Kangyur Translations

Toh 552 — The Eight Maidens’ Praise of Mañjuśrī, Lord of Speech

Translated by the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

Possessor of youthful body,

Adorned by the lamp of wisdom

That removes the darkness of delusion from the world—

Homage to Mañjughoṣa.

Your flood of radiance

Outshines the full moon

And banishes ignorance—

Homage to Mañjuśrī.

Upon whose topknot, uncreated and vivid,

Rests a form glittering with gems,^[1]F.16.a

Whose body is a delight to all—

Homage to you, Mañjuśrī.

Like ambrosia, soft and deep,

The pleasing sound of your voice,

O holy one, trove of Dharma jewels^[2]—

Homage and praise to you, Mañjuśrī.

Countless as drops of water in the Ganges

Are the stains of affliction

You dispel in every world—

Homage and praise to you, Mañjuśrī.

Terrifying is your body’s manner

When, fangs bared in fearsome pose,

You shatter the Lord of Death’s arrogance—

Homage and praise to you, Mañjuśrī.

You are beautified by a blue utpala

That is like your eyes in luster,

As you bear an alms bowl^[3] in your hand^[4]—

Homage to you, Mañjuśrī.

With immense offerings and praise

To the buddhas dwelling in the ten directions

We pay homage to you, Mañjuśrī,

Teacher of the path to liberation.

This concludes “The Eight Maidens’ Praise.”

Notes

Perhaps a reference to a buddha upon his crown.
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According to the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), here the Yongle, Peking, Narthang, and Lhasa Kangyur versions read dam pa’i chos kyi rin chen mdzod (“O precious treasury of the holy Dharma”).
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The possession of a begging bowl may indicate Mañjuśrī’s emanation as a buddha, which is attested in scriptures such as https://read.84000.co/translation/toh59.html (Mañjuśrībuddhakṣetraguṇavyūha, Toh 59), The Sūtra for the Benefit of Aṅgulimālahttp://read.84000.co/translation/toh213.html (Aṅgulimālīyasūtra, Toh 213), and The Sūtra of the Great Parinirvāṇahttp://read.84000.co/translation/toh119.html (Toh 119).
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In Saṃvarabhadra’s A Sādhana of “Reciting the Names of Mañjuśrī,”http://read.84000.co/translation/toh2108.html where the present scripture is presented in its entirety, this line reads instead shes rab ral gri mnga’ gzhu ’dzin, which might be glossed as, “We pay homage to you, O Mañjuśrī / Who has the sword of wisdom and bears a bow,” an apparent reference to forms of Mañjuśrī bearing these hand implements, such as the figure identified as Tīkṣṇa-Mañjuśrī in Clark 1937, p. 264.
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