The Dhāraṇī for Obtaining the Ten Perfections

Translation of Toh 581

Language: English
Translator: Paul G. Hackett
Extent: 8 passages, 551 words
Text: complete digital text
Source: 84000 · Published by 84000 (v 1.0.3 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 — 3 parts
1
notes Notes — 4 parts

Text

84000's introduction

intro.1

This text presents a single dhāraṇī for the attainment of the ten perfections.

This text presents a single dhāraṇī for the attainment of the ten perfections¹ that does not appear to be contained in any other canonical text. No additional explanation is given, although in Meisezahl’s manuscript the dhāraṇī is followed by a “confession and purification” (gso sbyong) ritual. The text appears to be a more condensed version of the dhāraṇī for the six individual perfections presented in Toh 580, and an alternate version of the idea set forth in Toh 579. No Sanskrit title is provided for this text, and its title is given on the basis of the Tibetan alone.

intro.3

This translation of the text into English relied primarily on the Degé recension while referring to variant readings in other recensions as noted in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and validated in the source texts—notably Narthang.² No previous translation of this text into a language outside the Tibetan sphere of influence is known. Meisezahl (1957) provides a diplomatic edition of the dhāraṇī found in the Linden Museum Tibetan collection.

1

By hearing this essence mantra of the ten perfections, even one time, one will obtain the ten perfections:

namas saptānām³ tathāgatānām daśapāramitāparipūrakānām hrīḥ |⁴

Notes

notes.1

1. Of the four types of dhāraṇīs described by the fourth-century scholar-yogi Asaṅga—Dharma dhāraṇīs (dharmadhāraṇī; chos kyi gzungs), meaning dhāraṇīs (arthadhāraṇī; don gyi gzungs), mantra dhāraṇīs (mantradhāraṇī; gsang sngags kyi gzungs), and bodhisattva forbearance dhāraṇīs (bodhisattvakṣāntilābhāyadhāraṇī; byang chub sems dpa’ bzod pa ’thob par byed pa’i gzungs)—this text falls into the category of bodhisattva forbearance dhāraṇīs, which enable one to progress along the path. Cf. Grounds of Bodhisattvas (Bodhisattvabhūmi; byang chub sems dpa’i sa; Toh 4037, folio 144.a). A discussion of various classifications of dhāraṇīs is given in Pagel 2007.

notes.2

2. This text, Toh 937, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, e), are listed as being located in volume 100 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 101. 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 937 version of this text within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 937, , for details.

notes.3

3. The Degé reads *sarvatānāṃ.

notes.4

4. The dhāraṇī translates as “Homage to you, O seven tathāgatas, you who are completely filled with the ten perfections. hrīḥ.” In Meisezahl’s manuscript, this dhāraṇī is followed by a “confession and purification” (gso sbyong) ritual.