འཕགས་མ་ར་ཁྲད་ལ་མ་གྱན་མ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས intro.4

intro.4

Though included in the Kangyur, The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī lacks many of the expected features of canonical Buddhist scripture. The dhāraṇī does not begin with the standard introductory formula (nidāna) that establishes the setting for the scripture, nor is it framed as a discourse of the Buddha Śākyamuni or another member of the Buddhist pantheon. The text begins with a general homage to the Three Jewels followed by a more specific homage to the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the lotus family—Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahāsthāmaprāpta—that serves to categorize Parṇaśavarī and her practice as belonging to that family of deities and rites. Following this homage the dhāraṇī continues with a plea for Parṇaśavarī’s intercession, via her dhāraṇī, in matters of disease, disaster, and strife. After this plea comes the dhāraṇī itself, which is rendered in a mixture of phonetic Sanskrit and Tibetan translation. Like the passage that precedes it, the dhāraṇī consists of a vigorous exhortation to Parṇaśavarī to pacify an array of threats that are generally beyond the supplicant’s personal control, including disease, epidemics, physical danger, and astrological influences. The text then ends abruptly with the completion of the dhāraṇī.