Toh 869 intro: 84000's introduction
Recollecting the Common Essence of the Tathāgatas intro
- Language
- English
84000's introduction
intro.1
Recollecting the Common Essence of the Tathāgatas includes a short dhāraṇī and a brief statement on the benefit of its recitation for the purpose of purifying karmic obscurations.
intro.2
Recollecting the Common Essence of the Tathāgatas includes a short dhāraṇī that is identified as the common essence of all tathāgatas, along with a statement that reciting it even once brings an end to the obscurations of eight hundred million eons.
intro.3
The text is found in the Degé Kangyur in both the Tantra section, where it is classed as an action tantra (bya rgyud, kriyātantra), and in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section.
intro.4
The work lacks a Sanskrit title as well as a colophon and is not listed in any of the imperial-period catalogs. However, a text bearing the same title does appear at Dunhuang, suggesting that the text was translated into Tibetan and circulated in Tibet in a relatively early period.¹
intro.5
We are unaware of any extant Sanskrit recension or Chinese translation of Recollecting the Common Essence of the Tathāgatas.
intro.6
This translation was made on the basis of the two Degé Kangyur recensions of the text (Toh 536² and Toh 869³), with reference to the Stok Palace edition as well as the notes to the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma). There are no major discrepancies among the recensions consulted. The dhāraṇī itself has been transcribed exactly as it appears in Toh 536.