[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Buddhist Sanskrit literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit) › [Protective spells and dhāraṇī-sūtras](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani) › [Dhāraṇīs of goddesses](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess) › [Mahālakṣmīsūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra) › [འཕགས་པ་དཔལ་ཆེན་མོའི་མདོ](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo) › The Sūtra of Mahāśrī # The Sūtra of Mahāśrī Translation of [འཕགས་པ་དཔལ་ཆན་མའ་མད (འཕགས་པ་དཔལ་ཆེན་མོའི་མདོ)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo) - **Language:** English - **Translators:** [Gergely Hidas](https://indike.org/pramana/person/gergely-hidas), [Péter-Dániel Szántó](https://indike.org/pramana/person/peter-daniel-szanto) - **Extent:** 16 passages, 1,177 words - **Text:** complete digital text - **Source:** 84000 · Published by 84000 (v 1.0.1 2024). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha,… · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha). Shown whole and unaltered, with its notes, on a… ## Contents - [intro 84000's introduction](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.intro) — 5 parts - [1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.1) - [2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.2) - [notes Notes](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.notes) — 9 parts ## Text ### 84000's introduction ### [intro.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.intro.1) The Sūtra of Mahāśrī is a short sūtra revealed to Avalokiteśvara in the pure land of Sukhāvatī. In essence, it is a dhāraṇī centered on twelve epithets of the goddess of wealth and a short ritual instruction concerning its recitation. The spell is said to provide protection, wealth, and good social standing. ### [intro.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.intro.2) The Sūtra of Mahāśrī is a short sūtra revealed to Avalokiteśvara in the pure land of Sukhāvatī. In essence, it is a dhāraṇī centered on twelve epithets of the goddess of wealth and a short ritual instruction concerning its recitation. Lists of the epithets of a deity are a common type of dhāraṇī, and such texts can sometimes be very long (for example, Reciting the Names of Mañjuśrī).¹ This text can be said to be an alternative version of The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī,² from which it differs in only minor details. One significant difference, however, is that in that text the ritual instruction is not provided. ### [intro.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.intro.3) Mahāśrī, or simply Śrī, or commonly Lakṣmī, is a goddess who is perhaps more prevalent in the brahmanical tradition, where she is said to be the great god Viṣṇu’s consort. She is associated with well-being and prosperity. Here her names constitute the inner core of the dhāraṇī, which is then accompanied by a short ritual instruction about how to recite it. The spell is promised to provide protection, wealth, and good social standing. ### [intro.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.intro.4) The text is not present under this title in the imperial-period catalogs, but its sibling text is. The colophon of the Tibetan translation of this text attributes it to the famous translator-duo Jinamitra and Yeshé Dé, dating it to sometime in the early ninth century. While the two texts are nearly identical, we may observe that name-epithets in particular were translated somewhat differently. ### [intro.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.intro.5) This translation was made principally on the basis of the Tibetan translations of the text found in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus)³ in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Stok Palace Kangyur and the various witnesses of the sibling text, The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī. ### [1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.1) Homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas.⁴ Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing in Sukhāvatī. Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva, the noble Avalokiteśvara, set out to where the Blessed One was residing. Having arrived, he bowed his head to the feet of the Blessed One, circumambulated the Blessed One thrice, and sat down on one side. Then the Blessed One looked at Mahāśrī and said this to the noble Avalokiteśvara: “Whosoever, including monks and nuns, laymen and laywomen, gets to know, upholds, recites, writes down, or commissions to have written down these twelve names of Mahāśrī will escape destitution and become wealthy.” Then the entire host of spirits⁵ said, “May it be so!” Then the Blessed One spoke the twelve names of Mahāśrī: “It is thus—Splendor, Welfare, She Who Is Wearing a Garland of Lotuses, Mistress of Wealth, White One, She of Great Fame, Lotus-Eyed One, She of Great Radiance, She Who Accomplishes, Bestower of Nourishment, She of Jewel-Like Gleam,⁶ Great Splendor. syād yathedam—jini ghriṇi⁷ sarvārtha­sādhani śaśini | alakṣmīṃ me nāśaya | sidhyantu me mantrapadāḥ svāhā | oṁ bhṛkuṭi paramasubhage svāhā | ⁸ “One should recite this three times. Whosoever recites it at the three junctures of the day will have all their adversities destroyed and will become fortunate and of inexhaustible wealth. ### [2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.2) If one recites this before going out to meet other people, those people will think of one as their son, they will be pleased, and they will do whatever one instructs. If one recites continuously, Brahmā and brahmins may perform aggressive rituals, but one will not be harmed; rather, it will be as if one had performed service to many buddhas.”⁹ Thus spoke the Blessed One, and the bodhisattva, the noble Avalokiteśvara, was gladdened and praised the speech of the Blessed One. Colophon This was translated, checked, and redacted by the Indian preceptor Jinamitra and the great editor-translator Bandé Yeshé Dé. ### Notes ### [notes.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.notes.1) 1. Mañjuśrī­nāma­saṃgīti (’jam dpal mtshan brjod, Toh 360). ### [notes.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.notes.2) 2. dpal gyi lha mo chen mo’i mtshan bcu gnyis pa, Toh 741/1006. See The Twelve Names of the Goddess Śrī . ### [notes.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.notes.3) 3. This text, Toh 1005, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, waM), are listed as being located in volume 101 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version displayed by the 84000 Reading Room—list this work as being located in volume 102. This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed another text—which forms a whole, very large volume—the Vimala­prabhā­nāma­kālacakra­tantra­ṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med ’od, Toh 845), before the volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags (catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation. Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 1005 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 1005, , for details. ### [notes.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.notes.4) 4. This obeisance formula is not part of the main text, but the so-called translators’ obeisance (’gyur phyag). ### [notes.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.notes.5) 5. It is not at all clear where these spirits came from, and it is still less clear why they are in Sukhāvatī. ### [notes.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.notes.6) 6. Here we have translated according to the Sanskrit (Hidas 2021, p. 33, item no. 3; and p. 52, item no. 40) and the Tibetan of the sibling text, The Twelve Names. The Tibetan here, rin po che rab tu sbyin ma, suggests an underlying reading of \*Ratnapradā. ### [notes.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.notes.7) 7. This is the reading of Stok Palace and the Sanskrit of the sibling text. Both Degé versions transmit ghrini. ### [notes.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.notes.8) 8. The names or epithets translated into Tibetan are (1) Śrī, (2) Lakṣmī, (3) Padmamālinī, (4) Dhanādhipati, (5) Gaurī, (6) Mahāyaśāḥ, (7) Padmanetrī, (8) Mahādyuti, (9) Kartrī, (10) Annadāyinī, (11) Ratnaprabhā (), and (12) Mahāśrī. The rest of the spell may be translated as follows: “May it be so! jini ghriṇi, O Accomplisher of All Goals, O Hare-Marked One (an epithet of the moon)! Destroy my destitution! May these mantra-words be accomplished for me! Oṁ One Furling Her Eyebrows, O Supremely Fortunate One svāhā.” Note that “One Furling Her Eyebrows” is also the name of a goddess, Bhṛkuṭī, sometimes appearing as an ectype of Tārā. ### [notes.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000.notes.9) 9. We observe the following differences in the Sanskrit version of the sibling text: (a) recitation at the three junctures of the day is not mentioned; (b) inexhaustible wealth is not among the promises; (c) it is not other people who are being met with but the king; (d) Brahmā and brahmins do not perform harmful rituals, but the god Great Brahmā (Mahābrahmā) appears and bestows a desired boon. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.goddess.mahalaksmisutra*bo~en-84000) · Pramāṇa