Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t5: Māhātmya, Stotras, Dhāraṇīs and Tantras

A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t5

Language
English

Māhātmya, Stotras, Dhāraṇīs and Tantras

v2.c19.s6.t5.1

Repeated reference has already been made to the great similarity between the Mahāyāna-Sūtras and the Purāṇas. We have seen that in the ancient Purāṇas, many texts which were connected with the cult of the Hindu gods, were included or appended, such as Māhātmyas, Stotras and Kalpas.⁴ In the same way there is also a Buddhistic "Purāṇa," the Svayambhū-Purāṇa, which is not really a Purāṇa, but a Māhātmya. It is a glorification of the holy places in Nepal, especially the Svayambhū-Caitya near Kathmandu. The work is a manual for pilgrims, and therefore also contains descriptions of ceremonies (*e.g.*, for the worship of Nāgas so as to obtain rain) and many a legend attaching to the various holy places. Thus for instance in Chapter IV the Maṇicūḍāvadāna¹ is told by way of glorifying the river Maṇirohiṇī. In the Svayambhū-Purāṇa, Svayambhū, “the Self-Existent,” which is in Hinduism one of the names of the god Brahman, appears as the king and teacher of the world, seated on a wondrous lotus, the root of which had been planted in bygone ages by an earlier Buddha. There are five different recensions of the work, which differ from one another more in their external form than in contents.² None of the recensions can, however, lay claim to very great antiquity. Perhaps the work was not written earlier than the 16th century.

v2.c19.s6.t5.2

⁴ See above, Vol. I, p. 583.

v2.c19.s6.t5.3

¹ Translated by L. *de La Vallée Poussin* in JRAS 1894, p. 297 ff. This self-sacrifice legend is also to be found in one manuscript as an independent Avadāna, as well as in one manuscript of the Divyāvadānamālā (s. *Rajendralala Mitra*, Nep. Buddh. Lit., pp. 162 ff., 314) and in Kṣemendra's Avadāna-Kalpalatā (s. JBTS, Vol. I, part 3, 1893).

v2.c19.s6.t5.4

² According to S. *Lévi*, the “Svāyambhuva-Mahā-Purāṇa” [which has come down in a Paris MS., contains the best recension. It is written in prose and verse in various metres. S. *Lévi* gives a detailed analysis of the work in Vol. I, p. 208 ff., of his book Le Népal (AMG, Bibliothèque d'études, t. 17-19, Paris 1905). The “Bṛhat-Svayambhū-Purāṇa” edited by *Haraprasāda Śāstri* in Bibl. Ind. (1894-1900) is written entirely in Ślokas and in execrable Sanskrit. Book X has been edited by *La Vallée Poussin* (Université de Gand, Recueil de Travaux publiés par la faculté de phil. et lett. 9e fasc., Gand & Louvain 1893). Cf. also *Raj. Mitra*, Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 249 ff.; *Haraprasāda Śāstrī* in JBTS II, 1894, part 2, p. 33 ff.; and *Hodgson*, Essays, p. 115 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.5

Just as this Māhātmya is composed in the true manner of the Viṣṇuite and Śivaite Māhātmyas, similarly the sole difference between the Buddhistic Stotras or hymns, and those which are dedicated to the worship of Viṣṇu or Śiva, lies in the names of the divine beings which are the objects of adoration. Some of these Stotras are the works of well known poets in the ornate style of poetry and in elaborate metres, others are litanies after the manner of those which we find in the Purāṇas. A few of such Stotras also gained admittance to earlier texts, such as the Mahāvastu, Lalita-Vistara and others. The hymns of Mātṛceṭa have already been mentioned. We have a collection of four hymns (Catuḥstava) of Nāgārjuna in the Tibetan translation.¹ King Harṣavardhana (600-647 A.D.), who, under the influence of the Chinese pilgrim Hsüan-Tsang, leaned more and more strongly towards Buddhism during the last years of his life, composed a Suprabhāta-Stotra,² a morning hymn in praise of Buddha, in 24 verses, and an Aṣṭa-Mahā-Śrīcaitya-Stotra,³ a "hymn in praise of the eight great shrines," in 5 stanzas. The poet Vajradatta, who lived under King Devapāla in the 9th century, is the author of the Lokeśvara-Śataka, the "Hundred (stanzas) in praise of Lokeśvara."⁴ Legend has it, that the poet became a leper owing to a curse. He implored Lokeśvara, *i.e.*, Avalokiteśvara, to help him, and each day he composed an elaborate Sragdharā stanza in praise of him. When three months had gone by, and he had completed the hundredth stanza, the Bodhisattva appeared to him, and he was healed.⁵ In this very elaborate poem Avalokiteśvara is described in the greatest detail from his fingers to his toes, his fifty names are enumerated, and his qualities, his love and his mercy glorified.

v2.c19.s6.t5.6

¹ The French translation by *La Vallée Poussin* was printed in Le Muséon in 1914, but all the copies were destroyed at the time of the burning of Louvain; s. *P. L. Vaidya*, Études sur Āryadeva, p. 49.

v2.c19.s6.t5.7

² Edited by *Minayeff* in Sapiski de la Société Archéologique, t. II, fasc. III, 236 f.

v2.c19.s6.t5.8

³ Translated into Sanskrit by *S. Lévi* (OC, Genève, 1894, II, 189 ff.) on the basis of a Chinese transcription.

v2.c19.s6.t5.9

⁴ Edited and translated into French by *Suzanne Karpelès* in JA, 1919, s. 11, t. XIV, pp. 357-465.

v2.c19.s6.t5.10

⁵ A similar legend is told about Mayūra, the poet of the Sūryaśataka.

v2.c19.s6.t5.11

The Paramārthanāma-Saṃgīti⁶ is a hymn of the type which occurs as early as in the Yajurveda, the Mahābhārata and very frequently in the Purāṇas,⁷ that is to say, a litany consisting of an enumeration of names and laudatory epithets of the deity. Another work which is composed mainly for devotional purposes, is a poem in 9 stanzas, the Sapta-Buddha-Stotra, “Praise of the Seven Buddhas,” in which the six Buddhas of previous ages, from Vipaśyin down to Kāśyapa, and then Śākyamuni and the future Buddha Maitreya are worshipped and invoked one after the other; likewise the Naipālīya-Devatā-Kalyāṇa-Pañcaviṁśatikā, by an otherwise unknown “poet” Amṛtānanda, a litany of 25 stanzas, in which the “Nepalese deities,” *i.e.*, a motley list of Buddhas, beginning with Svayambhū, Bodhisattvas, Hindu gods and goddesses, Buddhist personifications, Tīrthas and Caityas, are invoked, amid praises, to send down blessings (kalyāṇa).¹

v2.c19.s6.t5.12

⁶ *Raj. Mitra*, Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 175.

v2.c19.s6.t5.13

⁷ Cf. above, Vol. I, pp. 185, 397, note 1.

v2.c19.s6.t5.14

¹ The two Stotras have been translated by H. H. *Wilson*, Works, II, pp. 5 ff., 11 ff. *Cf.* *Winternitz* and *Keith*, Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. II, p. 257; Raj. *Mitra*, Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 99.

v2.c19.s6.t5.15

A large number of Stotras are dedicated to the Buddhist goddess Tārā, “the Rescuer,” the female counterpart of Avalokiteśvara. A poem in praise of Tārā, composed in polished Kāvya style by the Kashmiri poet Sarvajñamitra is the Sragdharā-Stotra or Ārya-Tārā-Sragdharā-Stotra in 37 verses. Sragdharā, “(female) wearer of the wreath,” is an epithet of Tārā as well as the name of the metre in which the poem is written. The poet lived in the first half of the 8th century. According to the legend, he was a man widely famed for his generosity (according to Tāranātha,² a son-in-law of the King of Kashmir), who finally, after he had given away all his treasures, went forth into the world as a mendicant monk. Once he met an old Brahman on the way, who complained to him that he was poor and needed money for his daughter's marriage. In order to procure the money for this man, Sarvajñamitra sold himself to a king who was just preparing a great human sacrifice for which he needed a hundred persons. When the poet heard the lamentations of his fellow-sufferers with whom he was to be sacrificed, he sang the hymn to Tārā, and the goddess came and rescued the hundred victims. Whilst the Sragdharā-Stotra has some poetical value, the Ārya-Tārā-Nāmāṣṭottaraśataka-Stotra, "the Song of praise consisting of 108 names of the noble Tārā," is a mere litany of names and titles of the goddess; and the Ekaviṃśati-Stotra, "the song of praise in 21 verses," is only a loose stringing together of invocations to the goddess Tārā.¹

v2.c19.s6.t5.16

² Geschichte des Buddhismus, p. 168 ff. In Rājatarangiṇī IV, 210, there is mention of the monk Sarvajñamitra, who appeared as a second Jina, and lived in the Kayya-Vihāra built by Kayya. Kayya was a king of Lāṭa, and was subject to King Lalitāditya, who reigned in Kashmir in the 8th century. *Cf.* S. Ch. *Vidyābhūṣana* in JASB 1, 1905, p. 156 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.17

¹ These three Stotras have been edited and translated by *G. de Blonay*, Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la déesse Bouddhique Tārā (Bibl. de l'école des hautes études, fasc. 107), Paris, 1895. The Sragdharā-Stotra (with commentary and two Tibetan versions) is also edited in Bauddha-Stotra-Saṃgraha, Vol. I, edited by Satis Chandra Vidyābhūṣaṇa, Bibl. Ind., 1908. In the introduction, the editor enumerates no fewer than 96 texts relating to Tārā. 62 of these have come down only in Tibetan translations. A great devotee of this goddess was Candragomin who has been mentioned above (p. 365), and to whom a Tārā-Sādhana-Śataka is ascribed (*Blonay*, l.c., p. 17 f.). The cult of Tārā was introduced in about the 6th century A.D. Hsüan-Tsang mentions statues of "Tārā-Bodhisattva," which he had seen in India. In the year 778 A.D. Ārya-Tārā was already worshipped in Java, where she has a gorgeous shrine. *Cf.* *Waddell* in JRAS, 1894, p. 63 ff. and OZ I, 178 ff.; *Blonay*, l.c., pp. 3, 5, 17; *H. Kern* in OZ II, 1914, p. 481, note 1.

v2.c19.s6.t5.18

The Bhakti-Śataka, "the Hundred (stanzas) on Bhakti,"² by Rāmacandra Kavibhāratī, a Brahman of Bengal, who came to Ceylon under King Parākramabāhu (about 1245 A.D.) and was converted to Buddhism, affords an example of how the Brahmanical-Indian idea of Bhakti or the love for God, was transferred to Buddha. In this work the Buddha is worshipped and praised, in the ornate style of poetry and in elaborate metres, as the only teacher, redeemer and dispenser of mercies, in precisely the same fashion as Rāma, Kṛṣṇa or Śiva in Brahmanical Bhakti poems. The work might just as well belong to the Mahāyāna as to the Hīnayāna, for it is essentially a Hindu poem as far as ideas are concerned. By way of example, I give a few verses (31-34) in translation :

v2.c19.s6.t5.19

² Edited by *Śīlaskandha* in Ceylon in 1885, and published by the Buddhist Text Society of India, Darjeeling 1896, and by Haraprasāda *Śāstrī* with an English translation in JBTS I, 1893, part 2, pp. 21-43; translated into German by Rudolf Otto, Texte zur indischen Gottesmystik II, Jena 1917, pp. 141-160. *Cf.* Haraprasāda *Śāstrī* in JASB Proceedings, 1890, p. 125 ff. and JBTS I, 1893, part III, p. iv ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.20

“ Be gracious, O Lord, ruler of the gods, ruler of the world, conqueror, O Buddha, who deservest to be worshipped by the world, to be worshipped by me, to be worshipped by the good, O enemy of sin, enemy of mundane existence, enemy of lust, enemy of darkness ! To thee verily am I devoted (bhakta) with body, speech, and thought.

He is a son of thy family, he is devoted to thee, he bears the burden of thy teaching, he is a disciple, he takes refuge with thee, he is thy slave,—he who never on any account swerves from thy command.

Doing good to the world, O Buddha, is worship to thee, doing evil to it, O Lord of the world, is pain to thee. O Jina, how should I, when doing evil to the world, not be ashamed of saying that I am devoted to thy lotus-feet !

Where is my mercy, where my sympathy, where my love, as I am doing evil, and not good, to that very world for whose benefit thou hast, in a hundred ways, given away wealth, men, power, life, body and kingdom ? ”

v2.c19.s6.t5.21

The Dhāraṇīs ¹ or “ Protective Spells ” ² constitute a large and important part of Mahāyānist literature. The need for incantations, benedictions, and magic spells, which was supplied in the very earliest times by the Vedic mantras, especially those of the Atharvaveda,³ played far too great a part in the mind of the Indian people, for Buddhism to have been able to dispense with them. We have already seen how the Buddhists of Ceylon used some of their most beautiful Suttas as Parittās or Pirits.¹ In a similar manner the Mahāyāna Buddhists in India also transformed some of the Sūtras themselves into magic formulas. In addition to these, there were also endless invocations to the divine beings of Buddhist and Hindu origin, so numerous in the Mahāyāna, and—last, but not least—the mysterious words and syllables already so popular in the sacrificial mysticism of the Yajurveda.² The protective and salutary magical power of a Dhāraṇī is primarily due to its containing some piece of wisdom *in nuce*, and not to any occult mystical significance of the words and syllables, though it is true that the Dhāraṇīs do also include “magic words” (mantrapadāni) of this kind.

v2.c19.s6.t5.22

¹ *Cf. Burnouf*, Introduction, pp 466, 482 ff.; *Wassiljew*, Der Buddhismus, pp. 153 ff., 193 ff., 217 ; *La Vallée Poussin*, Bouddhisme, Études et Matériaux, Mémoires Acad. Belg. 1898, p. 119 ff.; *L. A. Waddell* in OZ I, 1912, 155 ff. ; Ind. Ant. 43, 1914, 37 ff., 49 ff., 92 ff. ; *J. Hauer*, Die Dhāraṇī im nördlichen Buddhismus, Tübingen 1927, and *G. Tucci* in Ind. Hist. Q. IV, 1928, 553 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.23

² Dhāraṇī is a synonym of rakṣā and the Pāli parittā, “ protecting magic formula,” “ talisman.” *Cf. Kern* in OZ II, p. 481, note 2. According to the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, p. 399, the Dhāraṇīs are taught “ for the protection, safety and shelter of the preachers.” Dhāraṇīs are also used as amulets.

v2.c19.s6.t5.24

³ Above, Vol I, pp. 109 ff., 119 ff. The tale in the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna (Divyāvadāna, p. 613) is characteristic of the need for magic formulas, s. above, p. 286 f.

v2.c19.s6.t5.25

¹ See above, p. 80.

v2.c19.s6.t5.26

² See above, Vol. I, p. 185 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.27

For instance, the Prajñā-Pāramitā-Sūtras in their shortest form were used as Dhāraṇīs: thus the Alpākṣarā Prajñā-Pāramitā, etc.³ Special mention should here be made of the Prajñā-Pāramitā-hṛdaya-Sūtras, the shorter text of which we have in the ancient palm leaves, which have been kept since the year 609 A. D. in the monastery of Hôriuzi in Japan. These Sūtras teach the “heart” (hṛdaya) of the Prajñā-Pāramitā, *i.e.*, the “Mantra which alleviates all pain,” which contains the perfection of wisdom, and says: “O Enlightenment, which hast gone, gone, gone to the other shore, completely gone to the other shore,⁴ hail!” Even though this saying is, to a certain extent, supposed to present the essence of the negativist doctrine of the Prajñā-Pāramitā-Sūtras, its spiritual level is no higher than that of the Uṣṇīṣa-Vijaya-Dhāraṇī, which has also come down on the palm leaves of Hôriuzi, and only consists of a series of senseless invocations.¹ Many Prajñā-Pāramitā texts appear amongst the Dhāraṇīs in the Tibetan Kanjur.² There are also Dhāraṇīs in the Kanjur, whose function is to help people to understand the Śatasāhasrī Prajñā-Pāramitā and other long Prajñā-Pāramitās.³

v2.c19.s6.t5.28

³ See above, p. 316.

v2.c19.s6.t5.29

⁴ This is nothing but a false etymology of *pāramitā*.

v2.c19.s6.t5.30

¹ *Cf.* The Ancient Palm Leaves containing the Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra and the Uṣṇīṣa-vijayadhāraṇī edited by F. *Max Müller* and Bunyiu Nanjio (Anecdota Oxoniensia, Aryan Series, Vol. I, Part III), Oxford 1884 and SBE, Vol. 49, part II, p. 145 ff. Prajñā-Pāramitā-Hṛdaya-Sūtra translated from the Tibetan into French by *L. Feer* in AMG V, 176 ff. *Cf.* Haraprasāda *Śāstrī* in Ind. Hist. Q. I, 1925, p. 469.

v2.c19.s6.t5.31

² *Cf. Kőrös* in AMG II, 305, 307, 312, 314.

v2.c19.s6.t5.32

³ In a MS. of Dhāraṇīs (Rāj. Mitra, Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 292) there is also a Pañcaviṃśatikā-Prajñā-Pāramitā-hṛdaya. Another Dhāraṇī of this kind, is the Prajñā-Pāramitā-naya-Śata-Pañcāśatikā (or Adhyardha-Śatikā-Prajñā-Pāramitā) fragments of which have been found in the neighbourhood of Khotan, in Sanskrit, interspersed with sections in Khotanese. These fragments have been edited by E. *Leumann*, Zur nordarischen Sprache und Litteratur, Strassburg 1912, p. 84 ff.; reprinted and compared with the Tibetan and Chinese texts, by *Shōun Toganoo*, Kyoto 1917. There is also a Pratītya-Samutpāda-Dhāraṇī (*Kőrös*, AMG II, p. 321) which is intended to help one to understand the doctrine of causally dependent origination.

v2.c19.s6.t5.33

There is not always a clear line of demarcation between Dhāraṇīs and Sūtras. There are Mahāyāna-Sūtras which are nothing but recommendations of Dhāraṇīs. Thus the Aparimitāyuḥ-Sūtra,⁴ which we have not only in Sanskrit and Old Khotanese, but also in Chinese and Tibetan translations, is nothing more than the glorification of a Dhāraṇī. The Ratnolkā-Dhāraṇī, which is quoted in the Śikṣā-Samuccaya, might just as well be classed as a Mahāyāna-Sūtra. It is a long work; in which Mahāyāna doctrines are expounded, among other things the doctrine that a Bodhisattva should not aspire to salvation immediately, but is to be reborn again and again in various professions and sects, for the sake of the welfare of the beings: a long list of these professions and sects is enumerated.¹

v2.c19.s6.t5.34

⁴ The Old Khotanese Version together with the Sanskrit Text and the Tibetan Translation ed. by *Sten Konow* in Hoernle, Manuscript Remains, 1, pp. 289-329 (with English translation); Aparimitāyur-Jñāna-Nāma-Mahāyāna-Sūtram nach einer nepalesischen Sanskrit HS. mit der tibetischen und chinesischen Version herausgegeben und übersetzt von *Max Walleser* Heidelberg (Sitzungsber. der Akademie) 1916. According to the Chinese Version, the title reads: Arya-Aparimitāyuḥsuviniścita-tejo-rāja-dhāraṇī-sūtra. *Cf.* Hoernle in JRAS 1910, 834 ff., 1293; 1911, 468 ff., and E. *Leumann*, Zur nordarischen Sprache und Litteratur, pp. 75, 82 f.

v2.c19.s6.t5.35

¹ See *C. Bendall* in JRAS 1901, p. 122 ff. The Nārāyaṇa-Paripṛcchā, too, which is several times quoted in the Śikṣā-Samuccaya, is described as a Dhāraṇī in the colophon of a MS. (Haraprasāda Śāstrī, Descriptive Catalogue of Sansk. MSS. in Asiat. Soc. of Bengal, 1, p. 16 f.). On an Āryācala-Mahākrodharāja-Guhya-Dhāraṇī-Sūtra in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese, s. *C. Puini* in GSAI 3, 1889, p. 38 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.36

The Megha-Sūtra² is a good example of a Sūtra with Dhāraṇīs, written for the purposes of magic. It begins, like other Mahāyāna-Sūtras, with the words: "Thus have I heard; once the Lord sojourned in the palace of the serpent princes Nanda and Upananda," etc. It then relates how the snake deities offer adoration to the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas, whereupon one of the snake princes asks the Exalted One the following question:—

v2.c19.s6.t5.37

² Cf. *C. Bendall*, JRAS 1880, p. 286 ff. A Mahā-Megha-Sūtra was translated into Chinese as early as between 397 and 439 A.D., other translations were made between 589 and 618, and 746-771. *Cf. B. Nanjio*, Catalogue, Nos. 186-188, 244, 970. In the Tibetan Kanjur it is translated among the Sūtras (Mdo), s. *Körös*, AMG II, 264 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.38

"How, Lord, can all the pains of all snakes be alleviated, and how can the snakes be so pleased and delighted, that they may send down torrents of rain over India in due season and may thereby cause all grasses, shrubs, herbs and trees to grow, all seeds to sprout and all juices to flow forth, so that the people of India be blessed with happiness?" Pleased with the question, the Buddha replies: "By *one* religious exercise (Dharma), O snake-prince, all the pains of all snakes can be alleviated altogether, and they be blessed with happiness." "Which is this one religious exercise?" "It is friendliness (maitrī). The gods and men, O snake-prince, who thus live in friendliness, are not burnt by fire, not injured by the sword, not carried away by water, not killed by poison, not overcome by the enemy's host. They sleep calmly and calmly they waken, they are protected by their own virtue......Therefore, O snake-prince, you must act in friendliness with your body, in friendliness in your speech, in friendliness with your mind. And further, O snake-prince, you must use the Dhāraṇī called Sarvasukhandadā ('the all-hail-bringing'). This alleviates all the pains of all the snakes, brings all salvation, then brings the torrents of rain down over India here in due season, and causes all grasses, shrubs, herbs and

v2.c19.s6.t5.39

trees to grow, all seeds to sprout and all juices to flow forth. And how goes this Dhāraṇī?"

v2.c19.s6.t5.40

Then follow the actual Dhāraṇīs, which consist of numerous invocations to female deities (as "holder," "supporter," etc.), to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, between which sentences (such as "Shake off the evil," "Cleanse the paths") and exorcisms against snakes (such as "Come, O great snakes...rain in India") are inserted, and lastly, of syllables scattered here and there (such as "sara sire sire suru suru nāgānāṃ java java jivi jivi juvu juvu," etc.). A description of the magic rites which are performed with these Dhāraṇīs is added, and it ends with the assurance that, in times of drought, there are no better means of inducing rain to fall, than the use of this Sūtra.¹

v2.c19.s6.t5.41

¹ A much simpler form of a snake charm, which, however, is to serve as a means of warding off snake-bite, is already to be found in the Vinaya-Piṭaka, Culla-Vagga V, 6, where the snakes are appeased by the Buddhist friendliness (metta, maitrī). Cf. also Jātaka 203, Dīgha-Nikāya 32, and Aṅguttara-Nikāya IV, 67 (Vol. II, p. 72). A Sūtra, similar to the Megha-Sūtra, is the Diśa-Svastika-Sūtra, which has come down to us in the Uiguric language in a fragment from Turfan (Tiśastvustik by W. Radloff and Baron A. von Staël-Holstein, Bibl. Buddhica XII, St. Petersburg, 1910).

v2.c19.s6.t5.42

Similarly, the Dhāraṇīs often appear as parts of Sūtras which relate the circumstances under which they were proclaimed. There are, however, also numerous Dhāraṇīs which have come down singly in manuscripts, and on the other hand, large collections of Dhāraṇīs.² We find there exorcism formulas against the influence of ill-omened constellations, against poison, snakes and demons, spells for the healing of diseases and the lengthening of life, magic spells for bringing luck in war, others which cause a person to be reborn in the Sukhāvatī paradise, to ensure against a bad rebirth, and to secure release from sin; there are also such by which a person can conjure up a Bodhisattva or protect himself from unbelief. It is not only the elements which can be influenced by Dhāraṇīs, but they bring about the birth of a son or a daughter according to the wish of the expectant mother. The collection of five Dhāraṇīs entitled "Pañcarakṣā" is extremely popular in Nepal. These "Five Protecting Spells" are as follows: (1) Mahā-Pratisarā, for protection against sin, disease and other evils, (2) Mahā-Sahasrapramardinī, against evil spirits, (3) Mahā-Māyūrī, against snake-poison, (4) Mahā-Śītavatī, against hostile planets, wild animals and poisonous insects, and (5) Mahā(rakṣā)mantrānusāriṇī against diseases.¹ The Mahā-Māyūrī, frequently entitled Vidyārājñī, "Queen of Secret Sciences,"² takes its name from the notorious hostility of the peacocks (mayūra) towards the snakes, but it was also used as a general remedy for diseases. In Chapter V of the Harṣacarita, Bāṇa tells us how Harṣavardhana entered the palace of his father who was lying sick unto death, and that all kinds of sacrifices and ceremonies were performed, and that among other things, the Mahā-Māyūrī was recited.³ Most probably this Dhāraṇī can be traced back to the same sources as the verses in the Mora-Jātaka (No. 159) and the

v2.c19.s6.t5.43

² E.g. Dhāraṇī-(mantra)-saṃgraha, Raj. Mitra, Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 80 f. Other single Dhāraṇīs and collections of Dhāraṇīs, l.c., pp. 93 f., 174, 176, 267 f., 283, 291 f. Numerous MSS. of Dhāraṇīs are also included in Bendall's Catalogue. La Vallée Poussin, JRAS 1895, p. 433 f., assumes that a "Vidyādhara-Piṭaka" quoted in the Ādikarma-Pradīpa and in the Śikṣā-Samuccaya, p. 142, is the same as a Dhāraṇī-Piṭaka. According to Hsüan-Tsang, a Dhāraṇī-Piṭaka of this kind was contained in the Canon of the Mahā-Sāṅghikas (Kern, Manual, p. 4).

v2.c19.s6.t5.44

¹ *Cf. Rāj. Mitra*, Nep. Buddh. Lit., pp. 164 ff., 173 f. *Winternitz* and *Keith*, Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS. in the Bodleian Library, Vol. II, p 257 ff. In the Nepalese courts of justice, the Buddhists are sworn on the Pañcarakṣā (*Hodgson*, Essays, p. 18).

v2.c19.s6.t5.45

² *Cf. J. Przyluski* in BEFEO 23, 1923, p. 308 f.

v2.c19.s6.t5.46

³ Harṣacarita, transl. by *E. B. Cowell* and *F. W. Thomas*, p. 137. Furthermore, a verse by Rājaśekhara in Jalhaṇa's Sūktimuktāvalī contains an allusion to the Māyūrī vidyā:

v2.c19.s6.t5.47

darpaṃ kavibhujāṅgānāṃ gatā śravaṇagocaram |
viṣavidyeva māyūrī Māyūrī vāg nikṛntati ||

v2.c19.s6.t5.48

"The speech of (the poet) Mayūra destroys the pride of the poets, when it comes within reach of their ears, just as the peacock science against poison (destroys the pride) of the snakes (when it comes within reach of their ears)"; *Cf. G. P. Quackenbos*, The Sanskrit Poems of Mayūra, CUIS 1917, Intron., p. 5.

v2.c19.s6.t5.49

similar incantations in the snake-charms which we have in the Bower manuscript.¹

v2.c19.s6.t5.50

¹ Cf. *Waddell* in OZ I, 166 ff. The Mahā-Māyūrī (in a longer and a shorter form) has been translated into Chinese repeatedly, by Śrīmitra (307-342 A.D.), by Saṅghapāla (516 A.D.), I-tsing (705 A.D.) and Amoghavajra (746-771 A.D.). Cf. *K. Watanabe* in JRAS 1907, p. 261 ff., *Lévi* in JA 1915, s. 11, t. V, pp. 19 ff., 26; and *Bagchi*, I, pp. 320, 417.

v2.c19.s6.t5.51

Moreover, the Dhāraṇīs penetrated to a great extent into the ancient Mahāyāna-Sūtras. We have found them in Chapters XXI and XXVI, *i.e.* those chapters which were added at a later time, of the Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka, and also in the last two chapters of the Laṅkāvatāra, chapters which are missing in the earliest Chinese translation of 443 A.D. Thus we see that they are a later element in the Mahāyāna-Sūtras. Nevertheless we should not regard them as a very modern product of Buddhist literature, for we already find them in Chinese translations made as early as in the 4th century A.D.² And if the passage in the longer Sukhāvatī-Vyūha (VIII, 33) where it says that the beings in Sukhāvatī receive Dhāraṇīs, was already included in the text which was translated into Chinese in the 2nd century A.D., we should be compelled to assume that there were Dhāraṇīs as early as that period. It is not possible, however, to trace the Dhāraṇīs back to the early days of Buddhism, much less to Buddha himself.³ It is true that Buddha lived in an environment of people who believed in the power of magic spells: but if there is one thing which we *do* know of Buddha, it is that he desired to bear a new message to his compatriots, a message which was at variance with the old Brahmanical cult of sacrifices and magic. The Dhāraṇīs belong to a period at which Buddhism in India began to be more and more assimilated to Hinduism,¹ while outside India it tended to make compromises and to become contaminated by the popular religions of the countries in question. In the course of time the difference between the Dhāraṇīs, and the Mantras belonging to the Tantras, became more and more obliterated, and finally the Dhāraṇīs were completely supplanted by the Mantras. In the Tibetan Kanjur the Dhāraṇīs are to be found both among the Sūtras (Mdo) and the Tantras (Rgyut).² The numerous fragments of Dhāraṇīs in various languages of Central Asia, which have been found in Eastern Turkestan,³ and also the large amount of space which the Dhāraṇīs occupy in the Tibetan Kanjur and the Chinese Tripiṭaka, are evidence of the great popularity and wide propagation of this literature in all Buddhist countries.

v2.c19.s6.t5.52

² Śrīmitra (307-342 A.D.) translated more Dhāraṇīs than anything else, s. *Bagchi*, I, 319 f.

v2.c19.s6.t5.53

³ Thus *Waddell* in OZ I, 155 ff. The expression Dhāraṇī first occurs in the Lalita-Vistara and Saddarma-Puṇḍarīka. *Waddell* (Asiatic Quart. Review, N.S., I, 1913, p. 293 ff.) compares the Dhāraṇīs with the magic formulas of the Nestorian Christians, and is of opinion that these formulas are derived from Chaldean ones, and that even the Buddhist magic formulas came to India from Chaldea and Iran. This is very unlikely, when we take the universality of protecting magic formulas into consideration; we need only compare, for instance, ERE III, 392-472, and VIII, 245-321. *J. W. Hauer* (Die Dhāraṇī, etc. 1927) has pointed out the similarity between the Dhāraṇīs and the Mithras liturgy, but he is right in not assuming anything beyond a parallel development.

v2.c19.s6.t5.54

¹ It is significant that there is a Gaṇapati-Dhāraṇī, addressed to the Śivaite god Gaṇapati, in spite of the fact that it is "proclaimed by Buddha"; s. Rāj. Mitra, Nep Buddh. Lit., pp. 89 f., 292.

v2.c19.s6.t5.55

² Kőrös in AMG II, 249, 318 ff., 561 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.56

³ A fragment of a Nīlakaṇṭha-Dhāraṇī, brought from Central Asia by M. A. Stein, Sanskrit text in Brāhmī script and in Sogdienne transcription, has been edited by *La Vallée Poussin* and R. *Gauthiot* in JRAS 1912, 629 ff This Dhāraṇī was already very popular in China between 650 and 750 A.D., s. *Lévi* in JRAS 1912, 1063 ff. Dhāraṇīs in Uiguric language (Uṣṇīṣa-Vijayā, Sitātapatrā) have been edited from Central Asian block prints, by F. W. K. *Müller*, Uigurica II, in ABA 1911, pp. 27 ff., 50 ff. A Jñānolka-Dhāraṇī in the Khotanese language, has been edited by E. *Leumann*, Buddhistische Literatur Nordarisch und Deutsch, Leipzig 1920 (AKM XV, 2), p. 151 ff. A Central Asian fragment of a Mahā-Pratyaṅgirā-Dhāraṇī in Sanskrit, containing invocations to Tārā, has been edited by *Hoernle*, in Hoernle Manuscript Remains, I, p. 52 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.57

Mantrayāna and Vajrayāna are branches of the Mahāyāna, from which they are not separated by any hard and fast line of demarcation. Mantrayāna is the "vehicle" in which the Mantras, words and syllables of mysterious power, are the chief means of attaining salvation. Vajrayāna is the "vehicle" which leads men to salvation not only by using- Mantras, but by means of all things which are denoted by the word vajra. Now vajra is a word with many meanings. It means "diamond," and denotes everything which is hard and impermeable, which cannot be cleft, nor burnt, nor destroyed. Vajra also means the "thunderbolt," the weapon of the god Indra, who appears in Buddhist mythology as Vajrapāṇi, "he who holds the Vajra in his hand." It is also the name for the weapon of the ascetics and monks when fighting against hostile powers. Then again, the Sūnya, the indescribable absolute, which is taught by the Mādhyamikas to be the sole reality, and also the Vijñāna or consciousness, which according to the Yogācāryas is the sole reality,—both of these are described as being indestructible as a Vajra. Lastly, in the mystic language of some of the adherents of the Vajrayāna, and that of the Śāktas, Vajra also means the male organ, just as Padma, "the lotus," serves as a term to describe the female sexual organ. Furthermore the Vajrayāna teaches a monistic (Advaita) philosophy. All beings are Vajra beings (vajrasattva), and the one and only Vajrasattva is immanent in all beings. In addition to the "three bodies" (Trikāya) of a Buddha, the Śāktas have a fourth body, the "body of happiness" (sukhakāya), with which the eternal Buddha embraces his Śakti, Tārā or Bhagavatī. This "highest bliss" (mahāsukha) is attained by the adepts of the Buddhist Śākta religion, in like manner as the non-Buddhist Śāktas,¹ by a ritual connected with the enjoyment of meat, intoxicating liquors and sexual intercourse. Thus the Vajrayāna is a queer mixture of monistic philosophy, magic and erotics, with a small admixture of Buddhist ideas.

v2.c19.s6.t5.58

¹ See above, Vol. I, 594.

v2.c19.s6.t5.59

We have seen that there is no rigid boundary-line between the Mahāyāna and the Mantrayāna-Vajrayāna: and the same may be said of the Mahāyāna-Sūtras and the Tantras,¹ the literature of the Mantrayāna and Vajrayāna. As we have already seen, there are some Mahāyāna-Sūtras which contain Tantric sections,² and the Tantras treat not only of the rites of the Vajrayāna, but also of the ritual of the Mahāyānist cult (the erection of Stūpas, construction and setting up of images, Stotras and daily sacrifices), as well as sections on the philosophical doctrines of the Mahāyāna. The only thing which distinguishes the Buddhist Tantras from the Tantras of the Śāktas,³ is the sparse element of Buddhism which is still to be found in them. There are four classes of Buddhist Tantras: Kriyā-Tantras, which treat of ceremonies at the building of temples, erection of images of gods, etc.; Caryā-Tantras, which teach the practical cult; Yoga-Tantras, which deal with the practice of Yoga, and Anuttarayoga-Tantras, which deal with higher mysticism.⁴

v2.c19.s6.t5.60

¹ *Cf. Burnouf*, Introduction, pp. 465 ff., 486 ff.. 578 f.; *Wassiljew*, Der Buddhismus, p. 201 ff.; *La Vallée Poussin*, Bouddhisme, Études et Matériaux, Mém. Acad. Belg., t. 55, 1898, pp. 72 ff., 130 ff., 162 ff.; Bouddhisme, pp. 343 ff., 378 ff.; OC Paris 1899, I, 241 ff.; ERE XII, 193 ff.; *J. Woodroffe*, Shakti and Shâkta, 2nd Ed., Madras, 1920, pp. 30, 116 ff.; *J. N. Farquhar*, Outline of the Religious Literature of India, pp. 209 ff., 272 f.; *Benoytosh Bhattacharyya* in Ind. Hist. Qu. III, 1927, p. 733 ff., and Sādhanamālā, II, Introduction. Extracts from texts of Tantras are contained in the anthology Subhāṣita-Saṃgraha, edited by *C. Bendall* in Le Muséon, N. S. IV, 1903, and V, 1904.

v2.c19.s6.t5.61

² See above, pp. 309, 339.

v2.c19.s6.t5.62

³ See above, Vol. I, 591 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.63

⁴ *Cf. La Vallée Poussin* in JRAS, 1901, p. 900 f.

v2.c19.s6.t5.64

Among the first class of Tantras we have the Ādikarma-Pradīpa.⁵ This is a work which, in the style of the Brahmanical manuals of ritual (Gṛhya-Sūtras, Karma-Pradīpas) describes the ceremonies and religious acts which the "Ādikarmika-Bodhisattva," *i.e.* the adherent of the Mahāyāna and candidate for enlightenment, has to perform. The work consists of a Sūtra text (Mūla-Sūtra) with a running commentary, and contains precepts on the initiation ceremonies for the disciple (who can be a layman or a monk), sprinklings, washings and prayers, rules for rinsing the mouth, cleaning the teeth, morning and evening devotions, offerings of water for the departed (Pretas), almsgiving, meals, worshipping of the Buddhas and other sacred beings, reading of the Prajñā-Pāramitā, meditations, and so on, as they are to be performed at the various times of the day by the candidate (the beginner as opposed to the accomplished Yogin).

v2.c19.s6.t5.65

⁵ Edited with Introduction and analysis of contents, by *La Vallée Poussin*, Bouddhisme, Études et Matériaux, Mém. Acad. Belg. 1898, pp. 177-232. The Kriyā-Saṃgraha-Pañjikā by Kuladatta, in which detailed prescriptions are given for the erection of monasteries (Vihāras) is most probably also a ritual work of similar nature. (*Rāj. Mitra*, Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 105 ff.), and *Haraprasāda Śāstrī*, Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS. in As. Soc. of Bengal, I, 119 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.66

The Aṣṭamīvrata-Vidhāna, too, which contains the rules for the ceremonies to be performed on every eighth day of every half month, belongs to the Kriyā-Tantra texts. Mystical diagrams and intertwinings of the fingers are employed, and sacrificial gifts and prayers (with mysterious syllables such as "hrum hrum hrum phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā") are addressed not only to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, but to Śivaite deities also.¹

v2.c19.s6.t5.67

¹ *Cf.* H. H. *Wilson*, Works, II, p. 81 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.68

In the Tantric ritual literature we have also the Sādhanas or works on magic ritual. These teach the methods by which a person can attain to Siddhi, *i.e.* "perfection" or mysterious powers, and become a Siddha, "an accomplished one." The virtue of these Siddhis is that the Siddha has the power of making himself small, large or light, at his own will, can penetrate into other bodies, can rise and move about in the air can converse with heavenly beings, can obtain everything he desires, can have gods and goddesses, men and women in his power, has the power of healing diseases by merely looking at the sufferer, and also of attaining omniscience and Nirvāṇa at will. The methods taught in the Sādhanas consist of using the Mantras according to very detailed instructions, the use of certain positions of the fingers (Mudrās) ; and most specially is it emphasized that the Sādhaka is to become absorbed in meditation (Dhyāna) on some deity, and is to bring that deity before his mind in so intensive a fashion that he becomes entirely identified with it.[^1) For the purposes of this identification it is essential that the deity be accurately described in every detail. These descriptions were utilised by the sculptors and painters in the construction of images of the gods. It is for this reason that the Sādhanas, which are collected in such works as the Sādhanamālā or Sādhana-Samuccaya,[^2) are of the very greatest importance from the point of view of Buddhist iconography. The deities which are worshipped in these Sādhanas, are the Dhyāni-Buddhas and their "families," and also numerous forms of Tārā and other female deities. There is also a Buddhist god of love, Vajrānaṅga, an incarnation of Mañjuśrī, who is invoked in Sādhanas (Nos. 59 and 60) where it is taught how a man can get a woman into his power. The essential content of the Sādhanas is magic. It is true that the preparations for the magic ritual also include Yoga exercises, meditations, devotion (pūjā), confession of sins, love (maitrī) and mercy (karuṇā). For this reason we find, for instance, in the very long

v2.c19.s6.t5.69

[^1): *Cf.* *La Vallée Poussin* in ERE VIII, 406. [^2): *Sādhanamālā*, ed. by Benoytosh Bhattacharyya in GOS, Nos. XXVI, XLI, Baroda 1925, 1928. *Cf.* F. W. Thomas, *Deux collections Sanscrites et Tibétaines de Sādhanas*, Muséon IV, 1903, No. 1; Vidhushekhara *Bhattacharyya* and K. S. Ramaswami Sastri in Ind. Hist. Qu. II, 1926, 626 ff. and III, 161 ff.; A. *Foucher*, Etude sur l'iconographie bouddhique (Bibl. de l'école des hautes études 13, II, 1905); Benoytosh *Bhattacharyya*, The Indian Buddhist Iconography mainly based on the Sādhanamālā and other cognate Tantric Texts and Rituals, Oxford, 1924.

v2.c19.s6.t5.70

Tārā-Sādhana,¹) not only meditations and Mantras, but also a confession of sins, the confession of faith in the "three jewels," the vow to walk in the path of the Buddhas, the Brahmavihāra absorptions, *i.e.* the yielding to the feelings of love, pity, sympathy in joy, and equanimity, together with detailed definitions of these qualities. The language of the Sādhanas is a very frequently defective Sanskrit, and the metre of the verses is very irregular. Of the 312 Sādhanas contained in the Sādhanamālā, some are in prose and are quite short, others are longer, with verse Mantras, and a few are entirely in verse. Every single Sādhana is an independent work. Most of them are anonymous, whilst in a number of cases, the name of the author of the Sādhana is mentioned. The authors mentioned in them belong to the 7th-11th centuries A.D., as far as their period can be determined. As a manuscript of the Sādhanamālā was written in the year 1165, the collection must have been compiled in the 11th century.

v2.c19.s6.t5.71

¹ No. 98. Text and English translation by B. *Bhattacharyya*, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, p. 169 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.72

The authors mentioned in the Sādhanamālā also appear in other places as authors of Tantras. One Sādhana (No. 159 which is dedicated to the worship of the Prajñā-Pāramitā, is attributed to Asaṅga. It is scarcely feasible, however, that Asaṅga himself should already have written Tantric works, though there seems to be a historical connection between the Yogācāra school and the rise of the Vajrayāna.²) The Nāgārjuna who is mentioned as the author of Sādhanas and numerous Tantric works, is not the founder of the Mādhyamika system, but a teacher, who probably lived about the middle of the 7th century. It is said of him that he brought a Sādhana from the land of Bhoṭa (Tibet ?). Many of his Tantric works are to be found in the Tanjur.¹ A great Tantra teacher, to whom a Sādhana is also attributed, is Indrabhūti (about 687-717 A.D.), the author of Jñānasiddhi and numerous other Tantric works.² He was a king of Uḍḍiyāna (Orissa ?) and father of Padmasambhava, the founder of Lamaism. Padmavajra,³ whose Guhyasiddhi has come down to us in Sanskrit, was a contemporary of Indrabhūti. In this work, which is written in the "Sandhā-language,"⁴ all the secret rites of the Vajrayāna are described and recommended. Lakṣmīṃkarā, who, in her Advayasiddhi, proclaimed novel, monistic doctrines, which were called Sahajayāna, and which are even at the present day prevalent among the Bāuls in Bengal, was a sister of Indrabhūti. She refutes asceticism, ceremonies and the worship of images, and recommends only meditation on the body in which all the gods dwell.⁵ Another prominent Tantra authoress is Sahajayoginī Cintā (about 761 A.D.), and indeed it is no rare thing to find women among the writers of Tantric works.⁶

v2.c19.s6.t5.73

² Tāranātha (Geschichte des Buddhismus, p. 201) says that Tantrism was handed down by secret means from the time of Asaṅga until the time of Dharmakīrti, and Benoytosh *Bhattacharyya* (Ind. Hist. Q. III, 736 f. and Sādhanamālā, III, pp. xxiii ff., xxvii f.) believes that Asaṅga actually had something to do with the rise of the Vajrayāna. It seems to me that Tāranātha's statement is accounted for by the mere fact that the adherents of the Vajrayāna had an interest in ascribing a greater antiquity to their doctrines. S. *Lévi* thought he could detect an allusion to Tantric rites in Mahāyāna-Sūtrālaṃkāra IX, 46 (which he attributed to Asaṅga). I am unable to see this allusion.

v2.c19.s6.t5.74

¹ Cf. *B. Bhattacharyya*, Sādhanamālā II, pp. xlvi, cvi ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.75

² *B. Bhattacharyya*, l.c., pp. xli ff., li ff., xcviii f. [23 of his works are translated in the Tanjur. In Sanskrit only the Kurukullā-Sādhana (Sādhanamālā No. 174) and the Jñānasiddhi have come down. On the latter (an edition is to appear in GOS) s. *Bhattacharyya*, l.c., p. lii f.

v2.c19.s6.t5.76

³ *B. Bhattacharyya*, l.c., pp. xxvii, xlvii ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.77

⁴ *Haraprasāda Sāstrī* called this language Sandhyā-bhāṣā or "twilight-language," Panchcowrie Banerjee (Visva Bharati Quarterly, 1924, p. 265) called it the language of the borderland between the ancient Āryāvarta and the actual Bengal. *Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya* (Ind. Hist. Q. IV, 1928, p. 287 ff.) has, however, shown that the correct name is Sandhā-bhāṣā, and means "intentional speech," *i.e.*, enigmatical speech in which a secret meaning is intended.

v2.c19.s6.t5.78

⁵ *B. Bhattacharyya*, l.c., p. liv f.

v2.c19.s6.t5.79

⁶ *B. Bhattacharyya*, l.c., pp. liv ff., lviii f.

v2.c19.s6.t5.80

The earliest Tantras are difficult to distinguish from the Mahāyāna-Sūtras. It may be that Mahāyāna doctrines mingled with Tantric rites, or perhaps works which were originally Sūtras, were remodelled into Tantras. Among the earlier Tantras we have the Tathāgata-Guhyaka or Guhyasamāja, which was a very authoritative work as early as in the 7th century. It was an authority for Indrabhūti,¹ and even in the Śikṣā-Samuccaya a Tathāgata-Guhya-Sūtra is quoted several times.² The passages quoted, however, teach a pure Mahāyāna morality, and appear to have been culled from a Mahāyāna-Sūtra rather than from a Tantra, for instance:

v2.c19.s6.t5.81

¹ According to one tradition, Asaṅga is even supposed to have written an introduction to the work. *Cf.* B. Bhattacharyya, l.c., pp. xxvii f., xxxv.

v2.c19.s6.t5.82

² According to Watters (s. Śikṣāsamuccaya, ed. C. Bendall, p. 274, note), the work cited by Śāntideva corresponds to the Chinese translation made in about the year 1000 A.D. [Nanjio, Nos. 23 (3), 1043], in which the title corresponds to a Tathāgatācintya-guhyanirdeśa, and which is a Mahāyāna-Sūtra entirely different from the Tantra described by Rāj. Mitra. K. Watanabe (JRAS 1907, p. 664) says that Nanjio No. 1027 corresponds to the Śrīguhyasamāja-Tantrarāja, and adds: "Some parts of the original text which are not fit for publication as Dr. Rājendralāla Mitra indicates...are omitted in the Chinese."

v2.c19.s6.t5.83

"In whom does the Will to Enlightenment arise, O Lord?" He said: "In that one, O great king, who has formed the immutable resolve to obtain it." He said: "O Lord, and who has this immutable resolve?" He said: "He, O great king, in whom the great pity has arisen." He said: "In whom, O Lord, has the great pity arisen?" He said: "In him, O great king, who does not desert any living being." He said: "In what way, Lord, is no living being deserted?" He said: "O great king, it is by renouncing one's own welfare."

v2.c19.s6.t5.84

In another passage it is explained: All beings are released from everything evil and from all ills by the contact of a Bodhisattva who is permeated with the Dharmakāya. This is illustrated by the parable of the "medicine girl:"³ Jīvaka the king of physicians, had taken all the medicaments and formed them into a girl. All the sick people who came to him, were then united with this girl, after which they were immediately healed.

v2.c19.s6.t5.85

³ A counterpart to the "poison girl" well known in narrative literature.

v2.c19.s6.t5.86

Then, in another quotation, the ten things are enumerated, by means of which a Bodhisattva acquires power : “Here, O great king, a Bodhisattva gives up his body and his life, but he does not give up the good religion. He bows his head before all beings, and does not allow his pride to rise. He has patience with the feeble beings and does not put any difficulties in their way. He gives the best, excellent food to those beings who are suffering from hunger. He gives security to those beings who fear. He is full of zeal for the complete healing of the sick. He satisfies the poor with riches. He repairs the shrines of the Tathāgata by lumps of plaster. He brings glad tidings to the beings. He shares his possessions with the poor and the unfortunate. He bears the burden of those who are weary and exhausted.”

v2.c19.s6.t5.87

It is true that the Tantra described by Rājendralāla Mitra² also begins with instructions as to various kinds of meditation, but, for the most part, it merely teaches Mantras and Yantras, and as a means to the highest perfection the enjoyment of meat, as well as daily sexual intercourse with young and beautiful Caṇḍāla girls. Whether this Tantra is a later variant of an earlier Mahāyāna-Sūtra, or whether it is entirely different from the work cited in the Śikṣā-Samuccaya, can only be decided by a comparison of the Chinese translation with the Sanskrit manuscripts.³

v2.c19.s6.t5.88

² Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 261 ff.

v2.c19.s6.t5.89

³ Haraprasāda Śāstrī (Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS. in the… As. Soc. of Bengal, I, 1917, pp. 17-21 and 72) describes 3 MSS. of the work, in which the Vajrapāṇi-Guhyakādhipati and the Bodhisattva Śāntimati appear in conversation. Śāntimati is also addressed in a quotation in Śikṣā-Samuccaya, p. 242. H. Śāstrī assumes that the earliest of the three parts of the work is a Mahāyāna-Vaipulya-Sūtra, whilst the later parts belong to the Vajrayāna. Cf. also B. Bhattacharyya in Ind. Hist. Q. III, pp. 737, 742 f. and Sādhanamālā II, pp. xxvii f., xxxv.

v2.c19.s6.t5.90

The Pañcakrama⁴ is said to be an extract from the Guhyasamāja. It is an Anuttarayoga-Tantra, and deals more with Yoga than with the actual Tantric usages. As the name implies, the Pañcakrama is a presentation of the "five stages," the last of which is the final possession of the highest Yoga. The preliminary stages consist of the purification of body, speech and mind, so that these receive the "diamond nature"¹ of the body, the speech and the mind of the Buddhas. However, the means for attaining the five stages are magic circles, magic formulas, mysterious syllables and the worshipping of Mahāyānist and Tantric deities. In this manner, the Yogin reaches the highest stage of all, where all differences cease and where no duality of any kind exists. Of this Yogin it is said (VI, 30 ff.):

v2.c19.s6.t5.91

¹ Śikṣā-Samuccaya, pp. 7 f., 158 f., 274.

v2.c19.s6.t5.92

⁴ Edited, with an Introduction, by *La Vallée Poussin*, Études et Textes Tantriques (Recueil de Travaux publiés par la faculté de philosophie et lettres, Université de Gand, fasc. 16), Gand et Louvain 1896. Cf. *Burnouf*, Introduction, p. 497 ff. *La Vallée Poussin* in CO Genève 1894, I, pp. 137-146. and Bouddhisme, Études et Matériaux, Mém. Ac. Belg. 1898, p. 146: "manuel qui se présente comme un extrait ou résumé du Guhya samāja-Tantra."

v2.c19.s6.t5.93

¹ For the nature of Vajra, see above p. 388. [^2): A Pañcakramopadeśa Śrīghaṇṭa is mentioned in the Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit MSS. in the Royal Asiatic Society, by E. B. Cowell and J. Eggeling (JRAS, 1876, reprint p. 28).

v2.c19.s6.t5.94

"He feels towards his enemy as towards himself; his mother is to him as his wife; a harlot is to him as his mother; a Brahman woman is to him as a Dombī (a female musician of the lowest caste); the skin of an animal is to him as a garment; a blade of straw is like a precious stone, wine is like urine, food is like mud, an insult like a hymn of praise, Indra like Rudra, day like night, what he has seen is like a dream, things which exist are like things which have been destroyed, pain is like pleasure, his son is like a rascal, heaven is like hell—and thus even good and evil are one and the same to him."

v2.c19.s6.t5.95

Śākyamitra is mentioned as the author of Section III of the work, which consists of five sections: the other four sections are attributed to Nāgārjuna, which probably means the Tantra writer of this name (see above, pp. 392 f.). Śākyamitra is mentioned by Tāranātha as a contemporary of Devapāla of Bengal (about 850 A.D.).[^2)

v2.c19.s6.t5.96

A work which describes itself as a Mahā-Vaipulya-Mahāyāna-Sūtra and as belonging to the Avataṃsaka, is the Mañjuśrī-Mūla-Kalpa.¹ Nevertheless, as far as its contents are concerned, the work is entirely in the spirit of the Mantrayāna. In the major portion of the work, Śākyamuni speaks in a large assembly, but addresses himself only to Mañjuśrī. In the first three chapters Mañjuśrī himself speaks, and in the last two chapters the goddess Vijayā. Śākyamuni gives Mañjuśrī instructions as to magic rites with Mantras, Mudrās, Maṇḍalas, etc. In Chap. IX, for instance, the “great king of sciences,” the Mantra of Mañjuśrī, is taught, which includes all sciences within itself, by means of which one can attain all things, which destroys all the Mantras of evil-doers, blots out all sins, etc.—this is the “kllhuṃ” Mantra. In Chapter XIV the same powers are claimed for the “bhrūṃ” Mantra. There is very little trace of Buddhism in this manual of magic, though the worship of the “three jewels” is mentioned in Chap. 47. The work was translated into Chinese as a Mahā-Vaipulya-Sūtra between 980 and 1000 A.D. and into Tibetan as a Tantra in the 11th century.²

v2.c19.s6.t5.97

¹ Edited by T. Gaṇapati Śāstrī in TSS, Nos. LXX and LXXVI, 1920, 1922. *Cf.* J. Przyluski in BEFEO, t. XXIII, 1923, p. 301 ff. and B. Bhattacharyya, Sādhanamālā II, p. xxxivf.

v2.c19.s6.t5.98

² Kőrös in AMG II, 313 f. It is frequently cited by Tibetan scholars. The Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī also occurs in the titles of other Tantra works. The Mañjuśrī-nāma-saṅgīti (edited by Minayeff in his Russian work on Buddhism, Petrograd 1887) admits of a double interpretation, one purely philosophical and the other Tantric with allusions to Śākta rites. Thus according to *La Vallée Poussin* in ERE XII, 194.

First 98 of 122 passages. Read on

Linked texts (60)