The Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara is a very short text that teaches a sacred mantra (vidyā) that is identified as the essence-mantra of Avalokiteśvara, along with its benefits. It promises that reciting this mantra enables remembrance of past lives and ensures rebirth in the pure realm of Sukhāvatī after death.
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. Catherine Dalton produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Nathaniel Rich edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara is a very short text in which the unidentified first-person speaker pronounces a vidyā that is identified as the essence-mantra of Avalokiteśvara, which appears to propitiate Avalokiteśvara using his epithet Padmahasta (“Lotus in Hand”). The benefits of reciting the vidyā are also proclaimed: the practitioner who recites it will remember a hundred thousand former lives and, when they die, they will be reborn in Sukhāvatī.
This short work is one of several canonical works focused on Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. Like the other such texts listed in the canon as kriyā tantras, it focuses on the ritual recitation of a mantra or dhāraṇī to bring about desired outcomes. The mantra here is referred to in the title of the text as an essence-mantra, whereas in the text itself it is called a vidyā, a term that is here used interchangeably with mantra. In the kriyā tantras, there are a wide range of terms used, often interchangeably, to describe such utterances, believed efficacious when employed ritually to bring about a desired outcome. Examples of such terms include “mantra, essence-mantra, vidyā, vidyāmantra, essential vidyāmantra (snying po’i rig sngags), dhāraṇī, and dhāraṇī-mantra.” At times the texts distinguish between these different types of utterances and at other times they do not. A Sanskrit witness of The Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara does not appear to be extant, nor does it appear to have been translated into Chinese. The text does not appear in the imperial catalogs or at Dunhuang. The Dunhuang work IOL Tib J 338/5 does introduce an “essence-mantra of Avalokiteśvara,” but it differs from the essence-mantra found in the present work.1 There is no translator’s colophon at the end of The Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara. In the absence of such a colophon, and because of its absence from any of the imperial catalogs or at Dunhuang, we are unable to date the text or its Tibetan translation.
Like many dhāraṇī texts, The Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara is found in the Tantra section of both the Tshalpa and Thempangma lineage Kangyurs, listed as a kriyā tantra. In the Degé Kangyur and other Tshalpa lineage Kangyurs that have a Dhāraṇī section, it is additionally found there. The text as found in the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur (Toh 695) and the one found in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 911)22 are the same, except that the dhāraṇī itself is punctuated slightly differently.
This English translation was made on the basis of the two recensions of the text found in the Degé Kangyur, with reference also to the Stok Palace Kangyur and the notes from the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur. The vidyāmantra itself is rendered exactly as it appears in the Degé Kangyur recension from the Tantra section (Toh 695).
[F.147.b]Homage to the Buddha.
Homage to the Dharma.
Homage to the Saṅgha.
Homage to the bodhisattva great being noble Avalokiteśvara.
Having begun with this homage, I will now utter this vidyā. May this vidyā bring me success.
tadyathā | haha hasa neni pasane tapa tapane jala jvalane cala calene pūrvayoga smara padmahastāya svāhā |
Whoever recites this vidyā will remember one hundred thousand previous lives. Then, at the time of death they will be reborn in the realm of Sukhāvatī.
This completes The Noble Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara.
The Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara is a very short text that teaches a sacred mantra (vidyā) that is identified as the essence-mantra of Avalokiteśvara, along with its benefits. It promises that reciting this mantra enables remembrance of past lives and ensures rebirth in the pure realm of Sukhāvatī after death.
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. Catherine Dalton produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Nathaniel Rich edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara is a very short text in which the unidentified first-person speaker pronounces a vidyā that is identified as the essence-mantra of Avalokiteśvara, which appears to propitiate Avalokiteśvara using his epithet Padmahasta (“Lotus in Hand”). The benefits of reciting the vidyā are also proclaimed: the practitioner who recites it will remember a hundred thousand former lives and, when they die, they will be reborn in Sukhāvatī.
This short work is one of several canonical works focused on Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. Like the other such texts listed in the canon as kriyā tantras, it focuses on the ritual recitation of a mantra or dhāraṇī to bring about desired outcomes. The mantra here is referred to in the title of the text as an essence-mantra, whereas in the text itself it is called a vidyā, a term that is here used interchangeably with mantra. In the kriyā tantras, there are a wide range of terms used, often interchangeably, to describe such utterances, believed efficacious when employed ritually to bring about a desired outcome. Examples of such terms include “mantra, essence-mantra, vidyā, vidyāmantra, essential vidyāmantra (snying po’i rig sngags), dhāraṇī, and dhāraṇī-mantra.” At times the texts distinguish between these different types of utterances and at other times they do not. A Sanskrit witness of The Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara does not appear to be extant, nor does it appear to have been translated into Chinese. The text does not appear in the imperial catalogs or at Dunhuang. The Dunhuang work IOL Tib J 338/5 does introduce an “essence-mantra of Avalokiteśvara,” but it differs from the essence-mantra found in the present work.1 There is no translator’s colophon at the end of The Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara. In the absence of such a colophon, and because of its absence from any of the imperial catalogs or at Dunhuang, we are unable to date the text or its Tibetan translation.
Like many dhāraṇī texts, The Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara is found in the Tantra section of both the Tshalpa and Thempangma lineage Kangyurs, listed as a kriyā tantra. In the Degé Kangyur and other Tshalpa lineage Kangyurs that have a Dhāraṇī section, it is additionally found there. The text as found in the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur (Toh 695) and the one found in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 911)22 are the same, except that the dhāraṇī itself is punctuated slightly differently.
This English translation was made on the basis of the two recensions of the text found in the Degé Kangyur, with reference also to the Stok Palace Kangyur and the notes from the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur. The vidyāmantra itself is rendered exactly as it appears in the Degé Kangyur recension from the Tantra section (Toh 695).
[F.147.b]Homage to the Buddha.
Homage to the Dharma.
Homage to the Saṅgha.
Homage to the bodhisattva great being noble Avalokiteśvara.
Having begun with this homage, I will now utter this vidyā. May this vidyā bring me success.
tadyathā | haha hasa neni pasane tapa tapane jala jvalane cala calene pūrvayoga smara padmahastāya svāhā |
Whoever recites this vidyā will remember one hundred thousand previous lives. Then, at the time of death they will be reborn in the realm of Sukhāvatī.
This completes The Noble Essence-Mantra of Avalokiteśvara.
This text, Toh 911, 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.
One of the “eight close sons of the Buddha,” he is also known as the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. In certain tantras, he is also the lord of the three families, where he embodies the compassion of the buddhas. In Tibet, he attained great significance as a special protector of Tibet, and in China, in female form, as Guanyin, the most important bodhisattva in all of East Asia.
One of the “eight close sons of the Buddha,” he is also known as the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. In certain tantras, he is also the lord of the three families, where he embodies the compassion of the buddhas. In Tibet, he attained great significance as a special protector of Tibet, and in China, in female form, as Guanyin, the most important bodhisattva in all of East Asia.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The term dharma conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti. The primary meanings are as follows: the doctrine taught by the Buddha (Dharma); the ultimate reality underlying and expressed through the Buddha’s teaching (Dharma); the trainings that the Buddha’s teaching stipulates (dharmas); the various awakened qualities or attainments acquired through practicing and realizing the Buddha’s teaching (dharmas); qualities or aspects more generally, i.e., phenomena or phenomenal attributes (dharmas); and mental objects (dharmas).
The term dharma conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti. The primary meanings are as follows: the doctrine taught by the Buddha (Dharma); the ultimate reality underlying and expressed through the Buddha’s teaching (Dharma); the trainings that the Buddha’s teaching stipulates (dharmas); the various awakened qualities or attainments acquired through practicing and realizing the Buddha’s teaching (dharmas); qualities or aspects more generally, i.e., phenomena or phenomenal attributes (dharmas); and mental objects (dharmas).
A class of tantric scripture that generally features elaborate rites directed toward both mundane goals—such as health, prosperity, and protection—and the ultimate goal of liberation. In this class of tantra, the practitioners do not identify themselves with the deity as in other classes of tantra, but rather seek their power, assistance, and intervention in pursuit of their goals. The Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa and Amoghapā-śakalparāja exemplify this class of tantra.
A class of tantric scripture that generally features elaborate rites directed toward both mundane goals—such as health, prosperity, and protection—and the ultimate goal of liberation. In this class of tantra, the practitioners do not identify themselves with the deity as in other classes of tantra, but rather seek their power, assistance, and intervention in pursuit of their goals. The Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa and Amoghapā-śakalparāja exemplify this class of tantra.
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 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)”.
Though often specifically reserved for the monastic community, this term can be applied to any of the four Buddhist communities—monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen—as well as to identify the different groups of practitioners, like the community of bodhisattvas or the community of śrāvakas. It is also the third of the Three Jewels (triratna) of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Community.
Though often specifically reserved for the monastic community, this term can be applied to any of the four Buddhist communities—monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen—as well as to identify the different groups of practitioners, like the community of bodhisattvas or the community of śrāvakas. It is also the third of the Three Jewels (triratna) of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Community.
spyan ras gzigs kyi snying po. Toh 695, Degé Kangyur vol. 93 (rgyud, rtsa), folio 147.b.
spyan ras gzigs kyi snying po. Toh 911, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folio 242.a.
spyan ras gzigs kyi snying po. 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. 93, pp. 409–10.
spyan ras gzigs kyi snying po. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 107 (rgyud, ma), folios 13.b–14.a.
Dalton, Jacob, and Sam van Schaik, eds. Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Stein Collection at the British Library. Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library 12. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
