The Dhāraṇī “The Ritual of the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi” teaches a vidyāmantra of Vajrapāṇi that can be used in a number of ritual actions to achieve worldly goals such as healing disease, gaining wealth, and protection.
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. Bruno Galasek-Hul produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Torsten Gerloff edited the translation and the introduction, and Laura Goetz copyedited the text. Sameer Dhingra was in charge of the digital publication process.
The Dhāraṇī “The Ritual of the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi” is contained in both the Action tantra and the Dhāraṇī sections of the Degé Kangyur.11 The dhāraṇī teaches a vidyāmantra centered on the deity Vajrapāṇi that can be used in a number of rituals to achieve worldly goals such as healing disease, gaining wealth, and protection. The text may be subdivided into three parts: After an initial homage to the Three Jewels there follows an homage to the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi describing his iconography. In two instances, his body and appearance are identified with that of Yama, the Buddhist lord of death. Next, the syllables of the vidyāmantra are taught. Finally, different ritual applications of the mantra for the purpose of healing and protection are taught, and instructions on the necessary number of mantra recitations are given.
The colophon of the text in the Degé Kangyur informs us that this dhāraṇī was translated by the Tibetan translator Gya Tsöndrü Sengé together with Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna by the gate of the famed monastic complex of Nālandā. This attribution is slightly confusing. While Atiśa was trained and lived at Nālandā monastery for a while in his youth, according to available information on Atiśa’s vita, after his return from Sumatra when he was forty-five years old (which might have been around the year 1025
A reportedly older translation of this work is contained in the Golden, Narthang, and Peking Tengyurs.3 A comparison of this version in the Golden Tengyur (gser bris ma) with the Degé version, however, yielded very few variant readings—except for a few minor variants in the syllables of the vidyāmantra, both recensions seem to preserve the same text. The existence of this translation in the above-mentioned Tengyur editions seems to indicate that their editors regarded this text as the composition of an Indian scholar, presumably Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna himself.
Two commentaries are extant in Tibetan translation, one by Karmavajra (Toh 2676)4 and another by (the tantric) Nāgārjuna (Toh 2675).5 The former, interestingly, does not comment on the third part of the work, which describes the different ritual applications. Nāgārjuna’s commentary was likewise translated by Gya Tsöndrü Sengé and Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna.
This English translation is based on the Degé edition. We also consulted the Pedurma (dpe bsdur ma) Comparative Edition and the Stok Palace Manuscript Kangyur. The vidyāmantra was transliterated with only minor modifications as it appears in the Degé edition. Some variant readings of mantra syllables and modifications are recorded in the notes.
Homage to the general of the yakṣas, the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi, who has been given authorization by as many buddhas as there are grains of sand in the River Ganges. He bares his fangs and grimaces, with eyes like heaps of burning embers, his breath blazing like tongues of fire, and possessing a terrifying roar.
His hands and feet are adorned with the nāga Vāsuki. He carries the nāga Kāla as a shoulder belt and the nāgas Nanda and Upananda as shimmering earrings. He bears a jeweled crown of glistening snakes,6 and his food consists of slimy7 venomous snakes. He is full faced,8 his brows and forehead are furrowed, and he clenches his lower lip with his upper teeth.
He has the appearance of Yama,9 his tongue flickers like lightning, and he has a large belly, eats snakes, and terrifies others with the sound of his clapping hands. He has fastened the nāga king Suparṇa10 as a waist band, and he shouts out “a la la!”11
Because he measures eighty thousand yojanas, he only sinks up to his knees into the depth of the ocean.12 He carries Indra and Sūrya on his shoulders, destroys all nāgas, and agitates with his loud laughter. Homage to him who possesses the body of Yama, terrifies the three worlds, and binds all nāgas!
Then this vidyāmantra, which was taught by as many blessed buddhas as there are grains of sand in the River Ganges, should be recited:
tadyathā | bhobhovāṅ nāgādhipataye13 | idaṁ nīlāṁbaradharaśarīraṁ vajrapāṇihṛdayaṁ yaḥ samatikrāmati14 utsādanaṁ15 bhaviṣyati | tadyathā | buddha buddha16 | vibuddha vibuddha | mahiprāpta17 | hara hara nāgānāṁ | prahara prahara nāgānāṁ | chinda chinda nāgahṛdayāni | bhinda bhinda nāgamarmāṇi | viśīryantu18 nāgaśarīrāṇi | visphoṭaya nāganayanāni19 | tadyathā20 hūṁ phaṭ | nāgavidāranāya phaṭ | nāgotsādanāya phaṭ | nīlāmbaravasanāya21 phaṭ | apratihatabalaparākramāya phaṭ | kṛtāntāya phaṭ | kṛtāntarūpāya22[F.42.a] phaṭ | roṣaṇāya phaṭ | trāsanāya[F.264.a] phaṭ | kumbhāṇḍotsādanāya23 phaṭ | pretapiśācivināśakarāya phaṭ | yakṣāpasmāravināśakarāya phaṭ | hasa hasa | dhara dhara24 | māraya māraya | nāśaya nāśaya | sarvavighnavināśakarāya25 phaṭ | sarvaśatrusaṃghavināśakarāya26 phaṭ | oṁ nīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇir ājñāpayati27 svāhā.28
29As regards its ritual application, when one sprinkles water that one has incanted with this mantra on a person who has been seized by yakṣas, they will be released.
If one wishes to ward off nāgas, it should be done with a shoot of either makshe or Nepalese pomegranate.30 With regard to pretas and apasmārakas, it should be done with a string.
To remove a fever, in cases of side sickness and difficulty swallowing,31 it should be done with a blue string.
If one desires wealth, one should burn incense with an incense burner and fast for one day. All virtuous and nonvirtuous objectives will be indicated in one’s dreams, and eventually seven thousand gold coins will be bestowed upon one.
If one wishes to open something that is sealed, it should be done with ashes. If one wishes to open a lock, it should be done with mustard seeds.
To protect from all dangers, it should be done with old butter, ashes, or mustard seeds.
In every case of illness-related danger, wearing a blue string around one’s neck with a protective knot tied into it provides the best protection.
In case one is afflicted by bālagrahas, having tied a protective knot in a five-colored string and wearing it around one’s neck provides the best protection.
If one wishes to ward off robbers, it should be done with earth.
In the case of poison, one should sweep with kuśa grass.
To protect oneself, it should be done either mentally or with water. To protect others, it should be done with a blue string.
In all those ritual actions, the mantra should be recited three, seven, fourteen, twenty-one, or one hundred eight times. If done like that, it will succeed.
If one offers blue flowers at a caitya that contains relics and recites the mantra one thousand times, one will succeed.
The noble dhāraṇī “The Ritual of the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi” is completed.
The Dhāraṇī “The Ritual of the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi” teaches a vidyāmantra of Vajrapāṇi that can be used in a number of ritual actions to achieve worldly goals such as healing disease, gaining wealth, and protection.
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. Bruno Galasek-Hul produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Torsten Gerloff edited the translation and the introduction, and Laura Goetz copyedited the text. Sameer Dhingra was in charge of the digital publication process.
The Dhāraṇī “The Ritual of the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi” is contained in both the Action tantra and the Dhāraṇī sections of the Degé Kangyur.11 The dhāraṇī teaches a vidyāmantra centered on the deity Vajrapāṇi that can be used in a number of rituals to achieve worldly goals such as healing disease, gaining wealth, and protection. The text may be subdivided into three parts: After an initial homage to the Three Jewels there follows an homage to the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi describing his iconography. In two instances, his body and appearance are identified with that of Yama, the Buddhist lord of death. Next, the syllables of the vidyāmantra are taught. Finally, different ritual applications of the mantra for the purpose of healing and protection are taught, and instructions on the necessary number of mantra recitations are given.
The colophon of the text in the Degé Kangyur informs us that this dhāraṇī was translated by the Tibetan translator Gya Tsöndrü Sengé together with Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna by the gate of the famed monastic complex of Nālandā. This attribution is slightly confusing. While Atiśa was trained and lived at Nālandā monastery for a while in his youth, according to available information on Atiśa’s vita, after his return from Sumatra when he was forty-five years old (which might have been around the year 1025
A reportedly older translation of this work is contained in the Golden, Narthang, and Peking Tengyurs.3 A comparison of this version in the Golden Tengyur (gser bris ma) with the Degé version, however, yielded very few variant readings—except for a few minor variants in the syllables of the vidyāmantra, both recensions seem to preserve the same text. The existence of this translation in the above-mentioned Tengyur editions seems to indicate that their editors regarded this text as the composition of an Indian scholar, presumably Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna himself.
Two commentaries are extant in Tibetan translation, one by Karmavajra (Toh 2676)4 and another by (the tantric) Nāgārjuna (Toh 2675).5 The former, interestingly, does not comment on the third part of the work, which describes the different ritual applications. Nāgārjuna’s commentary was likewise translated by Gya Tsöndrü Sengé and Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna.
This English translation is based on the Degé edition. We also consulted the Pedurma (dpe bsdur ma) Comparative Edition and the Stok Palace Manuscript Kangyur. The vidyāmantra was transliterated with only minor modifications as it appears in the Degé edition. Some variant readings of mantra syllables and modifications are recorded in the notes.
Homage to the general of the yakṣas, the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi, who has been given authorization by as many buddhas as there are grains of sand in the River Ganges. He bares his fangs and grimaces, with eyes like heaps of burning embers, his breath blazing like tongues of fire, and possessing a terrifying roar.
His hands and feet are adorned with the nāga Vāsuki. He carries the nāga Kāla as a shoulder belt and the nāgas Nanda and Upananda as shimmering earrings. He bears a jeweled crown of glistening snakes,6 and his food consists of slimy7 venomous snakes. He is full faced,8 his brows and forehead are furrowed, and he clenches his lower lip with his upper teeth.
He has the appearance of Yama,9 his tongue flickers like lightning, and he has a large belly, eats snakes, and terrifies others with the sound of his clapping hands. He has fastened the nāga king Suparṇa10 as a waist band, and he shouts out “a la la!”11
Because he measures eighty thousand yojanas, he only sinks up to his knees into the depth of the ocean.12 He carries Indra and Sūrya on his shoulders, destroys all nāgas, and agitates with his loud laughter. Homage to him who possesses the body of Yama, terrifies the three worlds, and binds all nāgas!
Then this vidyāmantra, which was taught by as many blessed buddhas as there are grains of sand in the River Ganges, should be recited:
tadyathā | bhobhovāṅ nāgādhipataye13 | idaṁ nīlāṁbaradharaśarīraṁ vajrapāṇihṛdayaṁ yaḥ samatikrāmati14 utsādanaṁ15 bhaviṣyati | tadyathā | buddha buddha16 | vibuddha vibuddha | mahiprāpta17 | hara hara nāgānāṁ | prahara prahara nāgānāṁ | chinda chinda nāgahṛdayāni | bhinda bhinda nāgamarmāṇi | viśīryantu18 nāgaśarīrāṇi | visphoṭaya nāganayanāni19 | tadyathā20 hūṁ phaṭ | nāgavidāranāya phaṭ | nāgotsādanāya phaṭ | nīlāmbaravasanāya21 phaṭ | apratihatabalaparākramāya phaṭ | kṛtāntāya phaṭ | kṛtāntarūpāya22[F.42.a] phaṭ | roṣaṇāya phaṭ | trāsanāya[F.264.a] phaṭ | kumbhāṇḍotsādanāya23 phaṭ | pretapiśācivināśakarāya phaṭ | yakṣāpasmāravināśakarāya phaṭ | hasa hasa | dhara dhara24 | māraya māraya | nāśaya nāśaya | sarvavighnavināśakarāya25 phaṭ | sarvaśatrusaṃghavināśakarāya26 phaṭ | oṁ nīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇir ājñāpayati27 svāhā.28
29As regards its ritual application, when one sprinkles water that one has incanted with this mantra on a person who has been seized by yakṣas, they will be released.
If one wishes to ward off nāgas, it should be done with a shoot of either makshe or Nepalese pomegranate.30 With regard to pretas and apasmārakas, it should be done with a string.
To remove a fever, in cases of side sickness and difficulty swallowing,31 it should be done with a blue string.
If one desires wealth, one should burn incense with an incense burner and fast for one day. All virtuous and nonvirtuous objectives will be indicated in one’s dreams, and eventually seven thousand gold coins will be bestowed upon one.
If one wishes to open something that is sealed, it should be done with ashes. If one wishes to open a lock, it should be done with mustard seeds.
To protect from all dangers, it should be done with old butter, ashes, or mustard seeds.
In every case of illness-related danger, wearing a blue string around one’s neck with a protective knot tied into it provides the best protection.
In case one is afflicted by bālagrahas, having tied a protective knot in a five-colored string and wearing it around one’s neck provides the best protection.
If one wishes to ward off robbers, it should be done with earth.
In the case of poison, one should sweep with kuśa grass.
To protect oneself, it should be done either mentally or with water. To protect others, it should be done with a blue string.
In all those ritual actions, the mantra should be recited three, seven, fourteen, twenty-one, or one hundred eight times. If done like that, it will succeed.
If one offers blue flowers at a caitya that contains relics and recites the mantra one thousand times, one will succeed.
The noble dhāraṇī “The Ritual of the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi” is completed.
This text, Toh 948, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, waM), are listed as being located in volume 101 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 102. 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.
Resources for Kanjur and Tenjur Studies, University of Vienna, accessed November 27, 2025. The colophon of the Golden Tengyur edition (folio 329.a) reads, rgya brtson seng gi ’gyur te/ ’gyur rnying kho na lags so, which seems to mean that this version preserves an older translation that was considered still good and not in need of revision. This “survival” of the older in addition to the new translation in the different Kangyur editions is also confirmed by the mention of a different translator team in the colophons of the Narthang and Lhasa versions of The Ritual of the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇī, as well as the version in the Gondhla, London, and Phukdrak Manuscript Kangyurs: The first Tibetan translation according to those was done by the Indian upādhyāya Jñānagarbha (c. eighth or ninth century
Āryanīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇidhāraṇīvṛtti, ’phags pa phyag na rdo rje gos sngon can gyi gzungs kyi ’grel pa, Toh 2676.
Āryanīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇikalpanāmadhāraṇīṭīkā, ’phags pa lag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi cho ga zhes bya ba’i gzungs kyi ’grel pa, Toh 2675.
Karmavajra explains this iconography: “His body is black, he holds a stick, a club, an iron hook, and a noose, a garland of human entrails hangs [from his neck] as a necklace, and he rides on a buffalo. He is embraced by a/the black devī who appears instantaneously.” See Āryanīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇidhāraṇīvṛtti (Toh 2676), folios 139.a–139.b.
The name Suparṇa, literally “having beautiful wings,” does not occur in the Mahāvyutpatti, which contains an extensive list of the names of nāga kings in Buddhist literature (Mvy: Sakaki 3226–3308). Suparṇa is a known epithet of Garuḍa (cf. Monier-Williams, s.v. “suparṇa”).
An interjection expressing delight or amazement. According to Karmavajra, however, here this expresses “the samaya (‘pledge’) that terrifies a vetāla” (ro langs skrag par byed pa’i dam tshig). Vetālas or vetāḍas are charnel ground–haunting spirits that can be utilized in sorcery to possess a corpse, which then stops deteriorating and becomes one’s servant. See Āryanīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇidhāraṇīvṛtti (Toh 2676), folio 139.b.
The translation remains tentative, as the grammar is obscure. Karmavajra’s commentary has rgya mtsho’i zabs su dpag tshad brgyad khri bzhi stong yod pa rkang pa’i pus mor phyin pa (“[whose body,] which measures eighty-four thousand yojanas, sinks to his knee in the depth of the ocean”), and according to Karmavajra this refers to the enormous size of Vajrapāṇi’s body. See Āryanīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇidhāraṇīvṛtti (Toh 2676), folio 140.a.
Here the Sanskrit has been emended. Toh 748, 948, and S read sa mA ti kra ma tha, and Karmavajra reads sa mA ti k+rA ma ti.
According to Toh 748. Karmavajra and Toh 948 read ma hI prap+ta, and S reads mA ti krA ma tha.
Here the Sanskrit has been emended. Toh 948 reads bi sI r+yan+tu, Toh 748 reads bhi sIr+yA n+tu, and S reads bi shAr+yan+tu.
Cf. also Karmavajra’s commentarial gloss: bde bar gshegs pa’i bka’ bsgo bar bya’o (“The Sugata’s command should be carried out”).
For more details regarding this vidyāmantra, see Karmavajra’s commentary. The following translation is tentative. “It is like this: O you who call out to the overlord of the nāgas! Whoever transgresses this essence of Vajrapāṇi, whose body is clad in a blue garment, will be ruined. It is like this: Wake up, wake up! Rise up, rise up! Do not linger (Karmavajra: ma ’gor cig)! Seize, seize the nāgas! Strike, strike the nāgas! Cut, cut the heart of the nāgas! Pierce, pierce the nāgas’ vital points! Let the nāgas’ bodies crumble to pieces! Blind the nāgas’ eyes! Like this, hūṁ phaṭ! To the one who smites the nāgas, phaṭ! To the one who brings ruin upon the nāgas, phaṭ! To him who acts like a blue-clad one, phaṭ! To the one with unhindered power and strength, phaṭ! To Kṛtānta, phaṭ! To the one with Kṛtānta’s form, phaṭ! To the wrathful one, phaṭ! To the frightening one, phaṭ! To the one who ruins the kumbhāṇḍas, phaṭ! To the destroyer of the pretas and piśācas, phaṭ! To the destroyer of the yakṣas and apasmārakas, phaṭ! Laugh, laugh! Hold, hold! Kill, kill! Destroy, destroy! To the destroyer of all vighnas, phaṭ! To the destroyer of the assemblies of all enemies, phaṭ! Oṁ—the Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi commands—svāhā.” On the enigmatic custom of wearing blue garments, see The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi (Bhagavannīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇitantranāma, Toh 498), i.3, and Davidson 2002, p. 204, and p. 387, note 111.
Presumably, the text speaks about the manner in which the sprinkling of the incanted water or the protection from the different nonhuman beings should be done. In all probability, makshe refers to the plant Spiraea arcuata, a type of meadowsweet, while the Nepalese pomegranate is possibly the plant known in Sanskrit as dāḍima.
A class of nonhuman beings believed to cause epilepsy, fits, and loss of memory. As their name suggests—the Skt. apasmāra literally means “without memory” and the Tib. brjed byed means “causing forgetfulness”—they are defined by the condition they cause in affected humans, and the term can refer to any nonhuman being that causes such conditions, whether a bhūta, a piśāca, or other.
Literally “child snatchers,” the bālagraha are an important class of demonic beings in both Āyurvedic literature and across both popular and institutional religious communities in South Asia and the broader South Asian cultural world.
A form of Vajrapāṇi; on the enigmatic custom of wearing blue garments, see The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi (Bhagavannīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇitantranāma, Toh 498), i.3, and Davidson 2002, p. 204, and p. 387, note 111.
The Tibetan translates both stūpa and caitya with the same word, mchod rten, meaning “basis” or “recipient” of “offerings” or “veneration.” Pali: cetiya.
A caitya, although often synonymous with stūpa, can also refer to any site, sanctuary or shrine that is made for veneration, and may or may not contain relics.
A stūpa, literally “heap” or “mound,” is a mounded or circular structure usually containing relics of the Buddha or the masters of the past. It is considered to be a sacred object representing the awakened mind of a buddha, but the symbolism of the stūpa is complex, and its design varies throughout the Buddhist world. Stūpas continue to be erected today as objects of veneration and merit making.
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 identity of this illness or symptom is uncertain. It is presumably either a general loss of appetite or difficulty swallowing.
982–1055 ce. Also known as Atiśa. A famed Bengali scholar (Skt. paṇḍita) who spent twelve years in Tibet from 1042–1054. His disciples established the Kadampa (bka’ gdams pa) tradition.
Apart from referring to fever itself, the term is also used as the name of the spirits that cause it.
A Tibetan translator who lived in the tenth–eleventh centuries ce. He was one of nine men sent to India by the king of Purang (pu hrangs), Jangchup Ö (byang chub ’od), to invite an Indian scholar (who turned out to be Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna) to Tibet to restore Buddhism there. According to legend, his eight companions died on the way to India, and he himself remained in India when he was unable to convince Atiśa to return to Tibet with him. He is said to have eventually died on his way back to Tibet. He translated many of Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna’s works into Tibetan.
The lord of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven on the summit of Mount Sumeru. As one of the eight guardians of the directions, Indra guards the eastern quarter. In Buddhist sūtras, he is a disciple of the Buddha and protector of the Dharma and its practitioners. He is often referred to by the epithets Śatakratu, Śakra, and Kauśika.
A nāga king.
Epithet of Yama, the lord of death.
A class of dwarf beings subordinate to Virūḍhaka, one of the Four Great Kings, associated with the southern direction. The name uses a play on the word aṇḍa, which means “egg” but is also a euphemism for a testicle. Thus, they are often depicted as having testicles as big as pots (from kumbha, or “pot”).
Desmostachya bipinnata. A type of grass often used for religious ceremonies.
Name of a certain medicinal plant, presumably referring to the Spiraea arcuata, a type of meadowsweet.
A substance often used in tantric rituals.
A class of nonhuman beings who live in subterranean aquatic environments, where they guard wealth and sometimes also teachings. Nāgas are associated with serpents and have a snakelike appearance. In Buddhist art and in written accounts, they are regularly portrayed as half human and half snake, and they are also said to have the ability to change into human form. Some nāgas are Dharma protectors, but they can also bring retribution if they are disturbed. They may likewise fight one another, wage war, and destroy the lands of others by causing lightning, hail, and flooding.
A renowned monastic complex in India.
A nāga king.
Name of a certain medicinal plant, presumably referring to the plant known in Sanskrit as dāḍima.
A class of nonhuman beings that, like several other classes of nonhuman beings, take spontaneous birth. Ranking below rākṣasas, they are less powerful and more akin to pretas. They are said to dwell in impure and perilous places, where they feed on impure things, including flesh. This could account for the name piśāca, which possibly derives from √piś, to carve or chop meat, as reflected also in the Tibetan sha za, “meat eater.” They are often described as having an unpleasant appearance, and at times they appear with animal bodies. Some possess the ability to enter the dead bodies of humans, thereby becoming so-called vetāla, to touch whom is fatal.
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, into which beings are born as the karmic fruition of past miserliness. As the term in Sanskrit means “the departed,” they are analogous to the ancestral spirits of Vedic tradition, the pitṛs, who starve without the offerings of descendants. It is also commonly translated as “hungry ghost” or “starving spirit,” as in the Chinese 餓鬼 e gui.
They are sometimes said to reside in the realm of Yama, but are also frequently described as roaming charnel grounds and other inhospitable or frightening places along with piśācas and other such beings. They are particularly known to suffer from great hunger and thirst and the inability to acquire sustenance. Detailed descriptions of their realm and experience, including a list of the thirty-six classes of pretas, can be found in The Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma, Toh 287, 2.1281– 2.1482.
The Gaṅgā, or Ganges in English, is considered to be the most sacred river of India, particularly within the Hindu tradition. It starts in the Himalayas, flows through the northern plains of India, bathing the holy city of Vārāṇasī, and meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal, in Bangladesh. In the sūtras, however, this river is mostly mentioned not for its sacredness but for its abundant sands—noticeable still today on its many sandy banks and at its delta—which serve as a common metaphor for infinitely large numbers.
According to Buddhist cosmology, as explained in the Abhidharmakośa, it is one of the four rivers that flow from Lake Anavatapta and cross the southern continent of Jambudvīpa—the known human world or more specifically the Indian subcontinent.
The identity of this illness or symptom is uncertain, but presumably it is a type of hemiplegia. The Tibetan literally means “side sickness,” an obsolete English term for appendicitis or several other illnesses that are characterized by severe lateralized pain.
In this text, name of a nāga king, presumably meant as an epithet of Garuḍa.
The god of the sun; the sun personified.
The three realms that contain all the various kinds of existence in saṃsāra: the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm.
A person’s particular preceptor within the monastic tradition. They must have at least ten years of standing in the saṅgha, and their role is to confer ordination, to tend to the student, and to provide all the necessary requisites, therefore guiding that person for the taking of full vows and the maintenance of conduct and practice. This office was decreed by the Buddha so that aspirants would not have to receive ordination from the Buddha in person, and the Buddha identified two types: those who grant entry into the renunciate order and those who grant full ordination. The Tibetan translation mkhan po has also come to mean “a learned scholar,” the equivalent of a paṇḍita, but that is not the intended meaning in Indic Buddhist literature.
One of eight mythological nāga kings. The story of the two nāga kings Upananda and Nanda and their taming by the Buddha and Maudgalyāyana is told in the Vinayavibhaṅga (Toh 3, Degé vol. 6, ’dul ba, ja, F.221.a–224.a).
Vajrapāṇi means “Wielder of the Vajra.” In the Pali canon, he appears as a yakṣa guardian in the retinue of the Buddha. In the Mahāyāna scriptures he is a bodhisattva and one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha.” In the tantras, he is also regarded as an important Buddhist deity and instrumental in the transmission of tantric scriptures.
A nāga king.
A type of incantation or spell used to accomplish a ritual goal. This can be associated with either ordinary attainments or the attainment of awakening.
A class of malevolent spirits who create obstacles.
A class of nonhuman beings who inhabit forests, mountainous areas, and other natural spaces, or serve as guardians of villages and towns, and may be propitiated for health, wealth, protection, and other boons, or controlled through magic. According to tradition, their homeland is in the north, where they live under the rule of the Great King Vaiśravaṇa.
Several members of this class have been deified as gods of wealth (these include the just-mentioned Vaiśravaṇa) or as bodhisattva generals of yakṣa armies, and have entered the Buddhist pantheon in a variety of forms, including, in tantric Buddhism, those of wrathful deities.
The lord of death who judges the dead and rules over the hells.
A measure of distance sometimes translated as “league,” but with varying definitions. The Sanskrit term denotes the distance yoked oxen can travel in a day or before needing to be unyoked. From different canonical sources the distance represented varies between four and ten miles.
lag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi cho ga zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Nīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇikalpanāmadhāraṇī). Toh 748, Degé Kangyur vol. 95 (rgyud, dza), folios 263.b–264.b.
lag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi cho ga zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Nīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇikalpanāmadhāraṇī). Toh 948, Degé Kangyur vol. 102 (gzungs ’dus, waM), folios 41.b–42.b.
lag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi cho ga zhes bya ba’i gzungs. 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. 98, pp. 107–9.
lag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi cho ga zhes bya ba’i gzungs. Stok Palace MS Kangyur vol. 109 (rgyud, tha), folios 267.a–268.b.
lag na rdo rje gos sngon can gyi cho ga zhes bya ba’i gzungs. Golden Tengyur vol. 88 (rgyud ’grel, lu), folios 327.b–329.a.
Karmavajra. ’phags pa phyag na rdo rje gos sngon can gyi gzungs kyi ’grel pa (Āryanīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇidhāraṇīvṛtti). Toh 2676, Degé Tengyur vol. 71 (rgyud, thu), folios 137.b–142.a.
Nāgārjuna. ’phags pa lag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi cho ga zhes bya ba’i gzungs kyi ’grel pa (Āryanīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇikalpanāmadhāraṇīṭīkā). Toh 2675, Degé Tengyur vol. 71 (rgyud, thu), folios 131.b–137.b.
Mahāvyutpatti (bye brag tu rtogs par byed pa chen po). Toh 4346, Degé Tengyur vol. 204 (sna tshogs, co), folios 1.b–131.a.
84000. The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi (Bhagavannīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇitantra, bcom ldan ’das phyag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi rgyud, Toh 498). Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2013.
Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. Columbia University Press, 2002.
Gardner, Alexander. “Atiśa Dīpaṃkara.” Treasury of Lives. Published 2009.
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
Mahāvyutpatti with sGra sbyor bam po gñis pa. Bibliotheca Polyglotta, University of Oslo. Input by Jens Braarvig and Fredrik Liland, 2010. Accessed December 16, 2024.
Monier-Williams, Monier. A Sanskrit–English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1899. Electronic version at Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries. Accessed March 24, 2024.
C Choné Kangyur
D Degé Kangyur
H Lhasa Kangyur
J Lithang Kangyur
K Kangxi Peking Kangyur
N Narthang
S Stok Palace Kangyur
Y Yongle Peking Kangyur
