Introduction

i.1The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove is one in a series of five works that are widely popular in the Buddhist world for their power to bring about practical and liberative benefit. In addition to The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, this set of texts includes Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm (Mahā­sāhasrapramardanī­sūtra, Toh 558), The Great Peahen (Mahā­māyūrīvidyā­rājñī, Toh 559), The Great Amulet (Mahā­pratisārāvidyā­rājñī, Toh 561), and Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra (Mahā­mantrānusāriṇī­sūtra, Toh 563). Together these five texts have been apotheosized in the Mahāyāna tradition as five goddesses known collectively as the Pañcarakṣā, or the Five Protectresses. In the Tibetan tradition this collection is known as gzungs chen grwa lnga, the Five Great Dhāraṇīs.

i.2Tibetan redactors of Kangyur collections have cataloged these five texts together within the Kriyātantra section of the Collected Tantras (rgyud ’bum) division of the canon. Indeed, these scriptures do contain elements that resonate with standard Kriyātantra practice as understood in Tibet: the use of powerful incantations, an emphasis on external ritual hygiene, the pragmatic application of ritual and mantra, and so forth. Yet, nearly absent from the five dhāraṇī texts are detailed descriptions of the contemplative visualization exercises, specialized ritual gestures (mudrā), elaborate maṇḍala diagrams, and initiation ceremonies typical of full-blown Buddhist tantra. A close perusal of these five texts might then lead the reader to construe them as Mahāyāna texts with a preponderance of elements‍—magical mantra formulas, ritual prescriptions, pragmatic aims, and so forth‍—that developed into a tantric practice tradition with its own unique view, meditation, and conduct. To complicate things further, core features of texts in this collection are rooted in Indian Buddhist traditions that are not specifically esoteric or even explicitly part of the Mahāyāna tradition. The great peahen incantation, for example, appears as a remedy for snakebites in the Mūla­sarvāstivāda­vinayavastu. This accords with Gregory Schopen’s general observation, based on inscriptional evidence, that “Dhāraṇī texts were publically [sic] known much earlier and much more widely than the texts we think of as ‘classically’ Mahāyāna.”

i.3It is believed that all five of these texts, and specifically their incantations, provide special protection from a wide range of illnesses and misfortunes for those who memorize, recollect, read, copy, teach, wear, or otherwise come into contact with them. Each text promises protection from specific misfortunes, with considerable overlap witnessed between the texts. Despite the pragmatic thrust of these scriptures, each text also contains numerous allusions to doctrinal notions, the range of effects described therein sometimes, though rarely, extending beyond the pragmatic sphere to include the purification of negative karma, deliverance from the lower realms, and even the attainment of buddhahood.

i.4While it seems certain that the five texts each developed independently and were only later combined into the well-known collection, their popularity as a set is attested by their eventual spread from India to Nepal, Tibet, Central Asia, China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, and Indonesia. Among the five texts, the status of The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove is perhaps the most ambiguous. The sūtra is listed as one of the “Five Great Dhāraṇīs” in the Denkarma (ldan kar ma), the imperial-period catalog of Tibetan translations, indicating that it was counted among the set as early as the ninth century. Similarly, it was also counted among the same set in a ninth-century Tibetan manuscript found at Tabo monastery in Ladakh. However, in later Sanskrit Pañcarakṣā collections it was replaced with the similarly titled but otherwise distinct dhāraṇī Great Cool Goddess (Mahāśītavatī). Thus, the collection of five dhāraṇīs preserved in the Tibetan canon and recorded in Denkarma catalog as the “Five Great Dhāraṇīs” may represent a “proto-Pañcarakṣā collection” that evolved into the collection that includes the dhāraṇī Great Cool Goddess rather than The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove. It is the later arrangement of the Five Great Dhāraṇīs, the set that does not include The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, that has achieved widespread popularity in the Buddhist world, particularly in Nepal, where numerous versions of the text have been preserved in Sanskrit and vernacular languages into modern times.

i.5The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove takes place in the Cool Grove cremation ground and unfolds as an exchange between the Buddha and the Four Great Kings: Kubera, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka, and Virūpākṣa. The Four Great Kings deliver the sūtra and teach the incantations it contains, and the Buddha establishes their teaching as authoritative scripture by accepting and rejoicing in their proclamation. After doing so, the Buddha adds the final incantation of the sūtra. The Four Great Kings’ explicit purpose in delivering the sūtra is to protect the Buddha’s four communities and other human beings from the threatening influence of the kings’ own pantheon of capricious, nonhuman servants, known collectively as grahas or bhūtas . Each of the Four Great Kings holds spiritual sovereignty over a cardinal direction and the classes of supernatural beings who reside in them. According to the cosmology presented in the text, the great king Kubera, also called Vaiśravaṇa, dwells in the north, where he presides over primarily yakṣas, but also a host of other supernatural beings including nakṣatras, unmādas, apasmāras, kinnaras, and skandas. The great king Dhṛtarāṣṭra dwells in the east, where he reigns over gandharvas as well as rākṣasas, piśācas, and marutas. The great king Virūḍhaka rules in the south, where his entourage consists mostly of kumbhāṇḍas but also includes pretas and pūtanas. Finally, the great king Virūpākṣa reigns in the west, where his entourage is made up of nāgas as well as garuḍas and guhyakas.

i.6The sūtra promises protection specifically for the Buddha’s “four communities”‍—monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen‍—against a range of illnesses and obstacles originating from the animosity and ill will of these hosts of supernatural beings. In this text, these beings are said to reside in the vicinity of remote wilderness retreats, where they can feed off the vitality, flesh, and blood of members of the Buddhist spiritual community engaged in spiritual practice there. The negative impact of these supernatural beings is framed in terms of their intrusion upon the human body in the form of illness, danger, and misfortune. Concordantly, the text claims to work precisely by means of “repelling” harmful entities from the bodies of patients, “drawing a boundary” around them, and thereby restoring health and well-being. It is through “receiving, holding, reciting, mastering, and using” the scripture itself that such healing exorcisms are effected. This can be done by patients themselves or by other members of the community on their behalf.

i.7The narrative introduction (nidāna; gleng gzhi) traditionally found at the very beginning of a sūtra is here preceded by a series of supplications to the buddhas of the past, prominent monks in the Buddha’s entourage, and the Four Great Kings. This is followed by an entreaty to malevolent and benevolent supernatural beings and an initial incantation formula. This material, which was likely appended to the sūtra by a later compiler, has the effect of transforming the core scripture into a liturgy to be recited in a ritual setting. One such ritual framework is found at the end of the sūtra, following the traditional formula for ending a scripture. This concise ritual instruction was also likely added by a later compiler in order to provide practical instructions for using the sūtra as part of a healing or protective rite.

i.8The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove was translated into Tibetan under Tibetan imperial patronage sometime during the first half of the ninth century by a team that included the translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé (ca. eighth–ninth centuries) and the Indian scholars Śīlendrabodhi, Jñānasiddhi, and Śākyaprabha. The translation was edited several centuries later by Gö Lotsāwa Shönu Pal (’gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal, 1392–1481), who based his work on a Sanskrit manuscript that had been in the possession of Chak Lotsāwa Chöjé Pal (chag lo tsA ba chos rje dpal, 1197–1263/64). The Stok Palace Kangyur contains yet another recension of Yeshé Dé’s translation in which the mantras were revised by Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364) based on two Sanskrit manuscripts from India.

i.9There are no extant Sanskrit versions of The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, nor are there any known Chinese translations of the sūtra. This English translation is based solely on Tibetan sources, with the Degé version taken as the primary witness. The Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Degé Kangyur was also consulted, as was the version of the translation recorded in the Stok Palace Kangyur. Additionally, this translation draws upon an early version of the Tibetan translation preserved in the Dunhuang manuscript collection (IOL Tib J 397). This version is generally consistent with the canonical versions, but it does contain variants that clarify some readings. The incantation formulas have been preserved as given in the Degé text, with no attempt made to edit them based on versions of the mantras found in other canonical sources. Some minor orthographic emendations have been made without notation.