co.

Table of Contents

s.

Summary

s.­1

This text consists of a short dhāraṇī said to encompass a famous text for protection in the Kangyur, The Great Peahen (Toh 559), and the benefit 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 for protection in the Kangyur, The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen,1 and the benefit of its recitation.2

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. We could not find it transmitted in Sanskrit.

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)3 in the Degé Kangyur.

Text Body

The Noble
Quintessence of “The Great Peahen”
1.

The Translation

[F.282.b]


1.­1

Homage to the Three Jewels.


1.­2

Homage to all buddhas whose teaching is unopposed.4 oṃ piśune5 svāhā!


1.­3

By upholding this, one will have upheld The Noble Great Peahen.6

1.­4

Here ends the noble “Quintessence of ‘The Great Peahen.’ ”

n.

Notes

n.­1
Mahāmāyūrī­vidyārājñī (rig sngags kyi rgyal mo rma bya chen po, Toh 559). See The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen.
n.­2
For a similar extract of the same text, see The Quintessence of the Peahen (Māyūrīvidyā­garbha, Toh 560).
n.­3

This text, Toh 943, 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.­4
We translate this having the very common Sanskrit expression namaḥ samanta­buddhānām apratihata­śāsanānām in mind. The Tibetan in this form would mean something like “to the Buddha who teaches without opposition from anywhere.”
n.­5
We prefer this form, that of the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs version. The Tantra version has piśuni. The meaning is something like “slanderer” (fem.). Such opprobrious epithets are not uncommon for deities.
n.­6
Here, too, we side with the version in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs. The Tantra version names the parent text as The Essence (snying po) of The Great Peahen, but this cannot be the case. 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),7 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).
b.

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

rma bya chen mo’i snying po (Mahāmāyūrī­garbha). Toh 587, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folio 204.b.

rma bya chen mo’i snying po (Mahāmāyūrī­garbha). Toh 943, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folio 282.b.

rig sngags kyi rgyal mo rma bya chen po (Mahāmāyūrī­vidyārājñī). Toh 559, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folios 87.b–117.a. English translation The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen 2023.

rig sngags kyi rgyal mo rma bya’i yang snying (Mahāmāyūrī­vidyārājñī). Toh 560, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folios 117.a–117.b.

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.

Secondary 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, 2024.

‍—‍—‍—. The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen (Mahāmāyūrī­vidyārājñī (rig sngags kyi rgyal mo rma bya chen po, Toh 559). Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023.

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

Three Jewels

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

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.­4

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.

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84000. The Quintessence of “The Great Peahen” (Mahāmāyūrī­garbha, rma bya chen mo’i snying po, Toh 943). Translated by Buddhapīṭha Translation Group. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025. https://84000.co/translation/toh943.Copy
84000. The Quintessence of “The Great Peahen” (Mahāmāyūrī­garbha, rma bya chen mo’i snying po, Toh 943). Translated by Buddhapīṭha Translation Group, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025, 84000.co/translation/toh943.Copy
84000. (2025) The Quintessence of “The Great Peahen” (Mahāmāyūrī­garbha, rma bya chen mo’i snying po, Toh 943). (Buddhapīṭha Translation Group, Trans.). Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh943.Copy
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