Toh 846Tam Trọng Nghi Thức Cầu Thỉnh (Toh 846)

Summary

The Threefold Invocation Ritual invokes all the
deities of the threefold world that have “entered the path of compassion” and
are “held by the hook of the vidyāmantra”
to gather, pay heed to the person reciting this text (or the person for whom it
is recited), and bear witness to the proclamation of that person’s
commitment to the Buddhist teachings. A profound aspiration to practice ten aspects
of a bodhisattva’s activity is then followed by a dedication and a prayer for the teachings.

Acknowledgements

Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of
Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. The translation was produced by Adam Krug and edited by
Ryan Damron.

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

Introduction

The Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus)
opens with the present work, The Threefold
Invocation Ritual. A very large majority of the 250 texts in this two-volume section
appended to the Degé Kangyur are simply duplicates of texts in other sections, but this
is one of the dozen or so that are unique to the compendium. Nevertheless, it is present in all Kangyurs of predominantly Tshalpa (tshal pa) lineage, being included in the Tantra sections of those that do not have a separate section of dhāraṇī. Kangyurs of the Thempangma lineage do not include this work at all.

The Tōhoku catalog (the standard reference for the Degé Kangyur)
appears to have grouped two texts together under the catalog number Toh 846,
despite the fact that the Degé Kangyur (as well as other Tshalpa Kangyurs) marks
these as independent works with their own titles. Of the handful of
witnesses for this text that have survived
among the Pelliot Dunhuang manuscripts, preserved in the Bibliothèque
Nationale de Paris, the manuscripts that Marcelle Lalou
presented in her 1938 study, edition, and French translation
confirm that these two sections of Toh 846 are in fact independent works,
respectively entitled The Threefold Ritual
(rgyud gsum pa) and An
Invocation of the Great Deities and Nāgas (lha
klu chen po rnams spyan dran pa). The
confusion over whether or not these two texts should be catalogued as a
single work might have derived from the fact that the initial title in the
Kangyur versions is a combination of parts of the two titles of
these older versions of the text. The version in all Tshalpa Kangyurs of the present text, The
Threefold Invocation Ritual, also
adds a passage of aspiration in prose from the Lokottaraparivarta, chapter 44 of the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra, and a concluding set of verses that are
not included in the Dunhuang witnesses.

The Threefold Invocation Ritual does not appear
in either the Denkarma or Phangthangma royal Tibetan catalogues of
works translated in the early period. It also does not appear to have been translated into
Chinese at any point. Its opening line does not contain an original Indic title, and it is
possible that this text is Tibetan in origin. Most of the subject matter of
the invocation, however, is unmistakably Indian. The text begins by calling
upon the great kings and guardians of the cardinal and ordinal directions,
zenith, and nadir. The text then calls upon the attendants of Śiva and the
deity Jambhala and his four treasures (Padma, Mahāpadma, Śaṅkha, and
Mahāśaṅkha), follows with a list of sixteen yakṣa generals, and
concludes by calling upon a number of nāga kings, rākṣasīs, and
goddesses. This pantheon of worldly deities is invoked in the first part of
the text to bear witness to the person who is reciting the liturgy (or
the person for whom the liturgy is being recited). A short aspiration
prayer in prose follows that confirms that person’s commitment to the bodhisattva path in the
presence of all who have gathered as witnesses. The aspiration (

) is an extract from
the Lokottaraparivarta, and details ten essential practices
a bodhisattva should undertake, setting out each practice as a contrasting but complementary
pair of attitudes drawn respectively from relative and ultimate perspectives. This is followed by a short
set of instructions on the power of the Buddhist teachings that employs the
cosmogonic myth from the Purāṇas, the churning of the ocean of milk, encoding
elements of the myth with a broader Buddhist significance.

The names of all the deities invoked in this text have been rendered in
Sanskrit whenever possible. The Sanskrit names and classifications for these
deities have been derived by triangulating between the Negi Tibetan–Sanskrit
dictionary, Edgerton’s Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
Dictionary, Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit-English dictionary, and
the Sanskrit of the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī.
The reader will notice that a number of familiar names from Sanskrit epic
and Purāṇa literature appear among lists of yakṣa generals, nāga kings,
rākṣasīs, and goddesses in this text. As is the case in other dhāraṇī texts, it is likely that their role as worldly deities in this work supercedes their characterizations in the Sanskrit epics and Purāṇas. This
phenomenon is also observed in the Mahāmāyūrī, where the goddesses Mārīcī and Kālī, for instance,
are listed as rākṣasīs. Similarly, several figures such as Daśagrīva,
Vibhīṣaṇa, Meghanāda, Sugrīva, and Hanuman who are known from the Rāmāyaṇa appear here as yakṣa generals and
nāga kings.

This translation is based on the version of The
Threefold Invocation Ritual found at the opening of the
Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the
text as it appears in the Comparative Edition (dpe
bsdur ma) of the Kangyur. The
prose section that is derived from the Lokottaraparivarta was checked against the Tibetan
translation of that text from the Ornaments of the Buddhas (phal chen) section of
the Degé Kangyur, and also against Śikṣānanda’s Chinese.

The Translation

The Threefold Invocation Ritual

I take refuge with sincere devotion and reverence

In the highest guru, the unsurpassed Three Jewels,

And the greatest of them all, the sublime supreme lord.

Brahmā and Śakra—lords of heaven and earth,

Source of all beings’ wealth, and protectors

Of the Dharma, the supreme teaching; great kings
Dhṛtarāṣṭra,

Virūḍhaka, Noble Virūpākṣa, and Kubera;

World protectors Indra, Agni,

Yama, Nairṛta, Varuṇa, Vāyu,

Vaiśravaṇa, Īśāna, and Pṛthivīdevatā;

The Sun, Moon, grahas, nakṣatras, the elephants of the quarters,

And the general, minister, and queen; the guardians of the
directions,

Each with their full retinue of queens and princes;

Renowned great commanders of the gods

Such as Viṣṇu, Gaṇapati, Nandi, and Kārttikeya;

Great and powerful Mahākāla, Mahābala,

Jambhala, Padma, and Mahāpadma,

Śaṅkha and Mahāśaṅkha, Pūrṇa and Supūrṇa,

Sugrīva, Pūrṇabhadra, Maṇibhadra,

Kumbhakarṇa, Ghaṇṭākarṇa, Trikarṇa, Mahākarṇa,

Sañjñeya and Sañjaya,

Jinarṣabha, Āṭavaka, Haimavata,

Sātāgiri, Pāñcika, Pāñcālagaṇḍa, Pāñcālaka,

Daśagrīva, Vibhīṣaṇa, Meghanāda, Gaganaghoṣa,

Triśirṣaka, Sāgara, Nanda, Upananda,

Anavatapta, Manasvin, Vāsuki, and the hosts of grahas;

Rṣis, vidyādharas, gods of the rains and harvest,

Gods of the road, of the day, the night, conjunctions, lunar phases, and
moments;

Powerful beings such as Hanuman and the like;

Vāgīśvarī, Svaraghoṣā, and Sarasvatī;

Vatsavatī, Śrīmati, Mārīcī,

Gaurī, Guardian of Speech, Gaṅgā, Yamunā,

Hārītī, Śaṅkhinī, Pārvatī, Durgā, and Kālī;

The seven mothers, the seven sisters, and the four sisters;

Great goddesses and great yakṣiṇīs

Such as Mahākālī and Ekajaṭī and so forth;

Great rākṣasīs and great piśācīs

Revered for their youthful forms, nurturing, and magical powers,

Awesome in their great hides and praised in battle by the army of the
gods;

Marvelous, renowned great lay practitioners,

Young gods and nāgas,

Young vidyādharas and ṛṣis,

And their five hundred kinsmen, all of them venerated by monks;

This entire group of resplendent youthful ones

Including the young yakṣa Tiraka and the like;

Gods and nāgas who are lords of all beings;

Yakṣas, gandharvas, uragas, asuras,

Garuḍas, kumbhāṇḍas, rākṣasas, kinnaras,

Bhūtas, piśācas, local deities, and evil spirits;

All you wise ones who have entered the path of compassion,

All you who are held by the hook of the vidyāmantra, listen to me.

May (insert name), a person blazing with good fortune

Who has heard and recited the names

Of the Three Jewels with their vowels and consonants

Have a prosperous and long reign,

Serve and venerate the Three Jewels, which possess immeasurable

Benefits and good qualities, have faith in the scriptures,

And, of course, study and practice the Dharma.

Upon death, may (insert name) depart for the divine pleasure groves

With their vast bounty of scriptures.

This one who is conscientious and devoted is crowned

With the teachings of the sun-like omniscient Dharma lord,

The supreme radiant jewel that crowns the king of the gods

Who brings victory in battle over the asuras and hosts of Māra.

Approach, children of the Victors! Knowing that we and all beings are already beyond suffering and thus not fearing that sentient beings will fail to transcend it, may we still insatiably cultivate the accumulations of merit and wisdom. May we know that things are intrinsically conditioned, yet not dismiss their characteristics.

May we not reject the form body of a buddha, yet attain freedom from all attachment. May we be free from attachment to all phenomena, yet seek the wisdom that knows everything. May we completely purify all phenomena as buddha realms without depending on others, yet understand the space-like characteristic of buddha realms.

May we never weary of bringing beings to maturity, yet never abandon the characteristics of lacking self-identity. May we magically display supernatural powers, yet never waver from the sphere of reality. May we not stop setting our mind on enlightenment, yet may omniscient wisdom arise in us.

May we satisfy all beings by turning the wheel of the Dharma, yet not pass beyond the inexpressible nature of reality. May we demonstrate the magical emanations and blessings of a tathāgata, without nevertheless discarding the body of a bodhisattva, and yet in all the perceptions of beings may we appear and then display the great parinirvāṇa. Children of the Victors, uphold these aspects of the teachings and practice these obverse and direct ways of engaging in practice.

These ten teachings are the most excellent activity of a buddha. Children of the Victor, these are the awakened activity of a bodhisattva. The spontaneous activity of the bodhisattvas is independent of others and is the perfect attainment of unsurpassed awakening.

King of the gods, great sovereign, boon-granting lord,

Fearless hero famous throughout the world

Whose face is radiant with insight like the full moon—

The aspiration and activity of a great being is your sole companion.

Brahmā, Śakra, and the other world protectors

Used the vajra-like samādhi, Mt. Sumeru, as the churning stick

And, along with compassion and effort, the nāga rope,

Churned forth an elixir, the holy Dharma,

From the ocean of great insight that spread everywhere like a feast of
amṛta.

With this jewel of merit, the renowned Dharma, as the crown jewel,

You were victorious in battle over the armies of rākṣasas and the
asuras.

I dedicate this to the mighty helmet of the kingdom of the gods.

I dedicate this so that our radiance, retinues, and wealth may
increase

And in particular so that we may attain powerful and strong standings.

I dedicate this so that we may perfect all the means of liberation

Such as the magical powers, supernatural cognitions, and perfections

And accomplish all our virtuous actions and intentions.

I dedicate this so that our bodies may be pervaded by the bliss of the
Dharma nectar,

Liberating us from minds that are plagued by suffering.

Spiritual teachers, kind and loving friends,

We are wounded by the blade of the afflictions.

Please sustain us with your compassionate blessing

And ensure that whomever is granted the crown is powerful

And protects the teachings of the Tathāgata.

We are faulted beings who are confused and act inappropriately—please
forgive us!

Those who know the time, vidyāmantra, and ritual, please be patient with
us.

We pray that the good fortune of this Dharma offering to the hosts of
gods

Shall ensure prosperity and cause the supreme Dharma to flourish.

This concludes “The Threefold [Invocation] Ritual.”

Notes

Bibliography

Source Texts

Works Cited

hosts of grahas

gdon la ’jebs
གདོན་ལ་འཇེབས།

mighty helmet

dbu rmog btsan pa
དབུ་རྨོག་བཙན་པ།

reign

chu srid
ཆུ་སྲིད།

Guardian of Speech

brjod skyob
བརྗོད་སྐྱོབ།