Toh 515The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence

Summary

The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is structured as a dialogue between the
Buddha and a retinue of gods from the Śuddhāvāsa realm. The dialogue revolves around the
Buddha’s parinirvāṇa and the role that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa can play in continuing
to guide beings in his absence until the next tathāgata appears in the world. The Dhāraṇī of the
Buddha’s Essence is then introduced as the specific instruction that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa should
preserve and propagate after Śākyamuni has departed. The Buddha then provides a list of benefits that members of the
saṅgha can accrue by reciting this dhāraṇī.

Acknowledgements

Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. The
translation was produced by Adam Krug and then checked against the Tibetan and edited by Ryan Damron.

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

Introduction

The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is structured as a dialogue between the
Buddha and a retinue of gods from the Śuddhāvāsa realm. The dialogue revolves around the
Buddha’s parinirvāṇa and the role that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa can play in
continuing to guide beings in his absence until the next tathāgata appears in the world. The
Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is then introduced as the specific instruction that the gods of
Śuddhāvāsa should preserve and propagate after Śākyamuni has departed. The Buddha then provides a list of benefits
that members of the saṅgha can accrue by reciting this dhāraṇī.

The translators’ colophon tells us that The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
was translated by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla along with the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé (ca. eighth
and ninth centuries). The text appears in the Phangthangma imperial Tibetan inventory of
translated works among the collection of various dhāraṇī. In the Denkarma inventory’s list of dhāraṇī,
there are two texts entitled The Buddha’s Essence
(’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi snying
po), and while neither of them matches
the full title of the present work, the second mention is the more likely to correspond to it judging by
the recorded length of the text (thirty-eight ślokas); the first record (fifty-five ślokas) probably corresponds
to another, slightly longer text with a similar title,

The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence does not appear in the Kangyurs of mainly Thempangma
lineage, but it is present in the predominantly Tshalpa Kangyurs and in a number of mixed, Bhutanese, and Mongolian Kangyurs,
and is mentioned in the catalog of the old Mustang Kangyur. Butön recorded the
mantra from this text in his Collection of Dhāraṇī of the Four Classes of Secret Mantra
(gsang sngags rgyud sde bzhi’i gzungs ’bum).

The text was translated into Chinese in 650 ce by Xuanzang (Taishō 918) and again in the late
tenth century by Fatian (Taishō 919). No Sanskrit witness
to this text has been identified to date.

This translation is based on the Tibetan translations of the text from the Tantra Collection and the
Compendium of Dhāraṇīs in the Degé Kangyur in conjunction with the text as it appears in the Comparative Edition
(dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur.

The Translation

The Noble

Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was seated upon a lion throne in a seashore grove surrounded on
all sides by the forest that was the Buddha’s domain.
There, he taught the Dharma to a retinue of gods that had gathered
around and paid their respects to him.

The Blessed One addressed the
gods of the Śuddhāvāsa realm such as Maheśvara, Suvrata, and the rest, saying, “Gods, listen
well, pay attention, and I will teach. The Thus-Gone One, in order in future times to gather a fourfold
retinue, look after them, care for them in all manner of ways, and cause them to advance, to bring those who
possess all the teachings and their meanings to perfection, and to bring all who are properly established in the Great
Vehicle to specific attainment in all its aspects, teaches and explains the dhāraṇī discourse called
The Buddha’s Essence. You should retain it and, both now and in
future times after I have passed into parinirvāṇa, teach and
explain it to all members of the fourfold retinue who are properly established in the Great Vehicle. Never forsake
it, and always teach it and promote it. As long as there are beings who are destitute and affected by the
obscurations, you should preserve the teaching of the Thus-Gone One for them, teach it, and promote it.”

The gods replied, “Blessed One, we will do just that. We will sincerely and perfectly carry out the Thus-Gone One’s
command.”

The Blessed One addressed them, saying, “Gods, this is the Dharma discourse called The
Buddha’s Essence:

tadyathā amale nirmale sarvākārārthapariprāpte
asamantasarvakunākāre tryadhvāsaṅgānāvṛte samantadaśadiśaparipūrṇajñāne sarvāsaṅgadarśanaprāpte
sarvadharmam aviśataparipūrṇe sarvākārasaṅgasamanvite samantāpra
tihatateje tryadhvadaśasu dikṣupariprāptārthe
śānta-prāśanta-upaśānta-samaśānta-vimokṣānuprāpte supratibuddhadharmadhātu atyantasunisrite
sarvākāraniḥsaraṇa anavaśeṣaparaṅgate vipramukta asaṁyoga
viprayoga-sthite dharmate gaganasama-prakṛtipariśuddha-nirmale asamanta-tryadhvānugata-suprāpte
pūrvānta-aparanta madhyatryadhvasamantānuprapte anavaśeṣa parijñāprahana-bhavana-sakṣātkriyaparamaparaṅgate
yathāvati tathākāri sarvākārasaṁpanne sarvākāramahā maitrimahākaruṇā sarvākārasamasagrahānuprāpte

“Gods, this is the dhāraṇī discourse called The Buddha’s Essence. If noble
sons or daughters from the fourfold community who are properly established in the Great Vehicle wear it on their
bodies, recite it well, and uphold it, they will never give rise to inferior mental states. The Thus-Gone One will
likewise remain with them, seated above the crowns of their heads. Some will certainly see the Buddha, some will
hear him teach, some will become Dharma teachers, and some will gain the dhāraṇī power of not forgetting. Students
who are on the path will never have that path interrupted, and they will have a continual stream of Dharma teachers.
They will understand everything, never forget it, and be only one birth away from awakening. With those qualities,
they will gain the power of retaining the entire ocean of knowledge. They will receive all the attainments, beginning with acceptance of the fact that phenomena
do not arise up to becoming fully liberated, perfect buddhas who are free from obscurations. You gods will
understand the meaning of my teachings in this lifetime. You should teach it and promote it among the sons and
daughters of the lineage.
Do not cast it aside, do not forsake it, and do not forget it!”

The gods responded, “Blessed One, we shall do just as you have said. We will teach and explain the Blessed
One’s dhāraṇī discourse called The Buddha’s Essence
to the fourfold assembly, without hesitation, in its entirety. We
will teach it and promote it among noble sons and daughters. It will be just as the Thus-Gone One has said. We will
fully comprehend the Thus-Gone One’s holy Dharma, and for the noble sons and daughters will be of great meaning and something of
great benefit.”

The Blessed One replied, “That is why you gods must do as I have said. This is the
teaching that I give to you.”

After the Blessed One had spoken, the gods of the Śuddhāvāsa realm such as Maheśvara and Suvrata, along with
the entire assembly, praised the Blessed One’s words.

This concludes “The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence.”

Colophon

This work was translated and edited by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla along with the great
editor and translator Bandé Yeshé Dé. It was then corrected according to the new translation guidelines and then
finalized.

Notes

Bibliography

Source Texts

Reference Works

acceptance of the fact that phenomena do not arise
mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa thob pa
མི་སྐྱེ་བའི་ཆོས་ལ་བཟོད་པ་ཐོབ་པ།
anutpattikadharmakṣāntilabha
The name of a meditative state associated with the path of seeing after which a
bodhisattva’s progress on the path is irreversible.