Toh 776The Dhāraṇī for Circumambulation of the Three Jewels
Pāli / Sanskrit:Pradakṣināratnatrayadhāraṇī
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COMMENTARY ON A TANTRIC SCRIPTURE
Context
In the tantric Vajrayāna tradition, the practice of making reverential circumambulation around the Three Jewels—the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—is not merely a physical action, but also a profound cultivation of loving reverence with metaphysical significance. Pradakṣiṇā (reverential circumambulation), when combined with a dhāraṇī (esoteric mantra), becomes a powerful instrument for transforming consciousness in Tantra.
This scripture belongs to the Kangyur—the collection of Buddhist scriptures originally translated from Sanskrit and preserved in Tibetan. The combination of a specific dhāraṇī with the act of reverential circumambulation reflects the tantric principle that every action—of body, speech, and mind—can become a path of practice when guided by mantra and bodhicitta.
Main Content
The Pradakṣināratnatrayadhāraṇī presents a special esoteric mantra for the practice of reverential circumambulation around the Three Jewels—the Buddha Jewel, Dharma Jewel, and Sangha Jewel. In Tantra, each circumambulation accompanied by this mantra is not mechanical repetition, but the activation of deeply rooted spiritual energies.
The mantra used in this scripture functions as a “key of sound,” opening profound dimensions of consciousness and sacred space. When a practitioner recites each syllable of the dhāraṇī while physically making reverential circumambulation—whether around a sacred Buddha object, an image of the Buddha, or monastic teachers—habitual unconscious tendencies are also powerfully stirred. The mind is brought into a state of one-pointed concentration (ekāgratā).
The Three Jewels are understood not merely as external objects, but as profound truths: the Buddha is the quality of awakening, the Dharma is the universal law, and the Sangha are the community of teachers who expound it. Combined with mantra, every footstep becomes a grain of sand upon the path of Dharma, and every breath becomes a vow of practice.
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