The Procedure for Mañjuśrī's Single-Syllable Mantra is a pithy text extolling an exceedingly secret and potent single-syllable mantra. Following a note regarding its universal efficacy, the remaining portion of the text outlines ritual applications for the remediation of specific ailments through the consecration of common items as sacral implements in rites of healing.
Translated by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer, with Geshé Lobsang Dawa and Phakyab Rinpoche (Geshé Ngawang Sungrab), under the auspices of the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York. Introduction by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer. Special thanks to Diwakar Acharya of All Souls College, Oxford for sharing his expertise on tantric syllabary, and to Paul Hackett for generously sharing his bibliographic expertise and resources. This translation would not have been possible without the kind and dedicated tutelage of Gen Lozang Jamspal, Executive Director, Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The Procedure for Mañjuśrī's Single-Syllable Mantra1 appears as the last of six dhāraṇī scriptures (Toh 545–550) gathered together within the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur that provide instruction in incantatory practices that feature the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Five of these scriptures (Toh 547 omitted) also appear in the Dhāraṇī section of the Degé Kangyur as Toh 892–896. This is the pithiest of the canonical Mañjuśrī dhāraṇīs and includes neither a Sanskrit title nor an opening salutation.
The scripture begins simply with a statement of the Tibetan title, followed by the prefatory expression tadyathā, the introductory mantra syllable oṁ, and then the single syllable kṣṇīṃ.2 The dhāraṇī is then extolled as being both exceedingly secret and potent. After praising its universal efficacy, the remainder of the text outlines a series of ritual applications to remedy specific ailments, involving the consecration of common items as sacral implements in rites of healing.
A Sanskrit version of the text is to our knowledge no longer extant, and it appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon that might have offered information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. Its absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century
This English translation is based on the two versions in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (Toh 550) and the other in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 896),55 in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace Kangyur.
This single-syllable mantra is exceedingly secret,[F.15.a] for it accomplishes every aim and performs every action. As the essence of all the tathāgatas, it fulfills all hopes.
Holding a tooth stick incanted with the mantra will cure toothache. Sea salt incanted seven times with the mantra, when applied to the eyes, will cure eye disease.
If a person has a weapon fragment lodged inside of them, consecrate old and melted butter seven or one hundred and eight times with the mantra and give it to them to drink, or apply it to the wound, and the fragment will be expelled.
Indigestion, swelling, dysentery, and feverish diarrhea will be cured by eating mu rang salt,7 sea salt, or any other suitable rock salt incanted seven times with the mantra, and recovery will be the very same day.
Sweeping motions made with a raven’s feather incanted seven times with the mantra will heal illnesses of the brain.
This concludes the noble “Procedure for Mañjuśrī’s Single-Syllable Mantra.”
The Procedure for Mañjuśrī's Single-Syllable Mantra is a pithy text extolling an exceedingly secret and potent single-syllable mantra. Following a note regarding its universal efficacy, the remaining portion of the text outlines ritual applications for the remediation of specific ailments through the consecration of common items as sacral implements in rites of healing.
Translated by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer, with Geshé Lobsang Dawa and Phakyab Rinpoche (Geshé Ngawang Sungrab), under the auspices of the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York. Introduction by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer. Special thanks to Diwakar Acharya of All Souls College, Oxford for sharing his expertise on tantric syllabary, and to Paul Hackett for generously sharing his bibliographic expertise and resources. This translation would not have been possible without the kind and dedicated tutelage of Gen Lozang Jamspal, Executive Director, Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The Procedure for Mañjuśrī's Single-Syllable Mantra1 appears as the last of six dhāraṇī scriptures (Toh 545–550) gathered together within the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur that provide instruction in incantatory practices that feature the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Five of these scriptures (Toh 547 omitted) also appear in the Dhāraṇī section of the Degé Kangyur as Toh 892–896. This is the pithiest of the canonical Mañjuśrī dhāraṇīs and includes neither a Sanskrit title nor an opening salutation.
The scripture begins simply with a statement of the Tibetan title, followed by the prefatory expression tadyathā, the introductory mantra syllable oṁ, and then the single syllable kṣṇīṃ.2 The dhāraṇī is then extolled as being both exceedingly secret and potent. After praising its universal efficacy, the remainder of the text outlines a series of ritual applications to remedy specific ailments, involving the consecration of common items as sacral implements in rites of healing.
A Sanskrit version of the text is to our knowledge no longer extant, and it appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon that might have offered information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. Its absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century
This English translation is based on the two versions in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (Toh 550) and the other in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 896),55 in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace Kangyur.
This single-syllable mantra is exceedingly secret,[F.15.a] for it accomplishes every aim and performs every action. As the essence of all the tathāgatas, it fulfills all hopes.
Holding a tooth stick incanted with the mantra will cure toothache. Sea salt incanted seven times with the mantra, when applied to the eyes, will cure eye disease.
If a person has a weapon fragment lodged inside of them, consecrate old and melted butter seven or one hundred and eight times with the mantra and give it to them to drink, or apply it to the wound, and the fragment will be expelled.
Indigestion, swelling, dysentery, and feverish diarrhea will be cured by eating mu rang salt,7 sea salt, or any other suitable rock salt incanted seven times with the mantra, and recovery will be the very same day.
Sweeping motions made with a raven’s feather incanted seven times with the mantra will heal illnesses of the brain.
This concludes the noble “Procedure for Mañjuśrī’s Single-Syllable Mantra.”
This is the title given at the beginning of the text in all versions of the Kangyur consulted. The colophon, however, titles it The Dhāraṇī of Mañjuśrī's Single Syllable (’jam dpal gyi yi ge ’bru gcig pa'i gzungs).
Chapter 9 of The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī is dedicated to a similarly potent single-syllable mantra of Mañjuśrī. In that text, which is extant in Sanskrit, the single-syllable mantra is kḷlhīṁ.
This text, Toh 896, 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.
“mu rang salt,” for unfamiliar mu rang tshwa. This may be a transliteration of the Sanskrit muraṅgī and thus refer to the refined products of Moringa oleifera, which have both culinary and medicinal applications.
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.
Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.
A formula of words or syllables that are recited aloud or mentally in order to bring about a magical or soteriological effect or result. The term has been interpretively etymologized to mean “that which protects (trā) the mind (man)”.
A frequently used synonym for buddha. According to different explanations, it can be read as tathā-gata, literally meaning “one who has thus gone,” or as tathā-āgata, “one who has thus come.” Gata, though literally meaning “gone,” is a past passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. Tatha(tā), often rendered as “suchness” or “thusness,” is the quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms. Therefore, this epithet is interpreted in different ways, but in general it implies one who has departed in the wake of the buddhas of the past, or one who has manifested the supreme awakening dependent on the reality that does not abide in the two extremes of existence and quiescence. It is also often used as a specific epithet of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
’jam dpal gyi sngags yi ge ’bru gcig pa’i cho ga. Toh 550, Degé Kangyur vol. 89 (rgyud, pa), folios 14.b.7–15.a.4.
’jam dpal gyi sngags yi ge ’bru gcig pa’i cho ga. Toh 896, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, e), folios 168.a.2–168.a.6.
’jam dpal gyi sngags yi ge ’bru gcig pa’i cho ga. 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. 89, pp. 59–60.
’jam dpal gyi sngags yi ge ’bru gcig pa’i cho ga. 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. 502–3.
’jam dpal gyi sngags yi ge ’bru gcig pa’i cho ga. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 102 (rgyud, da), folios 496.a.3–496.b.2.
’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi rtsa ba’i rgyud (Āryamañjuśrīmūlakalpa). Toh 543, Degé Kangyur vol. 88, folios 105.a.–351.a. English translation in Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2020.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
Phangthangma (dkar chag ʼphang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
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.
