Toh 534The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana”

Summary

The Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana”, which pays
homage to the Three Jewels, the Buddha Vairocana, and the bodhisattva mahāsattva
Ākāśagarbha, contains the dhāraṇī of Vairocana or Ākāśagarbha. It lists the
following benefits for one who recites it: protection from weapons, fire, water,
poison, poisoned food and drink, hostile magic, kings,
thieves, epidemics, pain, contagions, and so forth, and the attainment of the samādhi called
stainless light.

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. Bruno Galasek-Hul produced the translation and wrote the introduction.
Rory Lindsay 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 “The Essence of Vairocana” lacks a narrative frame, as well as a location and interlocutors. It
starts with formulaic homages to the Three Jewels, the Buddha Vairocana, and
the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāsagarbha. These canonical expressions of
reverence are followed by the dhāraṇī itself, which invokes the Buddha
Vairocana. The
text concludes with an enumeration of the benefits that accrue from reciting
the dhāraṇī: the reciter will be protected from weapons, fire, water,
poison, poisoned food and drink, kākhordas, kings, thieves, epidemics, pain,
contagions, and so forth, and will attain a particular samādhi called
stainless light.

The dhāraṇī proper contains, besides many non-lexical phonemes, the
perfectly intelligible Sanskrit phrase vairocanaraśmi sañcodite āgaccha| āryākāśagarbha,
“Come, ordered by Vairocana’s light rays, noble Ākāśagarbha (‘Essence of the
Sky’)!” This exhortation to the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha suggests that this
may be his dhāraṇī and not Vairocana’s. The bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha is
closely associated with the Buddha Vairocana, and one of his most important
roles is the purification of negative actions. This pair are especially
prominent in East Asian esoteric traditions.

The Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana” lacks
a Tibetan and Sanskrit title at the beginning and a final translators’
colophon. We have no knowledge regarding who translated it and when. To our
knowledge, no Sanskrit text of this dhāṛaṇī is extant and it does not appear
to have been translated into Chinese. The catalog of the early imperial
translations, the Denkarma (lhan kar ma,
Herrmann-Pfandt 2008), does not list it. However, it is listed under its short title
in the catalog of translated works in the Kangyur that is included in
Butön’s monumental fourteenth-century History of
Buddhism. This gives us only a
very wide time frame for its translation, namely, sometime between the ninth
century and the first quarter of the fourteenth century.

The present English translation was prepared based on the two Degé
witnesses (Toh 534 and Toh 861 ). We also consulted the versions contained in
the Phukdrak Kangyur and Stok Palace Kangyur.

The Translation

The Noble

Essence Dhāraṇī of Vairocana

“Homage to the Three Jewels!

Homage to the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddha, noble Vairocana,
the king of light!

Homage to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha!

tadyathā| kala kala| kili kili| viri viri|
huru huru| vairocanaraśmisañcodite āgaccha| āryākāśagarbha mahākāruṇikā
pūraya haśāna| dhāraya buddhe viścayana| cara cara| ciri ciri
svāhā

By reciting it, this will be accomplished: weapons, fire, water,
poison, poisoned food and drink, or kākhordas will not hurt one. One will
not be harmed by a king, thieves, and so forth. Wherever this is written
down and stored, epidemics, harm, and contagions will not arise. What is more, one will attain the samādhi called
stainless light.”

The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana” is complete.

Notes

Abbreviations

F
Phukdrak Kangyur

N
Narthang Kangyur

S
Stok Palace Kangyur

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

Other Sources