The Epithets of Mañjuśrī
Translation of Toh 894
- Language
- English
- Translators
- David Mellins, Kaia Fischer
- Extent
- 15 passages, 665 words
- Text
- complete digital text
- Source
- 84000 · Translated by the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New Yorkunder the patronage and supervision of 84000:… · 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 — 6 parts
- 1
- notes Notes — 8 parts
Text
84000's introduction
intro.1
The Epithets of Mañjuśrī is a concise scripture consisting of a salutation to Mañjuśrī that highlights the qualities of his speech, a thirty-six-syllable Sanskrit dhāraṇī, and a one-sentence statement of the benefit accrued by twenty-one recitations thereof.
intro.2
The Epithets of Mañjuśrī is the fourth of six dhāraṇī scriptures (Toh 545–550) gathered together within the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur that provide instruction in incantatory practices that feature the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Five of these scriptures (Toh 547 omitted) also appear in the Dhāraṇī section of the Degé Kangyur as Toh 892–896.
intro.3
A concise scripture, it consists of a salutation to Mañjuśrī that highlights the qualities of his speech, a thirty-six syllable Sanskrit dhāraṇī, and a one-sentence statement of the benefit accrued by twenty-one recitations thereof. The dhāraṇī itself consists of six mantras, each six syllables in length, that each express epithets of Mañjuśrī. The single stated benefit accrued by recitation of this dhāraṇī is the purification of karmic obscurations incurred by the five misdeeds with immediate retribution.
intro.4
The six mantras that constitute the Sanskrit dhāraṇī in this text also appear, with only minor variation, in chapter 7 of The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī. There, the Buddha explains that this dhāraṇī has been taught by 760 million buddhas to tame beings, instruct them in the development of skillful means, and exhort them to adopt the practice of mantra.¹
intro.5
A Sanskrit version of The Epithets of Mañjuśrī is to our knowledge no longer extant, and it appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon that might have offered information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. The text’s absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century ce,² but earlier than the flourishing of Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364), who listed its title, along with those of the other dhāraṇī texts in this collection, in his History of Buddhism. ³
intro.6
This English translation is based on the two versions in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (Toh 548) and the other in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 894), in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace Kangyur.
1
Homage to noble Mañjuśrī!
oṁ vākyetejāya | oṁ vākyeśeṣa sva⁴ | oṁ vākyekhañjaye | oṁ vākyeniṣṭhāya⁵ | oṁ vākyeya namaḥ | oṁ vākyeda⁶ namaḥ ||⁷
Reciting these epithets of noble Mañjuśrī⁸ twenty-one times will purify all the karmic obscurations resulting from the five misdeeds with immediate retribution.
Notes
notes.1
1. See Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī , Toh 543 (2020), 7.6.
notes.2
2. The Denkarma catalog is usually dated to ca. 812 ce.
notes.3
3. Butön Rinchen Drup, chos ’byung, folio 172.a (p. 975).
notes.4
4. The Degé Kangyur in both versions (Toh 548 and 894) reads vA kye Sha She sva.
notes.5
5. The Degé Kangyur in both versions (Toh 548 and 894) reads vA kye ni Sh+Tha a.
notes.6
6. The Degé Kangyur in both versions (Toh 548 and 894) reads vA kye daM.
notes.7
7. In the seventh chapter of The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī, 7.7, the Buddha Śākyamuni recites, with only minor orthographic variations, the same sequence of mantras. He then extols their virtues: “These six mantras of yours, Mañjuśrī, each numbering six syllables, are of great power and equal in their great potency. They are the supreme heart mantras that bring the highest accomplishment, as if they originated from the Buddha himself. They have been proclaimed by every buddha for the benefit of all beings. They involve and activate the samaya and are suitable for all types of activity. They are signposts for the road to awakening and are the most important mantras of the Tathāgata family. They can be employed in all three levels of ritual, the highest, the medium, and the lowest. They bring the ripening of the fruit of virtuous karma. They will lead to accomplishment at the time when the Buddha’s teaching has disappeared.”
notes.8
8. Alternatively, this could be a reference to the text’s title.