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The iconographic details of Siṃhanāda are described with some variation and differing degrees of detail in Toh 2858, 2859, 3155, 3157, 3329, 3414, 3417, 3418, 3419, and 3650. Descriptions in Sanskrit can be found in sādhana nos. 17, 20, 22, and 25 in volume one of the Sādhanamālā. For a survey of Indo-Tibetan artistic depictions of Siṃhanāda, see the deity’s main page at Himalayan Art Resources: https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=472&page=1.
This translation follows C, F, L, and Y, which read sngon lam. D reads smon lam, “aspirations.”
Emended. D reads a. The word avighnāntakṛt also seems implausible. In his Vajrāvalī (Mori 1997, p. 126), Abhayākaragupta gives a kuṇḍalin mantra as oṁ āḥ vighnāntakṛt hūṁ phaṭ.
In most depictions of Siṃhanāda, the stalk of the lotus rises from his left hand to the level of his shoulder and has a blazing sword standing in its blossom. A skull cup or other vessel rests on a lotus flower nearby to his left, and is filled with fragrant flowers. Here, a lotus, skull cup, water lily, and sword are described together, but their location in relation to Siṃhanāda and their orientation to each other are not specified.
gsum dang lnga ni mdun du ’phyang. The Tibetan is ambiguous here, thus this translation is tentative. A sense of what is meant here is provided by a phrase from the Siṃhanādasādhana, sādhana no. 17 of the Sādhanamālā (Bhattacharyya 1925, pp. 47–8). In this work, attributed to Advayavajra, we find the compound aṃsalulitapañcacīra, “five locks hang from his shoulders.” The phrase “five locks” (pañcacīra) is commonly used to describe deities whose hair hangs loose over their shoulders. It should be noted that the Tibetan translation of this sādhana—Toh 3414—translates this phrase with rol pa’i dpa’ bo lnga, “the five playful heroes,” which would indicate the Sanskrit compound lalitapañcavīra (aṃsa, “shoulder,” is omitted). Thus it would appear that variants in the Sanskrit manuscript tradition or translator error resulted in reading lalita (“playful”) in place of lulita (“hang”), and pañcavīra (“five heroes”) in place of pañcacīra.
’dam skyes dmar po’i lo ma gnyis / padma bzhi la sngas bzhi ldan. This translation is tentative.
Lit. “Not Disturbed” or “Immovable One.” The buddha in the eastern realm of Abhirati. A well-known buddha in Mahāyāna, regarded in the higher tantras as the head of one of the five buddha families, the vajra family in the east.
The buddha of the western buddhafield of Sukhāvatī, where fortunate beings are reborn to make further progress toward spiritual maturity. Amitābha made his great vows to create such a realm when he was a bodhisattva called Dharmākara. In the Pure Land Buddhist tradition, popular in East Asia, aspiring to be reborn in his buddha realm is the main emphasis; in other Mahāyāna traditions, too, it is a widespread practice. For a detailed description of the realm, see \1\2The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī, Toh 115. In some tantras that make reference to the five families he is the tathāgata associated with the lotus family.
Amitābha, “Infinite Light,” is also known in many Indian Buddhist works as Amitāyus, “Infinite Life.” In both East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions he is often conflated with another buddha named “Infinite Life,” Aparimitāyus, or “Infinite Life and Wisdom,”Aparimitāyurjñāna, the shorter version of whose name has also been back-translated from Tibetan into Sanskrit as Amitāyus but who presides over a realm in the zenith. For details on the relation between these buddhas and their names, see \1\2The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra (1) Toh 674, i.9.
One of the “eight close sons of the Buddha,” he is also known as the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. In certain tantras, he is also the lord of the three families, where he embodies the compassion of the buddhas. In Tibet, he attained great significance as a special protector of Tibet, and in China, in female form, as Guanyin, the most important bodhisattva in all of East Asia.
In Buddhist literature, this is an epithet applied to buddhas, most often to Śākyamuni. The Sanskrit term generally means “possessing fortune,” but in specifically Buddhist contexts it implies that a buddha is in possession of six auspicious qualities (bhaga) associated with complete awakening. The Tibetan term—where bcom is said to refer to “subduing” the four māras, ldan to “possessing” the great qualities of buddhahood, and ’das to “going beyond” saṃsāra and nirvāṇa—possibly reflects the commentarial tradition where the Sanskrit bhagavat is interpreted, in addition, as “one who destroys the four māras.” This is achieved either by reading bhagavat as bhagnavat (“one who broke”), or by tracing the word bhaga to the root √bhañj (“to break”).
A term used to refer to gods in the Brahma Realm.
A Tibetan translator active in the eleventh century.
Gods living in the Brahma Realm.
A term used to refer to gods in the Great Brahma Realm.
One of the heavens of Buddhist cosmology, lowest among the six heavens of the desire realm (kāmadhātu, ’dod khams). Dwelling place of the Four Great Kings (caturmahārāja, rgyal chen bzhi), traditionally located on a terrace of Sumeru, just below the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Each cardinal direction is ruled by one of the Four Great Kings and inhabited by a different class of nonhuman beings as their subjects: in the east, Dhṛtarāṣṭra rules the gandharvas; in the south, Virūḍhaka rules the kumbhāṇḍas; in the west, Virūpākṣa rules the nāgas; and in the north, Vaiśravaṇa rules the yakṣas.
The second heaven of the desire realm located above Mount Meru and reigned over by Śakra/Indra and thirty-two other gods.
1847-1914. A master of the Sakya tradition.
The ruling caste in the traditional four-caste hierarchy of India, associated with warriors, the aristocracy, and kings.
Literally a “disk” or “circle,” in the ritual context maṇḍala is a sacred space on the ground or a raised platform, arranged according to a pattern that varies from rite to rite.
1846–1912. A famous polymath of the Nyingma (rnying ma) tradition.
“Lotus Lord;” an epithet of Avalokiteśvara.
The Indian preceptor who translated this sūtra in the eleventh century.
“The Lion’s Roar,” the name of a form of Avalokiteśvara.
Sukhāvatī (Blissful) is the buddhafield to the west inhabited by the buddha Amitābha, who is also known as Amitāyus. It is classically described in The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī (\1\2Sukhāvatīvyūha).
Honey, molasses, and ghee.
The spot on which the Buddha Śākyamuni attained Buddhahood. Also, Vajrāsana refers to the Bodhgayā area.
A class of nonhuman beings who inhabit forests, mountainous areas, and other natural spaces, or serve as guardians of villages and towns, and may be propitiated for health, wealth, protection, and other boons, or controlled through magic. According to tradition, their homeland is in the north, where they live under the rule of the Great King Vaiśravaṇa.
Several members of this class have been deified as gods of wealth (these include the just-mentioned Vaiśravaṇa) or as bodhisattva generals of yakṣa armies, and have entered the Buddhist pantheon in a variety of forms, including, in tantric Buddhism, those of wrathful deities.
seng ge sgra’i rgyud ces bya ba (Siṃhanādatantra). Toh 702, Degé Kangyur vol. 93 (rgyud, rtsa), folios 163.b–164.b.
seng ge’i sgra’i sgrub thabs (Siṃhanādasādhana). Toh. 3560, Degé Tengyur vol. 77 (rgyud ’grel, mu), folios 262.a–262.b.
seng ge’i sgra’i sgrub thabs (Siṃhanādasādhana). Toh 3414, Degé Tengyur vol. 77 (rgyud ’grel, mu), folios 81.a–81.b.
seng ge sgra’i rgyud ces bya ba. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 93, pp. 478–482.
seng ge sgra’i rgyud ces bya ba. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 107 (rgyud, ma), folios 36.b–38.a.
seng ge sgra’i rgyud ces bya ba. Phukdrak Kangyur vol. 114 (rgyud, ma), folios 88.a–89.b.
Siṃhanādadhāraṇī. In Sādhanamālā, vol. 1, edited by Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, 52. Baroda: Central Library, 1925.
Advayavajra. Siṃhanādasādhana. In Sādhanamālā, vol. 1, edited by Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, 47–8. Baroda: Central Library, 1925.
mi pham rgya mtsho. seng ge sgra’i gzungs kyi lo rgyus. In gsung ’bum / mi pham rgya mtsho, vol 25 (ra), folios 51.a–51.b. Chengdu: gangs can rig gzhung dpe rnying myur skyobs lhan tshogs, 2007.
sgrub thabs kun btus [Compendium of Sādhanas]. Reproduced from the sde dge xylograph edition 1902. Dehra Dun: G.T.K. Lodoy, N. Gyaltsen, N. Lungtok, 1970. [BDRC W23681].
Mori, Masahide. “The Vajrāvālī of Abhayākaragupta: a Critical Study, Sanskrit Edition of Selected Chapters and Complete Tibetan Version.” PhD diss., SOAS 1997.
84000. The Dhāraṇī of Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda (Āvalokiteśvarasiṃhanādadhāraṇī, spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug seng ge sgra’i gzungs, Toh 703). Translated by Catherine Dalton. Online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.
Holt, John C. Buddha in the Crown: Avalokiteśvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Losty, J. P. “The Mahābodhi Temple Before its Restoration.” In Precious Treasures from the Diamond Throne: Finds from the Site of the Buddha’s Enlightenment, edited by Sam van Schaik, Daniela De Simone, Gergely Hidas, and Michael Willis, 8–28. London: The British Museum, 2021.
The Siṃhanāda Tantra is a short tantra that teaches the long mantra and a short practice of the form of Avalokiteśvara called Siṃhanāda, “Lion’s Roar.”
This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team. Catherine Dalton produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Ryan Damron edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The Siṃhanāda Tantra opens in Vajrāsana where the Buddha is residing in the form of Padmeśvara. Vajrapāṇi asks him how to train on the path, and Padmeśvara replies that one should recall the practice of Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda. The story of Avalokiteśvara’s Siṃhanāda form is recounted in detail in The Dhāraṇī of Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda, Toh 703. There we learn how, during a past-life adventure with his friend who became the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara came to take this particular form. In this form, he obtained the power to tame the nāgas and his famed curative powers. The Siṃhanāda Tantra features the latter. After speaking Siṃhanāda’s secret mantra and teaching a short practice to accompany it, Padmeśvara concludes his discourse by describing the benefits of respecting and upholding the tantra and the detriments of deprecating it.
In addition to The Siṃhanāda Tantra, there are two short dhāraṇī texts associated with Siṃhanāda in the Kangyur and numerous practice manuals, praises, and ritual texts dedicated to him in the Tengyur, attesting to the importance of this particular form of Avalokiteśvara. Siṃhanāda was especially popular in Sri Lanka. An image of Siṃhanāda was found at the Mahābodhi temple in Bodh Gaya prior to the temple’s nineteenth-century renovation. A tenth-century Nepalese miniature painting kept at Cambridge depicts Siṃhanāda and includes a caption reading, “Lokeśvara of the hospital on the island of Siṃhala,” referencing his curative abilities.
Siṃhanāda’s iconography is generally consistent across textual and artistic sources, though not all of the details are clearly elaborated in this text. Siṃhanāda is white in color, has two legs and two arms, is dressed as an ascetic (tapasvin, dka’ thub ldan pa) and sits on a lion. In most descriptions, a skull-adorned trident rests at his right side, but in some, he holds it in his right hand. This trident is also frequently depicted with a white snake coiled around the shaft. With his left hand, he holds the end of a lotus stalk that rises upward and has a sword standing on the open lotus blossom. Nearby and to the left sits what is variously described as a cup (karoṭaka), pot (bhājana, snod), or skull cup (kapāla, thod pa) filled with fragrant flowers. This vessel often sits on a lotus or water lily. The iconography described in the present text largely conforms with this depiction, but a lack of clarity in the Tibetan translation and its Sanskrit sources leaves a number of specific points ambiguous.
The Siṃhanāda form of Avalokiteśvara continues to be practiced in contemporary Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Two arrangements of practices centered on Lokeśvara Siṃhanāda are found in the Compendium of Sādhanas (sgrub thabs kun btus) compiled by Jamyang Loter Wangpo, and the nineteenth-century scholar Mipham Gyatso wrote a short summary of the story of The Dhāraṇī of Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda.
The Siṃhanāda Tantra does not appear to be extant in Sanskrit or Chinese translation. It was translated into Tibetan by the Indian master Prajñākara and the Tibetan translator Gö Khukpa Lhetse in the eleventh century.
The present English translation of The Siṃhanāda Tantra was made on the basis of the Degé Kangyur recension of this work, with additional reference to the notes from the Comparative Edition (dpe sdur ma) of the Kangyur, the Stok Palace (stog pho brang) Kangyur, and the Phukdrak (phug brag) Kangyur recensions of the text. We also consulted the Sanskrit Siṃhanādadhāraṇī from the Sādhanamālā.
Homage to the blessed Lotus Lord of Speech.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One, transformed into Padmeśvara, was residing at Vajrāsana. The Lord of Guhyakas said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, how does one train in the accumulation of merit and wisdom, and in the path?”
The Blessed One answered, “Amazing! There is someone called Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda, who has supreme love and compassion for beings. One should contemplate how he previously trained on the path and gathered the accumulations of merit and wisdom.”
Then the blessed Padmeśvara rose and pronounced this secret mantra:
namo ratna trayāya | nama āryāvalokiteśvarāya bodhisattvāya mahasattvāya mahākāruṇikāya ||
tadyathā | oṁ akaṭe vikaṭe nikaṭe kaṭaṃkaṭe karoṭe karokaṃṭe vīryai svāhā | oṁ āḥ hrīḥ siṃhanāda hūṁ | bruṁ āṁ jrīṁ khaṁ hūṁ | oṁ āḥ hūṃ | oṁ balīn bhuñja jiva puśpe dhūpe hūṁ | sarvāmṛte hūṁ | oṁ vatali mahāvatali hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ jaḥ svāhā | oṁ bhakṣa bhakṣa samaya tiṣṭha jaṃ hūṁ phaṭ svāhā | oṁ taprati hūṁ phaṭ | sritikara hūṁ phaṭ | oṁ varuṇa āgacchaya āgacchaya mahānāga gisati sarve bhuraḥ phuḥ phuḥ phuḥ svāhā | oṁ bhagavati śrutismṛtisamavati saramati siddhi svāhā | oṁ āḥ hrīḥ hūṃ svāhā | phuḥ hrīḥ | oṁ siṃhanāda hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ | nāgadupali māraya phaṭ | jvāla jvāla hūṁ phaṭ | oṁ āḥ vighnāntakṛt hūṁ | oṁ agnaye ativya abhisamayaviśa mahāśriye havyakavyam ahanīya svāhā | oṁ bhavaka agnaye śāntiṃ kuru svāhā | oṁ hrīḥ siṃhanāda vajracakravartalokika bruṁ bruṁ bruṁ | lokottarāṇi siṃhanāda bruṁ bruṁ bruṁ hūṁ na hūṁ na siṃhanāda bruṁ bruṁ bruṁ hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ svāhā ||
“Lord of Guhyakas, this is called the accomplishment of the maṇḍala. It includes the ritual actions of killing, averting, summoning, binding, and pacifying. In the morning, make a maṇḍala with cow dung that has not fallen to the ground. Please the nāgas by holding the three sweet substances in the palm of your hand. This pacifies the anger of the nāgas.
“Lord of Guhyakas, whoever deprecates this tantra deprecates all buddhas and bodhisattvas. Lords of Guhyakas, the gods of the Heaven of the Four Great Kings, the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, the brahmaputras, and the great brahmas will protect, guard, conceal, and always accompany any being who hears this tantra, thinks of it, worships it, upholds it, or even just takes an interest in it. All the buddhas and bodhisattvas, who are greatly superior to those gods, will protect such beings just as a mother protects her child and the māras will never be able to obstruct them. When they die, they will take birth in lotuses in the western realm of Sukhāvatī, freed from the pain of the womb. In this life, they will be freed from any fear of fire or water. Here I have only briefly stated the benefits, but apart from these all that is wished for will be fulfilled exactly as desired.
“If someone damages this tantra, is hostile toward it, or thinks about it improperly, you gods and nāgas must protect it!”
The Lord of Guhyakas along with the gods of the Realm of Brahma were delighted and agreed to this.
Additionally, in order to protect others, if one incants white earth many times, all obstacles will be pacified.
This concludes “The Siṃhanāda Tantra.”
It was edited, translated, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Prajñākāra and the Tibetan translator Gö Khukpa Lhetse.
The Siṃhanāda Tantra is a short tantra that teaches the long mantra and a short practice of the form of Avalokiteśvara called Siṃhanāda, “Lion’s Roar.”
This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team. Catherine Dalton produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Ryan Damron edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The Siṃhanāda Tantra opens in Vajrāsana where the Buddha is residing in the form of Padmeśvara. Vajrapāṇi asks him how to train on the path, and Padmeśvara replies that one should recall the practice of Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda. The story of Avalokiteśvara’s Siṃhanāda form is recounted in detail in The Dhāraṇī of Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda, Toh 703. There we learn how, during a past-life adventure with his friend who became the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara came to take this particular form. In this form, he obtained the power to tame the nāgas and his famed curative powers. The Siṃhanāda Tantra features the latter. After speaking Siṃhanāda’s secret mantra and teaching a short practice to accompany it, Padmeśvara concludes his discourse by describing the benefits of respecting and upholding the tantra and the detriments of deprecating it.
In addition to The Siṃhanāda Tantra, there are two short dhāraṇī texts associated with Siṃhanāda in the Kangyur and numerous practice manuals, praises, and ritual texts dedicated to him in the Tengyur, attesting to the importance of this particular form of Avalokiteśvara. Siṃhanāda was especially popular in Sri Lanka. An image of Siṃhanāda was found at the Mahābodhi temple in Bodh Gaya prior to the temple’s nineteenth-century renovation. A tenth-century Nepalese miniature painting kept at Cambridge depicts Siṃhanāda and includes a caption reading, “Lokeśvara of the hospital on the island of Siṃhala,” referencing his curative abilities.
Siṃhanāda’s iconography is generally consistent across textual and artistic sources, though not all of the details are clearly elaborated in this text. Siṃhanāda is white in color, has two legs and two arms, is dressed as an ascetic (tapasvin, dka’ thub ldan pa) and sits on a lion. In most descriptions, a skull-adorned trident rests at his right side, but in some, he holds it in his right hand. This trident is also frequently depicted with a white snake coiled around the shaft. With his left hand, he holds the end of a lotus stalk that rises upward and has a sword standing on the open lotus blossom. Nearby and to the left sits what is variously described as a cup (karoṭaka), pot (bhājana, snod), or skull cup (kapāla, thod pa) filled with fragrant flowers. This vessel often sits on a lotus or water lily. The iconography described in the present text largely conforms with this depiction, but a lack of clarity in the Tibetan translation and its Sanskrit sources leaves a number of specific points ambiguous.
The Siṃhanāda form of Avalokiteśvara continues to be practiced in contemporary Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Two arrangements of practices centered on Lokeśvara Siṃhanāda are found in the Compendium of Sādhanas (sgrub thabs kun btus) compiled by Jamyang Loter Wangpo, and the nineteenth-century scholar Mipham Gyatso wrote a short summary of the story of The Dhāraṇī of Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda.
The Siṃhanāda Tantra does not appear to be extant in Sanskrit or Chinese translation. It was translated into Tibetan by the Indian master Prajñākara and the Tibetan translator Gö Khukpa Lhetse in the eleventh century.
The present English translation of The Siṃhanāda Tantra was made on the basis of the Degé Kangyur recension of this work, with additional reference to the notes from the Comparative Edition (dpe sdur ma) of the Kangyur, the Stok Palace (stog pho brang) Kangyur, and the Phukdrak (phug brag) Kangyur recensions of the text. We also consulted the Sanskrit Siṃhanādadhāraṇī from the Sādhanamālā.
Homage to the blessed Lotus Lord of Speech.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One, transformed into Padmeśvara, was residing at Vajrāsana. The Lord of Guhyakas said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, how does one train in the accumulation of merit and wisdom, and in the path?”
The Blessed One answered, “Amazing! There is someone called Avalokiteśvara Siṃhanāda, who has supreme love and compassion for beings. One should contemplate how he previously trained on the path and gathered the accumulations of merit and wisdom.”
Then the blessed Padmeśvara rose and pronounced this secret mantra:
namo ratna trayāya | nama āryāvalokiteśvarāya bodhisattvāya mahasattvāya mahākāruṇikāya ||
tadyathā | oṁ akaṭe vikaṭe nikaṭe kaṭaṃkaṭe karoṭe karokaṃṭe vīryai svāhā | oṁ āḥ hrīḥ siṃhanāda hūṁ | bruṁ āṁ jrīṁ khaṁ hūṁ | oṁ āḥ hūṃ | oṁ balīn bhuñja jiva puśpe dhūpe hūṁ | sarvāmṛte hūṁ | oṁ vatali mahāvatali hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ jaḥ svāhā | oṁ bhakṣa bhakṣa samaya tiṣṭha jaṃ hūṁ phaṭ svāhā | oṁ taprati hūṁ phaṭ | sritikara hūṁ phaṭ | oṁ varuṇa āgacchaya āgacchaya mahānāga gisati sarve bhuraḥ phuḥ phuḥ phuḥ svāhā | oṁ bhagavati śrutismṛtisamavati saramati siddhi svāhā | oṁ āḥ hrīḥ hūṃ svāhā | phuḥ hrīḥ | oṁ siṃhanāda hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ | nāgadupali māraya phaṭ | jvāla jvāla hūṁ phaṭ | oṁ āḥ vighnāntakṛt hūṁ | oṁ agnaye ativya abhisamayaviśa mahāśriye havyakavyam ahanīya svāhā | oṁ bhavaka agnaye śāntiṃ kuru svāhā | oṁ hrīḥ siṃhanāda vajracakravartalokika bruṁ bruṁ bruṁ | lokottarāṇi siṃhanāda bruṁ bruṁ bruṁ hūṁ na hūṁ na siṃhanāda bruṁ bruṁ bruṁ hūṁ hūṁ hūṁ svāhā ||
“Lord of Guhyakas, this is called the accomplishment of the maṇḍala. It includes the ritual actions of killing, averting, summoning, binding, and pacifying. In the morning, make a maṇḍala with cow dung that has not fallen to the ground. Please the nāgas by holding the three sweet substances in the palm of your hand. This pacifies the anger of the nāgas.
“Lord of Guhyakas, whoever deprecates this tantra deprecates all buddhas and bodhisattvas. Lords of Guhyakas, the gods of the Heaven of the Four Great Kings, the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, the brahmaputras, and the great brahmas will protect, guard, conceal, and always accompany any being who hears this tantra, thinks of it, worships it, upholds it, or even just takes an interest in it. All the buddhas and bodhisattvas, who are greatly superior to those gods, will protect such beings just as a mother protects her child and the māras will never be able to obstruct them. When they die, they will take birth in lotuses in the western realm of Sukhāvatī, freed from the pain of the womb. In this life, they will be freed from any fear of fire or water. Here I have only briefly stated the benefits, but apart from these all that is wished for will be fulfilled exactly as desired.
“If someone damages this tantra, is hostile toward it, or thinks about it improperly, you gods and nāgas must protect it!”
The Lord of Guhyakas along with the gods of the Realm of Brahma were delighted and agreed to this.
Additionally, in order to protect others, if one incants white earth many times, all obstacles will be pacified.
This concludes “The Siṃhanāda Tantra.”
It was edited, translated, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Prajñākāra and the Tibetan translator Gö Khukpa Lhetse.