s.1

ac.

ac.1

ac.2

i.1

The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā opens with homages to the Three Jewels, the Buddha Vairocana, and the Goddess Cundā, followed by a short homage and dhāraṇī in transliterated Sanskrit that reads namaḥ saptānām saṃyaksaṃbuddhakoṭīnām | tadyathā | oṁ cale cule cunde svāhā. This combined homage and dhāraṇī also appears in the second section of The Basket’s Display (Toh 116)^⁠1 when Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin has returned to join Śākyamuni’s assembly at Jetavana Monastery at the conclusion of his search for the great vidyā mantra of Avalokiteśvara.^⁠2 Unlike The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā, this passage in The Basket’s Display does not provide any ritual instructions for reciting her dhāraṇī, any mention of the benefits of this recitation practice, or any description or mention of the goddess to whom this dhāraṇī is addressed.

i.2

This opening homage and dhāraṇī is followed by an extensive section praising the goddess that describes Cundā’s qualities, hand implements, and appearance. Here she is described as having the face of the Goddess Anantā, a form of the Goddess Umā or Parvatī, as having been blessed by all the thus-gone ones, and as the recipient of offerings from all the gods. These verses describing the goddess and praising her qualities describe many of Cundā’s attributes as either composed of vajras or modified by the term vajra, as the dhāraṇī emphasizes her invulnerability and indestructible power to protect beings.

i.3

i.4

We are not aware of any surviving Sanskrit witness of The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā at present, but there is strong textual and art historical evidence to suggest that Cundā enjoyed widespread popularity across the Indic Buddhist world from the eighth century onward.^⁠3 Cundā is mentioned in a number of tantras in the Kangyur and Nyingma Gyubum. In the Kangyur, she appears as a significant maṇḍala deity in the Guhyasamāja and Māyājāla traditions.^⁠4 Śāntideva refers to The Cundā Dhāraṇī in his Śikṣāsamuccaya, where he mentions reciting her dhāraṇī to purify misdeeds.^⁠5 She is featured in Abhayākaragupta’s Niṣpannayogāvali as a goddess in Vairocana Mañjuvajra’s maṇḍala,^⁠6 as one of twelve dhāraṇī goddesses in the Dharmadhātu Vagīśvara maṇḍala,^⁠7 and as Ṭakkirāja’s consort in the Kālacakra maṇḍala.^⁠8 Three short sādhanas to the Goddess Cundā appear in the Sādhanamāla,^⁠9 as well as a single Cundā sādhana in The “Hundred” Sādhanas translated by Patshab^⁠10 and a single sādhana in The “Hundred” Sādhanas translated by Bari.^⁠11 In Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India, Cundā appears as an important tutelary and protector deity who supports the ascension of Gopāla I (r.750–75 ᴄᴇ), the founder and first ruler of the Pāla Dynasty. Her close ties to the founding of the Pāla Empire undoubtedly played an important role in Cundā’s incorporation into the maṇḍala systems of several tantras, her rise in popularity during this period across the Indian sub-continent, and the promotion of the goddess throughout Asia.^⁠12

i.5

The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā does not appear in either of the Imperial Tibetan catalogs of translated works, which suggests that the Tibetan translation was likely produced after the ninth century. The Kangyur witnesses for this text do not contain a translators’ colophon,^⁠13 so they do not provide any data on the translators who worked on this text or the time when The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā was translated into Tibetan. The text appears twice in the Degé Kangyur‍—once in the tantra section (rgyud ’bum) and once in the compendium of dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus).^⁠14^⁠14

i.6

The Taishō contains three Chinese translations of a single work devoted to the Goddess Cundā that differs in both length and content from The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā in the Tibetan Kangyurs. The earliest Chinese translation of a textual tradition for the Goddess Cundā in the Taishō was produced in 685 ᴄᴇ by the translator Divākara (Taishō 1077).^⁠15 A second Chinese translation in the Taishō was then completed in 723 ᴄᴇ by Vajrabodhi (Taishō 1075),^⁠16 and the third Chinese translation in the Taishō was completed in 1246 ᴄᴇ by Amoghavajra (Taishō 1076).^⁠17 These translations supported Cundā’s widespread popularity across East Asian Buddhist traditions, which continues to this day.

i.7

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

Diligent one with pristine discipline. Great powerful one. Great conqueror of enemies. In your hands you hold a sword, a battle axe, a hook,[F.47.a] and a noose. Great wrathful one. Queen of the great wrathful ones. Goddess with a fierce form,^⁠18 Anantā’s face, and one-thousand arms. Invincible one whom no enemy can withstand. Unfailing one, who is so difficult to tame. Goddess with a thousand eyes who is blessed by all the thus-gone ones. Goddess whom all gods venerate, and to whom they all make offerings. Goddess whose nails are vajras, who is a vajra filled with vajras,^⁠19 and who is armed with vajras.[F.143.b] Goddess with a vajra body, vajra fists, and wrathful vajra eyes that dart about.^⁠20 Fierce one who transforms into and displays a fierce form, and whose body is adorned with vajra and beryl ornaments.

1.5

oṁ bhagavati cunde hūṁ hūṁ krūṁ krūṁ mrūṁ mrūṁ sruṁ sruṁ rūṃ rūṃ āveśaya gṛhṇa gṛhṇa gṛhṇāpaya gṛhṇāpaya hara hara bhañja bhañja sara sara mara mara māraya māraya paca paca daha daha gṛhṇa gṛhṇa‍—all manner of hostile grahas; one, two, three, four, and seven-day fevers; persistent and momentary fevers;^⁠21 bhūta, vetāla, preta, piśāca, yakṣa, rākṣasa, and kumbhāṇḍa grahas;^⁠22 beings who are born from a womb; beings who are born, transmigrate, and abide in a particular realm due to karma; any hostile beings who might harm me; and all manner of evil beings‍—saṃdhaya saṃdhaya mardaya mardaya śoṣaya śoṣaya tāpaya tāpaya utsādhaya utsādhaya hana hana vajreṇa sara sara daṇḍena māraya māraya khaḍgena^⁠23 hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ cūṃ cūṃ cūṃ drūṃ drūṃ drūṃ oṁ cale cule cunde sarvārthasādhaya svāhā

1.6

1.7

s.1

ac.

ac.1

ac.2

i.1

i.2

i.3

i.4

i.5

i.6

i.7

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

n.1

n.2

The Basket’s Display, Toh 116, translated by Peter Alan Roberts with Tulku Yeshi, 2.79. While the Sanskrit in the dhāraṇī refers to “seventy-million completely perfect buddhas” (saptānām saṃyaksaṃbuddhakoṭīnām), the Tibetan translation of The Basket’s Display notes that “seventy-seven times ten million” completely perfect buddhas assemble and recite her dhāraṇī. Given that in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit the usage of the genitive case, which functions as the dative in constructions with namaḥ (“salutation to…”), is common in mantras and dhāraṇīs, the use of the genitive here (namaḥ saptānām samyaksambuddhakoṭīnām) prompts us to understand this as an homage to the seventy-million completely perfect buddhas, here reading the genitive plural as an honorific form for the dative.

n.3

n.4

n.5

Śāntideva, Śikṣāsamuccaya, in Śikṣāsamuccaya of Śāntideva, edited by P. L. Vaidya, Buddhist Sanskrit Texts 11 (Darbhanga: Mithila Institute of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1960), p. 96. The Tibetan witnesses of The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā preserved in the various recensions of the Kangyur focus primarily on invoking Cundā for protection against various illnesses that are brought on by demonic beings. There is no true equivalent of an invocation to the goddess for the purification of one’s misdeeds. It is thus possible that the version of The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā that survives in the Tibetan Kangyurs is somewhat different from the text that Śāntideva references in his Śikṣāsamucchaya.

n.6

n.7

n.8

n.9

Bhattacharyya 1925;1968, pp. 270–73. This Sanskrit edition of the Sādhanamālā corresponds to the Ocean of Sādhanas in the Degé Tengyur, which contains a collection of two hundred and forty-five sādhanas. All three of the Cundā sādhanas in Bhattacharyya’s edition of the Sādhanamāla also appear in the Tibetan translation of this collection. See Toh 3519 tsun+da’i sgrub thabs (Cundāsādhana), Toh 3519 Degé Tengyur vol. 77 (rgyud, mu), folios 165a–165b; Toh 3520 tsun+da’i sgrub thabs (Cundāsādhana) Toh 3520 Degé Tengyur vol. 77 (rgyud, mu) folio 165b; and Toh 3521 tsun+da’I sgrub thabs (Cundāsādhana) Toh 3521 Degé Tengyur vol 77 (rgyud, mu), folios 165b–166a.

n.10

n.11

n.12

n.13

n.14

This text, Toh 989, 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.

n.15

n.16

n.17

n.18

n.19

Stok, Toh 613, and Toh 989 read: rdo rje rdo rjes ’dren ma. The Yongle and Kanxi Peking Kangyurs read: rdo rje rdo rje ’dren ma. This translation is tentative. The word ’dren ma is an old Tibetan term meaning “mixture” or “variety” that is related to the more common ’dres pa, and, following Negi, understood as corresponding to the Sanskrit saṃkīrṇa or kalmāṣa. The Tibetan ’dren ma as a translation of the Sanskrit nāyikā, referring to Cundā as the “leader” or “principal deity” is also possible, but this reading leaves the phrase rdo rje rdo rjes somewhat difficult to resolve.

n.20

n.21

All Tibetan witnesses consulted for this translation read: rtag pa’i rims dang / yud tsam pa dang. This translation is tentative. The Tibetan term for “fever” (rims) does not actually occur here, but the proximity of the term yud tsam pa to the Tibetan for “persistent fever” (rtag pa’i rims) suggests that these two should be read in juxtaposition. It is possible, however, that the term yud tsam pa (Skt. *muhūrta) should be included with the list of demonic and disease-causing beings (Skt. grahas), as is indicated in the Tibetan translation. However, it is not at all clear that the term yud tsam pa (Skt. muhūrta) can be read in this case as a noun referring to a specific class of demonic beings.

n.22

n.23

bhūta

’byung po
འབྱུང་པོ།
bhūta (Attested Dictionary)

This term in its broadest sense can refer to any being, whether human, animal, or nonhuman. However, it is often used to refer to a specific class of nonhuman beings, especially when bhūtas are mentioned alongside rākṣasas, piśācas, or pretas. In common with these other kinds of nonhumans, bhūtas are usually depicted with unattractive and misshapen bodies. Like several other classes of nonhuman beings, bhūtas take spontaneous birth. As their leader is traditionally regarded to be Rudra-Śiva (also known by the name Bhūta), with whom they haunt dangerous and wild places, bhūtas are especially prominent in Śaivism, where large sections of certain tantras concentrate on them.

dhāraṇī

gzungs
གཟུངས།
dhāraṇī (Source Unspecified)

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.

gods

lha
ལྷ།
deva (Attested Dictionary)

In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who attend and celebrate the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni and other buddhas and bodhisattvas. In Buddhist cosmology the devas occupy the highest of the five or six “destinies” (gati) of saṃsāra among which beings take rebirth. The devas reside in the devalokas, “heavens” that traditionally number between twenty-six and twenty-eight and are divided between the desire realm (kāmadhātu), form realm (rūpadhātu), and formless realm (ārūpyadhātu). A being attains rebirth among the devas either through meritorious deeds (in the desire realm) or the attainment of subtle meditative states (in the form and formless realms). While rebirth among the devas is considered favorable, it is ultimately a transitory state from which beings will fall when the conditions that lead to rebirth there are exhausted. Thus, rebirth in the god realms is regarded as a diversion from the spiritual path.

piśāca

sha za
ཤ་ཟ།
piśāca (Attested Dictionary)

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.

preta

yi dags
ཡི་དགས།
preta (Attested Dictionary)

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.

yakṣa

gnod sbyin
གནོད་སྦྱིན།
yakṣa (Attested Dictionary)

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.

ab.

n.1

n.2

n.3

n.4

n.5

n.6

n.7

n.8

n.9

n.10

n.11

n.12

n.13

n.14

n.15

n.16

n.17

n.18

n.19

n.20

n.21

n.22

n.23

Summary

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Translation

The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā

Summary

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Translation

The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Abbreviations

Summary

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Translation

The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā

Summary

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Translation

The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Abbreviations