Toh 497The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Eight Goddesses

Summary

The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Eight Goddesses is
a teaching that was given by the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi to the bodhisattva
Mañjuśrī on a set of dhāraṇīs that corresponds to an eight-goddess maṇḍala. The
text consists of material extracted from the work that precedes it in the Degé
Kangyur, the Vajrapāṇyabhiṣeka.

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. Adam C. Krug produced the translation and wrote the introduction.
Nathaniel Rich edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins
copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication
process.

Introduction

The Dhāraṇī of the Eight Goddesses is a
teaching given by the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī on a
set of dhāraṇīs in an eight-goddess maṇḍala. The eight dhāraṇī goddesses in
this maṇḍala are as follows:

1. Consecrated in Great Gnosis

2. Vajradhātvīśvarī

3. Mahāpratisarā

4. Unconquered Vajra

5. Relinquishing All Misdeeds

6. Durdāntā

7. Destroying All Māras

8. Anantamukhasādhakā

After Vajrapāṇi recites the dhāraṇīs for each of these goddesses, he
tells Mañjuśrī that anyone who has the maṇḍala for these dhāraṇī goddesses
placed in their hand, or simply recites these dhāraṇīs one time every
morning, will be protected in this life and liberated from rebirth in the
lower realms.

There is no known Sanskrit witness for The
Dhāraṇī of the Eight Goddesses, and the text does not appear to
have been translated into Chinese. It appears in both the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial Tibetan catalogs of translated works, and the
translators’ colophon to the Tibetan witness in the Degé Kangyur notes that
it was translated by the Indian preceptor Śīlendrabodhi and the Tibetan
translator Bandé Yeshé Dé. These data suggest that The
Dhāraṇī of the Eight Goddesses was translated into Tibetan
during the eighth century.

Nearly all the material in The Dhāraṇī of the
Eight Goddesses is extracted from the Vajrapāṇyabhiṣekatantra (Āryavajrapāṇyabhiṣekamahātantra, ’phags pa lag na rdo rje dbang bskur ba’i rgyud chen po),
which immediately precedes the version of this dhāraṇī in the Tantra
Collection (rgyud ’bum) of the Degé
Kangyur. The Vajrapāṇyabhiṣeka provides
instructions on the construction of a version of “the maṇḍala of
consecration in great gnosis” (ye shes chen por
dbang bskur ba’i skyil ’khor), but the maṇḍala described in the
Vajrapāṇyabhiṣeka is far more complex
than the eight-goddess maṇḍala that is suggested (but never described) by
the title of the present work, The Dhāraṇī of the Eight
Goddesses. While it is very likely the case that each of these
dhāraṇīs are considered goddesses in the Vajrapāṇyabhiṣeka, they are only depicted in aniconic form as
dhāraṇīs and symbols, and they are not once explicitly referred to as
goddesses. They are accompanied in that text, however, by a set of very
well-known male bodhisattvas who also only appear in the maṇḍala in aniconic
form, and who all have very well-known iconic forms. Whatever ambiguity
there may be in the Vajrapāṇyabhiṣeka
around whether these dhāraṇīs are in fact understood as goddesses is
resolved in the current text, where the title suggests that the eight
members of this maṇḍala are known as a set of dhāraṇī goddesses. Elements of
this ambiguity have been preserved in the English translation of the current
text to reflect the relationship of this material to the passages in the
Vajrapāṇyabhiṣeka from which it
derives.

The Translation

The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Eight Goddesses

Homage to all buddhas and
bodhisattvas.

Then, Vajrapāṇi taught this supreme queen of great dhāraṇī mantras
that is the mother of the thus-gone ones, that purifies all misdeeds, that
cures all illnesses, that frightens off all vighnas, and that brings all
manner of prosperity.

namaḥ sarvatathāgatebhyaḥ
sarvamukhebhyaḥ sarvathā he buddhamātari sarvapāpanāśani garja garja
bhañja bhañja marda marda gambhari gambhari hasa hasa dama dama matha
matha vidhvaṃsaya vidhvaṃsaya sarvaśatrūn taramati vimale pūraya pūraya
pratijñāna sarvabuddhaparyupasiti bhagavati gana gana jahi jahi
vimasani kramaṇi dhavani ramaṇi mātaṅgi ge svāhā |

This is the blessed dhāraṇī called Consecrated in Great Gnosis.

namaḥ sarvatathāgatebhyaḥ
sarvamukhebhyaḥ sarvathā amari amari taṭa bhañja bhañja jha jha mici
mici sphoṭaya sphoṭaya matha matha durdāntadamaka svāhā |

namaḥ sarvatathāgatebhyaḥ
sarvamukhebhyaḥ sarvathā bhagavati prajñāpāramite a
sarvapāpakṣayaṅkari jñānārcisparaṇi bhañja bhañja matha matha dama dama
ānaya ānaya sara sara māraya māraya sarvabuddhajanetrīyai
svāhā |

namaḥ sarvatathāgatebhyaḥ
sarvamukhebhyaḥ sarvathā garja garja matha matha dama dama bhañja
bhañja dundubhi sarvanirghoṣe hana hana vidhvaṃsaya vidhvaṃsaya moṭaya
moṭaya daha daha vipulanirmalanirjāte āhara āhara gaccha gaccha
sarvabuddhaparyupasatim mā vilamba svāhā |

This is the blessed dhāraṇī called Vajradhātvīśvarī.

namaḥ sarvatathāgatebhyaḥ
sarvamukhebhyaḥ sarvathā oṁ bhagavati sarvatathāgatajanika pūraya
pratijñāna taṭa taṭa marda marda āhara āhara hūṁ hūṁ jati
svāhā |

This is the blessed dhāraṇī called Mahāpratisarā.

namaḥ sarvatathāgatebhyaḥ
sarvamukhebhyaḥ sarvathā hūṁ hrī sarvabuddhamātiri bhañja bhañja
matha matha damani damani gargāri gargāri hrī svāhā |

This is the blessed dhāraṇī called Unconquered Vajra.

This is the blessed dhāraṇī called the Relinquishing All Misdeeds.

This is the blessed dhāraṇī called Durdāntā.

This is the blessed dhāraṇī called Destroying All Māras.

This is the blessed dhāraṇī called Anantamukhasādhakā.

“Manjuśrī, anyone in whose hand the maṇḍala of consecration in great
gnosis is placed will be free from afflictions and free from peril. Even if
they find themselves in the midst of thieves, in the midst of rākṣasas, in
the midst of enemies, or in the midst of conflict, their bodies will not be
pierced by weapons, they will not be killed by thieves and rākṣasas and the
like will not harm them. They will have no fear of dying an untimely death,
they will always have good fortune, and all their misdeeds
will be purified. In a single day, they will come to possess the root of
virtue equal to that accumulated by one hundred thousand one hundred million
tens of millions of buddhas. When their time of death has come, the buddhas
and bodhisattvas will care for them, and, after they die, they will be born
in Sukhāvatī.

“Thus, it goes without saying that the obscurations of whoever
upholds, recites, focuses upon, and maintains it without relenting will be
purified. They will close the doors to the lower realms and they will be
very far away from lower rebirths and the lower realms.

“Any person who recites it once

In the morning when they wake,

And who fears the next life,

Will be free from all the misdeeds they have committed.

“Rākṣasas and the like, thieves,

Weapons, and enemies will not strike them,

They will be liberated from untimely death,

And they will always have good fortune.

“When their time of death has come,

They will be very far from the lower realms,

The buddhas will care for them, and

They will be reborn in Sukhāvatī.”

When he had said that, the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and
gandharvas rejoiced and praised him.

This concludes “The Noble Dhāraṇī of the
Eight Goddesses.”

Colophon

This was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor
Śīlendrabodhi and the chief editor and translator Bandé Yeshé Dé.

Notes

Bibliography