Toh 549The Noble Lord Mañjuśrī’s Dḥāraṇī for Increasing Insight and Intelligence

Summary

Mañjuśrī’s Increasing of Insight and Intelligence is a short dhāraṇī scripture centered on the
figure of Mañjuśrī. It opens with a salutation to the Three Jewels, followed by the Sanskrit dhāraṇī proper, and concludes with an
enumeration of the benefits accrued by its memorization. These include the swift attainment of intelligence, a melodious voice,
and a beautiful appearance. It also extols physical contact with the material text, which is said to enable recollection of one’s
former lives. The scripture concludes with a brief statement of the benefits accrued by extensive recitation, which culminate in
beholding the very face of Mañjuśrī.

Acknowledgements

Translated by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer, with Geshé Lobsang Dawa and Phakyab Rinpoche (Geshé Ngawang Sungrab), under
the auspices of the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York. Introduction by David Mellins and Kaia Fischer. Special thanks
to Paul Hackett for generously sharing his bibliographic expertise and resources. This translation would not have been possible
without the kind and dedicated tutelage of Gen Lozang Jamspal, Executive Director, Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New
York.

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

Introduction

Mañjuśrī’s Increasing of Insight and Intelligence is the fifth of six dhāraṇī scriptures
(Toh 545–550) gathered together within the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur that provide instruction in incantatory
practices that feature the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Five of these scriptures (Toh 547 omitted) also appear in the Dhāraṇī section
of the Degé Kangyur as Toh 892–896.

The text opens with a salutation to the Three Jewels, followed immediately by the Sanskrit dhāraṇī itself. The dhāraṇī
is benevolent in tone, extolling Mañjuśrī’s immaculate nature, purifying agency, and graceful demeanor. This is followed by a
list of the benefits accrued by its recitation, which include the swift attainment of intelligence, a melodious voice, and a
beautiful appearance. Mere physical contact with the material text is also said to enable the recollection of former lives.

The scripture concludes with a guarantee by the speaker (presumably Mañjuśrī) of the dhāraṇī’s efficacy. This takes
the form of a pledge to take on the karmic burden of the five misdeeds with immediate retribution, should the stated benefits
of recitation fail to ensue. This pledge is nearly identical in form to the oaths and promises sworn by bodhisattvas in other
similar sources. Similar statements are made by the bodhisattva Siṃhanāda in
The Dhāraṇī of the Promise Made by Siṃhanāda
, the bodhisattva Maitreya in

The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge,”
and Ārya Tārā in

The Dhāraṇī “Tārā’s Own
Promise,”
all of which include the Tibetan term dam bcas pa in
their titles. A more explicit presentation of this type of vow is also preserved in three Sanskrit practice manuals
in the Sādhanamālā. Bhattacharyya, pp. 47–48,
52, 54. The statement can be found in two works with the title Siṃhanādasādhana (sādhana nos.
17 and 21), and the Siṃhanādadhāraṇī (no. 23). An example of this statement from the Siṃhanādadhāraṇī reads, “If this is not accomplished after seven, thirteen, or twenty-one days,
even for one who has committed the five misdeeds with immediate retribution, I myself will be one who has committed the
five misdeeds with immediate retribution” (yadi saptame divase trayodaśe divase
ekaviṃśatitame vā divase pañcānantaryakāriṇo ’pi na sidhyaty ayaṃ tadā ’ham eva pañcānantaryakārī
bhaviṣyāmi).

A Sanskrit version of Mañjuśrī’s Increasing of Insight and Intelligence is to our
knowledge no longer extant, and it appears the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a
colophon, so we have no information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. However, its
inclusion in both the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs indicates that it was translated no later than the early
ninth century. In the Denkarma the title is listed as ’phags pa shes rab kyi blo ’phel ba’i gzungs. Denkarma, folio 303.b; Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, p. 249. The
Phangthangma lists the title as ’phags pa shes rab ’phel ba’i gzungs (Phangthangma, p.
30). The Denkarma catalog is usually dated to ca. 812 ce.

This English translation is based on the two versions in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (Toh 549) and the
other in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 895),

This text, Toh 895, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus,
e), are listed as being located in volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource
Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version
displayed by the 84000 Reading Room—list this work as being located in volume 101. This discrepancy is partly due to
the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement
not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed
another text—which forms a whole, very large volume—the Vimalaprabhānāmakālacakratantraṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med
’od, Toh 845), before the volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost
certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is
often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags
(catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation.

Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 895 version of this text
within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 895,

, for
details.

in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace Kangyur.

The Translation

##
The Noble Lord Mañjuśrī’s Dḥāraṇī for Increasing Insight and Intelligence

Homage to the Three Jewels!

namo mañjuśriye kumārabhūtāya
The Degé Kangyur in both versions (Toh 549 and 895) reads kumārabhutāya. ||

tadyathā | oṁ araje viraje | śuddhe viśuddhe | śodhani The Degé Kangyur in both versions (Toh 549 and 895) reads śoddhani. viśodhani The Degé Kangyur in both
versions (Toh 549 and 895) reads viśoddhani. | śodhaya viśodhaya | amale
vimale | jayavati ru ru cale | hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ | phaṭ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā ||
Provisional translation: “Homage to the ever-youthful Mañjuśrī. [The dhāraṇī] is: “Oṁ, immaculate, untainted, pure, utterly pure, purifying one, making perfectly pure! Do purify, make
perfectly pure! O stainless, utterly stainless, and victorious one who moves with the roaring sounds ru ru! Hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ, phaṭ
phaṭ phaṭ
svāhā!” Our translation of the Sanskrit ru ru
cale is tentative. It could alternatively be interpreted as one word (rurucale), meaning “you with the movements of an antelope” and implying grace and gentleness.

Those who memorize this will become intelligent within one month. Their voice will be melodious. Their appearance will
be beautiful. After a single reading they will turn their back on cyclic existence for a thousand eons. By merely holding it
in their hands they will recall former lives. After a hundred thousand recitations they will become erudite. After two hundred
thousand recitations they will become vidyādharas.
After three hundred thousand recitations they will behold the face of Mañjuśrī.

If one who has committed the five misdeeds with immediate retribution does not thus succeed, then may I myself become
guilty of committing the five misdeeds with immediate retribution and of deceiving the blessed buddhas.

This concludes “The Noble Lord Mañjuśrī’s Dḥāraṇī for Increasing Insight and
Intelligence.”

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

Western Language Sources

A class of semidivine beings that are known for wielding (dhara) spells
(vidyā). Loosely understood as “sorcerers.” The later Buddhist tradition,
playing on the dual valences of vidyā as “spell” and “knowledge,”
began to apply this term to realized beings.

The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha—the three objects of Buddhist refuge. In the Tibetan rendering, “the three rare and
supreme ones.”

The five most negative actions. Upon death, those who have committed one or more of these immediately proceed to
the hells without first experiencing the intermediate state. They are (1) killing an arhat, (2) killing one’s
mother, (3) killing one’s father, (4) creating a schism in the saṅgha, and (5) maliciously drawing blood from a
tathāgata’s body.