Toh 550Nghi Thức Mantra Một Âm Tiết Của Văn-thù-sư-lợi

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.

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 Diwakar Acharya of All Souls College, Oxford for sharing his expertise on tantric syllabary, and 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

The Procedure for Mañjuśrī's Single-Syllable Mantra
appears as the last 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. This is the pithiest of the canonical Mañjuśrī dhāraṇīs and includes
neither a Sanskrit title nor an opening salutation.

The scripture begins simply with a statement of the Tibetan title, followed by the prefatory expression tadyathā, the introductory mantra syllable oṁ, and then the single syllable kṣṇīṃ. The dhāraṇī is
then extolled as being both exceedingly secret and potent. After praising its universal efficacy, the remainder of the text
outlines a series of ritual applications to remedy specific ailments, involving the consecration of common items as sacral
implements in rites of healing.

A Sanskrit version of the text is to our knowledge no longer extant, and it appears that the text was never translated
into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon that might have offered information about the history of its
transmission or the identity of its translators. Its absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs suggests
that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century ce
but before the flourishing of the scholar Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin
chen grub, 1290–1364), who listed its Tibetan title,
along with those of the other texts in this collection (Toh 545–550), in his History of
Buddhism.

This English translation is based on the two versions in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (Toh 550) and the
other in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 896), in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace Kangyur.

The Translation

The Noble

Procedure for Mañjuśrī's Single-Syllable Mantra

tadyathā | oṁ kṣṇīṁ ||

This single-syllable mantra is exceedingly secret, for it accomplishes every aim and performs every action. As the essence of all the
tathāgatas, it fulfills all hopes.

Holding a tooth stick incanted with the mantra will cure toothache. Sea salt incanted seven times with the mantra,
when applied to the eyes, will cure eye disease.

If a person has a weapon fragment lodged inside of them, consecrate old and melted butter seven or one hundred and
eight times with the mantra and give it to them to drink, or apply it to the wound, and the fragment will be expelled.

Indigestion, swelling, dysentery, and feverish diarrhea will be cured by eating mu rang salt, sea
salt, or any other suitable rock salt incanted seven times with the mantra, and recovery will be the very same day.

Sweeping motions made with a raven’s feather incanted seven times with the mantra will heal illnesses of the
brain.

This concludes the noble “Procedure for Mañjuśrī’s Single-Syllable Mantra.”

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources