དག་བ་དང་མ་དག་བའ་ལས་ཀྱ་རྣམ་པར་སྨན་པ་བསྟན་པའ་མད notes.119

notes.119

119. The Chinese reads 今身作師公，或葬埋死人，占宅吉凶、五姓便利、安龍謝蠶、壓衰禍，誑其癡人多取財物，妄作吉凶之語者 “Those who in this life act as sorcerers by burying the corpses of the dead, by making prognostications of the good and bad omens of houses and of the fortune or lack thereof of the five families, by appeasing the nāgas, by making thanksgiving offerings of crushed silkworms, and by deceiving fools to take their wealth with false prognostications will fall into the hell of iron and copper after death” (Taishō 2881, p. 1381c27–1382a1). 謝蠶 appears to mean “thanking the silkworm goddess”; in ancient Chinese folk legends, there was the figure of the silkworm goddess (蠶神), who was worshiped to ensure the smooth production of the precious commodity of silk.