དཔལ་ལྷ་མ་སྒྲ་དབྱངས་ལ་བསྟད་པ notes: Notes
In Praise of the Glorious Goddess Sarasvatī notes
- Language
- English
Notes
notes.1
1. Sarasvatī’s history and status in South Asia’s diverse religious communities have been studied in Ludvik 2007.
notes.2
2. This text, Toh 1092, 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 1092 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 1092, note 3, for details.
notes.3
3. Among the Action Tantras, this text is grouped within the Lotus Family, where Sarasvatī is positioned as a female attendant (Tib. bka’ nyan mo) of that family.
notes.4
4. The phrase “three knowledges” (Tib. rig gsum) is enigmatic. It could be an abbreviated form of rig byed gsum, “the three Vedas,” which is supported by the reference to “sages,” (Tib. drang srong), a translation of the Sanskrit term ṛṣi, a title often applied to realized teachers of the Vedic tradition. This interpretation is not conclusive, however, thus rig gsum has been translated here as “three knowledges” to preserve the ambiguity and polyvalence of the Tibetan term.
notes.5
5. “Lustrous” (Tib. gsal) is omitted in H, N, and S. It is replaced with the instrumental particle gyis in those versions.
notes.6
6. This translation follows H, N, and S in reading sogs (“the likes of”) where D reads tshogs (“host”). S reads dbang po (“Indra”) where D and other versions of the translation read lha dbang (“Devendra”). This amounts to the same reading, however, as Devendra is an epithet of Indra.
notes.7
7. C, K, KY, and J instead read bsod ldan ("meritorious"), in which case this line would read, “Compassionate mother, replete with love and merit.”
notes.8
8. This mantra follows the Degé with minor orthographic emendation. It can be tentatively translated as, “Homage to the lord Brahmā. Homage to Sarasvatī. Goddess! May this mantra formula be accomplished. Let it be consecrated by Brahmā, svāhā.” A similar passage is found in the Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra (p. 57): namo bhagavatyai brāhmaṇyai namaḥ sarasvatyai devyai sidhyantu mantrapadās taṃ brahma namasyantu svāhā.