Introduction

i.1The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates is a short text that consists mainly of a dhāraṇī taught by the Buddha to an assembly of bodhisattvas. According to Pedro Sánchez, this style of dhāraṇī appeared between the third and eighth centuries ᴄᴇ. Since Xuanzang’s Chinese translation dates to 645 ᴄᴇ, this text must have already been available at the beginning of the seventh century. It appears to have enjoyed a certain level of popularity, since we find many copies of it among the Dunhuang documents in Tibetan and Chinese, as well as several Indian, Tibetan, and Chinese commentaries and recitation texts based on it.

i.2One of its commentaries, the Ṣaṇmukhī­dhāraṇī­vyākhyāna (Toh 3989), appears in the Tengyur and is attributed to Vasubandhu (fourth to fifth century); its Chinese translation is in the Taishō. Its subcommentary (IOL Tib J 430) written by Jñānadatta has been preserved only in Tibetan and Chinese among the Dunhuang manuscripts. According to the colophon of the Dunhuang texts, these Indian commentaries were translated into Tibetan by the Indian paṇḍitas Dharmapāla and Prajñāvarman and the Tibetan translator-monk Yeshé Dé.

i.3There are four known Tibetan commentaries on the Ṣaṇmukhī­dhāraṇī composed by the renowned scholars Butön Rinchen Drup (1290–1364), Jonang Tāranātha (1575–1634), the seventh Dalai Lama (1708–57), and the Geluk scholar Ngülchu Dharmabhadra (1772–1851). The Phangthangma, one of the imperial catalogs of translated works, also mentions two sādhanas related to the Ṣaṇmukhī­dhāraṇī, which we could not locate. There are available, however, some relatively modern recitation texts related to this dhāraṇī composed by Ngawang Khedrup (1779–1838) and Losang Tsültrim Gyatso (1845–1915).

i.4It is not known who translated The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates into Tibetan. Neither the colophons, the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs, nor Tibetan historical works mention the translators. The inclusion of our text in the Denkarma catalog, dated to ca. 812 ᴄᴇ, confirms that the translation was made by the early ninth century at the latest. It seems likely that this dhāraṇī was translated from an Indian original since, according to the Phangthangma catalog, it was not among the dhāraṇīs that were translated from Chinese.

i.5Texts that include dhāraṇīs, as well as those referred to as dhāraṇīs by their titles, are widespread in the Mahāyāna sūtra literature as well as featuring in the tantras. Gergely Hidas, for example, notes that dhāraṇī scriptures have been assigned both to sūtra and tantra categories in Buddhist canonical collections and that their classification is “sometimes controversial within Tibetan and Chinese textual systems.” In this regard, it is interesting to note that three almost identical versions of the Ṣaṇmukhī­dhāraṇī are assigned to the Sūtra, Tantra, and Dhāraṇī sections of the Kangyurs of the Tshalpa group. In the Thempangma Kangyurs, such as the Stok Palace Kangyur, it is included exclusively in the Tantra section. In the Lhasa and Narthang Kangyurs, we find almost identical versions of The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates in both the Sūtra and Tantra sections. Our text is also found among the Dunhuang manuscripts. All versions are roughly the same length. There were probably different sources for the Tibetan translations that were found in Dunhuang: Pelliot tibétain 415 is almost identical to the Thempangma versions, while Pelliot tibétain 77 is in some cases closer to the Tshalpa versions.

i.6Fortunately, there are a few extant Sanskrit manuscripts of The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates. Mimaki (1977b) prepared a critical edition based on these manuscripts and prepared a critical edition of the Tibetan based on various canonical translations. The Tibetan versions seem to be quite accurate translations of the Sanskrit text, although there are minor differences between them. It is noteworthy that the versions of the Thempangma Kangyur group, like that of the Stok Palace, and Pelliot tibétain 415 are closer to the extant Sanskrit version than versions from the Tshalpa Kangyur group. The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates was translated into Chinese by the great translator Xuanzang in 645 ᴄᴇ (Taishō 1360). The Chinese translation differs considerably from the Sanskrit and the Tibetan, especially in its presentation of the six gates, despite having the same structure as the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts. Interestingly, the Tibetan and Chinese translations of the above-mentioned commentary and subcommentary are similar in content and wording. Even the quotations of the six gates in the Chinese subcommentary more closely match the Tibetan text of The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates than Xuanzang’s rendering of the six gates.

i.7In addition to his critical editions of the Sanskrit and Tibetan versions of the text, Mimaki (1977a) offers a French translation. Mimaki also examines references to The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates in later treatises and its possible affiliation to the Sautrāntika school. He lists the extant Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese manuscripts of the text, as well as the Tibetan editions and the commentaries. He also compares his Sanskrit edition with the Tibetan and with the Chinese canonical versions. Mimaki’s research proved invaluable for preparing our own translation.

i.8We have based our translation mainly on the Tibetan text as found in the Sūtra section of the Degé Kangyur (Toh 141), but consulted the other versions found in the Action Tantra and Dhāraṇī sections to clarify ambiguous passages (Toh 526 and Toh 916, respectively). Whenever our main source text diverged from the Sanskrit, we compared the passage in question with other Tibetan translations, including the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and Stok Palace versions, and the two complete Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang, and we recorded variant readings in the notes. Moreover, in cases where both the Tibetan and Sanskrit texts allowed for different readings, we consulted the Indian commentaries on The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates for clarification.

i.9As suggested by its title, The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates consists in an account of the six gates, which are presented as a series of six aspiration prayers, followed by the presentation of the dhāraṇī itself. The goal of the dhāraṇī is to transcend worldly suffering by eradicating the causes of saṃsāric experience.

i.10The text begins with the Buddha advising his audience of innumerable bodhisattvas to uphold The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates for the good of the entire world. He then utters the six aspirations, which can be summarized as recognizing one’s own sufferings as no different from those of all beings in saṃsāra, using worldly happiness for the benefit of others as well as oneself, purifying one’s misdeeds through confession, understanding demonic actions, developing virtue through supreme knowledge, and liberating all beings from saṃsāra.

i.11He finally instructs the assembly to recite the dhāraṇī three times each day and three times each night and then highlights the benefits that derive from this practice, including the ultimate benefit of attaining spiritual awakening. The text concludes with the assembly praising the Buddha’s teaching. This is followed by a short dedication marking the conclusion of the text. In one Tibetan canonical version (Toh 141), two auspicious sayings in Sanskrit and the “Verse on Dependent Arising” (Pratītyasamutpādagāthā) appear after the dedication.