Toh 513, Toh 856 — The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas
Sarvabuddhāṅgavatīdhāraṇī
The Noble Dhāraṇī “Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas”
F.26.aF.43.aF.76.a[1] Homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling on the bank of the great river Gaṅgā together with the four guardians of the world.
At that time, the Blessed One said to those four great kings including Vaiśravaṇa, F.76.b “All men, women, young boys, and girls have four great fears. Which four? These four: aging, sickness, decrepitude, and death.[2] Among them, the single greatest fear is of the Lord of Death, in that death is cruel,[3] cannot be remedied, and is always in close pursuit.[4] Great kings, I will now pronounce the remedy for this single great fear.”
The four great kings replied,[5] “Blessed One, it is our great fortune that the Blessed One will care for all beings by bestowing life for their sake!”
The Blessed One was seated facing[6] east, and with the sound of a finger snap he invoked all the tathāgatas, saying, “May all the tathāgatas, the worthy ones, the perfect buddhas, who have fully awakened to unsurpassable and perfect awakening out of love for sentient beings, assist me! Having been blessed here by all the buddhas, I will avert the untimely deaths of all beings! I will turn a second wheel of Dharma that has not been turned before!” F.26.bF.43.b
Likewise, he invoked all the tathāgatas of the south, west, north, above, and below, saying, “May all the tathāgatas, the worthy ones, the perfect buddhas, who have fully awakened to unsurpassable and perfect awakening out of love for sentient beings, assist me!”
Likewise, in every intermediate direction he spoke these words, so that beings’ F.77.a life spans, physical strengths, and complexions would be perfect, and so that fear of an untimely death would not arise, saying, “May all the buddhas assist me!”
Then there appeared before the Buddha’s eyes as many world systems as there are elements of earth throughout the ten directions, filled with blessed buddhas like a sesame pod. These tathāgatas pledged their assistance, and all spoke the following:[7]
tadyathā calā calā cale vinati svastike cakrāṅgati praśamantu sarvarogānatre kunaṭe mahākunaṭe care carere hemagiri hemagauri hemaniśunti hemasisi kaurave kauravave hekurare kurare kumati piṣasamaṇe śiṣuvi cale cale vicale mā vilamba humu humu svāhā!
The lords of the guhyakas, as many as there were, from their places beside all those tathāgatas, also spoke, saying “hūṁ hūṁ si si svāhā!” and the tathāgatas vanished from sight.
Then the great king Vaiśravaṇa said, “Blessed One, I, too, with the blessing of the tathāgatas, will act as a guardian, and will avert untimely death! tadyathā śvete śvete lelili!”
Virūḍhaka also spoke, saying F.27.aF.44.a “mātaṅge mātaṅge mātaṅgini śūmā śūmū!”
Dhṛtarāṣṭra also spoke, saying “care carere svāhā!”
Virūpākṣa also spoke, saying “balampipa!”
The Blessed One responded, “Great Kings, when a son or daughter of noble family recites at least once a day, every day, these vidyāmantras seen[8] by all the buddhas, that son or daughter of noble family should be regarded as a teacher.F.77.b That son or daughter of noble family will never again be reborn in the three lower realms and will be of benefit to the lives of all beings. Anyone who recites these words once a day for the benefit of all beings, or even reads them, will have no fear of untimely death. Their bodies will be free of disease. At no time will they drown, or be killed by fire, by weapons, by poison, or by lightning. It should be known that wherever a child of the victors recites these vidyāmantras, he or she will secure the attention of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Anyone who writes this down, or has it written down, will be serving the blessed buddhas with every respect and honor. If one wonders why this is, it is because the tathāgatas have declared that serving sentient beings is serving the buddhas. If someone, having written this, affixes it to a limb,[9] all their limbs will be protected.”[10]
When the Blessed One had spoken thus, the four great kings, the entire retinue, and the world with all its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.
This concludes the Noble Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas.Colophon
F.27.bF.44.b This was translated and edited by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla and the translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé. It was then revised according to the new lexicon and finalized.
Notes
Two sets of folio references have been included in this translation due to a discrepancy in volume 88 (rgyud ’bum, na) of the Degé Kangyur between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings. In the latter case, an extra work, Bodhimaṇḍasyālaṃkāralakṣadhāraṇī (Toh 508, byang chub snying po’i rgyan ’bum gyi gzungs), was added as the second text in the volume, thereby displacing the pagination of all the following texts in the same volume by 17 folios. Since the eKangyur follows the later printing, both references have been provided, with the highlighted one linking to the eKangyur viewer.
In the Toh 513 version of the text there is a slight discrepancy in the folio numbering between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings of the Degé Kangyur. Although the discrepancy is irrelevant here, further details concerning this may be found in note 5 of the Toh 513 version of this text.
backThe Chinese here lists the more frequently encountered “birth, old age, sickness, and death” 生老病死.
backI am following the Mahāvyutpatti in translating btsam pa med pa, the reading found in the Narthang, Peking, and Yongle editions, as Skt. niṣṭhura, “cruel.” The Degé and others have the variant reading brtsam pa med pa.
backInstead of this line, the Chinese only states that the fear of death is “the most difficult to get rid of” 然於其中死怖一種最難除遣.
backIn the Chinese text, the four great kings rise from their seats and bow with their palms joined before speaking.
backTranslated based on Yongle, Lithang, Peking, and Cone versions, where the word thugs is missing. It appears, however, in both the Degé and Stok Palace editions. In the Chinese version the Buddha rises from his seat before turning to the east.
backWhile there is a fair amount of variation in some of the mantra syllables across the various Kangyur witnesses, these have not been noted here.
backThe Chinese has here “born from all Buddhas and known by all Buddhas” 從於一切諸佛所生。一切諸佛共所知見.
backThe Chinese version states “Whoever wishes to protect their body should write down this mantra and wear it on their body” 若有專欲擁護其身。當書此呪佩著身上. It additionally inserts “Wherever it is, there will be sons and daughters of noble family, and others, with deep faith in the Dharma” 若所在之處有深信法善男子善女人等.
backThe Chinese text includes an entire additional section here: “First find a pure, clean place, cover the ground in sandalwood, and construct a square altar with dimensions of seven cubits. Beginning on the eighth day of the lunar month, you should wash yourself in a bath of fragrant water and put on clean, new clothes. You should take the eight upāsaka precepts and abstain from any food except sweet rice porridge. Take black and camphor incense, and place two full measures on the altar. Also take white sandalwood incense or quality aloeswood incense, or camphor incense, or a combination of clove incense and kakubha incense, and place that upon the altar. You should recite the dhāraṇī over all the incense seven times, seven times a day, for seven days. On the fifteenth day of the lunar month, you should abstain from taking the noontime meal, and make twenty-one small altars with saffron incense. The first should be dedicated to the tathāgata, and the remaining twenty should be dedicated to the vajrarājas. Around them you should make four small altars, dedicated to the four great kings, with incense of musk, camphor, white sandalwood, saffron, and red sandalwood. Then you should make offerings to the tathāgata altar by strewing and anointing it, as well as making offerings of incense to it and all the other altars in turn. Also take buttermilk, yogurt, and sugar, and, sequentially, place them in the mouths of four new flasks as offerings, which should be placed separately upon the altars of the four great kings. Fill these flasks with fresh water, and place in them the flowers of the twelve fruit trees. Burn ten lamps filled with fragrant oil on the altar of the tathāgata, with the intention to make offerings to the buddhas of the ten directions, and burn one lamp on each of the other altars. Take the incense over which you recited the dhāraṇī, as well as camphor and quality aloeswood, and burn it to honor the tathāgata. Burn the remaining incense on the other altars. While the incense is burning on the altars, chant the various divine dhāraṇīs. Any being who smells this incense will never die prematurely or accidentally. When the incense has burned out, the various offerings should be scattered in a clean place.” 先當簡擇清淨之處。以栴檀末而塗其地 。成一方壇縱廣七肘。其人應從月初八日。香湯洗浴著新淨衣受八戒齋。唯食粳米石 蜜牛乳。取黑沈香及龍腦香。共滿一兩置於壇上。又取白檀香或沆水香。或龍腦香或 復丁香迦矩羅香。而置於壇。其人誦此陀羅尼呪。呪此諸香。於日日中皆七七遍滿于 七日。至十五日一日不食其日中時。以欝金香於其壇上作二十一小壇。其一處中名如 來壇。餘二十壇名金剛王壇。又於壇外作四小壇。名四天王壇復取麝香龍腦白檀欝金 之香及紫檀末。於如來壇若散若塗而為供養。自餘諸壇隨取一香而供養之。又取乳酪 酥及沙糖。如其次第以新瓶四口。各別盛之置四天王壇上。又以淨水著於瓶內。採十 二種果樹之花而置其中。又以香油然十支燈置如來壇。為欲供養十方佛故。自餘諸壇 各然一支。於前所呪諸香之內。取龍腦及沈水。於如來壇而燒供養。其餘壇上然自餘 香。將然香時其如來壇及餘壇香。復應各別誦此神呪而以呪之。若有眾生得聞此香。 非時夭橫靡不除滅。先所呪香並燒盡已。然後收彼四天王食散於淨處.
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