[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) › [Protective and healing dhāraṇīs](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection) › [Healing and Disease Pacification](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease) › [Bhadrakarātrī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri) › [འཕགས་པ་མཚན་མོ་བཟང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617) › [Auspicious Night](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000) › notes # འཕགས་པ་མཚན་མ་བཟང་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད notes: Notes Auspicious Night notes - **Language:** English ### Notes ### [notes.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.1) 1. On rakṣā literature, a term introduced by Peter Skilling to describe this kind of apotropaic and performative literature, see Skilling 1992 and, more recently, the brief but clear overview in Strauch 2014, 64–67. See also Skilling 1997, 15, 63–88 (on the Mahāsūtras as rakṣā literature) and 78–84 (on the general problem of the classification of the Mahāsūtras). ### [notes.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.2) 2. However, the Denkarma (ldan dkar ma) catalog of the early phase of translation in Tibet (up to the ninth century) classifies Auspicious Night—“mistakenly,” according to Skilling, “since it is a Śrāvaka text” (Skilling 1997, 82)—as a sūtra of the Mahāyāna (see Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, 120–21). For more details on the problems of the classification and formation, nature, and later citations of Auspicious Night, see Skilling 1997, 81–84. ### [notes.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.3) 3. For some features thought by contemporary scholars to distinguish Mahāyāna sūtras from non-Mahāyāna sūtras, see Drewes 2010b, 66–74. See also Davidson 2009 and Drewes 2010a. Also, the association of dhāraṇīs and mantras exclusively with the Mahāyāna is not conclusive; Skilling (1997, 74–78) has shown that a number of texts of the Śrāvakayāna contain mantras and dhāraṇīs (see also Hidas 2015, 130). ### [notes.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.4) 4. Denkarma, folio 299.b; see also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, 120-21. Phangthangma 2003, p.26. ### [notes.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.5) 5. See Pawo Tsuklak Trengwa’s commentary on Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra (byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa la ’jug pa’i rnam bshad theg chen chos kyi rgya mtsho), in chos tshan sna tshogs (Kathmandu: Karma Leksheyling, 2012), BDRC W3JT13346: eText search “mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo.” For Tai Situ Chökyi Jungné’s quotation of the first two verses, see Chökyi Jungné, nges don phyag rgya chen po smon lam gyi ’grel pa grub pa mchog gi zhal lung, folios 27.b.5–6. For a translation of this, see Roberts 2010, 238. ### [notes.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.6) 6. They are the first four suttas of chapter fourteen of the Vibhaṅgavagga: Bhaddekarattasutta (MN 131), Ānandabhaddekarattasutta (MN 132), Mahākaccānabhaddekarattasutta (MN 133), and Lomasakaṅgiyabhaddekarattasutta (MN 134). ### [notes.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.7) 7. This fragment was published in the series Sanskrithandschriften aus den Turfanfunden (see Sander and Waldschmidt 1971). ### [notes.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.8) 8. This fragment was first edited by the Russian Indologist Sergej Fedorovič Oldenburg (1863–1934) and was published in Minayeff and Oldenburg 1983, 242–43. ### [notes.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.9) 9. This information was compiled from Lewis R. Lancaster and Sung-bae Park, The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue , and Anālayo 2012, 755–67. The English translations of the Chinese titles are Bhikkhu Anālayo’s. ### [notes.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.10) 10. Like the Tibetan translations, Taishō 1362 is set in the hot springs in Rājagṛha, does not give a name to the monk to whom the deity Candana appears, and has the Buddha explain the identity of the deity as a general in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Additionally, Taishō 1362 preserves lines from the core verses that are only otherwise attested in the Tibetan translation. ### [notes.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.11) 11. This text, Toh 974, 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 974 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 974, , for details. Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 974 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 974, , for details. ### [notes.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.12) 12. Syntax according to D phyin nas. Y and K read phyi nas (“later on”). The reading in D seems preferable since it faithfully reproduces the syntax of a well-known stock phrase in Sanskrit and Pali expressing that someone approaches another person (yena … tena). ### [notes.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.13) 13. According to A, D, D617, D974 de nas dge slong de nang par langs nas; S just reads de nas dge slong de nas langs nas (“Then, the monk, having departed/left from there”) without specifying the time. ### [notes.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.14) 14. C, H repeat lha (“Deva”) here; A, D add lta; D974 omitted; D617, S do not add lta or lha. Translated according to D974 and S. ### [notes.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.15) 15. Translating A, D sde dpon. D617, D974, S read ded dpon. Although the semantic range of the two terms partly overlaps—both designate a leader of some kind—a sde dpon is typically a military leader, such as a general, whereas ded dpon can refer to a civic leader, such as the head of a merchant caravan or ship captain. ### [notes.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.16) 16. The reason for the appearance of the general Candana can be explained by referring to MN 134, the initial portions of which bear a considerable resemblance to the beginning of Auspicious Night: in the Pali version, the deity Candana recalls the stanzas of the discourse of Auspicious Night in his meeting with the monk Lomasakaṅgiya. To the monk’s question about how and why he remembers it, the deity replies, “Bhikkhu, once the Blessed One was living among the gods of the heaven of the Thirty-three, on the Red Marble Stone at the root of the Pāricchattaka tree. There the Blessed One recited the summary and exposition of ‘One Who Has Had a Single Excellent Night’ to the gods of the heaven of the Thirty-three” (translation taken from Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi 2005, 1050). ### [notes.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.17) 17. The Tibetan of A, D313, D617, D974 here reads rjes su phrad, which is very unusual (as far as we were able to ascertain, this is the only occurrence in the Kangyur) and poses text-critical difficulties. S is unclear, and reads either rjes su phrad or phrod. The Sanskrit of SI 2044 reads anvāgamayed, meaning “to follow,” “walk,” or “go along,” a term often rendered in Tibetan as rjes su ’brang. Therefore, and specifically in the light of the extant Sanskrit parallel, we read rjes su ’brang for rjes su phrad and have translated it accordingly with the English verb “to follow.” It should be pointed out, however, that a survey of all available scans of Kangyurs on the University of Vienna’s Resources for Kanjur and Tanjur Studies site shows that the reading rjes su phrad (and the variants rjes su ’phrad and rjes su phrang) is found in all the recensions and editions. Thus, the curious reading rjes su phrad may either have its origin in a textual corruption or is just a graphically unusual form. It may furthermore be worth noting that Taishō 1362 reads, in the first half-pada of the first verse, 過去不應念 – 過去(“What is past one should not remember”). The reading nian 念 (“mindfulness,” “memory”) here suggests that we should expect a form of Sanskrit anu+smṛ in the Sanskrit/Prakrit original. Similarly, Taishō 77 reads 過去當不憶, with yi 憶 likewise meaning “to recollect,” “to remember.” The obvious candidate in the Tibetan would be rjes su dran. ### [notes.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.18) 18. Translation according to A, D, D617, D974, S re ba; N, K, Y read reg pa (“to touch” or “contact”). ### [notes.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.19) 19. The Pali MN 131 explains the meaning of this as follows: Remembering a past state of any one of one’s five constituents (Sanskrit skandha), e.g., “in the past my form was thus,” one wishes oneself or the past state of affairs to return. The explanation is similar with regard to the future: one wishes one’s body/form etc. to be a certain way in the future. ### [notes.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.20) 20. According to the Tibetan in D617, D974, S de dag mkhas pas; A, D, N read de dag thams cad (“those all”). ### [notes.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.21) 21. According to S shi’am sus shes kyis. A, D, N, S read shi yang; A, D shi yang su shes kyis; D617 ’chi’am su shes kyis; D974 ’chi’am sus shes kyis. ### [notes.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.22) 22. We interpret Tibetan sde here to be short for dmag sde (“army,” “platoon”). Cf. the Pali mahāsenena maccunā (“death, whose army is mighty”). ### [notes.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.23) 23. We have translated according to A, D, S bdag tu \[S rtag tu\] bshes pa ma yin no. D617, D974 read bdag tu shes pa ma yin no. ### [notes.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.24) 24. According to A, D, S bzang po; D617, D974 read thams cad bzang por mthong gyur te (“having come to see that all is good”). ### [notes.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.25) 25. According to A, D gang yang; D617, D974, S gang dag. ### [notes.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.26) 26. This stanza, which is longer than the other stanzas (six padas instead of four), is absent in the Pali version and its Madhyamāgama parallel (MĀ 165; see Anālyo 2008, 12). Only SI 2044 preserves a similar passage. ### [notes.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.27) 27. In the Pali version of this verse, the person who thus maintains this mindfully day and night is called bhaddekaratto, “one who has had an auspicious night” The whole fourth, and last, stanza in the Pali Bhaddekarattasuttas in Bhikkhu Anālayo’s (2012, 758n15) translation reads, “dwelling diligently like this, day and night without laziness, to him, indeed, the night is auspicious, so the peaceful sage has explained” (evaṃ vihārim ātapiṃ, ahorattam atanditaṃ, taṃ ve bhaddekaratto ti, santo ācikkhate munī ti). ### [notes.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.28) 28. According to D617, D974, S mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo sde ’di; A, D mdo ’di. ### [notes.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.29) 29. According to A, D mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo sde ’di’i don. S instead reads mtshan mo bzang po’i don (“the meaning of (an?) auspicious night” \[or simply “the meaning/contents of Auspicious Night”\]); D617, D974 read mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo (“the sūtra Auspicious Night”). ### [notes.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.30) 30. The Tibetan verb klog (“read”) most likely means to recite the text out loud. ### [notes.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.31) 31. According to A, D dug gis mi tshugs pa yin; D617, D974, S dug gis ma yin (“not by poison”). D617, D974, and S also add “not \[vulnerable\] by the blade; not by water” (mtshon gyis ma yin| chus ma yin). ### [notes.32](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.32) 32. Tibetan rgyal po’i chad pa literally means “punishment inflicted by the king.” ### [notes.33](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.33) 33. Tibetan dbang phyug tu yang nges par ’gyur; dbang phyug is polysemous, and the exact sense of the word here is unclear. According to Mvy it usually renders the Sanskrit īśvara (“lord, master; king, ruler”). The Sanskrit word itself can also mean “almighty god” or refer to the supreme god (parameśvara) or the Supreme Being. The Tibetan dbang phyug can also be used as a synonym of the Sanskrit tathāgata and bodhisattva, or for the god Śiva. In the Buddhist doctrinal context, it often renders the Sanskrit aiśvarya, which designates the “sovereignty,” “self-mastery,” “supremacy,” or “superhuman powers” of a buddha. ### [notes.34](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.34) 34. We have supplied the word “recitation” here. An alternative interpretation of the Tibetan lan cig gis may be “at once,” “immediately,” or “directly.” H lan gcig. ### [notes.35](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.35) 35. According to A, D, S mya ngan; Y mang; K phan; H, N ngam. ### [notes.36](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.36) 36. According to A, D, D617, D974 dus ma yin par ’chi las skyob; S dus ma yin ltas ’chi las skyob (“protects from omens of premature death”). ### [notes.37](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.37) 37. Tibetan bzang po dran na. We have interpreted bzang po to be short for mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo, “the sūtra Auspicious Night,” but it may simply mean “remembering it well.” It is also possible that the wording here is deliberately ambiguous. ### [notes.38](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.38) 38. This translates Tibetan rig pa bzang po ’di dang ni. As in the instance above, we have interpreted bzang po to be short for mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo (“the sūtra Auspicious Night”). Alternatively, it may be translated literally as “this auspicious incantation (Sanskrit vidyā)” or “this good incantation.” However, in light of what has been stated in the previous verses and their frequent reference to Auspicious Night, we interpret rig pa (vidyā) here to refer to the whole sūtra Auspicious Night itself. ### [notes.39](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.39) 39. According to A, D dus kun tu; D617, D974, S gnas kun tu (“in all places” or “in all circumstances”). ### [notes.40](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.40) 40. Tibetan bdag dang sems can thams cad lag na rdo rje dang lhan cig tu … The syntax in this sentence is not entirely clear. ### [notes.41](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes.41) 41. Here, the “four assemblies” (’khor bzhi) consisting of monks, nuns, and male and female lay followers are intended. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.dharani.protection.disease.bhadrakaratri*bo-d617~en-84000.notes) · Pramāṇa