Toh 702 — The Siṃhanāda Tantra
Siṃhanādatantra
The Siṃhanāda Tantra
F.164.b Homage to the blessed Lotus Lord of Speech.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One, transformed into Padmeśvara, was residing at Vajrāsana. The Lord of Guhyakas said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, how does one train in the accumulation of merit and wisdom, and in the path?”
The Blessed One answered, “Amazing! There is someone called Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda, who has supreme love and compassion for beings. One should contemplate how he previously[1] trained on the path and gathered the accumulations of merit and wisdom.”
Then the blessed Padmeśvara rose and pronounced this secret mantra:
namo ratna trayāya | nama āryāvalokiteśvarāya bodhisattvāya mahasattvāya mahākāruṇikāya ||
tadyathā | oṁ akaṭe vikaṭe nikaṭe kaṭaṃkaṭe karoṭe karokaṃṭe vīryai svāhā | oṁ āḥ hrīḥ siṃhanāda hūṁ | bruṁ āṁ jrīṁ khaṁ hūṁ | oṁ āḥ hūṃ | oṁ balīn[2] bhuñja jiva puśpe dhūpe hūṁ | sarvāmṛte hūṁ | oṁ vatali mahāvatali F.165.a hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ jaḥ svāhā | oṁ bhakṣa bhakṣa samaya tiṣṭha jaṃ hūṁ phaṭ svāhā | oṁ taprati[3] hūṁ phaṭ | sritikara hūṁ phaṭ | oṁ varuṇa āgacchaya āgacchaya mahānāga gisati sarve bhuraḥ[4] phuḥ phuḥ phuḥ svāhā | oṁ bhagavati śrutismṛtisamavati saramati siddhi svāhā | oṁ āḥ hrīḥ hūṃ svāhā | phuḥ hrīḥ | oṁ siṃhanāda hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ | nāgadupali[5] māraya phaṭ | jvāla jvāla hūṁ phaṭ | oṁ āḥ[6]vighnāntakṛt hūṁ | oṁ agnaye ativya abhisamayaviśa mahāśriye havyakavyam ahanīya[7] svāhā | oṁ bhavaka agnaye śāntiṃ[8] kuru[9] svāhā | oṁ hrīḥ siṃhanāda vajracakravartalokika bruṁ bruṁ bruṁ | lokottarāṇi siṃhanāda bruṁ bruṁ bruṁ hūṁ na hūṁ na siṃhanāda bruṁ bruṁ bruṁ hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ svāhā ||
“Lord of Guhyakas, this is called the accomplishment of the maṇḍala. It includes the ritual actions of killing, averting, summoning, binding, and pacifying. In the morning, make a maṇḍala with cow dung that has not fallen to the ground. Please the nāgas by holding the three sweet substances in the palm of your hand. This pacifies the anger of the nāgas.
“Lord of Guhyakas, whoever deprecates this tantra deprecates all buddhas and bodhisattvas. F.165.b Lords of Guhyakas, the gods of the Heaven of the Four Great Kings, the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, the brahmaputras, and the great brahmas will protect, guard, conceal, and always accompany any being who hears this tantra, thinks of it, worships it, upholds it, or even just takes an interest in it. All the buddhas and bodhisattvas, who are greatly superior to those gods, will protect such beings just as a mother protects her child and the māras will never be able to obstruct them. When they die, they will take birth in lotuses in the western realm of Sukhāvatī, freed from the pain of the womb. In this life, they will be freed from any fear of fire or water. Here I have only briefly stated the benefits, but apart from these all that is wished for will be fulfilled exactly as desired.
“If someone damages this tantra, is hostile toward it, or thinks about it improperly, you gods and nāgas must protect it!”
The Lord of Guhyakas along with the gods of the Realm of Brahma were delighted and agreed to this.
Additionally, in order to protect others, if one incants white earth many times, all obstacles will be pacified.
This concludes “The Siṃhanāda Tantra.”Colophon
It was edited, translated, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Prajñākāra and the Tibetan translator Gö Khukpa Lhetse.
Notes
This translation follows C, F, L, and Y, which read sngon lam. D reads smon lam, “aspirations.”
backEmended. D reads ba li na.
backFollowing F, K, N, S, and Y. D reads a ta pra ti.
backFollowing H, N, and S. D reads bhur.
backFollowing C, F, J, K, S, and Y. D reads du pa la.
backEmended. D reads a. The word avighnāntakṛt also seems implausible. In his Vajrāvalī (Mori 1997, p. 126), Abhayākaragupta gives a kuṇḍalin mantra as oṁ āḥ vighnāntakṛt hūṁ phaṭ.
backEmended. D reads havyakavyam ahāniya (ha bya ka bya ma hA ni ya).
backThis follows F, H, N, K, S, and Y. D reads śānti (shAn+ti).
backThis follows H, N, and S. D reads kuruya.
backIn most depictions of Siṃhanāda, the stalk of the lotus rises from his left hand to the level of his shoulder and has a blazing sword standing in its blossom. A skull cup or other vessel rests on a lotus flower nearby to his left, and is filled with fragrant flowers. Here, a lotus, skull cup, water lily, and sword are described together, but their location in relation to Siṃhanāda and their orientation to each other are not specified.
backrigs lnga. N and S read rig sngags (vidyāmantra).
backgsum dang lnga ni mdun du ’phyang. The Tibetan is ambiguous here, thus this translation is tentative. A sense of what is meant here is provided by a phrase from the Siṃhanādasādhana, sādhana no. 17 of the Sādhanamālā (Bhattacharyya 1925, pp. 47–8). In this work, attributed to Advayavajra, we find the compound aṃsalulitapañcacīra, “five locks hang from his shoulders.” The phrase “five locks” (pañcacīra) is commonly used to describe deities whose hair hangs loose over their shoulders. It should be noted that the Tibetan translation of this sādhana—Toh 3414http://read.84000.co/translation/toh3414.html—translates this phrase with rol pa’i dpa’ bo lnga, “the five playful heroes,” which would indicate the Sanskrit compound lalitapañcavīra (aṃsa, “shoulder,” is omitted). Thus it would appear that variants in the Sanskrit manuscript tradition or translator error resulted in reading lalita (“playful”) in place of lulita (“hang”), and pañcavīra (“five heroes”) in place of pañcacīra.
back’dam skyes dmar po’i lo ma gnyis / padma bzhi la sngas bzhi ldan. This translation is tentative.
backspro ba gsum. This translation is tentative.
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