Toh 515, Toh 855 — The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
Buddhahṛdayadhāraṇī
Translated by The Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
The Noble
Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
F.29.bF.46.bF.74.b[1] Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was seated upon a lion throne in a seashore grove surrounded on all sides by the forest that was the Buddha’s domain. F.30.aF.47.a There, he taught the Dharma to a retinue of gods that had gathered around and paid their respects to him.
The Blessed One addressed F.75.a the gods of the Śuddhāvāsa realm such as Maheśvara, Suvrata,[2] and the rest, saying, “Gods, listen well, pay attention, and I will teach. The Thus-Gone One, in order in future times to gather a fourfold retinue, look after them, care for them in all manner of ways, and cause them to advance, to bring those who possess all the teachings and their meanings to perfection, and to bring all who are properly established in the Great Vehicle to specific attainment in all its aspects, teaches and explains the dhāraṇī discourse called The Buddha’s Essence.
You should retain it and, both now and in future times after I have passed into parinirvāṇa, teach and explain it to all members of the fourfold retinue who are properly established in the Great Vehicle. Never forsake it, and always teach it and promote it. As long as there are beings who are destitute and affected by the obscurations, you should preserve the teaching of the Thus-Gone One for them, teach it, and promote it.”
The gods replied, “Blessed One, we will do just that. We will sincerely and perfectly carry out the Thus-Gone One’s command.”
The Blessed One addressed them, saying, “Gods, this is the Dharma discourse called The Buddha’s Essence:
tadyathā amale nirmale sarvākārārthapariprāpte asamantasarvakunākāre tryadhvāsaṅgānāvṛte samantadaśadiśaparipūrṇajñāne sarvāsaṅgadarśanaprāpte sarvadharmam aviśataparipūrṇe sarvākārasaṅgasamanvite samantāpra F.30.bF.47.b tihatateje tryadhvadaśasu dikṣupariprāptārthe śānta-prāśanta-upaśānta-samaśānta-vimokṣānuprāpte supratibuddhadharmadhātu atyantasunisrite sarvākāraniḥsaraṇa F.75.b anavaśeṣaparaṅgate vipramukta asaṁyoga viprayoga-sthite dharmate gaganasama-prakṛtipariśuddha-nirmale asamanta-tryadhvānugata-suprāpte pūrvānta-aparanta madhyatryadhvasamantānuprapte anavaśeṣa parijñāprahana-bhavana-sakṣātkriyaparamaparaṅgate yathāvati tathākāri sarvākārasaṁpanne sarvākāramahā maitrimahākaruṇā sarvākārasamasagrahānuprāpte
“Gods, this is the dhāraṇī discourse called The Buddha’s Essence. If noble sons or daughters from the fourfold community who are properly established in the Great Vehicle wear it on their bodies, recite it well, and uphold it, they will never give rise to inferior mental states. The Thus-Gone One will likewise remain with them, seated above the crowns of their heads. Some will certainly see the Buddha, some will hear him teach, some will become Dharma teachers, and some will gain the dhāraṇī power of not forgetting. Students who are on the path will never have that path interrupted, and they will have a continual stream of Dharma teachers. They will understand everything, never forget it, and be only one birth away from awakening. With those qualities, they will gain the power of retaining the entire ocean of knowledge.[3] They will receive all the attainments, beginning with acceptance of the fact that phenomena do not arise up to becoming fully liberated, perfect buddhas who are free from obscurations. You gods will understand the meaning of my teachings in this lifetime. You should teach it and promote it among the sons and daughters of the lineage. F.31.aF.48.a Do not cast it aside, do not forsake it, and do not forget it!”
The gods responded, “Blessed One, we shall do just as you have said. We will teach and explain the Blessed One’s dhāraṇī discourse called The Buddha’s EssenceF.76.a to the fourfold assembly, without hesitation, in its entirety. We will teach it and promote it among noble sons and daughters. It will be just as the Thus-Gone One has said. We will fully comprehend the Thus-Gone One’s holy Dharma, and for the noble sons and daughters will be of great meaning and something of great benefit.”
The Blessed One replied, “That is why you gods must do as I have said. This is the teaching that I give to you.”
After the Blessed One had spoken, the gods of the Śuddhāvāsa realm such as Maheśvara and Suvrata, along with the entire assembly, praised the Blessed One’s words.
This concludes “The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence.”Colophon
This work was translated and edited by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla along with the great editor and translator Bandé Yeshé Dé. It was then corrected according to the new translation guidelines and then 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 515 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 7 of the Toh 515 version of this text.
backTibetan: dbang phyug chen po dka’ thub bzang po la sogs pa. This translation interprets dbang phyug chen po and dka’ thub bzang po as two separate deities, the Śaiva godhead Maheśvara and Suvrata (also rendered as munisuvrata), the twentieth Jain arhat of the present descending period of the cosmic cycle (avasarpiṇī). The reader should note that it is possible to interpret the term dka’ thub bzang po/suvrata as an epithet for Maheśvara, but this is likely not the correct interpretation in this case. The setting for this text, Śuddhāvāsa, is the highest heavenly realm of existence that, in Buddhist traditions, is accessed by attaining the fourth and highest level of meditative absorption (dhyāna, bsam gtan). This places the setting at the zenith of reality, which various Śaiva traditions identify with the Maheśvara form of Śiva. It is also the realm in which the Jain traditions locate those arhats who, like Suvrata/Munisuvrata, have ascended to the highest reality where they await the arrival of the next Tīrṭhāṅkara and final liberation. In this work, the point of listing the two divine beings that occupy the highest level of reality in the Śaiva and Jain traditions is both to identify them among the worldly deities occupying the highest level of saṃsāra that can carry on the Buddha’s teaching after his parinirvāṇa and to place them in a position that is subordinate to the Buddha himself.
backTibetan: thos pa rgya mtsho thams cad kyi gzungs. The term gzungs/dhāraṇī is translated here as “the power of retaining” instead of being left in the Sanskrit. In this case it refers to a specific power that bodhisattvas gain, not a dhāraṇī in the sense of a set of verses that are recited as a means to attain some form of benefit.
back
