佛祖統紀 47.4

47.4

In the first year of the Jianyan era, the Emperor halted his cortege at Weiyang. Earlier, when the Empress Dowager Longyou, née Meng, was about to leave the capital for the south, she sought a method for bodily protection from a venerable monk at the bodhimaṇḍa. Someone instructed her to venerate Mother Mārīcī. When the capital was settled at Wumen, recalling Mother Mārīcī's virtue of unseen protection, she enshrined an image of the goddess at the Central Tianzhu Monastery by West Lake and carved a stone inscription to record the matter. Now, according to the Mārīcī-devī Dhāraṇī Recitation Method translated by Tripiṭaka Master Amoghavajra: 'Homage to Śākyamuni Buddha (ten times). Homage to Mārīcī Bodhisattva (ten times). I, your disciple [name], take refuge in the Three Jewels and Mārīcī Bodhisattva. May you protect my body so that no one can see me, no one can know me, no one can seize, bind, or harm me, no one can deceive or penalize me, and no one can take my possessions on debt; may no adversary find an opportunity against me.' Then recite the Supreme Mind Dhāraṇī: 'Oṃ mārīcī svāhā' (either one hundred times or one thousand times). 'Protect me amid perils of the state; protect me amid perils of bandits; protect me amid lost ways in the wilderness; protect me amid water, fire, and weapons; protect me amid perils of ghosts, spirits, and poisons; protect me amid fierce beasts and venomous insects; protect me amid all adversaries and evil people. May the Buddha's true words protect me! May the Dharma's true words protect me! May the Saṅgha's true words protect me! May the gods' true words protect me! May the ṛṣis' true words protect me! In all places and at all times, may you always protect me. For your disciple [name], svāhā.' When reciting, visualize the Bodhisattva taking the form of a heavenly maiden, adorned with necklaces, seated upon a lotus flower, her left hand holding a celestial fan, her right hand lowered with the palm facing outward in the gesture of granting wishes. If one wishes to behold the true body of the goddess to seek supreme wishes, recite it a full one hundred thousand times. The Buddha said: 'This goddess constantly walks before the sun and the moon, unseen by the sun and the moon. Because I know this goddess's name, I am able to avoid all perils and calamities.'