother’s womb. They will become a universal monarch for a thousand divine eons.[F.128.a] They will inhabit the path of the ten virtuous actions. Whichever material enjoyments they wish for and seek will appear for them. I, a blessed one, will never forget that being. Having reached the seat of awakening, I will absolutely provide them, no matter who they are, a prophecy for unsurpassed and perfectly complete enlightenment.”
This completes The Noble Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge.”
Translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Vajrapāṇi and the Tibetan translator-monk Chökyi Sherap.
Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 890 version of this text within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 890, n.1, for details.
This text, Toh 890, 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.
See: Hidas 2021. The ten manuscripts of Matireya’s Pledge in Sanskrit are:
A.4 University of Tokyo Library, Ms. 2015
A.6 Private collection Ms., Kathmandu = NGMPP E 1774–310
A.7 National Archives, Kathmandu, Ms. NAK 5/31 = NGMPP B 107–1411
A.8 Unspecified collection Ms. and Asha Archives, Kathmandu, Ms. 250713
A.10 Asha Archives, Kathmandu, Ms. No. 2566
A.11 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Ms. No. 6224
A.13 Private collection Ms., Kathmandu = NGMPP E 614–327
A.14 University of Tokyo Library, Ms. 41929
A.16 Toyo Bunko, Tokyo, Ms. No. 1334
A.18 National Archives, Kathmandu, Ms. NAK 3/641 = NGMPP A 131–1044
Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso (tA la’I bla ma sku phreng lnga pa ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho). byams pas dam bcas pa’i gzungs kyi rjes su ’don rgyu’i smon lam tshigs bcad [An Aspiration in Verse to Accompany the Recitation of “The Dhāraṇī of Maitreya’s Pledge”]. In gsung ’bum ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, vol. 24, Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang, 2009, pp. 332–33. BDRC MW1PD107937_C8131D.
Khenpo Jamlo (mkhan po ’jam blo), ed. byams pas dam bcas pa’i gzungs smon tshig dang bcas pa [The Dhāraṇī of Maitreya’s Pledge and Aspiration]. In dpal sa skya ba’i chos sde nA lendra’i gdan rabs rim byon gyi gsung ’bum, vol. 6, Lhasa: bod ljongs bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrun khang, 2016, pp. 205–6. BDRC MW3CN3418_2AF43E.
Ngawang Nyima (ngag dbang nyi ma). byams pas dam bca’ pa’i gzungs kyi sngags don [The Meaning of the Mantras in “The Dhāraṇī of Maitreya’s Pledge”]. In gsung ’bum ngag dbang nyi ma, vol. 3, Drepung Gomang Library, 2003, pp. 595–96. BDRC MW28809_8FC1BA.
Toh 643: aparājite is absent in C, K, KY, and L. Toh 890: aparājite is absent in C, K, KY, and L.
Provisional English translation: “Homage to the Three Jewels. Homage to the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha Śākyamuni. It is thus: Oṃ. Invincible One, Invincible One. Indomitable One. Conquer the unconquered. Capture, capture. Loving One. All-Seeing One. Bestow, bestow. The accomplishment of the great pledge. Increase, increase. The essence seed of great awakening. Remember, remember. Our pledge, awakening, awakening, great awakening. Svāhā.”
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, who suffer from gross ignorance or bewilderment (gti mug, moha). They inhabit the realm of desire along with human beings.
An eleventh-century Tibetan translator who translated over eighty seven works in the Kangyur and Tengyur.
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.
A collective name for the realms of animals, hungry ghosts, and denizens of the hells.
The bodhisattva Maitreya is an important figure in many Buddhist traditions, where he is unanimously regarded as the buddha of the future era. He is said to currently reside in the heaven of Tuṣita, as Śākyamuni’s regent, where he awaits the proper time to take his final rebirth and become the fifth buddha in the Fortunate Eon, reestablishing the Dharma in this world after the teachings of the current buddha have disappeared. Within the Mahāyāna sūtras, Maitreya is elevated to the same status as other central bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara, and his name appears frequently in sūtras, either as the Buddha’s interlocutor or as a teacher of the Dharma. Maitreya literally means “Loving One.” He is also known as Ajita, meaning “Invincible.”
For more information on Maitreya, see, for example, the introduction to Maitreya’s Setting Out (Toh 198).
The place where the Buddha Śākyamuni achieved awakening and where every buddha will manifest the attainment of buddhahood. In our world this is understood to be located under the Bodhi tree, the Vajrāsana, in present-day Bodhgaya, India. It can also refer to the state of awakening itself.
Abstaining from the ten nonvirtuous actions. Namely, abstaining from killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, lying, uttering divisive talk, speaking harsh words, gossiping, covetousness, ill will, and wrong views.
The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha—the three objects of Buddhist refuge. In the Tibetan rendering, “the three rare and supreme ones.”
An Indian paṇḍita who was born in 1017 and was influential in Tibet.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Āryamaitreyapratijñānāmadhāraṇī). Toh 653, Degé Kangyur vol. 91 (rgyud ’bum, ba), folios 127.b–128.a.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Āryamaitreyapratijñānāmadhāraṇī). Toh 890, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folios 165.b–166.a.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs. 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), 2006–9, vol. 91, pp. 462–64.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs. 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), 2006–9, vol. 97, pp. 485–87.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 105 (rgyud ’bum, pha), folios 86.a–87.b.
Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). byams pa’i dam bcas pa’i sngags. In The Collected Works of Bu-Ston, vol. 16 (ma), pp. 365–99. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71. BDRC W22106.
Chandra, Lokesh, ed. Sanskrit Texts from the Imperial Palace at Peking in the Manchurian Chinese Mongolian and Tibetan Scripts. New Delhi: Institute for the Advancement of Science and Culture, 1966.
Hidas, Gergely. Powers of Protection: The Buddhist Tradition of Spells in the Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha Collections. Beyond Boundaries 9. Boston: de Gruyter, 2021.
Losang Norbu Shastri. Śatagāthā of Ācārya Vararuci (Sanskrit Restoration, Tibetan Text, along with English and Hindi translations). Varanasi: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, 2001.
Majer, Zsuzsa. “On After-Death Ritual Texts Mentioned by Travellers (A. M. Pozdneev and Bálint Gábor of Szentkatolna).” In Mongolica Pragensia, 2017, vol. 1, pp. 65–92.
Schaeffer, Kurtis R. Dreaming the Great Brahmin: Tibetan Traditions of the Buddhist Poet-Saint Saraha. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Uranchimeg Tsultemin. “The Power and Authority of Maitreya in Mongolia Examined through Mongolian Art.” In Buddhism in Mongolian History, Culture, and Society, edited by Vesna Wallace, 137–59. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
