The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī

Translation of འཕགས་མ་འད་ཟར་ཅན་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས (འཕགས་མ་འོད་ཟེར་ཅན་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས)

Language: English
Translator: Adam C. Krug
Extent: 39 passages, 2,458 words
Text: complete digital text
Source: 84000 · Published by 84000 (v 1.0.4 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…

intro 84000's introduction — 8 parts
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notes Notes — 28 parts

Text

84000's introduction

intro.1

The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī opens at Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni introduces a saṅgha of monks and bodhisattvas to the goddess Mārīcī by listing her unique qualities and powers. The Buddha then teaches the saṅgha six dhāraṇī mantras related to the goddess Mārīcī.

intro.2

The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī opens in Śrāvastī in Prince Jeta’s Grove, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is residing with a saṅgha of monks and bodhisattvas. The Buddha introduces his saṅgha to the goddess Mārīcī by describing her unique qualities and powers. He notes that whoever knows and recites her dhāraṇī heart mantra will have the same powers as Mārīcī, and he then pronounces six separate dhāraṇī mantras.

intro.3

The colophon to this version of The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī indicates that the text was translated into Tibetan in the eleventh century by the Indian paṇḍita Amoghavajra and the Tibetan translator Bari Rinchen Drakpa (1040–1112). However, the Denkarma¹ royal Tibetan catalog of translated works also contains a dhāraṇī titled simply Noble Mārīcī (Skt. Āryamārīcī; Tib. ’phags pa ’od zer can), which suggests that some version of The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī was translated into Tibetan at some time before the early ninth century. In the Phangthangma² royal Tibetan catalog of translated works we also find the text listed under its full title, The Noble Dhāraṇī of Mārīcī (Skt. Āryamārīcīnāmadhāraṇī; Tib. ’phags pa ’od zer can gyi gzungs). One witness of The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī survives among the Dunhuang manuscript collection, which supports the existence of some version of the text either during the Imperial period or shortly after the end of the Tibetan Empire.³ It is likely, however, that this early translation of The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī belonged to a different textual tradition than The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī translated in the eleventh century by Amoghavajra and Bari Rinchen Drakpa.⁴

intro.4

The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī is included in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus) sections of the Degé Kangyur. There are also thirty-seven sādhanas for the goddess Mārīcī in the Tengyur, seven of which were, like this text, translated by Amoghavajra and Bari Rinchen Drakpa. The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī itself, along with ritual manuals, sādhana practices, and even terma related to the goddess, has appeared in the collected works of numerous Tibetan authors since at least the thirteenth century, and Mārīcī has remained an important deity in Tibetan Buddhist traditions to this day.

intro.5

The earliest Chinese translation of The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī was completed by an unknown translator in the sixth century during the Liang dynasty (Taishō 1256).⁵ Later, Bukong translated two works titled Mārīcīdhāraṇī in the late eighth century (Taishō 1254⁶ and Taishō 1255⁷). While Taishō 1254 differs significantly from the present text in content and length, Taishō 1255 has some parallels with it. The final canonical Chinese translation, which also has parallels with the current work, was completed by Tian Xizai during the late tenth century (Taishō 1257).⁸

intro.6

We are fortunate that a relatively large number of Sanskrit witnesses of The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī have survived.⁹ In 2006, a diplomatic edition of a Sanskrit witness for The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī from one of the many dhāraṇī collections (dhāraṇīsaṅgraha) in the National Archives in Kathmandu, titled A Compendium of Dhāraṇī and Other Works (Dhāraṇyādisaṅgraha), was published by the Rare Buddhist Texts Project at the Central University for Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, India.¹⁰

intro.7

There is also one unpublished manuscript from Nepal titled Mārīcīkalpatantra, or simply Mārīcīkalpa, that contains Sanskrit versions of all three works in the cycle of texts in the Kangyur on the goddess Mārīcī. The fact that this witness contains all three texts in the exact order in which they appear in the Degé Kangyur suggests it is related to the textual tradition from which the translations of Toh 564, (Toh 565), and (Toh 566) were produced. The Sanskrit manuscript unfortunately cuts off at the material corresponding to the middle of Toh 566.¹¹ The fragment of scribal colophon that survives notes that the text was copied by one Vajrācārya Ravṛndrabhadra (perhaps a misspelling of Ravīndrabhadra), but it does not note when or where the text was copied.¹² The Sanskrit manuscript comes from the private collection of Manavajra Vajrācārya and was microfilmed and cataloged by both the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project (NGMPP)¹³ and the International Association for the Study of World Religions (IASWR).¹⁴ The readings in this Sanskrit witness reflect a relatively close relationship to these texts as they are received in the Tibetan Kangyur recensions, and it has proved a valuable resource for this translation.

intro.8

This translation was produced in consultation with both versions of The Dhāraṇī of Mārīcī preserved in the Degé Kangyur¹⁵ (Toh 564¹⁶ and 988), the Tibetan translation preserved in the Stok Palace Kangyur, the Sanskrit edition published by the Rare Buddhist Texts Project at CUTS in Sarnath, India, and the Sanskrit manuscript witness cataloged in the NGMCP microfilm collection under the title Mārīcīkalpa (NGMCP E 1480/9) and the IASWR microfilm collection under the title Mārīcīkalpatantra (MBB II 112). All instances in which the English translation deviates from the reading in the Degé Kangyur in favor of a reading in the Sanskrit witness or another Tibetan witness are noted in the translation.

1

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.¹⁷

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was in Śrāvastī in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, with a large saṅgha of 1,250 monks and a great number of bodhisattva great beings.

“Monks,” said the Blessed One, “there is a certain goddess named Mārīcī who arrives just before the sun and moon. She cannot be seen, cannot be seized, cannot be bound, cannot be stopped, cannot be opposed, cannot be enchanted, cannot be cut by a blade, cannot be decapitated, cannot be injured, cannot be burned, and cannot be brought under an enemy’s control.

“Monks, whoever knows the goddess Mārīcī’s name also cannot be seized, cannot be bound, cannot be stopped, cannot be opposed, cannot be enchanted, cannot be cut by a blade, cannot be decapitated, cannot be injured, cannot be burned, and cannot be brought under an enemy’s control.

“Since I know the name of the goddess Mārīcī, may I, too not be seen, not be seized, not be bound, not be stopped, not be opposed, not be enchanted, not be cut, not be decapitated, not be injured, not be beaten, not be burned, and not be brought under an enemy’s control. These are the mantra verses:

“tadyathā oṃ padākramasi¹⁸ parākramasi udayamasi

2

nairamasi arkamasi markamasi urmamasi vanamasi gulmamasi cīvaramasi¹⁹ mahācīvaramasi ²⁰ antardhānamasi²¹ svāhā.

“ Oṃ goddess Mārīcī, protect me on the path. Protect me from the wrong path. Protect me from perils related to people. Protect me from perils related to kings. Protect me from perils related to elephants. Protect me from perils related to robbers. Protect me from perils related to nāgas. Protect me from perils related to lions. Protect me from perils related to tigers. Protect me from perils related to fire. Protect me from perils related to water. Protect me from perils related to serpents. Protect me from perils related to poison. Protect me from all adversaries and enemies. Protect me when there is conflict and calm and when there is disorder and order. Protect me from lions.²² Protect me from tigers. Protect me from nāgas. Protect me from serpents,²³ svāhā. Protect me from all perils and from all manner of harm, infectious disease, and conflict. Protect me!

“ namo ratnatrayāya tadyathā oṃ ālo tālo kālo sacchalo sattvamudrati ²⁴ rakṣa rakṣa māṃ. Protect me and all beings and from all manner of injury, peril, and illness, svāhā.

“Homage to the Three Jewels. I will recite the heart mantra of the goddess Mārīcī:

“tadyathā oṃ vattāli vadāli varāli varāhamukhī²⁵ sarvaduṣṭapraduṣṭānāṃ²⁶ cakṣurmukhaṃ bandha bandha bandha mukhaṃ jaṃbhaya staṃbhaya mohaya svāhā.

“oṃ mārīcyai svāhā.

“oṃ varāli vadāli vattāli varāhamukhi²⁷ sarvaduṣṭānāṃ²⁸ praduṣṭānāṃ cakṣurmukhaṃ

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bandha bandha svāhā.”

When the Blessed One said this, the entire retinue of monks and bodhisattvas and the entire world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

Colophon

This work was translated by the paṇḍita Amoghavajra and the lotsāwa-monk Bari Rinchen Drakpa.

Notes

notes.1

1. Denkarma, folio 303.a; see also Hermann-Pfandt 2008, pp. 228–29.

notes.2

2. Phangthangma 2003, p. 28.

notes.3

3. Pelliot tibétain 428. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

notes.4

4. While Pelliot 428 is not wholly unrelated to the later translation by Amoghavajra and Bari Lotsāwa, there are enough differences between this early version of The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī to assume that the Imperial era translation and the later translation by Amoghavajra and Bari Lotsāwa were derived from different source texts.

notes.5

5. Lewis R. Lancaster, K 311, The Korean Buddhist Canon, accessed September 5, 2023. For etexts of this version, see Fo shuo molizhi tian tuoluoni zhou jing 佛說摩利支天陀羅尼呪經 (Mārīcīdhāraṇī), Taishō 1256 (CBETA; SAT).

notes.6

6. Lewis R. Lancaster, K 1377, The Korean Buddhist Canon, accessed September 5, 2023. For etexts of this version, see Molizhi tipo huaman jing 末利支提婆華鬘經 (Mārīcīdhāraṇī), Taishō 1254 (CBETA; SAT).

notes.7

7. Lewis R. Lancaster, K 1354, The Korean Buddhist Canon, accessed September 5, 2023. For etexts of this version, see Fo shuo molizhi tian pusa tuoluoni jing 佛説摩利支天菩薩陀羅尼經 (Mārīcīdhāraṇī), Taishō 1255 (CBETA; SAT).

notes.8

8. Lewis R. Lancaster, K 1156, The Korean Buddhist Canon, accessed September 5, 2023. For etexts of this version, see Fo shuo da molizhi pusa jing 佛説大摩里支菩薩經 (Mārīcīdhāraṇī), Taishō 1257 (CBETA; SAT).

notes.9

9. Multiple Sanskrit witnesses are preserved among the Sanskrit manuscript collections at the University of Tokyo, Cambridge University, and the Kathmandu National Archive.

notes.10

10. “Āryamārīcī-nāma-dhāraṇī,” Dhiḥ 42 (2006): 155–58.

notes.11

11. The point at which the Sanskrit cuts off corresponds to Degé Kangyur volume 90, folio 178.a7 ().

notes.12

12. NE 1480/9 reads yāddṛstāpustakaṃ dṛstāstādṛsatvā [sic for yathādṛṣṭaṃ pustakaṃ tathā likhitaṃ?] mayā | yadi suddham asuddham vā mama dokho [sic for doṣo] na dīyate | śrī 3 śrī 3 vajrāccāryyaravṛndrabhadrare [sic for ravīndrabhadreṇa?] lekhyāko yo postakaḥ śubham. This fragment of the scribal colophon might be tentatively translated, “I have copied this down exactly as it appeared in the book. If it is pure or corrupted, the fault should not be placed on me. This was copied down by Śrī (3) srī (3) Vajrācārya Ravīndrabhadra. May there be prosperity and good fortune.” The identification of Ravīndrabhadra as the scribe for this text is traced to the NGMCP catalog card. Given the high honorific prefixes that precede this name in the scribal colophon, it is possible that the text was transcribed for (and not by) the Vajrācārya Ravīndrabhadra.

notes.13

13. Mārīcīkalpa, NGMCP E 1480/9, Nepal National Archive, Kathmandu.

notes.14

14. Mārīcīkalpatantra, IASWR MBB II 112.

notes.15

15. This text, Toh 988, 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 564 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 988, note 15, for details.

notes.16

16. The Tohoku catalog locates this text in vol. 90, folios 156.b–158.b. The Rockhill Kangyur held at the Library of Congress, however, contains a blank folio on 156.a and a blank folio on 157.b. The folio enumeration here follows the Degé Kangyur acquired by Rockhill and held at the Library of Congress. Compare A Catalogue-Index of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons: Bkaḥ-ḥgyur and Bstan-ḥgyur (Sendai, Japan: Tōhoku Imperial University, 1934), p. 99; and ’phags ma ’od zer can zhes bya ba’i gzungs, in sde dge bka’ ’gyur vol. 90 (rgyud ’bum, pha), edited by chos kyi ’byung gnas (Sde dge: Sde dge par khang chen mo, eighteenth century), folios 156.b–158.b.

notes.17

17. Skt. reads oṃ namo bhagavatyai āryamārīcīdevatāyai. The alternate homage in the Sanskrit witnesses translates “Oṃ Homage to the blessed noble goddess Mārīcī.”

notes.18

18. Following S pa dA kra ma si, which is supported by Skt. padākramasi. Toh 564 and 988 read pa tā kra ma si.

notes.19

19. Following Toh 564, Toh 988, and Skt. tsI va ra ma si (cīvaramasi). S reads tsI ba rA ma si.

notes.20

20. The version of this text in the Collection of Tantras section in the Degé Kangyur contains a blank folio on 157.b.

notes.21

21. Following S aM ta ra d+hA na ma si, which is supported by Skt. antaradhānamasi. Toh 564 reads an tara d+hvaM na ma si, and Toh 988 reads an+tara d+hvaM na ma si. The Pedurma Kangyur also confirms this reading in the Yongle, Lithang, Peking, and Choné witnesses that correspond to Toh 988.

notes.22

22. Toh 564 and 988: ’khrugs pa dang / ma ’khrugs pa dang / nyams pa dang ma nyams pa thams cad du bdag seng ge las srungs zhig. S: ’khrugs pa dang / ma ’khrugs pa dang / nyams pa dang / ma nyams pa thams cad du’ang seng ge las srungs shig. Dhiḥ42: ākuleṣu māṃ gopaya | anākuleṣu māṃ gopaya | mūrcchiteṣu māṃ gopaya | amūrcchiteṣu māṃ gopaya | [– – – – – – |] nāgato me rakṣa. NE 1480/9: akṣuleṣu nākṣuleṣu mucchiteṣu siṃhato me rakṣa. This translation is tentative. The command “protect me” (māṃ gopaya) in the first sentence does not occur in the Tibetan and is supplied from the Sanskrit witnesses. The section marked with a series of six dashes in Dhiḥ42 notes an omission in the Sanskrit edition. Aside from this amended reading, the English translation follows the Tibetan witnesses.

notes.23

23. Following Toh 564, Toh 988, and S sbrul pa las srungs shig. Dhiḥ42 reads caṇḍamṛgatas, and NE 1480/9 omits. Dhiḥ42 preserves an alternate reading that translates “Protect me from wild animals.”

notes.24

24. Following Dhiḥ42 sattvamudrati. Toh 564 and 988 read sa ma pa mU ra d+hi Ti, S reads sa ma pa mUr+d+ha, and NE 1480/9 omits. The reading in Dhiḥ42, where we see Mārīcī referred to in the feminine locative singular as “she who delights beings” (sattvamudrati), is the only option that makes any clear sense.

The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī

Contents

Text

84000's introduction

Notes