toh643
toh643
toh643
Maitreyapratijñādhāraṇī
འཕགས་པ་མས་པས་དམ་བཅས་པ་ས་་བ་གངས།
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
Āryamaitreyapratijñānāmadhāraṇī
· Toh 643 ·
Degé Kangyur, vol. 91 (rgyud ’bum, ba), folios 127.b–128.a
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co. TABLE OF CONTENTS
ti. Title
im. Imprint
co. Contents
s. Summary
ac. Acknowledgements
i. Introduction
tr. The Translation
1. Maitreya’s Pledge
c. Colophon
n. Notes
b. Bibliography
g. Glossary
s. SUMMARY
s.1 The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is a short dhāraṇī centered on Maitreya, the
bodhisattva who will, as alluded to in this text, awaken as the next buddha
in our world. Its dhāraṇī consists of a root mantra, heart mantra, and
auxiliary heart mantra and is followed by Maitreya’s vow to benefit beings.
The benefits of the dhāraṇī range from receiving prophecies for awakening
to acquiring one’s desired material enjoyments. Since these benefits also
extend to animals, the text advocates reciting its dhāraṇī so that animals may
hear it as well.
ac. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ac.1 This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
ac.2 The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation
team. Lowell Cook produced the translation and wrote the introduction.
Rory Lindsay edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins
copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication
process.
i. INTRODUCTION
i.1 The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is one of two dhāraṇī works in the Degé
Kangyur1 that center on Maitreya, the bodhisattva who will, as alluded to in
this text, awaken as the next buddha in our world. This text appears twice in
the Degé Kangyur, first in the Action Tantra (kriyātantra) section and later in
the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section. In the Action Tantra section, it is
classified as an individual action tantra (bya ba so so’i rgyud) belonging to the
tathāgata family.
i.2 According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya currently dwells in Tuṣita
Heaven and, after the decline of Śākyamuni’s teachings, will appear in this
world as the next buddha. Maitreya was perhaps the earliest bodhisattva to
develop a devoted following in India, starting at least as early as the first
centuries of the Common Era. Later, particularly in Central and East Asia, the
cult of Maitreya would flourish widely from the fourth century. It was within
this milieu that the text The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” first emerged.
i.3 The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is comprised of two sections: the dhāraṇī
and the pledge. The dhāraṇī formula is presented in three formulas: the root
mantra, the heart mantra, and the auxiliary heart mantra. While terms like
dhāraṇī, mantra, and vidyāmantra have different connotations and various
usages throughout Buddhist literature, they can also be used
interchangeably to a certain extent. In the case of this work, it appears that
dhāraṇī refers to the three formulas together while mantra refers to the
individual formulas themselves. This is corroborated by how the entire
formula is presented as a single “dhāraṇī” in later compendiums. Following
the dhāraṇī, Maitreya voices his pledge in which he describes the benefits of
hearing, chanting, and contemplating the dhāraṇī and reciting it for others.
The benefits primarily concern receiving a prophecy, and hence a guarantee
of awakening, from Maitreya himself, which locates this dhāraṇī within a
Mahāyāna-centric worldview. In addition to this, Maitreya also describes
benefits of a more mundane nature, such as acquiring one’s desired material
enjoyments. Maitreya makes clear that the benefits extend to any animals
that hear the dhāraṇī and, thus, advocates reciting it into the ears of animals.
i.4 The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is extant in Sanskrit in a number of
dhāraṇīsaṃgraha or “Dhāraṇī Compendiums.” Gergely Hidas identifies at
least ten dhāraṇīsaṃgrahas that contain Maitreya’s Pledge.2
i.5 The dhāraṇī was also translated into Chinese by Faxian ( 法賢 337–422). 3
n.2 See: Hidas 2021. The ten manuscripts of Matireya’s Pledge in Sanskrit are:
A.4 University of Tokyo Library, Ms. 2015
A.6 Private collection Ms., Kathmandu = NGMPP E 1774–310
A.7 National Archives, Kathmandu, Ms. NAK 5/31 = NGMPP B 107–1411
A.8 Unspecified collection Ms. and Asha Archives, Kathmandu, Ms. 250713
A.10 Asha Archives, Kathmandu, Ms. No. 2566
A.11 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Ms. No. 6224
A.13 Private collection Ms., Kathmandu = NGMPP E 614–327
A.14 University of Tokyo Library, Ms. 41929
A.16 Toyo Bunko, Tokyo, Ms. No. 1334
A.18 National Archives, Kathmandu, Ms. NAK 3/641 = NGMPP A 131–1044
n.5 Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso (tA la’I bla ma sku phreng lnga
pa ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho). byams pas dam bcas pa’i gzungs kyi rjes
su ’don rgyu’i smon lam tshigs bcad [An Aspiration in Verse to Accompany the
Recitation of “The Dhāraṇī of Maitreya’s Pledge”]. In gsung ’bum ngag dbang
blo bzang rgya mtsho, vol. 24, Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang,
2009, pp. 332–33. BDRC MW1PD107937_C8131D
(https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:MW1PD107937_C8131D).
Khenpo Jamlo (mkhan po ’jam blo), ed. byams pas dam bcas pa’i gzungs smon
n.6
tshig dang bcas pa [The Dhāraṇī of Maitreya’s Pledge and Aspiration]. In dpal
sa skya ba’i chos sde nA lendra’i gdan rabs rim byon gyi gsung ’bum, vol. 6, Lhasa:
bod ljongs bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrun khang, 2016, pp. 205–6. BDRC
MW3CN3418_2AF43E
(https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:MW3CN3418_2AF43E).
n.7 Ngawang Nyima (ngag dbang nyi ma). byams pas dam bca’ pa’i gzungs kyi
sngags don [The Meaning of the Mantras in “The Dhāraṇī of Maitreya’s
Pledge”]. In gsung ’bum ngag dbang nyi ma, vol. 3, Drepung Gomang Library,
2003, pp. 595–96. BDRC MW28809_8FC1BA
(https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:MW28809_8FC1BA).
n.9 Toh 643: aparājite is absent in C, K, KY, and L. Toh 890: aparājite is absent in C,
K, KY, and L.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Āryamaitreyapratijñānāma-
dhāraṇī). Toh 890, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folios 165.b–166.a.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs. 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. 91, pp. 462–64.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs. 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. 97, pp. 485–87.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs. Stok Palace Kangyur vol.
105 (rgyud ’bum, pha), folios 86.a–87.b.
Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). byams pa’i dam bcas pa’i sngags. In
The Collected Works of Bu-Ston, vol. 16 (ma), pp. 365–99. New Delhi:
International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71. BDRC W22106
(https://library.bdrc.io/show/bdr:W22106).
Chandra, Lokesh, ed. Sanskrit Texts from the Imperial Palace at Peking in the
Manchurian Chinese Mongolian and Tibetan Scripts. New Delhi: Institute for
the Advancement of Science and Culture, 1966.
Hidas, Gergely. Powers of Protection: The Buddhist Tradition of Spells in the
Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha Collections. Beyond Boundaries 9. Boston: de Gruyter, 2021.
Schaeffer, Kurtis R. Dreaming the Great Brahmin: Tibetan Traditions of the Buddhist
Poet-Saint Saraha. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
AD Attested in dictionary
This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding
language.
AA Approximate attestation
The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names
where the relationship between the Tibetan and source language is attested
in dictionaries or other manuscripts.
SU Source unspecified
This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often
is a widely trusted dictionary.
ད་འོ།
tiryak · tiryañc
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, who suffer from gross
ignorance or bewilderment (gti mug, moha). They inhabit the realm of desire
along with human beings.
ས་་ས་རབ།
—
An eleventh-century Tibetan translator who translated over eighty seven
works in the Kangyur and Tengyur.
g.3 dhāraṇī
gzungs
གངས།
dhāraṇī
Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:
The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and so
it can refer to the special capacity of practitioners to memorize and recall
detailed teachings. It can also refer to a verbal expression of the teachings —
an incantation, spell, or mnemonic formula—that distills and “holds”
essential points of the Dharma and is used by practitioners to attain
mundane and supramundane goals. The same term is also used to denote
texts that contain such formulas.
ངན་ང་།
apāya · durgati
A collective name for the realms of animals, hungry ghosts, and denizens of
the hells.
g.5 Maitreya
byams pa
མས་པ།
maitreya
Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:
The bodhisattva Maitreya is an important figure in many Buddhist traditions,
where he is unanimously regarded as the buddha of the future era. He is
said to currently reside in the heaven of Tuṣita, as Śākyamuni’s regent,
where he awaits the proper time to take his final rebirth and become the fifth
buddha in the Fortunate Eon, reestablishing the Dharma in this world after
the teachings of the current buddha have disappeared. Within the Mahāyāna
sūtras, Maitreya is elevated to the same status as other central bodhisattvas
such as Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara, and his name appears frequently in
sūtras, either as the Buddha’s interlocutor or as a teacher of the Dharma.
Maitreya literally means “Loving One.” He is also known as Ajita, meaning
“Invincible.”
ང་བ་་ང་།
bodhimaṇḍa
Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:
The place where the Buddha Śākyamuni achieved awakening and where
every buddha will manifest the attainment of buddhahood. In our world this
is understood to be located under the Bodhi tree, the Vajrāsana, in present-
day Bodhgaya, India. It can also refer to the state of awakening itself.
ད་བ་བ་ལས།
daśakuśalakarman
Abstaining from the ten nonvirtuous actions. Namely, abstaining from
killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, lying, uttering divisive
talk, speaking harsh words, gossiping, covetousness, ill will, and wrong
views.
དན་མག་གམ།
triratna
Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:
The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha—the three objects of Buddhist refuge. In
the Tibetan rendering, “the three rare and supreme ones.”
g.9 Vajrapāṇi
badzra pA Ni
བ་་།
vajrapāṇi
An Indian paṇḍita who was born in 1017 and was influential in Tibet.