འཕགས་པ་རག་སྔགས་ཀྱ་རྒྱལ་པ་སྒྲན་མ་མཆག་ག་གཟངས intro.5

intro.5

As a text of the dhāraṇī genre, The Dhāraṇī of Agrapradīpa features teachings by Śākyamuni and others on the use of dhāraṇī, formulas of syllables and words recited to accomplish mundane goals and to progress on the path to liberation. Derived from the Sanskrit root √dhṛ, which means to “hold” and “retain,” both in the sense of physically holding something and keeping something firmly in mind, as a verbal formula a dhāraṇī can be described as that which “holds” or encodes the teachings or blessings of the buddhas, and so it is extremely efficacious for those who memorize and recite it. Because dhāraṇīs are very often used to achieve the worldly goals of health, protection, and prosperity, they can be used and understood as “spells.” In this and similar texts, the term dhāraṇī is often used synonymously with the terms mantra (sngags), vidyā (rig), and vidyāmantra (rig sngags). This can be seen in the full title of the text, which identifies it as a vidyārāja (rig sngags kyi rgyal po), a “king of spells,”¹ and in the body of the text, where the verbal formulas are consistently referred to as dhāraṇī­mantrapāda, translated here as “dhāraṇī-mantra formula.” Much like spells, the formulas in this text are intended to be recited aloud to produce their effects, but in other works a dhāraṇī can also be written down so that it can be worn or otherwise used as a physical protective talisman. While many dhāraṇīs convey clearly articulated meaning, they just as often consist entirely of words with no obvious semantic content. This is the case in The Dhāraṇī of Agrapradīpa, where it is the alliterative force of the formulas, rather than their meaning, that conveys their power to heal and protect.