Notes

n.1The Sanskrit title in the Degé Kangyur is Mahā­mantranu­dhāriṇī­sūtra, and the same title (with variations in the diacritical marks) is found in the Lithang, Cone and Lhasa Kangyurs. The Yongle, Narthang, and Stok Palace Kangyurs, however, have Mahā­mantranu­dhāri­sūtra (again, with variations in the exact spelling), and this latter alternative was preferred by the compilers of the Tōhoku catalogue. The various forms of the title and name of the goddess (including another, Mahā­mantrānusāriṇī) are discussed in i.­8–i.­15 below.

n.2For all four, see bibliography under Dharmachakra (2016) and (2023a–c).

n.3Sørensen (2006), p 90.

n.4Pathak (1989), p 32. The story comes at the very end of the Bhaiṣajya­vastu (Toh 1 ch. 6); see Yao (2021), 11.217.

n.5Schopen (1989), p 157.

n.6Orzech (2002), p 58.

n.7Lewis (2000), pp 119–164.

n.8Hidas (2007), p 188.

n.9The commentary (gsang sngags chen mo rjes su ’dzin ma’i mdo’i ’bum ’grel, 263b–264a) reads: “The ‘path of the four great kings’ is the four great kings themselves…and those guarded by the four great kings. ‘Those not on the path” refers to the sons of the great kings. These four entities garner petty lords and retinues, enacting violence against beings. Who are they? They cause harm in the east, south, west, and north, such that the 80,000 types of obstructers are also included within these four.”

n.10Parallel versions of this and the following four or five stanzas are found in two of the “late translated” protection (paritta) sūtras of probable Theravādin origin in the Kangyur, The Sūtra of the Sun (Toh 41) and The Sūtra of the Moon (1) (Toh 42), and in another of probable Mūlasarvāstivādin origin, The Sūtra of the Moon (2) (Toh 331). The story, very similar in all three works, helps to explain what these verses are about.

n.11The commentary (gsang sngags chen mo rjes su ’dzin ma’i mdo’i ’bum ’grel, 274a7) explains this in terms of the next life. It states: “Even after dying, one will be reborn in the hell of Endless Torment.”