གསང་སྔགས་ཆན་པ་རྗས་ས་འཛན་པའ་མད intro.2

intro.2

Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra (Mahā­mantrānu­dhāriṇī,¹ Toh 563) is the fifth scripture in a series of five; the other four texts are Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm (Mahā­sāhasra­pramardanī, Toh 558), The Great Peahen, Queen of Incantations (Mahā­māyūrī­vidyā­rājñī, Toh 559), The Noble Great Amulet, Queen of Incantations (Mahā­pratisarā­vidyā­rājñī, Toh 561), and The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, (Mahā­śītavana, Toh 562).² Together these five texts have been apotheosized in the Mahāyāna tradition as five goddesses known collectively as the Pañcarakṣā, or the “Five Protectresses.” In the Tibetan tradition this collection is known by the moniker gzungs chen grwa lnga, the “Fivefold Great Dhāraṇī.” In the Degé Kangyur collection these texts constitute 60, 49, 43, 25, and 12 folios, respectively, making a total of 189 folios.