Toh 551The Blessed One’s Praise of Sharp Mañjuśrī

Summary

The Blessed One’s Praise of Sharp Mañjuśrī is a praise in twelve verses that describes in detail the
physiognomy, ornamentation, vestments, and general splendor of Mañjuśrī’s various manifestations as a bodhisattva and as a tathāgata.

Acknowledgements

Translated by David Mellins, Kaia Fischer, and Geshé Lobsang Dawa, with Phakyab Rinpoche (Geshé Ngawang Sungrab), under the
auspices of the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York. Introduction by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer. Special thanks to Paul
Hackett for generously sharing his bibliographic expertise and resources, and to Artemus B. Engle for his assistance in deciphering the
syntax of descriptive passages. This translation would not have been possible without the kind and dedicated tutelage of Gen Lozang Jamspal,
Executive Director, Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

The Blessed One’s Praise of Sharp Mañjuśrī is the first of two short Mañjuśrī praise texts in the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur that immediately follow a
group of six concise Mañjuśrī dhāraṇī scriptures. The text describes in detail the physiognomy, ornamentation, vestments, and general
splendor of Mañjuśrī while skillfully maintaining a tension between two frames of reference: the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī of the sūtras and
the tathāgata Mañjuśrī who appears in various manifestations in tantric literature. The verses also employ tropes that integrate features
characteristic of the devotional and philosophical genres of Sanskrit literature, in a manner reminiscent of Buddhist belle-lettres such as Aśvaghoṣa’s Buddhacārita and Kṣemendra’s Avadānakalpalatā.

A Sanskrit version of the text is to our knowledge no longer extant, and no record of its Sanskrit title has yet been identified.
It also appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon, so we have no information about
the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. The text’s absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial
catalogs suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century but before the
flourishing of the scholar Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364), who listed its
title in his History of Buddhism.

This English translation is based on the Degé Kangyur version (Toh 551) in consultation with the variant readings recorded in
the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), with all major divergences recorded in the notes.

The Translation

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The Blessed One’s Praise of Sharp Mañjuśrī

Homage to the Omniscient One!

The Blessed One praised sharp Mañjuśrī:

Your head shines gently with the beauty of midnight splendor.

Your braids sway like a boat amid azure ocean waves.

At the noble crown of your head, the supreme mark, coiled to the right—

An uṣṇīṣa lofty beyond the sight of ordinary beings.

That all suffering of existence be overcome

And your brilliant powers vanquish the enemy,

The crown upon your head conceals a conqueror’s excellence;

Your perfections of might and skill are those of a dharmarāja.

As in cat’s-eye gems and water lilies, so in your eyes,

White and black are distinguished with perfect clarity.

Your elegant eyebrows glisten like crescent moons,

And the sidelong glances of your smiling eyes signal your affection.

You are the foundation of countless Dharma gates to limitless liberation,

In the sundry plethora of the victors’ fields,

Embellished by pure music, excellent qualities, ample grain,

And jewels of every type.

The beautiful form of your nose is noblest of all—

Highly ridged, with corners slight, and elegant of shape,

Finely channeled like a slender stream.

One will not tire of gazing upon its virtues even in a hundred eons.

Your lips, the red of a mañjiṣṭhā flower,

Your exquisite body, perfectly formed, quelling deluded thought,

Your lovely complexion, radiant as a lotus, clear as a lake,

And the lucidity of your mind—all give reason to smile.

Your moon-like countenance is golden and effulgent,

A maṇḍala of light resplendent with golden garlands,

An orb of pure light to outshine a hundred suns,

Emitting many colors like a mass of clouds.

O Gentle Voice, the dharmadhātu you proclaim—

Alluring as the song of the kalaviṅka bird.

Your voice, perfect, pristine, and melodious,

Roars like a lion and chimes like a golden bell.

The body that you cultivate —a body cloaked in noble
splendor —

Performs the deeds of the most excellent of beings.

It is youthful in appearance and youthful in bearing,

A youthful form that trains the ready.

You wear a crown replete with many jewels;

Pearls are embedded in your golden necklace.

Layered garments, a divine lotus, envelop you.

In your right you brandish the finest weapon, which tames through skillful means—

It is insight itself, incomparably keen,

Perfectly expressing the dharmadhātu principle,

Incisive in manner, unbreakable as vajra.

In your left is the Perfection of Wisdom,

The inconceivable sphere where nothing is cultivated nor cast aside—

Such is the fathomless dharmatā,

The truth you embrace in your heart.

This concludes “The Blessed One’s Praise of Sharp Mañjuśrī.”

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

Sanskrit Sources

Western Language Sources

kalaviṅka bird
ka la ping ka
ཀ་ལ་པིང་ཀ
kalaviṅka
In Buddhist literature refers to a mythical bird with the head of a human and the body of a bird.
The kalaviṅka’s call is said to be far more beautiful than that of all other birds and so compelling that it could be heard even
before the bird has hatched. The call of the kalaviṅka is also used as an analogy to describe the voice of the Buddha.

Aśvaghoṣa
aśvaghoṣa
Sanskrit poet and author of the Saundarananda and Buddhacarita, considered the earliest extant example of mahākāvya,
classical Sanskrit works of great literary quality. He is traditionally said to have been a brahmin, who, after converting to
Buddhism, became a great champion of the religion through his poems.