Toh 141The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates

Summary

While the Buddha is abiding in the space above the Śuddhāvāsa realm with a retinue of bodhisattvas, he urges them to
uphold The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates and presents these gates as six aspirations that
vanquish the causes of saṃsāric experience. He then presents the dhāraṇī itself to his listeners and instructs them to
recite it three times each day and three times each night. Finally, he indicates the benefits that come from this
practice, and the assembly praises the Buddha’s words. This is followed by a short dedication marking the conclusion of
the text.

Acknowledgements

Giuliano Proença and Leticia Osorio produced and revised the translation. Joaquim Monteiro provided comparisons with
the Chinese versions of the consulted texts and gave valuable references throughout the translation process. Giuliano
Proença wrote the introduction and other ancillary elements while Leticia Osorio revised them.

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

Introduction

The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates is a short text that consists mainly of a dhāraṇī
taught by the Buddha to an assembly of bodhisattvas. According to Pedro Sánchez, this style of dhāraṇī appeared between the third
and eighth centuries ce. Since Xuanzang’s Chinese translation dates to 645 ce, this text must have already been available at the beginning of the seventh
century. It appears to have enjoyed a certain level of popularity, since we find many copies of it among the
Dunhuang documents in Tibetan and Chinese, as well as several Indian, Tibetan, and Chinese commentaries and
recitation texts based on it.

One of its commentaries, the Ṣaṇmukhīdhāraṇīvyākhyāna (Toh 3989), appears in the Tengyur and is
attributed to Vasubandhu (fourth to fifth century); its Chinese translation is in the Taishō. Its subcommentary (IOL Tib J 430) written by Jñānadatta has
been preserved only in Tibetan and Chinese among the Dunhuang manuscripts. According to the colophon of the Dunhuang texts, these Indian commentaries were translated into
Tibetan by the Indian paṇḍitas Dharmapāla and Prajñāvarman and the Tibetan translator-monk Yeshé Dé.

There are four known Tibetan commentaries on the Ṣaṇmukhīdhāraṇī composed
by the renowned scholars Butön Rinchen Drup (1290–1364), Jonang Tāranātha (1575–1634), the seventh Dalai Lama
(1708–57), and the Geluk scholar Ngülchu Dharmabhadra (1772–1851). The Phangthangma, one of the imperial catalogs
of translated works, also mentions two sādhanas related to the Ṣaṇmukhīdhāraṇī, which we could not locate. There are available, however, some relatively modern
recitation texts related to this dhāraṇī composed by Ngawang Khedrup (1779–1838) and Losang Tsültrim Gyatso
(1845–1915).

It is not known who translated The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates into Tibetan.
Neither the colophons, the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs, nor Tibetan historical works
mention the translators. The inclusion of our text in the Denkarma catalog, dated to ca. 812 ᴄᴇ, confirms that
the translation was made by the early ninth century at the latest. It seems likely that this dhāraṇī was
translated from an Indian original since, according to the Phangthangma catalog, it was not among the
dhāraṇīs that were translated from Chinese.

Texts that include dhāraṇīs, as well as those referred to as dhāraṇīs by their titles, are widespread in the
Mahāyāna sūtra literature as well as featuring in the tantras. Gergely Hidas, for example, notes that dhāraṇī
scriptures have been assigned both to sūtra and tantra categories in Buddhist canonical collections and that
their classification is “sometimes controversial within Tibetan and Chinese textual systems.” In this regard, it is interesting to note that
three almost identical versions of the Ṣaṇmukhīdhāraṇī are assigned to the
Sūtra, Tantra, and Dhāraṇī sections of the Kangyurs of the Tshalpa group. In the Thempangma Kangyurs, such as the
Stok Palace Kangyur, it is included exclusively in the Tantra section. In the Lhasa and Narthang Kangyurs, we
find almost identical versions of The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates in both the Sūtra
and Tantra sections. Our text is also found among the Dunhuang manuscripts. All versions are roughly the same length. There were probably
different sources for the Tibetan translations that were found in Dunhuang: Pelliot tibétain 415 is almost
identical to the Thempangma versions, while Pelliot tibétain 77 is in some cases closer to the Tshalpa
versions.

Fortunately, there are a few extant Sanskrit manuscripts of The Dhāraṇī of the Six
Gates. Mimaki (1977b) prepared a critical edition based on these manuscripts and prepared a
critical edition of the Tibetan based on various canonical translations. The Tibetan versions seem to be quite
accurate translations of the Sanskrit text, although there are minor differences between them. It is noteworthy
that the versions of the Thempangma Kangyur group, like that of the Stok Palace, and Pelliot tibétain 415 are
closer to the extant Sanskrit version than versions from the Tshalpa Kangyur group. The
Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates was translated into Chinese by the great translator Xuanzang in 645 ce (Taishō 1360). The Chinese translation differs considerably from the Sanskrit
and the Tibetan, especially in its presentation of the six gates, despite having the same structure as the
Sanskrit and Tibetan texts. Interestingly, the Tibetan and Chinese translations of the above-mentioned
commentary and subcommentary are similar in content and wording. Even the quotations of the six gates in the
Chinese subcommentary more closely match the Tibetan text of The Dhāraṇī of the Six
Gates than Xuanzang’s rendering of the six gates.

In addition to his critical editions of the Sanskrit and Tibetan versions of the text, Mimaki (1977a) offers
a French translation. Mimaki also examines references to The Dhāraṇī of the Six
Gates in later treatises and its possible affiliation to the Sautrāntika school. He lists the
extant Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese manuscripts of the text, as well as the Tibetan editions and the
commentaries. He also compares his Sanskrit edition with the Tibetan and with the Chinese canonical versions.
Mimaki’s research proved invaluable for preparing our own translation.

We have based our translation mainly on the Tibetan text as found in the Sūtra section of the Degé Kangyur
(Toh 141), but consulted the other versions found in the Action Tantra and Dhāraṇī sections to clarify ambiguous passages (Toh 526 and Toh 916, respectively). Whenever our
main source text diverged from the Sanskrit, we compared the passage in question with other Tibetan
translations, including the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and Stok Palace versions, and the two complete Tibetan
manuscripts from Dunhuang, and we recorded variant readings in the notes. Moreover, in cases where both the
Tibetan and Sanskrit texts allowed for different readings, we consulted the Indian commentaries on The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates for clarification.

As suggested by its title, The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates consists in an account
of the six gates, which are presented as a series of six aspiration prayers, followed by the presentation of the
dhāraṇī itself. The goal of the dhāraṇī is to transcend worldly suffering by eradicating the causes of saṃsāric
experience.

The text begins with the Buddha advising his audience of innumerable bodhisattvas to uphold The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates for the good of the entire world. He then utters the
six aspirations, which can be summarized as recognizing one’s own sufferings as no different from those of all
beings in saṃsāra, using worldly happiness for the benefit of others as well as oneself, purifying one’s
misdeeds through confession, understanding demonic actions, developing virtue through supreme knowledge, and
liberating all beings from saṃsāra.

He finally instructs the assembly to recite the dhāraṇī three times each day and three times each night and then highlights
the benefits that derive from this practice, including the ultimate benefit of attaining spiritual awakening.
The text concludes with the assembly praising the Buddha’s teaching. This is followed by a short dedication
marking the conclusion of the text. In one Tibetan canonical version (Toh 141), two auspicious sayings in
Sanskrit and the “Verse on Dependent Arising” (Pratītyasamutpādagāthā) appear after the dedication.

The Translation

The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates

Homage to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavān was dwelling together with an assembly of innumerable
bodhisattvas in a pavilion ornately decorated with the seven kinds of precious jewels that was located in the firmament of the sky above Śuddhāvāsa.

On that occasion, the Bhagavān said to the bodhisattvas, “Children of a noble family, may you uphold The Dhāraṇī of the Six
Gates for the benefit and well-being of the whole world. It
is as follows:

“As I pass through life after life in saṃsāra, whatever suffering I experience, may it not be
characterized by my not understanding that it is the same for all beings.

“Whatever misdeeds and non-virtuous actions I have done, may I not fail to confess
each one of them through unsurpassed confession.

“Whatever demonic actions have been done to me, may I not
fail to thoroughly understand them through unsurpassed thorough understanding.

“Whatever roots of virtue I may have, both mundane and supramundane, endowed with the perfections, may they
become the fruit of unsurpassable wisdom for all beings.

“Whatever liberation I may have, through it may all sentient beings be released. May I stay neither in saṃsāra nor in nirvāṇa.

“Therefore, children of a noble family, if any sons or daughters of a noble family recite The
Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates three times by day and three times by night, then, having purified all their karmic
obscurations, they will remember their previous lives up to seven lifetimes and will swiftly and fully awaken to unsurpassed perfect buddhahood.”

When the delighted Bhagavān had spoken these words, the assembly of bodhisattvas,

and the world with its devas, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced in what the Bhagavān had said.

Thus ends “The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates.”

śubham astu
sarvajagatām

ye dharmā hetuprabhavā hetuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgato hy avadat

teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha evaṃvādī mahāśramaṇaḥ

maṅgalaṃ bhavatu

Notes

Abbreviations

D (Toh 526)
Degé (sde dge) Kangyur—Tantra section

D (Toh 141)
Degé (sde dge) Kangyur—Sūtra section

D (Toh 916)
Degé (sde dge) Kangyur—Dhāraṇī section

HT

Lhasa (zhol) Kangyur—Tantra section

K
Peking (pe cin) Kangxi Kangyur

KY

Peking Yongle (g.yung lo) Kangyur

NT

Narthang (snar thang) Kangyur—Tantra section

PT
Pelliot tibétain (numbers denote specific texts in collection)

Skt.
Mimaki’s Sanskrit edition (1977)

Bibliography

Tibetan and Sanskrit Source Texts

Tibetan Secondary References

Chinese Source Texts

Western Translation and References

asura
lha ma yin
ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།
asura
One of the six classes of sentient beings. The asuras are engendered and
dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility and are metaphorically described as being incessantly
embroiled in disputes with the gods (deva). They are frequently portrayed in brahmanical
mythology as having a disruptive effect on cosmological and social harmony.

roots of nonvirtue
mi dge ba’i rtsa ba
མི་དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ།
akuśalamūla
Usually referring to the ten unwholesome actions, which are taking life, taking
what is not given, sexual misconduct, lying, sowing discord, harsh speech, worthless chatter,
covetousness, wishing harm on others, and wrong views.

mārakarman
An action that is either done by the god-demon Māra (the personification of evil) himself; or by beings belonging to the class of demons; or by humans either (literally) under demonic influence or (figuratively) under the influence of whatever distractions, obstacles, and afflictions act as an impediment to liberation.