It is possible that it was misidentified, yet it would not be surprising to find this dhāraṇī in such a body of literature, given how, as demonstrated by its inclusion in MS 1680, it was transmitted among dhāraṇī collections.
This text, Toh 931, and all those contained in this same volume (rgyud ’bum, na), are listed as being located in volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version displayed by the 84000 Reading Room—list this work as being located in volume 101. This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed another text—which forms a whole, very large volume—the Vimalaprabhānāmakālacakratantraṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med ’od, Toh 845), before the volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags (catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation.
In gsung ’bum rin chen grub [Collected Works] (Lhasa: zhol par khang, 2000), vol. 16 (ma), folio 218.b. BDRC MW22106.
In the Toh 541 version of the text there is a slight discrepancy in the folio numbering between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings of the Degé Kangyur. Although the discrepancy is irrelevant here, further details concerning this may be found in n.9 of the Toh 541 version of this text.
The folio references of the Degé Kangyur appearing in the Tibetan source and compare view of this publication (or which are shown inline in the PDF and ePub versions) refer to the post par phud printing of the Degé. Note that, as described in the bibliographical reference on the title page, there is a 17-page discrepancy in volume 88 (rgyud ’bum, na) of the Degé Kangyur between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings. This is due to an extra work, Bodhimaṇḍasyālaṃkāralakṣadhāraṇī (Toh 508, byang chub snying po’i rgyan ’bum gyi gzungs), being added as the second text in the volume.
In the Sanskrit, the first homage is made to Tārā. This is, perhaps, not surprising given her reputation for granting protection from the more common list of the eight perils. Hidas 2021, p. 36.
This dhāraṇī could be translated as “It is like this: O holder, holder, a dhāraṇī that causes to hold, a stronghold in a battle, a remedy for fear, the remedy, sacrificial smoke, endless remedy, the remedy of immortals, sacrificial fire that arises with infinite faces and infinite eyes! Om̐, shine, svāhā!”
This mantra could be translated as “Homage to all the vidyās! May the words of the mantra bring me success!”
The name of a thus-gone one.
The term can be understood to mean “great courageous one” or "great hero,” or (from the Sanskrit) simply “great being,” and is almost always found as an epithet of “bodhisattva.” The qualification “great” in this term, according to the majority of canonical definitions, focuses on the generic greatness common to all bodhisattvas, i.e., the greatness implicit in the bodhisattva vow itself in terms of outlook, aspiration, number of beings to be benefited, potential or eventual accomplishments, and so forth. In this sense the mahā- is closer in its connotations to the mahā- in “Mahāyāna” than to the mahā- in “mahāsiddha.” While individual bodhisattvas described as mahāsattva may in many cases also be “great” in terms of their level of realization, this is largely coincidental, and in the canonical texts the epithet is not restricted to bodhisattvas at any particular point in their career. Indeed, in a few cases even bodhisattvas whose path has taken a wrong direction are still described as bodhisattva mahāsattva.
Later commentarial writings do nevertheless define the term—variably—in terms of bodhisattvas having attained a particular level (bhūmi) or realization. The most common qualifying criteria mentioned are attaining the path of seeing, attaining irreversibility (according to its various definitions), or attaining the seventh bhūmi.
1290–1364. A great scholar at the monastery of Zhalu (zha lu) whose lists of translated works contributed to the emergence of the Kangyur and Tengyur collections.
The name of a thus-gone one.
The eight great perils as listed in Freedom from the Eight Great Perils are the perils of the hell realm, the perils of the animal realm, the perils of the world of Yama, the perils of the hungry ghost realm, the perils of evil states, the perils of birth, the perils of sickness, and the perils of death. See also “eight perils.”
The most common list of the eight great perils comprises the perils of lions, elephants, fire, snakes, robbers, waters, imprisonment, and demons.
The eight great perils as listed in Freedom from the Eight Great Perils are the perils of the hell realm, the perils of the animal realm, the perils of the world of Yama, the perils of the hungry ghost realm, the perils of evil states, the perils of birth, the perils of sickness, and the perils of death. See also “eight perils.”
The most common list of the eight great perils comprises the perils of lions, elephants, fire, snakes, robbers, waters, imprisonment, and demons.
The Gaṅgā, or Ganges in English, is considered to be the most sacred river of India, particularly within the Hindu tradition. It starts in the Himalayas, flows through the northern plains of India, bathing the holy city of Vārāṇasī, and meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal, in Bangladesh. In the sūtras, however, this river is mostly mentioned not for its sacredness but for its abundant sands—noticeable still today on its many sandy banks and at its delta—which serve as a common metaphor for infinitely large numbers.
According to Buddhist cosmology, as explained in the Abhidharmakośa, it is one of the four rivers that flow from Lake Anavatapta and cross the southern continent of Jambudvīpa—the known human world or more specifically the Indian subcontinent.
The name of a bodhisattva great being.
The name of a thus-gone one.
A collective name for the realms of animals, hungry ghosts, and denizens of the hells.
The name of a thus-gone one.
The name of a thus-gone one.
The name of a thus-gone one.
The name of a thus-gone one.
A frequently used synonym for buddha. According to different explanations, it can be read as tathā-gata, literally meaning “one who has thus gone,” or as tathā-āgata, “one who has thus come.” Gata, though literally meaning “gone,” is a past passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. Tatha(tā), often rendered as “suchness” or “thusness,” is the quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms. Therefore, this epithet is interpreted in different ways, but in general it implies one who has departed in the wake of the buddhas of the past, or one who has manifested the supreme awakening dependent on the reality that does not abide in the two extremes of existence and quiescence. It is also often used as a specific epithet of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
The land of the dead ruled over by the Lord of Death. In Buddhism it refers to the preta realm, where beings generally suffer from hunger and thirst, which in traditional Brahmanism is the fate of those departed without descendants to make ancestral offerings.
’jigs pa chen po brgyad las sgrol ba (Aṣṭamahābhayatāraṇī). Toh 541, Degé Kangyur vol. 88 (rgyud, na), folios 101.b–102.a.
’jigs pa chen po brgyad las sgrol ba (Aṣṭamahābhayatāraṇī). Toh 931, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folios 279.b–280.b.
’jigs pa chen po brgyad las sgrol 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. 88, pp. 340–42; vol. 97, pp. 855–57.
’jigs pa chen po brgyad las sgrol ba. Stok Palace manuscript Kangyur, vol. 102 (rgyud ’bum, da), folios 104.b–105.b.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
Phangthangma (dkar chag ’phang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). ’jigs pa chen po brgyad las sgrol ba’i sngags. In gsung ’bum rin chen grub [Collected Works], vol. 16 (ma), folio 218.b. Lhasa: zhol par khang, 2000. BDRC MW22106.
Pelliot tibétain 49. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Accessed through The International Dunhuang Programme.
Beyer, Stephan. The Cult of Tārā: Magic and Ritual in Tibet. University of California Press, 1978.
Halkias, Georgios T. “Tibetan Buddhism Registered: A Catalogue from the Imperial Court of ’Phang Thang.” The Eastern Buddhist 36, nos. 1–2 (2004): 46–105.
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
Hidas, Gergely. Powers of Protection: The Buddhist Tradition of Spells in the Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha Collections. De Gruyter, 2021.
Kawagoe, Eishin, ed. dKar chag ’Phang thang ma. Tōhoku Indo Chibetto Kenkyū Sōsho 3. Sendai: Tohoku Society for Indo-Tibetan Studies, 2005.
