འཕགས་པ་ལྕགས་མཆ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་གཟངས intro.5

intro.5

Hidas (2019) dates The Nāga Vow of the Vajra Beak (Vajra­tuṇḍanāga­samaya, Toh 759/964)—the longest and most central of the five beak dhāraṇīs—to the fifth century ce. Though the relationships between the five beak dhāraṇīs are still unclear, we may assume that The Dhāraṇī of the Iron Beak [1] also emerged around a similar time and amidst a similar Indian cultural and religious milieu. The text is bereft of a colophon that would provide information as to when and by whom it was translated into Tibetan. It is not listed in either of the two extant catalogs from the imperial period. As such, we are left with little basis on which to determine under what circumstances it was translated into Tibetan. The colophon to The Dhāraṇī That Fully Confers Freedom From Dangers, however, describes how it was translated by the prolific Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé in collaboration with the Indian masters Jinamitra and Dānaśīla. Though it may certainly be possible that the present text was translated during a similar time, given the degree of intertextuality between them, we cannot be sure. Like much of dhāraṇī literature, this work’s importance lies not in its study but in its ritual performance. As such, most of the references to the five beak dhāraṇīs we find in later Tibetan literature are not as scriptural citations but rather as a part of larger liturgies, alongside ritual elements such as nāga oblations (klu gtor), or as prescribed by astrological divinations.