Kangyur — Tantras – page 2
626 texts · page 2 of 7 (texts 101–200)
Toh 477: The Tantra of the Secret Ornament of the Moon
Toh 478: The Tantra of Red Yamāri
Toh 481: The Tantra, the Universal Secret
Toh 483: The Tantra Purifying Evil Destinies
Toh 485: A Portion of the Practice of the Sovereign Tantra Purifying Evil Destinies
Toh 486: The Tantra Summarizing Consecration
Toh 488: A Section of the Chapter on Mantras of "The Supreme"
Summary This text is classified as a Yogatantra. In India, this tantra was united with the previous text in the Kangyur (Toh 487) as a single text. But in the Tibetan Kangyur they are represented as two individual texts, since different teams of translators rendered the two parts into Tibetan at different times. The teacher of the tantra is Vairocana but the rituals also focus on the Buddha Vajrasattva. This latter part of the tantra is longer and consists of forty-four chapters that together comprise the second, third, and fourth sections of the larger work. As such, although it is called the “Chapter on Mantras” it covers many additional instructions. First, a lengthy description is given of the benefits that arise from the practice of the perfection of wisdom as taught in the first part of the tantra. In the remainder of the tantra, the Buddha Vajrasattva emanates the maṇḍalas taught earlier in the text and he teaches in great detail about their connected rituals.
Toh 490: The Tantra, the Ornament of the Vajra Essence
Toh 492: The Tantra of the Array of Secret Ornaments
Toh 494: The Tantra of the Complete Enlightenment of Vairocana
Toh 497: The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Eight Goddesses
Summary The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Eight Goddesses is a teaching that was given by the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī on a set of dhāraṇīs that corresponds to an eight-goddess maṇḍala. The text consists of material extracted from the work that precedes it in the Degé Kangyur, the Vajrapāṇyabhiṣeka .
Toh 498: The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi
Summary In the Kangyur and Tengyur collections there are more than forty titles centered on the form of Vajrapāṇi known as the “Blue-Clad One,” a measure of this figure’s great popularity in both India and Tibet. This text, The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi , is a scripture that belongs to the Conduct tantra (Caryātantra) class, the third of the four categories used by the Tibetans to organize their tantric canon. It introduces the practice of Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi, while also providing the practitioner with a number of rituals directed at suppressing, subduing, or eliminating ritual targets.
Toh 499: The Tantra of Blue-clad Vajrapāṇi Vajrapātāla
Toh 501: Blue-clad Vajrapāṇi, a Tantra to Tame the Three Worlds
Toh 502: The Sovereign Tantra, Orderly Arrangement of the Three Vows
Toh 505: The Noble Vaiḍūryaprabha Dhāraṇī That Activates the Power of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Absorption
Summary The Vaiḍūryaprabha Dhāraṇī contains a short dhāraṇī given by the Seven Thus-Gone Ones that can be recited to purify karmic obscurations, cure illnesses, and prevent all manner of unnatural deaths and harmful circumstances.
Toh 505a: A Mantra for Incanting Medicines When Administering Them
Summary A Mantra for Incanting Medicines When Administering Them is a short work that pays homage to the Three Jewels and the Medicine Buddha, and provides a mantra to be used for incanting medicines.
Toh 506: The Dhāraṇī of the Sovereign Practice of the Supreme Secret Found Especially in the Great Jewel Palace
Toh 507: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra, the Dhāraṇī “The Receptacle of Secret Relics, Quintessence of the Blessings of All the Thus-Gone Ones”
Summary On his way to honor a brahmin’s invitation for a midday meal, the Buddha comes across an old stūpa that resembles a rubbish heap. Subsequently, while in conversation with Vajrapāṇi, the Buddha reveals that the stūpa contains the doctrinal synopsis for a dhāraṇī that embodies the essence of the blessings of innumerable buddhas. He also explains that the stūpa is, in fact, made of precious materials and that its lowly appearance is merely due to the lack of beings’ merit. The Buddha then extols the merit that results from copying, reading, and worshiping this scripture, and he enumerates the benefits that arise from placing it in stūpas and buddha images. When he pronounces the actual dhāraṇī, the derelict old stūpa is restored to its former glory.
Toh 508: Dhāraṇī of the Hundred Thousand Ornaments of the Essence of Awakening
Toh 509: The Dhāraṇī “One Hundred Thousand Ornaments of the Essence of Awakening”
Summary This short text presents a set of mantras that, when placed inside a stūpa, multiply the merit of having built one stūpa by one hundred thousand. These dhāraṇīs are specifically said to be of benefit to future generations whose merit will be weak.
Toh 510: The Dhāraṇī of the Pure Stainless Light
Toh 513: The Noble Dhāraṇī “Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas”
Summary The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas details a brief exchange between the Buddha and the four guardian kings of the world, that is, the four divine beings who rule over the cardinal directions in the Indian Buddhist tradition. Pursuant to a description of the fears that plague mankind, the Buddha declares that he will provide remedies for them. Invoking the presence of numberless buddhas in the limitless world systems described in Buddhist cosmology, the Buddha and the four kings provide several mantras of varying lengths meant for daily recitation, with the stated benefits not only of averting all manner of calamities—untimely death, illness, and injury chief among them—but of attracting the attention and blessings of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and ensuring good health and benefit for the practitioner and all beings.
Toh 514: The Noble Discourse of the Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
Summary The Discourse of the Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is a short work in which the Buddha Śākyamuni, addressing an immense gathering of bodhisattvas, teaches two dhāraṇīs to be recited as a complement to the practice of recollecting the Buddha, and then explains the beneficial results of reciting them. The significance of the teaching is marked by miraculous signs, and by the gods offering flowers and ornaments. The text also provides a set of correspondences between the eight ornaments offered by the gods and eight qualities that ornament bodhisattvas.
Toh 515: The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
Summary The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is structured as a dialogue between the Buddha and a retinue of gods from the Śuddhāvāsa realm. The dialogue revolves around the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa and the role that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa can play in continuing to guide beings in his absence until the next tathāgata appears in the world. The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is then introduced as the specific instruction that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa should preserve and propagate after Śākyamuni has departed. The Buddha then provides a list of benefits that members of the saṅgha can accrue by reciting this dhāraṇī.
Toh 516: The Noble Dhāraṇī “Heap of Flowers”
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Toh 517: The Dhāraṇī, the Stainless
Toh 518: The Dhāraṇī, the Sandalwood Branch
Toh 519: The Dhāraṇī, the Essence of Dependent Arising
Toh 522: The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Tathāgata Jñānolka that Purifies All Rebirths
Summary The Dhāraṇī of the Tathāgata Jñānolka opens with a description of a group of four tathāgatas and four bodhisattvas, who are seated in the celestial palace of the Sun and the Moon. The deities of the Sun and Moon return to their celestial palace from elsewhere and, seeing these tathāgatas and bodhisattvas, both wonder whether they might obtain a dhāraṇī that would allow them to dispel the darkness and shine a light upon all beings. The tathāgatas, perceiving the thoughts of the Sun and Moon, provide them with the first dhāraṇī in the text. The bodhisattva Samantabhadra then provides a second dhāraṇī and instructs the deities of the Sun and Moon to use it to free beings who are bound for rebirth in the lower realms—even those who have been born in the darkest depths of the Avīci hell.
Toh 523: The Dhāraṇī, Lord of the Earth
Toh 524: The Dhāraṇī, the Doubtless
Toh 528: The Noble King of Spells, the Dhāraṇī of Agrapradīpa
Summary The Noble King of Spells, the Dhāraṇī of Agrapradīpa presents six distinct dhāraṇī formulas that can be used for protection from threatening forces and illness, to facilitate the path to awakening, and to bring the practitioner into harmony with other beings. As the Buddha Śākyamuni resides at Jeta’s Grove near the city of Śrāvastī, he is visited by two bodhisattvas sent as emissaries by the Buddha Agrapradīpa, who resides in a distant buddhafield named Infinite Flowers. These bodhisattvas present the first of the six dhāraṇīs as an offering to Śākyamuni from Agrapradīpa. Inspired by their example, additional dhāraṇīs are then presented: one each by Maitreya and Mañjuśrī, two by Śākyamuni himself, and a final formula recited by the Four Great Kings. After the presentation of each dhāraṇī, the Buddha tells Ānanda of the rarity of such dhāraṇīs and describes the benefits that accrue from their recitation.
Toh 529: The Great Dhāraṇī
Toh 532: The One Hundred and Eight Names of Lord Buddha along with the Dhāraṇī
Toh 533: The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Essence of Śākyamuni
Summary This short dhāraṇī contains the essence mantra of Śākyamuni. After a formulaic homage to the Buddha Śākyamuni, his essence mantra is presented followed by a description of the benefits of its recitation.
Toh 534: The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana”
Summary The Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana” , which pays homage to the Three Jewels, the Buddha Vairocana, and the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha, contains the dhāraṇī of Vairocana or Ākāśagarbha. It lists the following benefits for one who recites it: protection from weapons, fire, water, poison, poisoned food and drink, hostile magic, kings, thieves, epidemics, pain, contagions, and so forth, and the attainment of the samādhi called stainless light .
Toh 538: The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings”
Summary The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings” includes a short dhāraṇī along with its rite. The dhāraṇī is used to make extensive offerings to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Its recitation purifies evil and brings virtue to the reciter, such that he or she will be protected and, at the time of death, will take rebirth in Sukhāvatī.
Toh 539: [The Dhāraṇī for] Homage
Toh 539a: [The Dhāraṇī for] Praise
Toh 540: The Dhāraṇī “Surūpa”
Summary This text consists of a short dhāraṇī followed by its application, a food offering made to the pretas (hungry spirits). The text says that by the power of the spell, the offering will be made manifold and there will be many future benefits for the person performing the rite.
Toh 541: The Dhāraṇī for Deliverance from the Eight Types of Fear
Toh 542: The Dhāraṇī known as "Distinctive"
Toh 543: The Noble Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī
Two sets of folio references have been included in this translation due to a discrepancy in volume 88 ( rgyud ’bum , na ) of the Degé Kangyur between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud ) printings. In the latter case, an extra work, Bodhimaṇḍasyālaṃkāralakṣadhāraṇī (Toh 508, byang chub snying po’i rgyan ’bum gyi gzungs ), was added as the second text in the volume, thereby displacing the pagination of all the following texts in the same volume by 17 folios. Since the eKangyur follows the later printing, both references have been provided, with the highlighted one linking to the eKangyur viewer. Oṁ , homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas!
Toh 544: The Great Sovereign Tantra of Siddhaikavīra
Summary The Tantra of Siddhaikavīra is a tantra of ritual and magic. It is a relatively short text extant in numerous Sanskrit manuscripts and in Tibetan translation. Although its precise date is difficult to establish, it is arguably the first text to introduce into the Buddhist pantheon the deity Siddhaikavīra—a white, two-armed form of Mañjuśrī. The tantra is primarily structured around fifty-five mantras, which are collectively introduced by a statement promising all mundane and supramundane attainments, including the ten bodhisattva levels, to a devotee who employs the Siddhaikavīra and, presumably, other Mañjuśrī mantras. Such a devotee is said to become a wish-fulfilling gem, constantly engaged in benefitting beings. Most of the mantras have their own section that includes a description of the rituals for which the mantra is prescribed and a brief description of their effects. This being a tantra of the Kriyā class, the overwhelming majority of its mantras are meant for use in rites of prosperity and wellbeing.
Toh 550: The Noble Procedure for Mañjuśrī’s Single-Syllable Mantra
Summary The Procedure for Mañjuśrī's Single-Syllable Mantra is a pithy text extolling an exceedingly secret and potent single-syllable mantra. Following a note regarding its universal efficacy, the remaining portion of the text outlines ritual applications for the remediation of specific ailments through the consecration of common items as sacral implements in rites of healing.
Toh 563: The Sūtra “Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra”
Summary Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, popular for centuries as an important facet of Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhism’s traditional approach to personal and communal misfortunes of all kinds. It addresses a range of human ailments, as well as misfortunes such as robbery, natural disaster, and criminal punishment, thought to be brought on especially through the animosity of non-human spirit entities. The sūtra stipulates the invocation of these spirit entities, which it separates into hierarchically ordered groups and thus renders subordinate to the command of the Buddha and members of his saṅgha. The Buddha stipulates that just “upholding” or intoning their names and the mantra formula for each will quell the violent interventions of non-human entities and even hasten them to provide for the pragmatic needs of the saṅgha and its surrounding communities.
Toh 564: The Noble Mārīcī Dhāraṇī
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas. Skt. reads oṃ namo bhagavatyai āryamārīcīdevatāyai . The alternate homage in the Sanskrit witnesses translates “ Oṃ Homage to the blessed noble goddess Mārīcī.”
Toh 565: The King of Ritual Manuals from the Tantra of Māyā Mārīcī’s Arising
Toh 568: The Dhāraṇī of Jayavatī
Toh 569: The Dhāraṇī of Abhiṣecanī
Toh 570: The Dhāraṇī of Hiraṇyavatī
Toh 573: The Dhāraṇī of the Mother of All Dharmas
Toh 574: The Dhāraṇī of Cūḍāmaṇi
Toh 576: The Noble “Dhāraṇī of ‘The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines’ ”
Summary This text consists of a short dhāraṇī said to encompass the longest sūtra in the Kangyur, The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines (Toh 8), and the benefits of its recitation.
Toh 577: The Noble “Dhāraṇī of ‘The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines’ ”
Summary This text consists of a short dhāraṇī said to encompass The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines (Toh 9) and the benefits of its recitation.
Toh 578: The Noble “Dhāraṇī of ‘The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines’ ”
Homage to the Blessed Lady, the Mother Perfection of Wisdom.
Toh 579: The Dhāraṇī of the Essence of the Six Perfections
Summary The text presents a simple dhāraṇī in the form of a mnemonic expression consisting of homages to the three bodies of a buddha, the six perfections, and their underlying philosophical understanding. The benefits of the dhāraṇī are also listed.
Toh 580: The Dhāraṇī for Retaining the Six Perfections
Summary This text presents a series of dhāraṇīs for the attainment of each of the perfections.
Toh 581: The Dhāraṇī for Obtaining the Ten Perfections
Summary This text presents a single dhāraṇī for the attainment of the ten perfections.
Toh 582: The Dhāraṇī of the Four Immeasurables
Toh 583: The Dhāraṇī for Retaining the Perfection of Wisdom in a Hundred Thousand Lines
Summary This text presents two dhāraṇīs for the retention of The Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra in One Hundred Thousand Lines .
Toh 584: The Dhāraṇī for Retaining the Noble Avataṃsaka
Summary This text presents a single dhāraṇī to enable the retention of the Avataṃsakasūtra.
Toh 586: The Noble “Dhāraṇī to Uphold ‘The King of Samādhis Sūtra’ ”
Summary This text consists of a short dhāraṇī said to encompass a famous sūtra in the Kangyur, The King of Samādhis Sūtra (Toh 127), and the benefit of its recitation.
Toh 588: The Dhāraṇī to Uphold “The Noble Great Amulet”
Summary This text consists of a short dhāraṇī said to encompass a famous text for protection in the Kangyur, The Great Amulet (Toh 561), and the benefit of its recitation.
Toh 589: The Dhāraṇī-Mantra to Have the Entire Noble “Sūtra of Descent into Laṅkā” Read
Summary This text consists of a short dhāraṇī, the recitation of which is said to be equivalent to reciting one of the most famous sūtras in the Kangyur, The Descent into Laṅkā (Toh 107), from which it is an extract.
Toh 594: Crown Victory of All Tathāgatas: The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual
Summary The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a number of short rites for its recitation.
Toh 595: Crown Victory of All Tathāgatas: The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual
Summary The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a number of short rites for its recitation.
Toh 596: Crown Victory of All Tathāgatas: The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual
Summary The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a short rite for its recitation.
Toh 597: The Noble Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī That Purifies All Lower Rebirths
Summary The Noble Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī That Purifies All Lower Rebirths opens with an account of the god Supratiṣṭhita, who seeks the god Śakra’s advice after learning of his own impending death and rebirth in the lower realms. Realizing that the Tathāgata is the only true refuge from lower rebirth, Śakra goes to the Buddha, who explains to him the benefits of the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī and a number of rituals related to it that can liberate Supratiṣṭhita and all beings from rebirth in the lower realms.
Toh 598: Crown Victory of All Tathāgatas: A Ritual Manual for the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī
Summary A Ritual Manual for the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a number of short rites for its recitation.
Toh 599: The Dhāraṇī of Vimaloṣṇīṣa
Toh 600: The Dhāraṇī of Uṣṇīṣājvālā
Toh 601: The Dhāraṇī for a Caitya Perfectly Constructed with Complete Knowledge
Summary The Dhāraṇī for a Caitya is a short manual on the ritual preparation for and casting of small caityas from clay. The ritual has three main parts: a description of the general transformative power of the dhāraṇī, the preparation rituals for the ground and clay, and rituals for the consecration of the cast images. The main dhāraṇī, with the name vimaloṣṇīṣa , “stainless uṣṇīṣa,” was widely used in central and northeast Asian Buddhism, especially in the context of purification, consecration, and inauguration rituals.
Toh 602: The Dhāraṇī that Makes Erecting One Reliquary Like Erecting Ten Million
Toh 603: The Dhāraṇī of the Apex of Compassion
Toh 604: The Secret Tantra of the Wrathful Conqueror
Toh 605: The Noble Dhāraṇī of Vajrabhairava
Summary The Dhāraṇī of Vajrabhairava is a short text presenting both a series of “vajra statements” (Tib. rdo rje tshig ), which it calls the “essence of all vidyā and mantra,” and a dhāraṇī, followed by instructions for the dhāraṇī's associated rites. These include rites for countering and repelling enemies, subjugating nāgas and preventing hail, curing illness, and even protecting liquor from spoilage.
Toh 606: The Dhāraṇī of Mahādaṇḍa
Toh 608: The Dhāraṇī that Purifies All Hindrances
Toh 609: The Noble Dhāraṇī That Fully Confers Freedom From All Dangers
Summary The Dhāraṇī That Fully Confers Freedom From All Dangers is set in Indra’s Rock Cave on Vaidehaka Mountain where Śakra requests the Buddha for a teaching to help him subdue the asuras, the famed adversaries of the devas. The Buddha instructs Śakra to employ the vidyāmantra that confers freedom from all dangers. This vidyāmantra specifically frees one from dangers associated with disease, poisons, weapons, malevolent nonhuman beings, and conflicts. Among the harmful nonhuman beings, the text places a particular emphasis on grahas, a class of beings who “seize,” possess, or otherwise adversely influence other beings by causing a range of physical and mental afflictions, as well as various types of misfortune. After the Buddha recites the vidyāmantra, he offers Śakra ritual instructions on how to incant the vidyāmantra on threads, ritual substances, or armor which, when placed on the body, ensures protection and the successful outcomes of one’s rituals.
Toh 612: The Noble Dhāraṇī of Dhvajāgrakeyūrā
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas. The longer Sanskrit version translates as “I prostrate to the Bhagavatī Āryadhvajāgrakeyūrā.” See Giunta, “The Āryadhvajāgrakeyūrā nāma dhāriṇī.”
Toh 613: The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā
Summary The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā consists of an homage, invocation, and description of the Goddess Cundā followed by a request to Cundā for protection and good fortune.