Kangyur Translations

Toh 846 — The Threefold Invocation Ritual

Translated by The Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

The Threefold Invocation Ritual

F.1.b I take refuge with sincere devotion and reverence

In the highest guru, the unsurpassed Three Jewels,

And the greatest of them all, the sublime supreme lord.

Brahmā and Śakra—lords of heaven and earth,

Source of all beings’ wealth, and protectors

Of the Dharma, the supreme teaching; great kings Dhṛtarāṣṭra,

Virūḍhaka, Noble Virūpākṣa, and Kubera;

World protectors Indra, Agni,

Yama, Nairṛta, Varuṇa, Vāyu,

Vaiśravaṇa, Īśāna, and Pṛthivīdevatā;

The Sun, Moon, grahas, nakṣatras, the elephants of the quarters,

And the general, minister, and queen; the guardians of the directions,

Each with their full retinue of queens and princes;

Renowned great commanders of the gods

Such as Viṣṇu, Gaṇapati, Nandi, and Kārttikeya;

Great and powerful Mahākāla, Mahābala,

Jambhala, Padma, and Mahāpadma,

Śaṅkha and Mahāśaṅkha, Pūrṇa and Supūrṇa,

Sugrīva, Pūrṇabhadra, Maṇibhadra, F.2.a

Kumbhakarṇa, Ghaṇṭākarṇa, Trikarṇa, Mahākarṇa,

Sañjñeya and Sañjaya,

Jinarṣabha, Āṭavaka, Haimavata,

Sātāgiri, Pāñcika, Pāñcālagaṇḍa, Pāñcālaka,

Daśagrīva, Vibhīṣaṇa, Meghanāda, Gaganaghoṣa,

Triśirṣaka,^[1] Sāgara, Nanda, Upananda,

Anavatapta, Manasvin, Vāsuki, and the hosts of grahas;^[2]

Rṣis, vidyādharas, gods of the rains and harvest,

Gods of the road, of the day, the night, conjunctions, lunar phases, and moments;

Powerful beings such as Hanuman and the like;

Vāgīśvarī, Svaraghoṣā, and Sarasvatī;

Vatsavatī, Śrīmati,^[3] Mārīcī,

Gaurī, Guardian of Speech, Gaṅgā, Yamunā,

Hārītī, Śaṅkhinī, Pārvatī, Durgā, and Kālī;

The seven mothers, the seven sisters, and the four sisters;

Great goddesses and great yakṣiṇīs

Such as Mahākālī and Ekajaṭī and so forth;

Great rākṣasīs and great piśācīs

Revered for their youthful forms, nurturing, and magical powers,

Awesome in their great hides and praised in battle by the army of the gods;

Marvelous, renowned great lay practitioners,

Young gods and nāgas,

Young vidyādharas and ṛṣis,

And their five hundred kinsmen, all of them venerated by monks;

This entire group of resplendent youthful ones

Including the young yakṣa Tiraka and the like;

Gods and nāgas who are lords of all beings;

Yakṣas, gandharvas, uragas, asuras,

Garuḍas, kumbhāṇḍas, rākṣasas, kinnaras,

Bhūtas, piśācas, local deities, and evil spirits;

All you wise ones who have entered the path of compassion,

All you who are held by the hook of the vidyāmantra, listen to me. F.2.b

May (insert name), a person blazing with good fortune

Who has heard and recited the names

Of the Three Jewels with their vowels and consonants

Have a prosperous and long reign,^[4]

Serve and venerate the Three Jewels, which possess immeasurable

Benefits and good qualities, have faith in the scriptures,

And, of course, study and practice the Dharma.

Upon death, may (insert name) depart for the divine pleasure groves

With their vast bounty of scriptures.

This one who is conscientious and devoted is crowned

With the teachings of the sun-like omniscient Dharma lord,

The supreme radiant jewel that crowns the king of the gods

Who brings victory in battle over the asuras and hosts of Māra.^[5]

Approach,^[6] children of the Victors! Knowing that^[7] we and all beings are already beyond suffering and thus not fearing that sentient beings will fail to transcend it, may we still insatiably cultivate the accumulations of merit and wisdom. May we know that things are intrinsically conditioned, yet not dismiss their characteristics. May we not reject the form body of a buddha, yet attain freedom from all attachment. May we be free from attachment to all phenomena, yet seek the wisdom that knows everything. May we completely purify all phenomena as buddha realms without depending on others, yet understand the space-like characteristic of buddha realms. May we never weary of bringing beings to maturity, yet never abandon the characteristics of lacking self-identity. May we magically display supernatural powers, yet never waver from the sphere of reality. May we not stop setting our mind on enlightenment, yet may omniscient wisdom arise in us. May we satisfy all beings by turning the wheel of the Dharma, yet not pass beyond the inexpressible nature of reality.

May we F.3.a demonstrate the magical emanations and blessings of a tathāgata, without nevertheless discarding the body of a bodhisattva, and yet in all the perceptions of beings may we appear and then display the great parinirvāṇa. Children of the Victors, uphold these aspects of the teachings and practice these obverse and direct ways of engaging in practice.^[8] These ten teachings are the most excellent activity of a buddha. Children of the Victor, these are the awakened activity of a bodhisattva. The spontaneous activity of the bodhisattvas is independent of others and is the perfect attainment of unsurpassed awakening.^[9]

King of the gods, great sovereign, boon-granting lord,

Fearless hero famous throughout the world

Whose face is radiant with insight like the full moon—

The aspiration and activity of a great being is your sole companion.

Brahmā, Śakra, and the other world protectors

Used the vajra-like samādhi, Mt. Sumeru, as the churning stick

And, along with compassion and effort, the nāga rope,

Churned forth an elixir, the holy Dharma,

From the ocean of great insight that spread everywhere like a feast of amṛta.

With this jewel of merit, the renowned Dharma, as the crown jewel,

You were victorious in battle over the armies of rākṣasas and the asuras.

I dedicate this to the mighty helmet of the kingdom of the gods.^[10]

I dedicate this so that our radiance, retinues, and wealth may increase

And in particular so that we may attain powerful and strong standings.

I dedicate this so that we may perfect all the means of liberation

Such as the magical powers, supernatural cognitions, and perfections

And accomplish all our virtuous actions and intentions.

I dedicate this so that our bodies may be pervaded by the bliss of the Dharma nectar,

Liberating us from minds that are plagued by suffering.

Spiritual teachers, kind and loving friends,

We are wounded by the blade of the afflictions.

Please sustain us with your compassionate blessing

And ensure that whomever is granted the crown is powerful

And protects the teachings of the Tathāgata.

We are faulted beings who are confused and act inappropriately—please forgive us!

Those who know the time, vidyāmantra, and ritual, please be patient with us. F.3.b

We pray that the good fortune of this Dharma offering to the hosts of gods

Shall ensure prosperity and cause the supreme Dharma to flourish.

This concludes “The Threefold [Invocation] Ritual.”^[11]

Notes

The Tibetan reads stong gsum or Trisahasra. Marcelle Lalou translates this as Triśirṣaka, who is listed as a nāgarāja in Bendall’s edition of the https://read.84000.co/translation/toh235.html (Toh 235). Here, following Lalou’s lead, stong gsum has been amended to gdong gsum or Triśirṣaka, “the three-faced one.”
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gdon la ’jebs. The translation of this term remains tentative. An alternate translation that adheres closely to the meaning that the term ’jebs pa bears in Tibetan might indicate that this is either a collective noun or a proper name and translate as “Pleasing to the Grahas.” This name does not have any Sanskrit equivalent of which we are currently aware. The Negi dictionary notes that the Tibetan ’jebs pa translates the Sanskrit prācuryam (“multitude,” “abundance,” “plenty”) in the Mahāyānasūtrālaṅkāra. I have attempted to integrate this reading of ’jebs pa into the translation “hosts of grahas,” based on the assumption that the Tibetan reading may have read an incorrect grammatical particle into the original compound.
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Possibly also “Śrīdevi.” We have gone with Śrīmati here because this yakṣiṇī is witnessed in the Mahāmāyūrī.
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gzha’ gzung yun gyi chu srid ’thob ’gyur na/. The la bdun particle na at the end of this line might also be read as a conditional, though that reading seems unlikely.
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The first text in Marcelle Lalou’s edition of the Dunhuang manuscripts for the rgyud gsum pa ends here with the final line of this stanza, and does not contain the full invocation that we see in the Kangyur versions of this text. See Lalou, “Notes de mythologie,” 132.
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This line begins a passage quoted from the Lokottaraparivarta, chapter forty-four of the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra (Toh 44-44). https://read.84000.co/translation/toh44-44.html See ’phags pa sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo, Degé Kangyur vol. 37 (phal chen, ga), ff. 248.a.5–248.b.5. The pairing of phrases that is implied in the mention of “obverse and direct ways” toward the end of the passage, and is necessary to end up with the “ten teachings,” is not entirely obvious from the Tibetan but has been aided here by consulting the Chinese of the Buddhāvataṃsaka.
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While the text here in the Degé Kangyur reads mya ngan las ’das par bgyis la, the equivalent phrase in the Degé text of the Lokottaraparivarta reads mya ngan las ’das par shes par gyis la.
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Tib. snrel zhir sgrub pa mngon par bsgrub par rnams nye bar sgrub pa.
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The section that is reproduced from the Lokottaraparivartahttps://read.84000.co/translation/toh44-44.html ends here.
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lha yi rgyal srid dbu rmog btsan par bsngo/. The phrase dbu rmog btsan pa appears in imperial era Tibetan inscriptions and Dunhuang documents as one of a number of terms that are used to describe a ruler’s sovereign power, and these materials suggest that it should be understood as a martial metaphor for the territory over which a ruler has sovereignty. An alternate translation of this line might hold the phrases lha yi rgyal srid and dbu rmog btsan pa in apposition and translate as, “I dedicate this to the kingdom of the gods, the mighty helmet.”
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The concluding statement includes only the shorter form of the title rgyud gsum pa, also used for the following text.
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