Toh 736The Noble Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī

Summary

The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī is a short dhāraṇī
dedicated to the piśācī Parṇaśavarī, who is renowned in Buddhist lore for her
power to cure disease, avert epidemics, pacify strife, and otherwise protect
those who recite her dhāraṇī from any obstacles they may face.

Acknowledgements

Translated by Ryan Damron and Wiesiek Mical under the patronage and supervision
of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī is a short
dhāraṇī dedicated to the piśācī Parṇaśavarī, who is renowned in Buddhist
lore for her power to cure disease, avert epidemics, pacify conflicts, and
otherwise protect those who recite her dhāraṇī from hardships beyond their
control. Her name can be translated as the “Leaf-Clad Mountain Woman” and
points to her status as a piśācī, a class of wild and often dangerous
supernatural beings that haunt the untamed forests and mountains of the
South Asian and Himalayan landscape. The dhāraṇī translated here is among
the oldest extant works dedicated to her and represents one of the earliest
known rites used to invoke her assistance. The later Indian and Tibetan
traditions recognize Parṇaśavarī as a manifestation of the goddess Tārā, and
popularized recitation of her dhāraṇīs and mantras as a specifically
effective means for countering epidemics. Parṇaśavarī appears in rites or
maṇḍalas associated with the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, Hevajra
Tantra
, Sampuṭa
Tantra
, and Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra and remains popular in
Nepalese Buddhism, where her dhāraṇī has been incorporated into the “Seven
Days” (Saptavāra) practice
of reciting one dhāraṇī per day of the week. She is also widely practiced in the Tibetan tradition, as
is clear from the large body of indigenous Tibetan literature dedicated to
her rituals and practices.

In the dhāraṇī translated here, Parṇaśavarī is described only briefly as a
piśācī with two arms, one holding a noose and the other an axe. Her form
evolved in the later Indo-Tibetan tradition, however, and a three-faced,
six-armed form has become widely popular. In this depiction her body is
described as yellow or green in color, with a matching center face, a white
face to the right, and a red face to the left. Her six arms wield a vajra,
axe, and arrow on the right while making the gesture of threat and holding a
noose, bow, and bundle of leaves on the left.
Her relationship to wild and untamed spaces is made particularly explicit by
the description of leaves clinging to her body and her matted locks, tiara
of woven flowers, tiger-skin sash, and so forth.

Though included in the Kangyur, The Dhāraṇī of
Parṇaśavarī lacks many of the expected features of canonical
Buddhist scripture. The dhāraṇī does not begin with the standard
introductory formula (nidāna) that establishes the setting for the scripture, nor
is it framed as a discourse of the Buddha Śākyamuni or another member of the
Buddhist pantheon. The text begins with a general homage to the Three Jewels
followed by a more specific homage to the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the
lotus family—Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahāsthāmaprāpta—that serves to
categorize Parṇaśavarī and her practice as belonging to that family of
deities and rites. Following this homage the dhāraṇī continues with a plea
for Parṇaśavarī’s intercession, via her dhāraṇī, in matters of disease,
disaster, and strife. After this plea comes the dhāraṇī itself, which is
rendered in a mixture of phonetic Sanskrit and Tibetan translation. Like the
passage that precedes it, the dhāraṇī consists of a vigorous exhortation
to Parṇaśavarī to pacify an array of threats that are generally beyond the
supplicant’s personal control, including disease, epidemics, physical
danger, and astrological influences. The text then ends abruptly with the
completion of the dhāraṇī.

The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī represents one of
three ritual manuals dedicated to Parṇaśavarī included in the Tibetan canon, manuals
which in turn serve as the basis for seven different but closely related texts, two in the Kangyur
and five in the Tengyur. Those in the Kangyur seem to have been brought to Tibet some two centuries earlier
than those in the Tengyur.

The two Parṇaśavarī texts in the Kangyur must have been derived from the
same basic text. The difference between the version translated here,
The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī, and the other,
The Parṇaśavarī Sūtra, is that in the latter the
original text is rendered entirely in transliterated Sanskrit, and is then followed by a series
of verses in Tibetan emphasizing the sūtra’s efficacy in a number of different contexts,
with a specific emphasis on veterinary applications; the verses are unique to that version.
In those Kangyurs that have an added Compendium of Dhāraṇīs,
like the Degé Kangyur, these two Parṇaśavarī texts are each duplicated therein;
thus in the Degé Kangyur The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī appears
once in the Tantra section as Toh 736, and again in the Compendium of
Dhāraṇīs as Toh 995,
while The Parṇaśavarī Sūtra appears as Toh 735 in the Tantra section
and Toh 994 in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs. In the Tengyur, two texts almost identical to the one translated
here are each included in two different anthologies of sādhanas. One has the
title The Dhāraṇī Mantra of Parṇaśavarī (Toh 3361),
and the other The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī (Toh 3540).

None of the instances of the text in the Kangyur include a translators colophon, but in the Tengyur the
colophon to Toh 3361 identifies it as having been translated by the
paṇḍita Amoghavajra and Khampa Lotsāwa Bari Chödrak
(ca. eleventh century), and the Tengyur catalog lists it among the collection of sādhanas compiled by this
pair;
while Toh 3540 is listed among the sādhanas compiled by Jetsün Drakpa Gyaltsen (1147–1216), third of the
five great Sakya forefathers.
However, the version of The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī found in the Kangyur almost certainly
predates these collections significantly, since its inclusion in the Denkarma catalog
indicates that it had been translated into Tibetan by the early ninth
century. The dhāraṇī was
translated into Chinese twice, once by Amoghavajra
(705–74)
and again by Faxian (ca. tenth century).
From Amoghavajra’s Chinese translation we can be confident that the dhāraṇī was
circulating in India at least as early as the eighth century.

Parallel to all six of these Tibetan versions, and in addition to their transliterated content,
a purely Sanskrit witness has been preserved in the Sādhanamālā under
the title Āryaparṇaśavarītārādhāraṇī, The Noble
Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī-Tārā. The title itself is unique for its identification
of Parṇaśavarī as a form of the goddess Tārā, which is not specified in any of
the canonical works dedicated to Parṇaśavarī translation but accords with the later Indo-Tibetan
tradition. However, since none of the many manuscripts of the Sādhanamāla
can be dated to earlier than the twelfth century ce, the inclusion of Tārā in the title
(which is not even a feature of all the manuscripts) cannot be taken as evidence for that identification
with Tārā going back as far as the earlier Tibetan witnesses. Apart from this difference in the title, the
Sanskrit and Tibetan texts are the same except for some minor variations.

The Sādhanamālā contains two additional texts on Parṇaśavarī,
and it is these two texts that are the surviving Sanskrit parallels to the remaining three Tibetan
translations in the Tengyur.
Sādhanamālā no. 148 entitled
The Sādhana of Parṇaśavarī, is, as the title suggests, a sādhana and so
does not include the long dhāraṇī found in the present translation. Instead, it includes the much
shorter mantra similar to the one popularly associated with Parṇaśavarī in the later Indo-Tibetan
tradition: oṃ piśāci parṇaśavari sarvamāripraśamani svāha,
“Oṃ Hail to the Piśācī Parṇaśavarī who pacifies every pestilence!” This sādhana was translated
and included in the Tibetan canon as Toh 3360, a translation prepared by Amoghavajra and Bari
Chödrak,
and as Toh 3538,
a work compiled by Drakpa Gyaltsen. Finally, Sādhanamālā no.
149, also entitled
The Sādhana of Parṇaśavarī, consists of a much shorter sādhana that was
included in Drakpa Gyaltsen’s collection (Toh 3539). This sādhana differs from the preceding one in describing Parṇaśavarī’s
right and left faces as being black and white instead of white and red, and includes a slightly
longer variant of the deity’s mantra: oṃ piśāci parṇaśavari sarvamāripraśamani
hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.

This English translation is based on the Tibetan text from the Degé Kangyur
in consultation with the Tibetan translations found in the Stok Palace and
Phukdrak Kangyurs and the Sanskrit witness from the Sādhanamālā.
The main dhāraṇī follows the text recorded in the
Tibetan translation but has been lightly emended based on the Sanskrit
attested in the Sādhanamālā.

This text was translated during the coronavirus pandemic of 2019–2020 and is
offered by 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha with the aspiration
that all beings everywhere may find comfort and relief during this
challenging time.

The Translation

The Noble

Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī

Homage to the noble
Parṇaśavarī.

Homage to the Three Jewels.

Homage to the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddha, the blessed
Amitābha.

Homage to the bodhisattva great being, the deeply compassionate and
noble Avalokiteśvara.

Homage to the bodhisattva great being
Mahāsthāmaprāpta.

Homage to you, blessed Parṇaśavarī, dwarfish piśācī who wields an axe and a
noose.

Whatever fears may arise, every plague, pestilence, and pandemic, all calamities and
conflicts, and all personal anxieties affect only the
foolish, not the wise.

May truth, words of truth, and true speech send them away and dispel
them! May these words
of mantra empowered by the wise guard me and all beings. May they protect
us, keep us secure, defend us, and bring us peace and good fortune. May they
protect us from punishment and weapons. May they neutralize all poisons. May
they protect from the dangers of fire and the dangers of water. May they cut
down kākhordas. May they establish the protective boundary and bind the
earth.

The dhāraṇī is:

amṛte amṛte amṛtodbhave amṛtasambhave āśvaste āśvastāṅge mā
mara mā mara mā sara mā sara.

Grant peace!
Pacify every illness! Bring an end to all kinds of untimely death!
Pacify all evil influences from the planets and stars! Pacify all venom!
O Blessed Parṇaśavarī!

tunna tunna vitunna vitunna tuṇa tuṇa tumule
svāhā. oṃ gauri gāndhāri caṇḍāli mātaṅgi pukkasi svāhā. oṃ aṅkure
māṅkure kurare parṇaśavari svāhā. namas sarvaśavarīṇāṃ
mahāśavarīṇāṃ

bhagavati piśāci parṇaśavari piśāci svāhā. oṃ piśāci parṇaśavari
hrīḥ jaḥ hūṃ phaṭ piśāci svāhā.

“The Noble Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī” is complete.

Notes

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Amoghavajra

Amoghavajra
705–74. A famous and prolific translator, he is
particularly renowned for his Chinese translations of Indian
Buddhist esoteric works. He is known to have sailed from South India
to China via Sri Lanka between 741 and 746. Not to be confused with the eleventh
century paṇḍita of the same name who translated texts into Tibetan.

Caṇḍālī

Faxian

A Chinese translator active in the tenth
century.

Gāndhārī

Gaurī

Mātaṅgī

Pukkasī

Aṅkurā

Aṅkurā
Name invoked in the dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī.

Maṅkurā

Maṅkurā
Name invoked in the dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī.

Kurukurā

Kurukurā
Name invoked in the dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī.

1040–11; the Tibetan translator and second throne-holding Sakya heirarch, also
known as Bari Lotsāwa or Rinchen Drak (rin chen grags) who, among many other texts, translated
ninety-three sādhanas that are grouped together under his name in the Tibetan canon.

A Tibetan translator and scholar (1147–1216), the third of the five Sakya
forefathers and teacher of Sakya Paṇḍita; he translated and compiled a collection of 245 sādhanas
in the Tengyur under the title Ocean of Sādhanas
(sgrubs thabs rgya mtsho).

Amoghavajra
don yod rdo rje
དོན་ཡོད་རྡོ་རྗེ།
Amoghavajra
Ca. eleventh century; a paṇḍita who worked with Khampa Lotsāwa Bari
Chödrak on a number of translations. Not to be confused with the eighth century translator
of the same name who translated texts into Chinese.