Introduction

i.1In Dispelling the Darkness of the Ten Directions, the Śākya youth Shining Countenance, setting out from the city of Kapilavastu in his chariot, encounters the Buddha, who is approaching the city. When Shining Countenance requests the Buddha to teach him a rite of protection from harm, the Buddha proceeds to describe ten buddhas, each dwelling in a distant world system in one of the ten directions, explaining to the youth that if he keeps in mind whichever of those thus-gone ones is appropriate when departing from the city in their respective direction, he will be free from fear and harm when traveling and accomplish his purpose. After the Buddha gives this teaching, Shining Countenance and the others in the assembly are able to see those ten buddhas and their realms directly before their eyes, and at the prompting of Śāriputra, the Buddha prophesies their eventual awakening. The Buddha further explains that someone who merely reads, teaches, or writes down and keeps this teaching with them will similarly be free from fear and harm and will pass away peacefully at the end of their life. The god Śakra further pledges to protect those who uphold this teaching, and the Buddha states that doing so constitutes truly honoring, venerating, and making offerings to the Thus-Gone One.

i.2This popular sūtra is often chanted at the beginning of undertakings, especially travel, to overcome obstacles and bring success, and as a means of invoking the buddhas’ blessings to bring about conditions to accomplish one’s goals. It is also kept as a blessing in dwellings or in a special place among one’s possessions when on a journey. Over the centuries, based on this sūtra, other Buddhist texts with similar names involving dispelling the darkness of the ten directions have been written. These texts also offer the protection of the blessing of the buddhas, although the specific names of the buddhas in the various directions sometimes differ, and other versions include other holy beings such as bodhisattvas and goddesses.

i.3Though a Sanskrit version of this sūtra is no longer extant, translations of it are also included in the Chinese, Korean, and Mongolian Buddhist canons. The colophon to the Tibetan translation found in the Kangyur states that it was initially translated by the Indian preceptor Viśuddhasiṃha and the Tibetan translator Bandé Tsang Devendrarakṣita, who was probably the same as Tsang Lekdrup (gtsang legs grub), one of the first seven Tibetans to be ordained by Śāntarakṣita (725–788 ᴄᴇ) at the newly established Samyé Monastery in the mid-eighth century. In addition, it was revised by Lui Gyaltsen (klu’i rgyal mtshan), the famous translator of the first period of the propagation of the Dharma in Tibet (seventh–ninth centuries) who also participated in the eighth-century revision of the work of the earliest translators. This sūtra is listed in Denkarma (812 ᴄᴇ) and Phangthangma catalogs, further evidence that it was translated no later than the early ninth century.

i.4The translation offered here is based on the version found in the Degé Kangyur. The variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyurs were also consulted. The few variations between the versions of the Kangyur that impacted our translation have been recorded in the endnotes.