Toh 665The Noble Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati

Summary

The Buddha teaches The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati to Ānanda at Vulture Peak. He recites
the mantra, then gives a brief account of the protective
benefits accrued by its daily recitation.

Acknowledgements

This text was translated by the Dharmachakra Translation
Committee under the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche.
The translation was produced by Adam Krug and then checked
against the Tibetan and edited by Andreas Doctor.

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

Introduction

The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati opens in Rājagṛha on Vulture Peak
Mountain where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with a
saṅgha of 1,250 monks and a great saṅgha of
bodhisattvas. Śākyamuni addresses Ānanda and tells
him of the benefits of upholding The heart mantra of Gaṇapati, recites the mantra, and explains the
mantra’s benefits and protective powers.

The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati continues to play an integral role
in the Newar Buddhist Saptavāra (lit. “Seven Days”)
tradition, where it is recited on Tuesday. As a result, there are numerous
extant versions of the text in Sanskrit manuscript
collections of the Saptavāra. Yutaka Iwamoto
published a Sanskrit edition of this text in
1939,
and a translation of this Sanskrit edition was later
published in Robert Duquenne’s article “Gaṇapati
Rituals in Chinese.”
Iwamoto’s annotations highlight the fact that the
content of this text can vary from one witness to
the next, and his edition demonstrates that his
sources diverge significantly from the version of
The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati preserved in the Tibetan Kangyurs.
Christopher Wilkinson has also published a study and
translation of the version of this text preserved in
the Tibetan Kangyurs in his chapter on “The Tantric
Gaṇeśa: Texts Preserved in the Tibetan Canon.”

The title of this text appears in the
Denkarma and Phangthangma royal Tibetan catalogs of
translated works, which indicates that The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati had
been translated into Tibetan by the early ninth
century. There is no independent work that bears the
name The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati in the Chinese canon, though it
does contain at least twelve works dedicated to
Gaṇapati. The earliest of these is found in
Atikūṭa’s translation of the “Compendium of
Dhāraṇīs” (Taishō 901) completed in 654 ce, and Amoghavajra’s version of the same
collection (Taishō 1266),
completed between 746 and 774 ce. However, neither these nor the works on
Ganạpati that would later be translated into Chinese
appear to match the Tibetan translation of The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati.

In the Degé Kangyur this text appears in both the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum, Toh 665) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus, Toh 1084).
This translation is based on both
witnesses of The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati preserved in the Degé Kangyur in
consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the
Stok Palace Kangyur. Yutaka Iwamoto’s Sanskrit
edition of the Gaṇapatihṛdaya was consulted in some
cases to clarify the Sanskrit terminology underlying
the Tibetan translation.

The Translation

The Noble Heart Mantra of

Gaṇapati

Homage to all buddhas and
bodhisattvas.

tadyathā |
namo ’stu te

mahāgaṇapataye
svāhā |

samayam anusmara mahārudravacanīye svāhā |

oṃ kuru
kuru svāhā |

oṃ muru
muru svāhā |

oṃ
pāpaśāntivasupuṣṭiṃ kuru svāhā |

amṛta

pravedayāmi
svāhā |

tadyathā
oṃ kuru kuru curu curu muru muru |

oṃ gaḥ
gaḥ gaḥ gaḥ gaḥ gaḥ gaḥ gaḥ |

oṃ namo
namaḥ svāhā |

“Ānanda, if any sons of good family, daughters
of good family, monks, nuns, male lay practitioners,
or female lay practitioners, who write down this heart
mantra of Gaṇapati, Lord of the Gaṇas, and perform
the mantra practice, travel to another country to
make offerings to the Three Jewels, or travel to a
king’s court, they should read this
Gaṇapati heart mantra while making offerings to the
blessed buddhas with flowers and incense, and all
their endeavors will succeed—let there be no doubt!
If they recollect it when they are in the
midst of all manner of fighting, arguing, strife,
and regional conflict, it will all be pacified. If
they recite it every morning when they
get up, they will retain what they have learned. It
will expel yakṣas, rākṣasas, and ḍākinīs, and these
will no longer steal their vital energy.”

When the Blessed One said this, the entire
retinue and the world with its gods, humans, asuras,
and gandharvas rejoiced and praised what the Blessed
One had said.

This concludes “The
Noble Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati.”

Notes

Abbreviations

C
Choné (co ne)

Bibliography

Sanskrit Sources

Tibetan Sources

Reference Works

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources