Toh 2532A Running Commentary on “The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī”

An Exposition of the Commentary on the Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī

Context

The Nāmasaṃgīti (The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī) is one of the most important works of the Mahāyāna, the Northern Transmission canon, centering on the glorious bliss of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, the supreme bodhisattva of wisdom. This commentary (vṛtti, a word-for-word commentary) was composed in order to explain profoundly the appellations of the bodhisattva, each name revealing a different aspect of the wisdom of the Buddha Dharma.

Mañjuśrī is the symbol of bodhicitta and contemplative wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) in the Northern Buddhist canon. The scripture teaches that praising his names is not merely an act of speech, but a means of spiritual transformation, helping practitioners directly approach the nature of true wisdom. In the Tibetan tradition, the practice of name recitation is regarded as a powerful dependent-arising act of cultivation, capable of purifying obscurations and giving rise to prajñā.

Main Content

This commentary opens up the meaning of each name of Mañjuśrī through the lens of the two truths: relative truth (saṃvṛti-satya) and ultimate truth (paramārtha-satya). Each appellation, such as “Bodhisattva of Wisdom,” “Outwardly Seen,” or “Victor over the Armies Again and Again,” is not merely a name preserved in memory, but a symbol of bodhisattva accomplishment.

Within the structure of the Northern Transmission canon, the scripture analyzes the names according to the logic of the four alternatives (catuṣkoṭi): what is, what is not, what both is and is not, and what neither is nor is not. Through this method, the practitioner’s mind is trained to transcend linear language, gradually approaching prajñāpāramitā, the wisdom that cuts through conceptual elaboration (śūnyatā).