Notes

n.1Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm , Toh 558 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2016).

n.2Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen , Toh 559 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023).

n.3Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., Great Cool Grove , Toh 562 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023).

n.4Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra , Toh 563 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2016).

n.5Pathak 1989, p. 32.

n.6Schopen 1989, p. 157.

n.7Hidas 2007, p. 189.

n.8Orzech 2002, p. 58.

n.9Lewis 2000, pp. 119–64.

n.10Hidas 2007, pp. 187–88.

n.11Hidas 2012, pp. 7–8.

n.12Hidas 2007, pp. 189–91.

n.13Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, p. 182.

n.14The colophon to the Stok Palace version reads, “Later, the great lotsāwa Butön revised [the translation] to correct the mantras in consultation with two manuscripts from Magadha” (slar yang yul dbus kyi rgya dpe gnyis dang bstun nas sngags rnams dag par bu ston lo ts+tsha chen pos bcos pa la phyi mo).

n.15Foshuo suiqiu jide dazizai tuoluoni shenzhou jing 佛說隨求即得大自在陀羅尼神呪經 (Mahā­sāhasrapramardanī­sūtra), Taishō 1154 (CBETA; SAT).

n.16Pubian guangming qingjing chicheng ruyibao yinxin wunengsheng damingwang dasuiqui tuoluoni jing 普遍光明淸淨熾盛如意寶印心無能勝大明王大隨求陀羅尼經 (Mahā­sāhasrapramardanī­sūtra), Taishō 1153 (CBETA; SAT).

n.17Hidas 2012, p. 9.

n.18Gergely Hidas created two separate Sanskrit editions, one for the Gilgit fragments and another comprising eastern Indian and Nepalese manuscripts. We have primarily consulted the latter, unless otherwise noted.

n.19That is, to Mahāpratisarā as the deified “great amulet.” The homage to Mahāpratisarā is absent in the Sanskrit edition.

n.20See Edgerton (1998, p. 303) for this meaning of niryāta/nirjāta (nges par byung ba).

n.21This number is based on the attested Sanskrit cutraśītibhir koṭīniyutaśatasahasraiḥ. The Tibetan reads bye ba khrag khrig ’bum phrag brgyad cu rtsa bzhi.

n.22Here we follow the Sanskrit in reading pañca­putraśata­pari­vārāya instead of the Tibetan bu lnga brgya’i du ma can. The Sanskrit compound lacks an equivalent of du ma (“many”).

n.23The Sanskrit reads sarva­samudra­parivāra (“his entourage of all oceans”).

n.24We follow the Sanskrit reading of jātavedas , which is a name for the Agni, the god of fire. The Tibetan has me’i lha.

n.25This name is absent from the Skt. edition.

n.26Skt. ṣāṣtyā koṭarayā; Tib. shing gseb kyi lha drug cu. The referent for this set of sixty divinities is uncertain. The term koṭara (masc.) indicates the hollow of a tree or other kind of cavity, but this may not be intended literally. The feminine koṭarā is the name of figure associated with Skanda, the son of Śiva.

n.27Tib. sbrul ’dzin. The Sanskrit edition reads mahallaka.

n.28Skt. udgatakīrtiśabda­śloka; Tib. grags pa dang sgra dang tshigs su bcad pas ni ’phags. This translation is tentative and takes kīrti to refer broadly to “speech,” rather than the more common sense of “fame.” The term kīrti is used in the sense of “speech” elsewhere in the Sanskrit text.

n.29Skt. mahā­vajra­ratna­padma­garbha­siṃhāsana; Tib. rdo rje rin po che’i pad+ma’i snying po’i seng ge’i khri chen po.

n.30This translation is based on the Sanskrit compound aneka­vajra­ratna­śālākāvibhūṣitadaṇḍāta[em. ºvibhūṣitoddaṇḍātaº]patrakoṭīniyutaśatasahasrakṛtachāyāparikara. We follow this instead of the Degé reading, gdugs rtsa ba dang bcas pa/ rdo rje rin po che’i shar bu du mas rnam par brgyan pa/ bye ba khrag khrig ’bum phrag du mas rnam par brgyan pa/ bye ba khrag khrig ’bum phrag du mas kun nas bskyabs pa.

n.31Translating the Skt. virājita, rather than the Tib. rnam par brgyan pa (“adorned”).

n.32This translation follows the syntax of the Sanskrit edition.

n.33In the Sanskrit this matrix of light is named revealer of all buddhas (sarva­buddha­sandarśana).

n.34Skt. anukampayā; Tib. snying rje’i phyir.

n.35The translation of this line follows the Sanskrit syntax.

n.36Skt. mūlakarman; Tib. rtsa ba’i las. The precise meaning of this term is ambiguous but seems to refer to a specific form of magical rite, possibly involving concoctions made from the roots of plants. In the Mānavadharma­śāstra (Olivelle 2005, pp. 205 and 801) the term is used together with other terms for hostile magic, including abhicara, and commentators on that text describe mūlakarman as a type of magical rite to bring another person under one’s control (vaśīkaraṇa). For this use of the term and for similar uses in secular Sanskrit literature, see Olivelle 2005, p. 340, note 11.64. The term is used in what appear to be similar contexts in Chapter 14 of the Guhya­samāja Tantra; (Matsunaga 1978, p. 63) and Chapter 18, verse 51 of the Mañjuśrīmūla­kalpa (Vaidya 1964, p. 134).

n.37Skt. mahāvīrya; Tib. chen po.

n.38Skt. pratyekanāyaka; Tib. rang ’dren.

n.39The Sanskrit reads “Śakra with his thirty [gods]” (śakraś ca tridaśaiḥ sārdham).

n.40It is unclear whether these names are intended to be feminine, as given here, or are the nominative singular form of the masculine names Supaśin and Vajrapaśin.

n.41Tib. sangs rgyas bsrungs shes bya ba. The Sanskrit reads buddhā kṣitikanāyikā, “Buddhā, the leader of earth dwellers”. Hidas (2012 p. 207 n. 107) notes that the Sanskrit could also be read to refer two separate figures, Buddhā and Kṣitikanāyikā. He further suggests that the problematic kṣitika is a metrical lengthening of kṣiti. The term kṣitikanāyikā would then mean “leader of/on the earth.” Hidas also plausibly argues that the Tibetan text is a translation of buddhā rakṣati nāmakā or a similar phrase.

n.42Here we follow the Sanskrit in reading this name as feminine. The Tibetan reads lang ka’i bdag po, which indicates a male deity.

n.43The Sanskrit reads vidyā (“incantation goddess”).

n.44In the following passage we have followed the convention of the Tibetan translators in rendering some passages in transliterated Sanskrit while translating others.

n.45This translation follows the Sanskrit edition, H, N, and S in reading ratna­makuṭamālādhari (Tib. rin po che’i cod pan dang phreng ba mnga’ ba). The Degé reads rig pa chen po’i cod pan dang phreng ba mnga’ ba.

n.46The syntax of the Tibetan is ambiguous. The Degé reads de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyis spyi bo nas. The equivalent Sanskrit is in compound: sarva­tathāgata­mūrdhābhiṣikte.

n.47Skt. sarvadevatā; Tib. lha thams cad.

n.48We follow C, J, K, and Y in reading de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi. The Degé reads de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyis.

n.49This translation is tentative. Here we interpret indravat not as a possessive but as a comparative. The Tibetan translators preferred the former, reading it as dbang po dang ldan pa. The Sanskrit is also ambiguous, reading indre indravati indravyavalokite svāhā.

n.50We follow the Sanskrit reading, which allows for these two phrases to be read in apposition. The Tibetan reads tshangs pa dang tshang pa la gnas pa (“Brahmā and he who lives/those who live in the Brahma [realm]”).

n.51This line is absent in the Sanskrit, as well as in H, N, and S.

n.52We follow H, K, Y, N, and S in reading gnon po. Degé reads gnod byed. This line is absent in the Sanskrit.

n.53The terms for “all those who are wicked minded” and the verb “blaze” are rendered in transliterated Sanskrit in the Tibetan text, but the rest of the line is translated into Tibetan. The entire line has been translated into English for clarity, but the syntax of both the Sanskrit and Tibetan is ambiguous; thus the translation is tentative.

n.54This translation is tentative. In the Sanskrit edition “all thus-gone ones” (sarvatathāgatāḥ) is the subject of the optative verb “consecrate” (abhiṣiñcantu). The Tibetan translation aligns more closely with the Gilgit fragments in reading “all thus-gone ones” not as the subject of the main verb but in compound with “consecrations of the incantation” (vidyābhiṣekaiḥ).

n.55For the sake of narrative clarity, these initial lines are taken from S, which uniquely preserves material found in some Sanskrit manuscripts but not incorporated in the Sanskrit edition. These lines are absent in the Degé and other Tibetan sources. See Hidas 2012, p. 127 for the Sanskrit sources that include this statement.

n.56This folio is missing from the BDRC edition of the Degé text. We therefore base the translation of this folio on the Comparative Edition.

n.57Skt. brahmadatta iti saṅkhyāṃ gacchati; Tib. tshangs pas byin zhes bya ba’i grangs su chud pa.

n.58This translation follows the syntax of the Sanskrit, which omits an existential verb equivalent to the Tibetan yin pa. The Sanskrit compound sarva­tathāgatanetra[ḥ] is interpreted as a genitive bahuvrīhi.

n.59Skt. sukhāyadvara; Tib. bza’ ba ’du ba’i sgo.

n.60This translation of this sentence follows the Sanskrit syntax.

n.61In the Sanskrit, the vocative address “great brahmin” is absent, and the term brāhmaṇa refers instead to the local layman who intervenes to help the monk.

n.62Skt. dharmarāja; Tib. chos kyi rgyal po. Here dharma/chos does not refer to the Buddhist teachings specifically, but broadly to normative socio-cultural rules, expectations, and obligations.

n.63Skt. garbhasandhāraṇī; Tib. mngal na ’dzin pa. The translation follows the Sanskrit, which uses the feminine gender, in taking this line to refer to the woman bearing the child. The Tibetan could be interpreted to refer to the child in the womb.

n.64Prasāritapāṇi means “He with Outstretched Hand.”

n.65The Sanskrit can be read to say that the king grew steadily from the abundant milk (nityakālaṃ ca mahākṣīreṇa pravardhate).

n.66Skt. mahāpattanavara; Tib. tshong dus chen po’i mchog.

n.67To be precise, he gave him a dīnāra (Tib. di na ra), a unit of currency used in India around the turn of the Common Era and into the first half of the first millennium. This type of currency would likely have been in circulation at the time this text was compiled.

n.68The Sanskrit deviates from the Tibetan translation here. After generating the motivation to awaken and then regarding all beings as equal, the pauper commissions (niryātita) a jewel replica of the great amulet.

n.69The phrase “took up practices in between” renders the term yāvat (Tib. bar du), which is used to elide a longer list of statements that would have been well known to the text’s original audience and thus did not need be stated in full.

n.70Skt. paṭṭabandhaṃ kṛtvā; Tib. blon thabs byin te. The Sanskrit term paṭṭabandha, which literally means to “tie on a headband,” refers to what was a way of marking one’s formal entrance into royal service. A king’s conferral of paṭṭabandha was considered a highly prized achievement in royal circles.

n.71This translation follows the Sanskrit and S in reading pūrvam . . . parijñātā (sngon yongs su shes). Degé omits pūrvaṃ/sngon (“previously”).

n.72The Sanskrit edition has camphor (karpura), rather than saffron as reported in the Tibetan (gur gum).

n.73The Sanskrit includes a pāda of verse not found in the Tibetan sources that states that these four stakes are used to measure the maṇḍala into sections of uniform size (samabhāgena māpya).

n.74Tib. bram ze; Skt. vipra.

n.75Based on the syntax of the Sanskrit, it is the mountains that are “invincible” (durdharṣa), not the boy as suggested by the Tibetan syntax.

n.76The Sanskrit has duṣṭaº where the Tibetan reads yakṣa (gnod sbyin).

n.77The Sanskrit can be interpreted to say that these nāgas sit on a vajra at the center of the lotus (te ’pi sarve prayatnena hṛdi vajrapratiṣṭhitāḥ).

n.78Here the term graha (Tib. gza’) is translated as “planet,” rather than “celestial bodies” as it is elsewhere. Typically the term refers to nine celestial bodies: the sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the eclipse (Rāhu), and comets/meteors (Ketu). Because the sun, moon, eclipse, and comets/meteors are listed separately here, the remaining “eight” are all likely planets. It is unclear what the eighth planet would be in this case.

n.79The Tibetan term yan lag rnam has been translated as “retribution” following the attested Sanskrit term pratyaṅgirāḥ.

n.80“Royal consumption,” rājayakṣman in Sanskrit, is translated into Tibetan with khrag skyugs (“vomiting blood”). According to Daud Ali (2006, pp. 242–43), who cites the classic Āyurvedic treatise Carakasaṃhitā, rājayakṣman is primarily a mental disorder that afflicts kings who are excessively fixated on sex and other indulgences.

n.81This translation follows the syntax of the Sanskrit edition, which reads anena kṛtarakṣas. This reading is followed by S, which has ’di yis bsrung ba byas. Degé reads ’di las bsrung ba byas.

n.82This translation follows the Sanskrit edition and H, N, and S in understanding this deity to be female. Degé reads snod sbyin chen po dpal yon can.

n.83Skt. anena vardā bhonti; Tib. ’dis ni snang ba sbyin par byed.

n.84We follow the Sanskrit, H, K, Y, N, and S in omitting me ke she su sha attested in the Degé.

n.85We follow the Sanskrit, K, Y, N, and S in omitting nama following pratyutpanne.

n.86The translation of the final two lines follows the Sanskrit syntax.

n.87The term maṇḍala (Tib. dkyil ’khor) is used here and below to describe both the square base made of earth and dung and the colored image to be painted on it.

n.88We follow the Sanskrit in reading “adept” (Skt. budha; Tib. mkhas pa) in the singular. The Tibetan has the plural m khas pa rnams.

n.89Where the Tibetan reads “in order to tame a great being” (sems can chen po gdul ba’i phyir), the Sanskrit has “destroyer of the great trichiliocosm” (mahāsahasrapramardanam), which corresponds closely to the title of one of the Pañcarakṣā texts, The Sūtra “Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm” (Toh 558, Mahāsāhasrapramardanīnāma­sūtra). This is perhaps meant to indicate which oblation rite is to be performed. See Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm , Toh 558 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2016).

n.90The Sanskrit reads dvijaśreṣṭha (“best of twice borns”).

n.91Skt. vimāna; Tib. gzhal med khang pa. A vimāna is a type of flying palace used by gods and other powerful beings for transport.