Toh 717The Dhāraṇī for Not Forgetting
Pāli / Sanskrit:[no Sanskrit title]
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The Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī for Not Forgetting
Context
The Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī for Not Forgetting (Toh 717) belongs to the Tantra section of the Kangyur and represents the Vajrayāna tradition, the advanced branch of tantric Buddhism. In Tantra, dhāraṇīs are not merely mysterious formulas of sound, but subtle structures of energy containing the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion. The purpose of this sūtra is to teach methods of using dhāraṇī to overcome obstacles in practice.
In the tantric context, “forgetfulness” (vismṛti) is not merely an ordinary loss of awareness, but the obscuration of primordial wisdom and the loss of connection with the buddha-nature of mind. This sūtra provides methods of practice that protect the mind from such obscuration, keeping wisdom lucid and preventing distraction by afflictive mental states.
Main Content
The Sūtra of the Dhāraṇī for Not Forgetting teaches that, by reciting one or more specific dhāraṇīs, practitioners can strengthen their powers of memory, remain steadfast in the aim of their practice, and protect the mind from forgetting the impermanent (anicca) and selfless (anattā) nature of existence.
In Vajrayāna, incantations are regarded as manifestations in sound of the buddha seeds—the awakened mind. In recitation, practitioners do not merely produce sound; they set in motion the energy of meditative wisdom and activate higher states of consciousness. The dhāraṇī in this sūtra is connected with specific buddhas and bodhisattvas who possess the power to dispel delusion and stimulate transcendent memory (ṛddhi-smṛti)—a form of memory surpassing ordinary recollection and capable of illuminating the nature of reality.
According to this tradition, practitioners must cultivate the dhāraṇī with a pure mind, neither demanding nor fixating upon results, but instead merging completely with the harmonious sounds of the incantation so that mind and realization correspond (pratisaṁvid). When this is accomplished, luminous wisdom (prajñapti-vijñapti) will naturally arise.
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