Notes

n.1Śatasāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā (shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa, Toh 8). For a partial translation (Chapters 1–13), see The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines .

n.2Hidas 2021, p. 76, item 8 in Cambridge University Library Ms. Add. 1326; p. 116, item 56 in the same. Note that the latter item describes the dhāraṇī as a condensation of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Toh 12).

n.3The unique manuscript transmitting this text is currently being studied by Szántó for a forthcoming publication, Buddhism for Beginners II: The Mañjukīrti Corpus. The current location of the manuscript is not known with certainty. It was first seen and identified by Rāhula Sāṅkṛityāyana at Ngor Monastery; see Sāṅkṛityāyana 1935, p. 32. We are reading the text from the photographs kept at the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Göttingen, shelf number Xc 14/50; for the catalog entry, see Bandurski 1994, pp. 86–87. Little is known of the author; the manuscript is undated but was most likely copied in Magadha during the twelfth century. The dhāraṇī can be found on folio 7 verso within the context of installing caityas. A somewhat carelessly produced edition of the text has now been published in Dhīḥ: Journal of Rare Buddhist Texts Research Unit 62 (2022): 89–150. The dhāraṇī is on p. 102.

n.4Unpublished, incomplete manuscript, currently at National Archives Kathmandu, showcase 3/7, read from the microfilm images of the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project, reel no. A 1165/7. Little is known of the author; the manuscript is undated but was probably copied in Bengal during the thirteenth century. No Tibetan translation is known. The dhāraṇī can be found on folios 32 verso–33 recto.

n.5byang chub kyi gzhung lam (Toh 3766). See folio 120.b for the dhāraṇī. This text depends heavily on Mañjukīrti.

n.6Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 932 version of this text within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 932, n.­6, for details.

n.7Tatakaragupta has sunidharme.

n.8Here we prefer the reading of the Sanskrit in Mañjukīrti and Tatakaragupta against the Tibetan’s sārānu­graha­dharme.

n.9This is Mañjukīrti’s and Abhayākaragupta’s version; Tatakaragupta has vaiśravaṇadharme parivartita­dharme. The Tibetan reads vaiśravaṇa­parivartana­dharme.

n.10This is the reading of Mañjukīrti and Tatakaragupta. The Tibetan reads sarvakāryaparipramaṇadharme.

n.11This is Mañjukīrti’s version; Tatakaragupta has samatānu­parivartita­dharma. The Tibetan reads samantānu­parivartani­dharme (in the Tantra version) or samantānu­parivartana­dharme (in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs version). Abhayākaragupta’s text transmits yet another reading: samatāpari­vartita­dharme.

n.12Up to here, a very similar dhāraṇī is transmitted in The Perfection of Wisdom “Kauśika” (Kauśika­prajñā­pāramitā, Toh 19), ap1.­14.

n.13Tatakaragupta’s version adds mahādharme.

n.14This is Mañjukīrti’s version and the reading in item 8 in the Dhāraṇī­saṃgraha (see n.­2), which do not transmit °mati° after °smṛti° as the Tibetan versions do. Tatakaragupta reads śrutismṛti­vimativijaye. We adopt the former reading, since it is the one attested by our best sources and several parallels. The second version of the Dhāraṇī­saṃgraha has °gati° instead of °mati° or °vimati°. The Tibetan also inserts a svāhā after this compound, but this reading is not attested in good Sanskrit sources either.

n.15The Tibetan reads dhīḥ dhāraṇī . Tatakaragupta’s manuscript has dhīḥ dhāriṇīye as a marginal addition.

n.16This sentence is not attested in any of the Sanskrit sources, with the exception of Tatakaragupta, which itself is not a perfect match, as it reads oṃ prajñā­vardhani svāhā. A tentative translation of the dhāraṇī is as follows: “It is thus, Oṁ O One with the Dharma (or “with the Characteristic”) of the Sages, O One with the Dharma of Friendly Disposition, O One with the Dharma of Favor, O One with the Dharma of Liberation, O One with the Dharma of Constant Favor, O One with the Dharma Set in Motion by Vaiśravaṇa, O One with the Dharma of Accomplishing All Activities, O One with the Dharma Set in Motion in Accordance with Nirvāṇa (or “Sameness,” if we read samatā°) svāhā. Oṁ O Wisdom, O One Victorious in/by Study and Recollection, O One Upholding Knowledge svāhā. Oṁ O One with the Power of the Perfection of Wisdom (or understood as feminine if we accept a correction to °bale) svāhā.”

n.17The Sanskrit sources end the text here. Instead of what we translate here as “to uphold” to capture the ambiguity of the original, Tatakaragupta is more explicit when he replaces the verb with kaṇṭhasthīkṛ (“to place it in one’s throat”), which is the Sanskrit idiom for “to learn by heart.” He also spells out the benefit as the “meritorious karmic fruit” (puṇyaphala) of memorizing the parent text. This sentence is then followed by a fascinating short discussion, which merits quoting in full: “Surely, this is an exaggeration! No, one should not say this. For countless thus-gone ones have empowered this dhāraṇī to serve as a method for gaining the equipment of merit for women, immature people, and simpletons, as well as for learned people whose minds are confused, just like the pole of a snake charmer[, which is prepared by the expert snake charmer to be effective even when he is no longer present,] for removing poison; however, it is not a method for gaining the knowledge conveyed by The [Perfection of Wisdom in] One Hundred Thousand Lines. This should be understood to apply in other cases [i.e., where the text is abbreviated into a dhāraṇī] as well” (nanv atyuktir eveti. na caitad vaktavyam. yataḥ strībāla­mūrkhān paryākulitamatīn paṇḍitān praty api puṇya­saṃbhāra­sādhana­tvenāsaṃkhyeya­tathāgatair adhiṣṭhiteyaṃ dhāriṇī, yathā viṣaharatvena gāruḍikaṃ stambhaḥ; na tu lakṣāpratipādita­jñāna­sādhanatvena. evam anyatrāpi boddhavyaḥ).