འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་བདན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 5

5

master all vidyāmantras, or to ritually cleanse yourself you should wash with dill, spikenard,³⁶ foxtail millet, sirisa, valerian, saffron, nut grass, bitter gourd, bodhi tree, and mango flowers.³⁷ Next, fast for an entire day in front of a buddha image, and then place these ingredients in a fresh vase. On the full moon, bathe in front of an image of the Buddha while reciting the heart mantra one thousand and eight times.

“To neutralize poison sit before an image of the Buddha and use a ladle made of teak to offer cow dung³⁸ onto a ritual fire while reciting the victim’s name one hundred and eight times. The poison will then be neutralized. This mantra protects one from seizers³⁹ and works for any rite associated with the spirits and the like. It will pacify them.”

“Then the blessed tathāgata Krakucchanda hovered in the sky above them and spoke the following root verses of the secret mantra in order to benefit all beings, pacify all manner of illnesses, and exorcise all manner of spirits:

namo buddhāya | namo dharmāya | namaḥ saṅghāya | namaḥ krakucchandāya | tathāgatāya | arhate samyak­saṃbuddhāya | oṃ kaṭa kaṭa | kaṭha kaṭha | kiṭi kiṭi | kiṭhi kiṭhi | kiṭāpaya⁴⁰ namaḥ svāhā | ⁴¹

“Ākāśagarbha, this has been taught by tathāgata, arhat, perfect complete buddhas bearing the name Krakucchanda in numbers equal to the grains of sand in the Ganges river, and now you must maintain this joyous root mantra.

“If this is received, born in mind, and mastered, then in the future, when monks, nuns, and laypeople gain faith in the Three Jewels, perform the bathing rite, and make offerings of flowers, incense, and perfume to the Buddha while reciting⁴² this sacred mantra one hundred and eight times,