陀羅尼雜集 2.77

2.77

This great dhāraṇī-mantra was spoken by Buddhas as numerous as the sands of three Gaṅgā rivers in the past. Having heard this mantra spoken by the Buddhas in the past, one hundred kalpas have already passed since then. Among divine ṛṣis, none can match the merit I have cultivated. Internally, I conceal the Mahāyāna precepts and conduct of a bodhisattva; externally, I manifest the pure and wondrous Dharma-body of a divine ṛṣi. Having fully cultivated and completed the six bodhisattva perfections, I externally manifest skillful means by dwelling among divine ṛṣis; although blending with their light, I do not share their dust. This is called the bodhisattva body that dwells in skillful means of upāyakauśalya. If the kings of various countries in Jambudvīpa have little merit from previous lives and live in the degenerate Dharma era, becoming human kings by meager roots of goodness, with bodies lacking the power of merit and minds dark with little wisdom, moreover encountering sentient beings dull and corrupt with the five corruptions—just like a foolish person with a broken cart and slow oxen wishing to cross a treacherous path, which is exceedingly difficult to cross—having seen this, I give rise to a mind of loving-kindness and pity. In order to deliver sentient beings drowning in distress and suffering, wishing to assist them to emerge from difficulty, and to rescue those kings from the disaster of the slow oxen, I now speak this dhāraṇī-mantra. If a king, upon hearing these words, gives rise to shame, recognizes his own meager merit, reforms the past to cultivate the future, gives rise to a vast mind, oversees with loving-kindness and compassion out of pity for suffering beings, endures evil, cultivates goodness, does not wrong the people or things, establishes and protects the true Dharma, employs the worthy and uses the wise, summons the good, dismisses the evil, and makes a fresh start with the people—if the king can cultivate these virtues, and can also read and recite this dhāraṇī, being single-mindedly mindful of it day and night without ever abandoning or forgetting it, the sovereign mind will then become increasingly clever and eloquent, and his disposition will become harmonious and gentle, without thinking of evils. The devas and benevolent spirits will gradually come close and attach themselves to him, increasing his wisdom and enhancing his supernormal power. Because of the protection of the devas, he will become increasingly vigorous; because of his vigor, we devas, the sun, moon, five planets, and twenty-eight lunar lodges will all come to protect him, granting whatever he seeks and wishes for. We will dispatch the nāga kings to provide rainfall, so that grains and crops ripen abundantly, pestilential vapors are eliminated, all disasters are extinguished, and auspicious omens arise day by day. You should know that all this is the power of the great dhāraṇī-mantra.