Toh 513Toh 513 — Đà-la-ni Cao Quý "Trang Bị Đức Tướng Của Tất Cả Chư Phật" (Sarvabuddhāṅgavatīdhāraṇī)

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.

Acknowledgements

The translation was produced by David Gitlen, who also wrote the introduction. The translator would like to express his gratitude to
Khensur Geshe Wangdak Rinpoche, Phil Stanley, Sarah Harding, and Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen for their help and guidance.

This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas records an encounter between the Buddha and
the four guardians of the world at an unspecified site on the banks of the Ganges River. The Buddha himself initiates the dialogue,
describing four great fears—aging, sickness, decrepitude, and death—declaring death to be the chief among them, and promising to provide
remedies for them. With a snap of his fingers, the Buddha summons the attention and presence of buddhas throughout the reaches of space in
the ten directions, and they recite, in unison, the longest of the dhāraṇī incantations
found in the text. Each of the four guardians, in turn, goes on to pledge his assistance and provides a shorter dhāraṇī mantra as a
supplement to the main one. The Buddha succinctly describes the various applications and benefits of the recitation, reading, writing, and
wearing of these mantras, accruing not only to the individual, but to the very place in which they are recited and to those with whom they
are connected. Finally, he explains how such practices fit in with commonly accepted ideas of accumulating merit through acts of
devotion.

The original Sanskrit text for The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas has not been
located, but a Chinese translation does exist (Taishō 1346). The Chinese text lists the translator as Devendraprajñā, whose exact dates are
uncertain, but who was active in China as a translator under Tang dynasty patronage by the last decade of the seventh century. The Chinese
version is quite close to the Tibetan (although it has a different title), but it does contain a number of differences and additional lines or fragments, as well as
a short section at the end, not found in the Tibetan versions, describing a ritual procedure for constructing altars and making
offerings. In the Degé Kangyur The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the
Buddhas is included among the tantras belonging to the Action (kriyā) class (Toh 513) and it is also reproduced in the Dhāraṇī
(gzungs ’dus) section (Toh 856).
The attribution in the colophon of the Tibetan version
to the translators Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Yeshé Dé puts its translation somewhere around the end of, or shortly after, the reign of King
Trisong Detsen, at the turn of the ninth century. Its inclusion in the Denkarma (ldan dkar
ma) catalog of the canon, compiled in 812 ce, supports this. Lastly, it should be mentioned that an
English translation of this text by Joan Nicell was published online in 2007.

This English translation was produced based on both Toh 513 and Toh 856 in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative
Edition (dpe bsdur ma), the Stok Palace Kangyur, and the Chinese translation (Taishō 1346).

The Translation

The Noble Dhāraṇī “Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas”

Homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling on the bank of the great river Gaṅgā together with the four guardians
of the world.

At that time, the Blessed One said to those four great kings including Vaiśravaṇa, “All men, women, young boys, and girls have four great fears. Which four? These four: aging, sickness,
decrepitude, and death. Among them, the single greatest fear is of the
Lord of Death, in that death is cruel, cannot be remedied, and is
always in close pursuit. Great kings, I will
now pronounce the remedy for this single great fear.”

The four great kings replied, “Blessed One, it is our great fortune that the Blessed One will
care for all beings by bestowing life for their sake!”

The Blessed One was seated facing east, and
with the sound of a finger snap he invoked all the tathāgatas, saying, “May all the tathāgatas, the worthy ones, the perfect buddhas,
who have fully awakened to unsurpassable and perfect awakening out of love for sentient beings, assist me! Having been blessed here by
all the buddhas, I will avert the untimely deaths of all beings! I will turn a second wheel of Dharma that has not been turned before!”

Likewise, he invoked all the tathāgatas of the south, west, north, above, and below, saying, “May all the tathāgatas, the worthy
ones, the perfect buddhas, who have fully awakened to unsurpassable and perfect awakening out of love for sentient beings, assist
me!”

Likewise, in every intermediate direction he spoke these words, so that beings’ life spans, physical strengths, and complexions would be perfect, and so that fear of an untimely
death would not arise, saying, “May all the buddhas assist me!”

Then there appeared before the Buddha’s eyes as many world systems as there are elements of earth throughout the ten directions,
filled with blessed buddhas like a sesame pod. These tathāgatas pledged their assistance, and all spoke the following:

tadyathā calā calā cale vinati svastike cakrāṅgati praśamantu sarvarogānatre kunaṭe
mahākunaṭe care carere hemagiri hemagauri hemaniśunti hemasisi kaurave kauravave hekurare kurare kumati piṣasamaṇe śiṣuvi cale cale
vicale mā vilamba humu humu svāhā!

The lords of the guhyakas, as many as there were, from their places beside all
those tathāgatas, also spoke, saying “hūṁ hūṁ si si svāhā!” and the tathāgatas vanished from
sight.

Then the great king Vaiśravaṇa said, “Blessed One, I, too, with the blessing of the tathāgatas, will act as a guardian, and will
avert untimely death! tadyathā śvete śvete lelili!”

Virūḍhaka also spoke, saying
“mātaṅge mātaṅge mātaṅgini śūmā śūmū!”

Dhṛtarāṣṭra also spoke, saying “care carere svāhā!”

Virūpākṣa also spoke, saying “balampipa!”

The Blessed One responded, “Great Kings, when a son or daughter of noble family recites at least once a day, every day, these
vidyāmantras seen by all
the buddhas, that son or daughter of noble family should be regarded as a teacher. That son or daughter of noble family will never again be reborn in the three lower realms and will be
of benefit to the lives of all beings. Anyone who recites these words once a day for the benefit of all beings, or even reads them, will
have no fear of untimely death. Their bodies will be free of disease. At no time will they drown, or be killed by fire, by weapons, by
poison, or by lightning. It should be known that wherever a child of the victors recites these vidyāmantras, he or she will secure the attention of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Anyone who writes this down, or
has it written down, will be serving the blessed buddhas with every respect and honor. If one wonders why this is, it is because the
tathāgatas have declared that serving sentient beings is serving the buddhas. If someone, having written this, affixes it to a
limb, all their limbs will be protected.”

When the Blessed One had spoken thus, the four great kings, the entire retinue, and the world with all its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised
the words of the Blessed One.

This concludes the Noble Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas.

Colophon

Notes

Bibliography

Vaiśravaṇa
rnam thos kyi bu
རྣམ་ཐོས་ཀྱི་བུ།
Vaiśravaṇa
The “Son of Viśrava (Completely Renowned),” guardian of the northern direction. He and his father are both
also referred to as Kubera, and he is also known as Jambhala. He rules over spirits called guhyakas (literally “secret/hidden
ones”), described in various capacities, giving rise to his epithet Guhyakādhipati, “Lord of the Guhyakas.”

Disciple of Padmasambhava and translator.