The Dhāraṇī for Retaining the Six Perfections
Toh 936
Degé Kangyur, vol. 100 (gzungs ’dus, e), folio 281.a–281.b
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First published 2024
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
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. Paul G. Hackett produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Rory Lindsay edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Sameer Dhingra was in charge of the digital publication process.
Introduction
This text presents a series of dhāraṇīs1 for the attainment of each of the perfections, with no additional explanation. Although a common theme, there are no obvious parallels with other texts in the canon. No Sanskrit title is provided for this text, and its title is given on the basis of the Tibetan alone.
This translation of the text into English relied primarily on the Degé recension while making reference to variant readings in other recensions as noted in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and validated in the source texts—notably Narthang—as well as the Stok Palace and Phukdrak recensions.2 No previous translation of this text into a language outside the Tibetan sphere of influence is known. Meisezahl (1957) provides a diplomatic edition of the dhāraṇīs found in the Linden Museum Tibetan collection.
Text Body
The Translation
Homage to the Three Jewels.
namaḥ sarvatathāgatānāṃ mahākāmātmakānām5 | namo bhagavatyai | śīlaparipūrṇas īraye6 śīlaṃ me | sādhaya sādhaya | kiṃ tiṣṭha saṃbuddho bhagavan dharmasya samājñānapayati | svāhā |7
By hearing this essence mantra of patience, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of patience:
namaḥ sarvatathāgatāya acintya gocarya | namaḥ kṣantaye8 bahubhyaḥ | tathāgatānām bhūtakoṭibhiḥ parivartita ye rakṣa kuru turu turu samayam anusmara | śākyamuni sarvatathāgatānām pāramitājñānagocaro jñānagocaro 'jñānam apāyati9 | svāhā |10
namaḥ sarvatathāgatānām acintya visayānām | namo stute bhagavate viryapāramitā | viryan kuru vīrye vīrye mahāvīrye tathāgata sarvājñānam apayati11 svāhā |12
By hearing this essence mantra of meditative concentration, even one time, one will obtain the perfection of meditative concentration:
namas tathāgatāya aparimitājñānagocarāya | namo bhagavate jñānapāramitā | ye jñānam | me kuru kuru vigaṇa14 | tathāgatasya samayam anusmara | hi hi hi hi jñā jñā jñā jñā hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ |15
This completes “The Dhāraṇī for Retaining the Six Perfections.”
Notes
This text, Toh 936, 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.
Bibliography
pha rol tu phyin pa drug gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs. Toh 580, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folio 203.b.
pha rol tu phyin pa drug gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs. Toh 936, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs ’dus, e), folios 281.a–281.b.
pha rol tu phyin pa drug gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs. (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. 90, pp. 654–56.
pha rol tu phyin pa drug gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs, Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 104 (rgyud, pa), folios 195.a–195.b.
pha rol tu phyin pa drug gzung bar ’gyur ba’i gzungs, Phukdrak Kangyur vol. 118 (rgyud, wa(a)), folios 150.b–152.b.
Meisezahl, Richard O. “Die tibetischen Handschriften und Drucke des Linden-Museums in Stuttgart.” Tribus 7 (1957): 1–166, 102–3 (item 71 566, Nr. 9).
Pagel, Ulrich. Mapping the Path: Vajrapadas in Mahāyāna Literature. Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2007.
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