The Threefold Ritual
Translation of རྒྱད་གསམ་པ (རྒྱུད་གསུམ་པ)
- Language
- English
- Translator
- Adam Krug
- Extent
- 6 passages, 805 words
- Text
- complete digital text
- Source
- 84000 · Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the patronage and supervision of 84000:… · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha). Shown whole and unaltered, with its notes, on a…
Contents
- intro 84000's introduction — 4 parts
- 1
- notes Notes — 1 part
Text
84000's introduction
intro.1
The Threefold Ritual contains a short liturgy for invoking the pantheon of worldly deities, inviting these beings to seize the rare opportunity to listen to the Dharma, and proclaiming the aspiration that all the worldly beings that have gathered to hear the Dharma receive their share of the merit one has generated.
intro.2
The Threefold Ritual contains a short liturgy for invoking the pantheon of worldly deities, inviting these beings to seize the rare opportunity to listen to the Dharma, and proclaiming the aspiration that all the worldly beings that have gathered to hear the Dharma receive their share of the merit one has generated.
intro.3
This text does not appear in either the Denkarma or Phangthangma royal Tibetan catalogs of translated works, and it also does not appear to have been translated into Chinese at any point. Combined with the fact that the title information for the text lacks a Sanskrit or otherwise Indic title as well as a colophon listing any Indic or Tibetan translator, it is possible that this work may in fact be Tibetan in origin.
intro.4
This translation is based on the version of The Threefold Ritual found at the opening of the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus) section in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the text as it appears in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur. This text does not appear as an independent work in the Tohoku catalog, where it is listed under the number Toh 846¹ and combined with the text (spyan ’dren rgyud gsum pa) that immediately precedes it. It has been translated here as an independent work under the modified Tohoku number Toh 846a. The decision to present this text as an independent work is supported by the Degé Kangyur, where it appears with its own title and colophon, and by the Dunhuang manuscript witnesses to the text presented in Marcelle Lalou’s 1938 study, edition, and French translation. Lalou’s work shows that the Dunhuang witnesses to the two works cataloged under Toh 846 bear the individual titles The Threefold Ritual (rgyud gsum pa) and An Invocation of the Great Deities and Nāgas (lha klu chen po rnams spyan dran pa). In the Degé Kangyur, the latter of these two corresponds to the present work and bears the title The Threefold Ritual (rgyud gsum pa). Both works are found in other Kangyurs of predominantly Tshalpa lineage, but in those without a separate section of dhāraṇī they are placed in the tantra sections. Kangyurs that reflect the Thempangma tradition do not include either work.
1
Brahmā, great king Śakra, gods and nāgas,
Yakṣas, gandharvas, uragas, asuras,
Garuḍas, kumbhāṇḍas, kinnaras,
All beings who are sons of the Sugata,
Accept these seven wonderful and resplendent jewels and listen to me.
The qualities of the blessed Buddha are inconceivable.
The qualities of the holy Dharma are inconceivable.
The qualities of the noble Saṅgha are inconceivable.
The unsurpassed fruition of true faith
In the inconceivable Three Jewels is inconceivable.
It is rare to hear so much as the names of the Three Jewels,
Even over the course of millions of eons.
Now that you have taken such a rare embodiment endowed with the freedoms,
Use the energy of your magical abilities and faith to approach,
And listen to the profound teaching of the Victor
In this sanctuary bedecked with the jewels of liberation.
May those who gather here intent upon the holy Dharma,
Such as powerful gods, nāgas, yakṣas, and the like,
Accept this share of Dharma merit: we dedicate it
So that you may increase in splendor and retinue and accomplish what you desire.
May you obtain the nectar of the teachings,
Bring prosperity to each and every class of beings wherever they are,
And protect the teachings of the tathāgatas.
Notes
notes.1
1. The present text, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, e), are listed as being located in volume 100 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 101. 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 present volume, 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.