Introduction

i.1The Procedure for Mañjuśrī's Single-Syllable Mantra appears as the last of six dhāraṇī scriptures (Toh 545–550) gathered together within the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur that provide instruction in incantatory practices that feature the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. Five of these scriptures (Toh 547 omitted) also appear in the Dhāraṇī section of the Degé Kangyur as Toh 892–896. This is the pithiest of the canonical Mañjuśrī dhāraṇīs and includes neither a Sanskrit title nor an opening salutation.

i.2The scripture begins simply with a statement of the Tibetan title, followed by the prefatory expression tadyathā, the introductory mantra syllable oṁ, and then the single syllable kṣṇīṃ. The dhāraṇī is then extolled as being both exceedingly secret and potent. After praising its universal efficacy, the remainder of the text outlines a series of ritual applications to remedy specific ailments, involving the consecration of common items as sacral implements in rites of healing.

i.3A Sanskrit version of the text is to our knowledge no longer extant, and it appears that the text was never translated into Chinese. The Tibetan translation lacks a colophon that might have offered information about the history of its transmission or the identity of its translators. Its absence from the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs suggests that it was translated into Tibetan later than the beginning of the ninth century ᴄᴇ but before the flourishing of the scholar Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364), who listed its Tibetan title, along with those of the other texts in this collection (Toh 545–550), in his History of Buddhism.

i.4This English translation is based on the two versions in the Degé Kangyur, one in the Tantra section (Toh 550) and the other in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 896), in consultation with the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and with the Stok Palace Kangyur.