Toh 804Dhāraṇīs for Giving Bodily Excretions as Charity
Pāli / Sanskrit:[no Sanskrit title]
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Exposition of the Dhāraṇī Scripture on Generating the Aspiration to Give Bodily Excretions
Background
This scripture belongs to the Tantra section of the Kangyur, the collection of Vajrayāna Tantric teachings preserved in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. In the Tantric tradition, dhāraṇīs (mantric formulas) are not merely spells that produce miraculous effects, but instruments for profound transformation of consciousness. This scripture addresses a unique yet exceedingly profound subject: giving what is considered unclean, namely bodily excretions (urine, feces, menstrual blood, and so forth).
In the Buddhist spirit, especially in Tantra, nothing is truly “unclean” or “clean” apart from how we perceive it. These dharmas are empty (śūnyatā) by nature, and the distinction between noble and base is a product of artificial conceptualization. The scripture therefore addresses a transcendent form of giving—not the giving of things valued in human eyes, but the overcoming of a mind of anxiety and taboo.
Main Content
The dhāraṇīs in this scripture are established so that practitioners, through the practice of giving things that society ordinarily regards as vulgar or unclean, may give rise to all-embracing compassion and relinquish coarse discriminations. This does not encourage strange acts in worldly life; rather, it uses dhāraṇīs—spiritual formulas authenticated by the Buddhas—to digest modes of thought restricted by stinginess.
In Vajrayāna Tantra, all things are manifestations of the Buddha-mind. Bodily excretions are likewise so. By practicing these dhāraṇīs, practitioners learn to view all phenomena with the eye of supreme wisdom, without being pulled about by dualistic notions of purity and impurity, good and bad. This is a pacifying practice (śānti-sādhana), intended not only to cleanse the mind but also to eradicate the roots of taboo.
The dhāraṇīs are recited with concentration on the emptiness of self (ātman-śūnyatā) in these acts of giving.
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