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The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Mother of the Grahas”

Translation of འཕགས་མ་གཟའ་རྣམས་ཀྱ་ཡམ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས (འཕགས་མ་གཟའ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ཡུམ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས)

Language
English
Translator
Adam C. Krug
Extent
27 passages, 3,163 words
Text
complete digital text
Source
84000 · Published by 84000 (v 1.0.2 2025). 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

Text

84000's introduction

intro.1

The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of the Grahas” contains instructions for a maṇḍala offering and dhāraṇī recitation practice for appeasing and pacifying the nine celestial grahas as well as a variety of harmful beings. These dhāraṇī instructions are part of the broader popular tradition for performing offerings to appease and gain the favor of the celestial grahas that remain widespread across South Asia and the South Asian diaspora to the present day.

intro.2

The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of the Grahas” ¹ records a teaching by Śākyamuni Buddha on a dhāraṇī recitation practice and maṇḍala instruction for making offerings to the nine celestial grahas. The aim of this practice is to win the grahas’ favor and be protected from harmful influences and beings. The introduction tells us that the Buddha taught this dhāraṇī in the city of the yakṣa lord Aṭavika, where he was surrounded by a host of bodhisattvas and a large gathering of supernatural beings. Seated among them are the nine celestial grahas—Sūrya, Candra, Aṅgāraka, Budha, Bṛhaspati, Śukra, Śani, Rāhu, and Ketu—who have joined this assembly to praise the Buddha and listen to his teaching.

intro.3

As the Buddha concludes his teaching, the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi approaches the Buddha to ask him to teach a Dharma discourse that will pacify both the celestial and harmful grahas.² The Buddha then begins teaching on The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of the Grahas” with a description of the maṇḍala for the rite, followed by the various bali offerings that one should prepare for each of the maṇḍala deities. The Buddha then recites The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of Grahas” itself, followed by a set of ritual instructions to accompany the recitation of this dhāraṇī.

intro.4

There is no known Sanskrit witness of The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of the Grahas.” The text appears in both the Denkarma³ and Phangthangma⁴ imperial Tibetan catalogs of translated works. The Tibetan translators’ colophon notes that it was first translated during the lifetimes of “the king, the minister, and the bodhisattva” (rgyal blon byang chub sems dpa’), which suggests that it was translated during the period when the Indian preceptor Śāntarakṣita or “the bodhisattva” (byang chub sems dpa’) and the “minister” (blon) Ba Selnang (sba gsal snang; dba’ gsal snang) were both present in the court of “the king” (rgyal), Tibetan Emperor Tri Songdetsen (Khri srong lde btsan, r. 755–797/804). The translators’ colophon adds that the Imperial Era Tibetan translation was later corrected by the Sakya patriarch Drakpa Gyaltsen (1147–1216) based on an Indian manuscript that was housed at Sakya.

intro.5

There are two Chinese translations of this text preserved in the Taishō canon. One version, Taishō 1302,⁵ was translated by Facheng, alias Gö Chödrup (ca. 755–849), who was a prolific Sino-Tibetan translator active in the Dunhuang region during the ninth century. This Chinese version is related to the present text (Toh 660/997), though it more closely matches another Tibetan version, The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of the Grahas” (Toh 661/998). Indeed, many lines in Taishō 1302 and Toh 661/998 match each other word-for-word, and the overall structure of these two texts is identical. It is possible, then, that Toh 661/998 was the source for Taishō 1302, or that Gö Chödrup produced both Toh 661/998 and Taishō 1302 based on a third source. Furthermore, given the parallels between Toh 660/997 and Toh 661/998, and given that the colophon of Toh 660/997 indicates that Drakpa Gyaltsen edited it based on an Indian manuscript, it is possible that the differences and additional material we find in Toh 660/997 are the result of Drakpa Gyaltsen’s editorial interventions. In other words, he may have been working from Toh 661/998 to begin with but later made changes based on a Sanskrit source text. A closer examination of these texts with reference to the Dunhuang manuscripts will shed further light on the connections between these sources. The other canonical Chinese translation, Taishō 1303,⁶ was translated by Fatian in the thirteenth century. This text noticeably differs from Toh 660/997 and Toh 661/998 in its structure and contents.

intro.6

This English translation was prepared based on the witnesses for The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of the Grahas” in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus)⁷ in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Degé Kangyur. A version of this text preserved in the Stok Palace Kangyur was also consulted, but this witness is only a partial match for the witnesses in the Degé Kangyur. An additional early Tibetan witness is preserved among the collection of Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang presently housed in the Indian Office Library in London, but this witness has not yet been digitized and was unfortunately not available to us at the time that this translation was prepared.

1

Homage to the blessed noble Mother of the Grahas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in Aṭavika’s great city, where he was being praised by a multitude of devas, nāgas, yakṣas, rākṣasas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas kinnaras, and mahoragas as well as Māra, Yama, Sūrya, Candra, Aṅgāraka, Budha, Bṛhaspati, Śukra, Śani, Rāhu, Ketu, the twenty-eight nakṣatras, and so forth while seated on a lion throne graced with the ornaments of the great vajra samaya.

He was accompanied by a multitude of bodhisattvas

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and surrounded by many hundreds of members of the saṅgha of bodhisattvas, such as the bodhisattva great being Vajrapāṇi, the bodhisattva great being Vajracaṇḍa, the bodhisattva great being Vajrasena, the bodhisattva great being Vajra Bow, the bodhisattva great being Vajra Master, the bodhisattva great being Vajra Ornament, the bodhisattva great being Vajra Light, the bodhisattva great being Noble Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva great being Samantadarśin, the bodhisattva great being Lokaśrī, the bodhisattva great being Lotus Flag, the bodhisattva great being Broad Face, the bodhisattva great being Padmagarbha, the bodhisattva great being Lotus Eyes, the bodhisattva great being Mañjuśrī, the bodhisattva great being Maitreya, and more.

He sat before them teaching the Dharma. He was delivering a Dharma teaching called “A Wish-Fulfilling Jewel Adorning the Great Array” that was good at the beginning, good in the middle, good at the end, excellent in meaning, beautiful in its expression, unadulterated, perfectly pure, and thoroughly erudite.

Then, through the power of the Buddha, Vajrapāṇi rose from his seat in the assembly, and, through his own magical power, circled the Blessed One many thousands of times, bowed, and sat before him. With pride, he sat in a perfect cross-legged position gazing at the assembly

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with his vajra palms placed together at his heart, and addressed the Blessed One.

“Blessed One the grahas are vicious and have a vicious nature. They are fierce and have a fierce nature. They are wrathful, and, because of their wrathful intention, they hurt, harm, and steal the life force of beings. Some take wealth, some take life, and some shorten the length of a being’s lifespan. Will the Blessed One please teach a Dharma discourse that will protect beings from these beings who are harmful and bring misfortune?”

“Well done, Vajrapāṇi,” the Blessed One replied, “it is good that the compassion you have generated for being of benefit to beings has led you to ask the Thus-Gone One about the most secret of secret teachings. Please listen, pay attention, and focus as I explain them. I will explain the most secret of secret excellent offerings and the excellent recitation for incanting offering water for the grahas who have a vicious nature and are so very wrathful and terrifying.

“I will give a systematic explanation
Of worshiping them with the offering rite,
Identifying the perpetrator when harm has occurred,⁸
The colors of the celestial grahas,

“How they can be appeased,
And the offerings and mantras
That will pacify wrathful
Devas, asuras,

“Kinnaras, nāgas,
Yakṣas, rākṣasas,
Pūtanas, and humans
Brimming with fierce, fiery energy.”

A radiant light referred to as “the manifestation of compassion” blazed forth from blessed Śākyamuni’s heart and entered the crowns of the grahas. At that very instant, Sūrya and the rest

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of the celestial grahas got up and addressed the Blessed One:

“The blessed, thus gone, worthy, perfect Buddha has shown us hospitality. Please teach the Dharma discourse, Blessed One. Will the Blessed One, who has gathered us here, please teach the dharma reciters who act in your service about guarding and protecting themselves, bringing peace and happiness, healing, dispelling punishment, eliminating weapons, neutralizing poison, nullifying poison, establishing a protective boundary, and binding the ground.”

And so, the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha Śākyamuni taught the offering rites and mantras of the celestial grahas:

“One should make a maṇḍala circle in which the directions are illustrated using the particular color that is appropriate for each one. Then, one should draw a lotus on it with petals that are twelve fingers long and a center that is twelve fingers in diameter and decorate the maṇḍala with four gates following the proper procedure—oṁ maigholkāya svāhā. One should imagine Sūrya on top of the blooming lotus. His body is like a blazing orange mass of fiery energy and his radiant light is equal to a thousand suns. Candra is white and in the east—oṁ śitāṃśave svāhā. Aṅgāraka is red and in the southeast—oṁ raktāṅga­kumārāya svāhā. The kṣatriya Budha is yellow and in the south—oṁ budhāya svāhā. Aṅgiras is orange and in the southwest—oṁ bṛhaspataye svāhā. Śukra is white and in the west—oṁ asurottamāya svāhā. Śani is as black as collyrium and in the northwest—oṁ kṛṣṇa­varṇāya svāhā. Rāhu is dark red and in the north—oṁ amṛta­priyāya svāhā. Ketu is the color of a cloud of smoke and in the northeast—oṁ jyotiketave svāhā.

“The venerable Buddha is at the eastern gate.

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Vajrapāṇi is at the southern gate. Lokanātha is at the western gate. Manjuśrī is at the northern gate.

“For the outer maṇḍala, all the celestial grahas should be depicted in the northeast. The lunar mansions and the nakṣatras are in the southeast. The upadravas are in the southwest. Venerable Mahāvidyā⁹ is in the northwest. Dhṛtarāṣṭra is in the east at the outer maṇḍala gate. Virūḍhaka is in the south. Virūpākṣa is in the west. Kubera is in the north.

“There should be kheer for Sūrya, yogurt for Candra, a meal of chickpeas and maṣa beans for Aṅgāraka, ghee for Budha, milk for Bṛhaspati, cake for Śukra, a mixture of chickpeas, maṣa, and mung beans for Śani, sesame kheer for Rāhu, and a soup of sesame kheer and molasses for Ketu.

“The bali offering for the yakṣas consists of yogurt for Dṛtarāṣṭra, a dish prepared with yogurt, chickpeas, and maṣa beans for Virūpakṣa, rice pudding for Virūḍhaka, a meal of kheer for Virūpākṣa, and a meal of yogurt, chickpeas, and maṣa beans combined with alcohol and molasses for Kubera.

“They should be given the correct type of flowers, the correct type of incense, and the correct type of banner. Then, one should present a lamp to each one and perform the appropriate offering.

“One should fill a conch shell with butter and honey, set out the five precious substances and present the offering water, and tie a silk cloth around the mouth.¹⁰

“Vajrapāṇi, the following things should be done while reciting the celestial grahas’ heart mantra. One should perform the offering in the middle of a maṇḍala that is twelve fingers in diameter and in which the appropriate type of incense is burning. Present the water offering in vessels made of silver and gold or of clay, copper, and so forth,

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and incant each one of them with the mantra one hundred and eight times.¹¹

“After that, Vajrapāṇi, one should recite the mantra verses of The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of the Grahas” seven times. All the celestial grahas beginning with Sūrya and so forth will offer their protection and one will be free from the grahas who cause poverty. Those whose lifespan has been shortened will have a long life.

“Vajrapāṇi, any monk, nun, male lay practitioner, female lay practitioner, or any other being known to take birth in the realm of beings who hears it will not suffer an unnatural death. Vajrapāṇi, all the celestial grahas will fulfill everything that might be wished for in every way by the Dharma reciter who makes offerings in the center of the celestial grahas’ maṇḍala and recites this dhāraṇī every day. The impoverished state of their family lineage will be brought to an end.”

Then, the blessed Thus-Gone One Śākyamuni recited The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of the Grahas”:

namo buddhāya namo vajradharāya namo padma­dharāya namo kumārāya namo grahānāṃ sarvāśa­pari­pūrakānāṃ namo nakṣatrāṇāṃ namo dvādaśa­rāśinām |

tadyathā | oṁ buddhe buddhe vajre vajre padme padme sara sara prasara prasara smara smara krīḍaya krīḍaya māraya māraya mārdhaya mārdhaya ghāṭaya ghāṭaya sarva­vighnān kuru kuru mama kāryāṃ cchindha cchindha sarva­duṣṭān kṣāpaya kṣāpaya śānte śānte dānte dānte dāmaya dāmaya svāhā |

drutam ādarśaya¹² ātmanaṃ rakṣa rakṣa māṃ sarvasattvāṃś ca sarva­grahāna­kṣatravi­dhvaṃsaṃ¹³ nivartaya bhagavati mahāmāye prasādaya sarva­duṣṭaṃ śodhaya sarvapāpaṃ caṇḍe

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caṇḍe turu turu caṇḍeni caṇḍeni muyu muyu mucu mucu vaha vaha ugre ugrata me pūraya me manoratham pari­pūraya sarva­tathāgatādhiṣṭhite samaye svāhā |

oṁ svāhā | hūṁ svāhā | hṛ svāhā | dhruṁ svāhā | dhriṁ svāhā |

padma­dharāya svāhā | adityāya svāhā | saumāya svāhā | dhāraṇī­sutāya svāhā | budhāya svāhā | bṛhaspataya svāhā | śukrāya svāhā | kṛṣṇavarṇāya svāhā | rāhave svāhā | ketave svāhā | buddhāya svāhā | vajradharāya svāhā | padmadharāya svāhā | kumārāya svāhā | sarva­grahebhyaḥ svāhā | sarva­nakṣatrebhyaḥ svāhā | sarva­dvādaśa­rāśinibhyaḥ svāhā sarvopdravebhyaḥ svāhā | oṁ sarvavidye hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā |

“Vajrapāṇi, the recitation of these mantra verses of The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of the Grahas” should begin on the seventh day during the waxing moon in the autumnal month of Kārtika. One should take temporary vows, perform the offering rite, and recite the dhāraṇī every day until the fourteenth day of the month. If one recites it day and night during the full moon, one will not have to fear death for ninety-nine years. One will not fear distress caused by meteors, grahas, and nakṣatras. One will remember one’s past lives, be worshipped by all the grahas, and the grahas will provide whatever one desires most.”

After that, the celestial grahas voiced their approval in agreement with the Blessed One and disappeared.

Colophon

This was translated during the lifetimes of the king, the minister, and the bodhisattva.¹⁴ Then, at a later date, the lay practitioner Drakpa Gyaltsen corrected it based on an Indian manuscript that was housed at the glorious hermitage of Sakya.

Notes

notes.1

1. The Mother of the Grahas (gza’ rnams kyi yum, grahamātṛkā) is the name of a dhāraṇī goddess

notes.2

2. Whenever it is possible to do so, this translation makes a distinction between the term graha as it applies to the nine celestial phenomena and planets and the term graha when it is more broadly construed to signify a variety of beings who cause physical and mental illness. The translation “celestial graha” is used for the Tibetan gza’ when it is clear that the text is referring to this group, and the term “graha” is used for the Tibetan gdon to indicate the broader class of beings.

notes.3

3. Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag), Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folio 302.b.

notes.4

4. Phangthangma (dkar chag ’phang thang ma) (Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003), p. 26.

notes.5

5. For e-texts of this version, see Zhuxingmu tuoluoni jing 諸星母陀羅尼經 (Graha­mātṛkānāma­dhāraṇī), Taishō 1302 (CBETA; SAT). Note that this version is absent in the Korean Buddhist canon.

notes.6

6. See Lewis R. Lancaster, The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue , Accessed April 14, 2023. For e-texts of this version, see Fo shuo sheng yao mu tuoluoni jing 佛說聖曜母陀羅尼經 (Graha­mātṛkānāma­dhāraṇī), Taishō 1303 (CBETA; SAT).

notes.7

7. This text, Toh 997, 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 997 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 997, , for details.

notes.8

8. Following Toh 660, Toh 997, and S: gnod pa byas na gnod byed pa. The term “identifying” has been added to the English translation for the sake of clarity.

notes.9

9. Following Toh 997: nub byang du rje btsun rig pa chen mo’o. Toh 660 reads nub byang du rje btsun rigs pa chen mo. The name Mahāvidyā can refer to a number of goddesses and it is not entirely clear which goddess it refers to here.

notes.10

10. This translation is tentative. The phrase can refers to wearing a silk cloth as a mouth covering or possibly to the practice of tying a silk cloth around one’s face as a blindfold. It is also possible that this refers to the “mouth” of the previously mentioned conch.

notes.11

11. This translation emends the reading in this line to re re la yang bzlas brjod lan brgya rtsa brgyad bya. This emended reading is supported by the parallel passage in Toh 661 and Toh 998. The frequency with which the number one hundred and eight is used to incant ritual objects with mantras across the kriyātantra and dhāraṇī literature supports the conclusion that the second occurrence of rtsa brgyad is redundant. Toh 660 and Toh 997 read re re la yang bzlas brjod lan brgya rtsa brgyad rtsa brgyad bya.

notes.12

12. This transliteration emends the Tibetan transliteration of this line to dru taM A dar+sha ya. Toh 660 and Toh 997 read dru tAn dar+sha ya. This decision is supported by the corresponding section of this dhāraṇī as it appears in Toh 661 and Toh 998, where it is translated into Tibetan instead of left in transliterated Sanskrit.

notes.13

13. This transliteration emends the Tibetan to bi d+h+waM saM.

notes.14

14. This most likely refers to Tri Songdetsen (the king), Ba Selnang (the minister), and Śāntarakṣita (the bodhisattva). It is also possible that the spelling blon is a corruption of the shortened dbu med character slon, a scribal contraction for slob dpon. If this is the case, then the middle member of this group of three is an ācārya (slob dpon), not a minister (blon po), and may refer to Padmasambhava. Many thanks to Dylan Esler for his input on this issue.