Toh 613The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā

Summary

The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā consists of
an homage, invocation, and description of the Goddess Cundā followed by a
request to Cundā for protection and good fortune.

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. 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 of the Goddess Cundā opens
with homages to the Three Jewels, the Buddha Vairocana, and the Goddess
Cundā, followed by a short homage and dhāraṇī in transliterated Sanskrit
that reads namaḥ saptānām
saṃyaksaṃbuddhakoṭīnām | tadyathā | oṁ cale cule cunde svāhā.
This combined homage and dhāraṇī also appears in the second section of
The Basket’s Display (Toh 116) when
Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin has returned to join Śākyamuni’s assembly at
Jetavana Monastery at the conclusion of his search for the great vidyā
mantra of Avalokiteśvara.
Unlike The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā, this
passage in The Basket’s Display does not
provide any ritual instructions for reciting her dhāraṇī, any mention of the
benefits of this recitation practice, or any description or mention of the
goddess to whom this dhāraṇī is addressed.

This opening homage and dhāraṇī is followed by an extensive section
praising the goddess that describes Cundā’s qualities, hand implements, and
appearance. Here she is described as having the face of the Goddess Anantā,
a form of the Goddess Umā or Parvatī, as having been blessed by all the
thus-gone ones, and as the recipient of offerings from all the gods. These
verses describing the goddess and praising her qualities describe many of
Cundā’s attributes as either composed of vajras or modified by the term
vajra, as the dhāraṇī emphasizes her invulnerability and indestructible
power to protect beings.

The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā then
introduces a second Sanskrit liturgy directed at “Blessed Cundā” (bhagavati cunde) requesting
that Cundā protect the person reciting the dhāraṇī from a variety of
hostile, demonic beings. The text concludes with a final benediction
requesting Cundā to protect the person reciting the dhāraṇī and bring them
good fortune.

We are not aware of any surviving Sanskrit witness of The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā at present, but
there is strong textual and art historical evidence to suggest that Cundā
enjoyed widespread popularity across the Indic Buddhist world from the
eighth century onward. Cundā is mentioned in a number of tantras in
the Kangyur and Nyingma Gyubum. In the Kangyur, she appears as a significant
maṇḍala deity in the Guhyasamāja and Māyājāla traditions.
Śāntideva refers to The Cundā Dhāraṇī in his
Śikṣāsamuccaya, where he mentions
reciting her dhāraṇī to purify misdeeds. She is featured in
Abhayākaragupta’s Niṣpannayogāvali as a
goddess in Vairocana Mañjuvajra’s maṇḍala, as
one of twelve dhāraṇī goddesses in the Dharmadhātu Vagīśvara maṇḍala, and as
Ṭakkirāja’s consort in the Kālacakra maṇḍala. Three short sādhanas
to the Goddess Cundā appear in the Sādhanamāla, as well as a single Cundā sādhana
in The “Hundred” Sādhanas translated by
Patshab
and a single sādhana in The “Hundred” Sādhanas translated by Bari. In Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India, Cundā appears as an
important tutelary and protector deity who supports the ascension of Gopāla
I (r.750–75 ce), the founder and first ruler of
the Pāla Dynasty. Her close ties to the founding of the Pāla Empire
undoubtedly played an important role in Cundā’s incorporation into the
maṇḍala systems of several tantras, her rise in popularity during this
period across the Indian sub-continent, and the promotion of the goddess
throughout Asia.

The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā does
not appear in either of the Imperial Tibetan catalogs of translated works,
which suggests that the Tibetan translation was likely produced after the
ninth century. The Kangyur witnesses for this text do not contain a
translators’ colophon, so they do not provide any data on the translators
who worked on this text or the time when The Dhāraṇī of
the Goddess Cundā was translated into Tibetan. The text appears
twice in the Degé Kangyur—once in the tantra section (rgyud ’bum) and once in the compendium of
dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus).

The Taishō contains three Chinese translations of a single work
devoted to the Goddess Cundā that differs in both length and content from
The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā in the
Tibetan Kangyurs. The earliest Chinese translation of a textual tradition
for the Goddess Cundā in the Taishō was produced in 685 ce by the translator Divākara (Taishō 1077). A second Chinese translation in the Taishō was then
completed in 723 ce by Vajrabodhi (Taishō
1075), and the third Chinese translation in the Taishō was
completed in 1246 ce by Amoghavajra (Taishō
1076). These translations supported Cundā’s widespread
popularity across East Asian Buddhist traditions, which continues to this
day.

This English translation was prepared using both Tibetan witnesses
that are preserved in the Degé Kangyur, the Tibetan translation in the Stok
Palace Kangyur, and the Comparative Edition of the Kangyur.

The Translation

The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā

Homage to the Three Jewels.

Homage to the blessed, thus-gone, worthy,
perfectly awakened buddha Vairocana.

Homage to you, blessed Goddess Cundā,
who has immeasurable power and strength, has magical powers and tramples
enemies, and is celebrated and praised by all the thus-gone ones. Please
bring me good fortune in every way and at all times.

namaḥ saptānāṃ
samyaksambuddhakoṭīnāṃ | tadyathā |

oṁ cale cule cunde
svāhā

Diligent one with pristine discipline. Great powerful one. Great
conqueror of enemies. In your hands you hold a sword, a battle axe, a hook,
and a noose. Great wrathful one. Queen of
the great wrathful ones. Goddess with a fierce form, Anantā’s face, and one-thousand
arms. Invincible one whom no enemy can withstand. Unfailing one, who is so
difficult to tame. Goddess with a thousand eyes who is blessed by all the
thus-gone ones. Goddess whom all gods venerate, and to whom they all make
offerings. Goddess whose nails are vajras, who is a vajra filled with
vajras, and who is armed with vajras.
Goddess with a vajra body, vajra fists, and wrathful vajra eyes that dart
about. Fierce one who transforms into and displays a fierce
form, and whose body is adorned with vajra and beryl ornaments.

oṁ bhagavati cunde hūṁ hūṁ
krūṁ krūṁ mrūṁ mrūṁ sruṁ sruṁ rūṃ rūṃ āveśaya gṛhṇa gṛhṇa gṛhṇāpaya
gṛhṇāpaya hara hara bhañja bhañja sara sara mara mara māraya māraya paca
paca daha daha gṛhṇa gṛhṇa—all manner of hostile grahas; one,
two, three, four, and seven-day fevers; persistent and momentary
fevers; bhūta, vetāla, preta, piśāca, yakṣa, rākṣasa, and
kumbhāṇḍa grahas; beings who are born from a womb; beings who
are born, transmigrate, and abide in a particular realm due to karma; any
hostile beings who might harm me; and all manner of evil beings—saṃdhaya saṃdhaya mardaya mardaya śoṣaya śoṣaya tāpaya
tāpaya utsādhaya utsādhaya hana hana vajreṇa sara sara daṇḍena māraya
māraya khaḍgena hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ cūṃ cūṃ cūṃ drūṃ drūṃ drūṃ oṁ cale
cule cunde sarvārthasādhaya svāhā

May the blessing and power of the blessed noble Goddess Cundā
protect me from all harm and bring me good fortune svāhā.

This concludes “The Noble Dhāraṇī of the
Goddess Cundā.”

Notes

Abbreviations

D
Degé (sde dge bka’ ’gyur)

C
Choné (co ne)

H
Lhasa (lha sa / zhol)

J
Lithang (li thang)

K
Kanxi (kang shi)

N
Narthang (snar thang)

U
Urga (phyi sog khu re)

Y
Yongle (g.yong lo)

S
Stok Palace (stog pho ’brang)

Bibliography

Tibetan Translations

Other Sources