Toh 981 intro: 84000's introduction
The Essence of Dependent Arising intro
- Language
- English
84000's introduction
intro.1
This brief dhāraṇī text presents a translation and transliteration of the well-known Sanskrit ye dharma formula, the essence of the Buddha’s teachings on dependent arising. The text also describes several benefits of reciting this dhāraṇī, including the purification of negative actions.
intro.2
The short dhāraṇī The Essence of Dependent Arising presents a Tibetan translation and transliteration of the well-known ye dharma formula, which is considered the essence of the Buddha Śākyamuni’s teachings on dependent arising. The dhāraṇī then concludes with a statement of the specific benefits that accrue from its recitation: the purification of all negative actions, the neutralization of adversity, and the multiplication of offerings. As the formula is considered to contain the very essence of the Buddha’s teaching and to represent the Buddha himself, the text states that any object visualized while reciting the dhāraṇī will become either the body of the Buddha or a stūpa.
intro.3
This verse on the essence of dependent arising is closely associated with the conversion of Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana to the Dharma. In the Vinaya of the Mūlasarvāstivādins,¹ Upatiṣya, the ascetic who would later be known as Śāriputra, encounters the Buddha’s disciple Aśvajit, who summarizes for him the essence of Buddha’s teaching with the ye dharma verse. Upatiṣya gains deep insight into the Dharma through this formula, and subsequently shares it with his fellow ascetic Kaulita, who later became known as Maudgalyāyana. In the Pali canon, a version of this story of the transmission of the ye dharma formula is found in the Mahāvagga of the Khandhaka section of the Vinaya. Here again Śāriputra (Pali Sāriputta) and Maudgalyāyana (Pali Moggallāna) hear the verse from Aśvajit (Pali Assaji), who presents it as a summary of his understanding of the Buddha’s teachings.² Yet another version of the story occurs in The Ratnaketu Dhāraṇī (Toh 138). In this text, the essence of the Buddha’s teaching on dependent arising is verbalized in an alternative, extended version of the ye dharma formula.³ In The Sūtra on Dependent Arising (Pratītyasamutpādasūtra, Toh 520), the verse was taught by the Buddha himself in Heaven of the Thirty-Three to an audience of gods, bodhisattvas, and śrāvakas, among whom was the great śrāvaka Aśvajit.
intro.4
The ye dharma formula has evolved to become a popular and widespread Buddhist dhāraṇī formula that is frequently used as an auspicious and benedictory refrain appended to the end of texts, inscribed on votive plaques and statues, and written down and deposited in caityas, stūpas, and other structures throughout the Buddhist world.⁴
intro.5
The topic of dependent arising is explained at length in sūtras such as The Rice Seedling Sūtra (Śālistambhasūtra, ) and The Sūtra Teaching the Fundamental Exposition and Detailed Analysis of Dependent Arising (Pratītyasamutpādādivibhaṅganirdeśasūtra, ), which detail the twelve links of dependent arising. Additional presentations of the ye dharma verse as a dhāraṇī formula can be found in works such as The Sūtra on Dependent Arising () and The Dhāraṇī Containing the Rite of the Essence of Dependent Arising ().⁵ These latter texts, and The Essence of Dependent Arising (Toh 521) translated here, are categorized as Action Tantras (kriyātantra, bya rgyud) in the Degé Kangyur, thus underscoring the development of this famous verse into an esoteric, spell-like formula that can bring material and spiritual benefits through its recitation.
intro.6
Two virtually identical versions of The Essence of Dependent Arising are found in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (rgyud sde, Toh 521) and the other in the Dhāraṇī section (gzungs ’dus, Toh 981).⁶ It is likewise included in both the Tantra and Compendium of Dhāraṇīs sections in the other Tshalpa Kangyurs that have a separate Dhāraṇī section, and is found in the Tantra section of Tshalpa Kangyurs that do not contain a Dhāraṇī section.⁷ It is not included in any of the Thempangma Kangyurs. It thus appears this text may have been added to some Kangyurs specifically because it was included in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs, which may have been compiled on the basis of an earlier collection or collections of dhāraṇīs and associated ritual texts.⁸ Since both iterations of the text (Toh 521 and Toh 981) lack a translator colophon, we have no information about who translated it and when. A Sanskrit source of The Essence of Dependent Arising does not seem to have survived, and it has no Chinese translation.
intro.7
English translations of The Essence of Dependent Arising, along with The Sūtra on Dependent Arising have been published in Peter Skilling’s anthology Questioning the Buddha.⁹ The English translation presented here is based on the two Degé witnesses (Toh 521 and Toh 981) in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe sdur ma) and the Narthang Kangyur.