Toh 471The Myth Chapter

Summary

The Myth Chapter concisely relates the story
of Vajrabhairava’s subjugation of Yama and his entourage. The text describes how
Vajrabhairava crushes the city of Yama and forces its inhabitants to surrender.
He then binds them under oath and empowers them to serve as protectors of his
teachings. The text also presents the root mantra of Vajrabhairava, which
encapsulates the essential life force of Yama and his followers.

Acknowledgements

This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation
team. Bruno Galasek-Hul produced the translation and wrote the introduction.
Ryan Damron edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins
copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication
process.

Introduction

In The Myth Chapter, Vajrabhairava, a
tantric deity considered to be the wrathful emanation of Mañjuśrī, travels
to the city of Yama that lies beyond the southern ocean and easily crushes
the iron city. This prompts Yama and his followers to surrender to him and
offer him their life force, which takes the form of syllables constituting
the thirty-two syllable mantra of Vajrabhairava. Vajrabhairava subsequently
teaches the mantra and then empowers Yama and his followers to become
servants of liberation. He also commands the female inhabitants of Yama’s
city to uphold his teachings during the final five-hundred-year period of
the Dharma by supporting the activities of yogins and vidyādharas. Once they
all have given their word, Vajrabhairava releases them.

The Myth Chapter begins rather abruptly
and lacks the traditional introductory formulas of Buddhist scripture that
establishes the time, location, and setting for the discourse. In common
with many Buddhist tantras, the fact that the text omits this formula can be
attributed to the text’s status as an extraction of a longer, complete text
that is inaccessible in the human realm. One such account for the
Vajrabhairava cycle states that the Indian siddha Lalitavajra received the
transmission of the Vajrabhairava corpus from the ḍākinīs in Oḍḍiyāna and
was only allowed to copy and take as much of the text with him back to India
as he was able to recite and memorize in seven days. The colophon of the Vajrabhairava Tantra

itself states that the tantras of the Vajrabhairava cycle are mere extracts
from a much more comprehensive tantra. That
The Myth Chapter can be considered such an
extract is further indicated by its title, which identifies the text as a
rtog pa (Skt. kalpa). While this term often
refers to a “ritual” or “procedure,” it can also refer to a section or
chapter of a larger work.

The Myth Chapter sparked a degree of
controversy in Tibet. According to Tāranātha, some scholars considered
The Myth Chapter to be a spurious tantra
(rdzun rgyud) because it contains content that suggests a Tibetan
provenance. For example, the text includes a reference to non-human beings
named tsen (btsan), an indigenous class of beings with no known Indic
equivalent. Tāranātha,
however, contends that this verse alone was a later interpolation because it
is not found in an old witness of this text and that the rest of the text is
indeed authentic.

There are at present no known Sanskrit witnesses of The Myth Chapter, nor is there an available extant
recension of the source text from which it was extracted. The text is
included twice in the Degé canon, once in the Unexcelled Yoga tantra section
of the Kangyur (Toh 471), and once again in the Tengyur (Toh 2006). Neither
of these versions includes a translator’s colophon, but a colophon is
included in the versions preserved in the Kangxi and Lithang Kangyurs. These
colophons are, however, quite terse and do not yield much useful data that
could help determine the context of the text’s transmission and translation
in Tibet.

This English translation was prepared on the basis of the two Degé
witnesses (Toh 471 and 2006), in consultation with the Comparative Edition
(dpe bsdur ma) of the Degé Kangyur and
the version of the text that is preserved in the Stok Palace Kangyur.

The Translation

The Myth Chapter

Homage to the glorious Vajrabhairava.

“Now, I will explain

How the great Vajrabhairava—

He who has emerged from the vajras

Of the Blessed One’s body, speech, and mind—

Crossed the southern ocean

And reached the city of Yama.

“With his overwhelming sixteen legs

He trampled the sixteen gateless iron castles.

With his organ of single-pointed wisdom

He pounded the great central iron castle.

“Once he gained victory over the great Māra,

He roared ha ha hi hi.

Yama Dharmarāja and the rest,

Feeling overwhelmed, said to him:

“ ‘Great hero, what is this?

We will do whatever you require, hero.

We likewise offer our essential life forces.

Please accept them, hero.’

“The eight classes of beings also offered their essential life forces:

Yama offered ya, the mātṛs
ma,

The rākṣasas offered ra, the yakṣas kṣe,

The humans offered ṇi, the earth lords sa,

The tsen offered tsa, and the māras da.

“They came together as one

And promised to become his servants.

Due to this great declaration,

They were well-regarded by the wisdom deity

And gained a profound experience of service.

“After they gained this experience of serving the deity,

They would never transgress their former oath

And it became impossible for them to fail.

‘ya ma rā ja sa do me ya | ya me do ru ṇa yo da
ya | ya da yo ni ra yakṣe ya | yakṣe yaccha ni rā ma ya’

“After saying this,

The great Vajrabhairava

Empowered Yama Dharmarāja

And all of Yama’s messengers

To become servants of liberation.

“To their mothers, sisters, daughters,

And their retinues, he gave this command:

“ ‘In the final five hundred years

During which my teachings appear,

You must correctly carry out activities

Of yogins and vidyādharas.’

They took this oath and were released from the oppression that afflicted
them.

The Myth Chapter is
complete.

Notes

Abbreviations

C
Choné

H
Lhasa Kangyur

J
Lithang

K
Kangxi

N
Narthang Kangyur

S
Stok Palace

Y
Yongle

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

Secondary Literature

Oḍḍiyāna