co.

Table of Contents

s.

Summary

s.­1

This text consists of a short dhāraṇī said to encompass a famous sūtra in the Kangyur, The Stem Array (Toh 44–45), and the benefits of its recitation.

ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.­1

The text was translated from Tibetan by the Buddhapīṭha Translation Group (Gergely Hidas and Péter-Dániel Szántó).

ac.­2

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Andreas Doctor edited the translation and the introduction, and Laura Goetz copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.

i.

Introduction

i.­1

This text consists of a short dhāraṇī said to encompass a famous sūtra in the Kangyur, The Stem Array,1 also said to be the forty-fifth and final chapter of the Avataṃsaka collection (here translated as Ornaments of the Buddhas),2 and the benefits of its recitation. In other dhāraṇī texts, the reward typically includes some kind of karmic purification, but here “tantric” fruits are foreshadowed, namely becoming learned in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist esoteric systems.

i.­2

Such short texts served a variety of purposes, the primary being that by reciting them one could acquire the positive karmic benefits of reciting an entire, sometimes extremely long, text. On a practical level, the recitation of these short texts also served as equivalent to the recitation of the parent text, should a prescribed ritual so require.

i.­3

The text lacks both a Sanskrit title and a translator’s colophon. In South Asia, the text was transmitted within collections such as the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (Dhāraṇī­saṃgraha),3 but it is also embedded into some ritual manuals such as the corpus of “rituals for beginners” (ādikarmika, las dang po pa) texts, in our case the Ādikarmāvatāra by Mañjukīrti,4 the Ādikarmavidhi by Tatakaragupta,5 and the *Bodhipaddhati by Abhayākaragupta.6

i.­4

This translation was made principally on the basis of the Tibetan translations of the text found in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus)7 in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the various Sanskrit sources mentioned above, especially the text of Mañjukīrti, which is transmitted in a manuscript noted for its scribal precision.

Text Body

The Noble
Quintessence of “The Stem Array”
1.

The Translation

[F.282.a]


1.­1

Homage to the Three Jewels.


1.­2

namaḥ samanta­buddhānām apratihata­śāsanānām! oṃ kiṇi kiṇi8 tathāgatodbhava­śānte9 varade uttamottama­tathāgatodbhave10 hūṃ phaṭ svāhā!11 [F.282.b]

1.­3

By upholding this, one will have read and recited the entire Noble Stem Array Sūtra in full.12

1.­4

One will become knowledgeable in all maṇḍalas and vows, both worldly and transcendental.14 One will also know the hand gestures.

1.­5

Here ends “The Quintessence of ‘The Stem Array.’ ”

n.

Notes

n.­1
Gaṇḍavyūha (sdong pos brgyan pa, Toh 44-45). See The Stem Array.
n.­2
See the 84000 Knowledge Base article, “Ornaments of the Buddhas.”
n.­3
Hidas 2021, p. 27, item 20(a) in Cambridge University Library Ms. Add. 1680.8.1, and p. 77, item 9 in Cambridge University Library Ms. Add. 1326.
n.­4
The unique manuscript transmitting this text is currently being studied by Szántó for a forthcoming publication, Buddhism for Beginners II: The Mañjukīrti Corpus. The current location of the manuscript is not known with certainty. It was first seen and identified by Rāhula Sāṅkṛityāyana at Ngor Monastery; see Sāṅkṛityāyana 1935, p. 32. We are reading the text from the photographs kept at the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Göttingen, shelf number Xc 14/50; for the catalog entry, see Bandurski 1994, pp. 86–87. Little is known of the author; the manuscript is undated but was most likely copied in Magadha during the twelfth century. The dhāraṇī can be found on folio 7 verso within the context of installing caityas. A somewhat carelessly produced edition of the text has now been published in Dhīḥ: Journal of Rare Buddhist Texts Research Unit 62 (2022): 89–150. The dhāraṇī is on p. 102.
n.­5
Unpublished, incomplete manuscript, currently at National Archives Kathmandu, showcase 3/7, read from the microfilm images of the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project, reel no. A 1165/7. Little is known of the author; the manuscript is undated but was probably copied in Bengal during the thirteenth century. No Tibetan translation is known. The dhāraṇī can be found on folio 33 recto.
n.­6
byang chub kyi gzhung lam (Toh 3766). See folio 120.b for the dhāraṇī. This text heavily depends on Mañjukīrti.
n.­7

This text, Toh 941, 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.­8
Tatakaragupta’s manuscript transmits kile kile.
n.­9
The versions edited in Hidas have either tathāgatodbhave śānte or just tathāgatodbhave. We prefer the readings of the Tibetan versions, Mañjukīrti, Tatakaragupta, and Abhayākaragupta.
n.­10
The versions edited in Hidas have uttamottame tathāgatodbhave. We prefer the readings of the Tibetan versions, Mañjukīrti, Tatakaragupta, and Abhayākaragupta, except for retaining the feminine vocative ending.
n.­11
A tentative translation is as follows: “Homage to all buddhas whose teaching is unopposed. Oṁ kiṇi kiṇi, O One whose Tranquility Is Born of the Thus-gone Ones, O One Who Grants Boons. O One Springing from Successive Thus-gone Ones, hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.”
n.­12
Our Sanskrit witnesses stop here. Instead of what we translate here as “to uphold” to capture the ambiguity of the original, Tatakaragupta, when discussing a similar dhāraṇī said to encapsulate The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines (see The Dhāraṇī of “The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines,” Toh 576/932),13 is more explicit when he replaces the verb with kaṇṭhasthīkṛ (“to place it in one’s throat”), which is the Sanskrit idiom for “to learn by heart.” He also spells out the benefit as the “meritorious karmic fruit” (puṇyaphala) of memorizing the parent text. This sentence is then followed by a fascinating short discussion, which merits to be quoted in full: “Surely, this is an exaggeration! No, one should not say this. For countless thus-gone ones have empowered this dhāraṇī to serve as a method for gaining the equipment of merit for women, immature people, and simpletons, as well as for learned people whose minds are confused, just like the pole of a snake charmer[, which is preprepared by the expert snake charmer to be effective even when he is no longer present,] for removing poison; however, it is not a method for gaining the knowledge conveyed by The [Perfection of Wisdom in] One Hundred Thousand Lines. This should be understood to apply in other cases [i.e., where the text is abbreviated into a dhāraṇī] as well” (nanv atyuktir eveti. na caitad vaktavyam. yataḥ strībāla­mūrkhān paryākuli­tamatīn paṇḍitān praty api puṇya­saṃbhārasādhana­tvenāsaṃkhyeya­tathāgatair adhi­ṣṭhiteyaṃ dhāriṇī, yathā viṣaharatvena gāruḍikaṃ stambhaḥ; na tu lakṣā­pratipādita­jñāna­sādhanatvena. evam anyatrāpi boddhavyaḥ). In his note to this dhāraṇī, he reiterates the point about “to uphold” meaning “to memorize” and promises as the reward the fruit of reciting the text (pāṭhaphala).
n.­14
That is to say, both non-Buddhist (Śaiva, etc.) and Buddhist.
b.

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

sdong po bkod pa’i snying po (Gaṇḍavyūha­garbha). Toh 585, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folio 204.a.

sdong po bkod pa’i snying po (Gaṇḍavyūha­garbha). Toh 941, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folios 282.a–282.b.

sdong pos brgyan pa (Gaṇḍavyūha). Toh 44-45, Degé Kangyur vols. 37–38 (phal chen, ga–a), folios 247.b (ga)–363.a (a). English translation The Stem Array 2021.

shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa’i gzungs (Śatasāha­srikāpra­jñāpāramitā­dhāraṇī). Toh 576, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folios 202.b–203.a; Toh 932, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folio 280.b. English translation The Dhāraṇī of “The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines” 2024.

Abhayākaragupta. byang chub kyi gzhung lam (*Bodhipaddhati). Toh 3766, Degé Tengyur vol. 79 (rgyud, tshu), folios 119.b–127.a.

Other Sources

84000. The Dhāraṇī of “The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines” (Śatasāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā­dhāraṇī, shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa’i gzungs, Toh 576, 932). Translated by the Buddhapīṭha Translation Group (Gergely Hidas and Péter-Dániel Szántó). Online translation. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, date.

‍—‍—‍—. “Ornaments of the Buddhas.” Online Knowledge Base. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.

‍—‍—‍—. The Stem Array (Gaṇḍavyūha, sdong pos brgyan pa, Toh 44-45). Translated by Peter Alan Roberts. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.

Bandurski, Frank. “Übersicht über die Göttinger Sammlungen der von Rāhula Sāṅkṛtyāyana in Tibet aufgefundenen buddhistischen Sanskrit-Texte (Funde buddhistischer Sanskrit-Handschriften, III).” In Untersuchungen zur buddhistischen Literatur, edited by Frank Bandurski, Bhikkhu Pāsādika, Michael Schmidt, and Bangwei Wang, 9–126. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1994.

Hidas, Gergely. Powers of Protection: The Buddhist Tradition of Spells in the Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha Collections. Beyond Boundaries 9. Boston: de Gruyter, 2021.

Sāṅkṛityāyana, Tripiṭakâcharya Rāhula. “Sanskrit Palm-Leaf MSS. in Tibet.” Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society 21, no. 1 (1935): 21–43.

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

dhāraṇī

  • gzungs
  • གཟུངས།
  • dhāraṇī AS

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.

g.­2

equipment of merit

  • bsod nams kyi tshogs
  • བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱི་ཚོགས།
  • puṇyasaṃbhāra AO

The progressive increase of virtuous karma. One of the two factors that come together in creating momentum toward a practitioner’s spiritual awakening, the other being the accumulation or equipment of wisdom.

g.­3

hand gesture

  • phyag rgya
  • ཕྱག་རྒྱ།
  • mudrā AO

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A seal, in both the literal and metaphoric sense. Mudrā is also the name given to an array of symbolic hand gestures, which range from the gesture of touching the earth displayed by the Buddha upon attaining awakening to the numerous gestures used in tantric rituals to symbolize offerings, consecrations, etc. Iconographically, mudrās are used as a way of communicating an action performed by the deity or a specific aspect a deity or buddha is displaying, in which case the same figure can be depicted using different hand gestures to signify that they are either meditating, teaching, granting freedom from fear, etc. In Tantric texts, the term is also used to designate the female spiritual consort in her various aspects.

g.­4

maṇḍala

  • dkyil ’khor
  • དཀྱིལ་འཁོར།
  • maṇḍala AO

Literally a “disk” or “circle,” in the ritual context maṇḍala is a sacred space on the ground or a raised platform, arranged according to a pattern that varies from rite to rite.

g.­5

Three Jewels

  • dkon mchog gsum
  • དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ།
  • triratna AO

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.”

g.­6

thus-gone one

  • de bzhin gshegs pa
  • དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ།
  • tathāgata AO

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

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.

g.­7

vow

  • dam tshig
  • དམ་ཚིག
  • samaya AO

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Literally, in Sanskrit, “coming together.” Samaya refers to precepts given by the teacher, the corresponding commitment by the pupil, and the bond that results, which can also be the bond between the practitioner and the deity or a spirit. It can also mean a special juncture or circumstance, or an ordinary time or season.

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84000. The Quintessence of “The Stem Array” (Gaṇḍavyūha­garbha, sdong po bkod pa’i snying po, Toh 941). Translated by Buddhapīṭha Translation Group. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025. https://84000.co/translation/toh941.Copy
84000. The Quintessence of “The Stem Array” (Gaṇḍavyūha­garbha, sdong po bkod pa’i snying po, Toh 941). Translated by Buddhapīṭha Translation Group, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025, 84000.co/translation/toh941.Copy
84000. (2025) The Quintessence of “The Stem Array” (Gaṇḍavyūha­garbha, sdong po bkod pa’i snying po, Toh 941). (Buddhapīṭha Translation Group, Trans.). Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh941.Copy
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