[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Buddhist Sanskrit literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit) › [Protective spells and dhāraṇī-sūtras](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani) › [Other dhāraṇīs](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other) › [Dhāraṇīs for Offerings and Homage](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja) › [Pūjameghadhāraṇī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani) › [མཆོད་པའི་སྤྲིན་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068) › The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings” # The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings” Translation of [མཆད་པའ་སྤྲན་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས (མཆོད་པའི་སྤྲིན་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068) - **Language:** English - **Translator:** [Catherine Dalton](https://indike.org/pramana/person/catherine-dalton) - **Extent:** 11 passages, 1,113 words - **Text:** partly digitised - **Source:** 84000 · Published by 84000 (v 1.0.0 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 - [intro 84000's introduction](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.intro) — 5 parts - [1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.1) - [notes Notes](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.notes) — 5 parts ## Text ### 84000's introduction ### [intro.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.intro.1) The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings” includes a short dhāraṇī along with its rite. The dhāraṇī is used to make extensive offerings to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Its recitation purifies evil and brings virtue to the reciter, such that he or she will be protected and, at the time of death, will take rebirth in Sukhāvatī. ### [intro.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.intro.2) The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings” includes a dhāraṇī for making offerings and its brief rite. Through simply reciting the dhāraṇī one makes vast offerings to countless buddhas. The result of these offerings is that the reciter is freed from their evil deeds and obtains virtues. One will continually encounter the buddhas and bodhisattvas, be protected by all manner of beings, and finally, at the time of death, one will take birth in Sukhāvatī. ### [intro.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.intro.3) Like many dhāraṇī texts, The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings” is found in the Degé Kangyur in both the Tantra section, where it is classed as an action tantra (bya rgyud, kriyātantra), and in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section. We are unaware of either an extant Sanskrit text or a Chinese translation of The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings”. None of the Kangyur recensions includes a translators’ colophon, but a text bearing the same title appears in both the Denkarma as well as the Phangthangma imperial catalogs, suggesting that some version of The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings” was translated into Tibetan and circulated in Tibet during the imperial period.¹ We cannot be sure, however, that the texts referenced in these catalogs match the present work. ### [intro.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.intro.4) Indeed, at Dunhuang we find a number of manuscripts that include texts entitled The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings”, yet none of them is an exact match for the recension in the Kangyurs. Some of the recensions at Dunhuang include just a dhāraṇī, which is essentially the same as the one found in the Kangyur recensions, with minor variants; others include this same dhāraṇī with an additional prayer, rather than the rite described in The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings” as it appears in the Kangyurs; still another group include an entirely different dhāraṇī that nonetheless bears the same name.² ### [intro.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.intro.5) This translation was made on the basis of the two Degé Kangyur recensions of the text (Toh 538³ and Toh 1068⁴), with reference to the Stok Palace edition as well as to the notes to the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma). There are no major discrepancies among the recensions consulted. The dhāraṇī proper has been transcribed exactly as it occurs in Toh 538. ### [1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.1) Homage to the Three Jewels. namo ratna trayāya| namo bhagavate| vajrasāra pramardani| tathāgatāya| arhate samyaksaṃ­buddhāya| tadyathā| oṃ vajre vajre| mahā­vajre| mahāteja­vajre| mahā­vidyāvajre| mahā­bodhi­citta­vajre| mahā­bodhi­maṇḍōpasaṃ­kramaṇa­vajre| sarva­karma āvaraṇa­viśodhana­vajre svāhā|| The rite for this dhāraṇī mantra is as follows. In the instant of recollecting it, one makes offerings to as many blessed buddhas who reside in the ten directions as there are coarse and subtle grains of sand in the river Gaṅga, and pays homage at their feet. These offerings are in the form of flowers, incense, perfumes, flower garlands, scented unguents, powders, parasols, banners, pennants, seats, carpets, clothing, enjoyments, food, and so forth, as well as ornaments and flowing garments.⁵ One will be freed from all evil deeds and will possess every virtue. One will see all the buddhas and bodhisattvas and thereby be comforted. All the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas, as well as the Lords of Secrets, such as Vajrapāṇi, as well as the Four Great Kings, will follow, protect, guard, and remain near to one. When one dies and transmigrates, one will be born in the realm of Sukhāvatī. If one has not accomplished these special qualities, they will be obtained with just a single recitation. ### Notes ### [notes.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.notes.1) 1. Denkarma, folio 303.a; Herrmann-Pfandt, p. 237; Phangthangma 2003, p. 30. ### [notes.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.notes.2) 2. According to Dalton and van Schaik’s catalog, the dhāraṇī texts called The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings” found at Dunhuang include IOL Tib J 140/2; IOL Tib J 141/2; IOL Tib J 366/2; IOL Tib J 369/2; PT 23/2; PT 24/2; PT 27/2; PT 70/2; PT 78; PT 310/1; PT 311; and PT 427. See Dalton and van Schaik 2006. Most of these works include essentially the same dhāraṇī that is found here in Toh 538 (with minor variants), appearing sometimes with and sometimes without an additional prayer that is not found in Toh 538. However, several of the works contain an entirely different dhāraṇī than the one found here, but which is nonetheless concerned with a pūjāmegha (“a cloud of offerings”). ### [notes.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.notes.3) 3. Two sets of folio references have been included in this translation due to a discrepancy in volume 88 (rgyud ’bum, na) of the Degé Kangyur between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings. In the latter case, an extra work, Bodhi­maṇḍasyālaṃkāra­lakṣa­dhāraṇī (Toh 508, byang chub snying po’i rgyan ’bum gyi gzungs), was added as the second text in the volume, thereby displacing the pagination of all the following texts in the same volume by 17 folios. Since the eKangyur follows the later printing, both references have been provided, with the highlighted one linking to the eKangyur viewer. In the Toh 538 version of the text there is a slight discrepancy in the folio numbering between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings of the Degé Kangyur. Although the discrepancy is irrelevant here, further details concerning this may be found in of the Toh 538 version of this text. ### [notes.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.notes.4) 4. This text, Toh 1068, 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 1068 version of this text within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 1068, , for details. ### [notes.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000.notes.5) 5. lhab lhub. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.other.puja.pujameghadharani*bo-d1068~en-84000) · Pramāṇa