Notes

n.1Avalokiteśvarasya­nāmāṣṭaśatakam , (Toh 706).

n.2See http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/index.html for an online catalog of the Taishō Canon, including text titles, translators, as well as corresponding texts from the Tibetan canon.

n.3Denkarma, folio 304.b; Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, pp. 254-55; Phangthangma 2003, p. 31.

n.4Dalton and van Schaik 2006, p. 79. The most complete recension found at Dunhuang is IOL Tib J 351/3.

n.5That is, they note that IOL Tib J 351/3, the most complete of the many versions of the work found among the Dunhuang manuscripts, is “very similar to the canonical edition,” which they identify as Q 381 (Dalton and van Schaik 2006, p. 79). Q 381 corresponds with Toh 705, rather than Toh 706. Scans of IOL Tib J 351/3 were not available to view on the International Dunhuang Project website at the time of our research. Therefore, we were unable to independently verify this identification.

n.6Toh 705 is found in both sections of the Kangyur, but Toh 706 is only found in the Tantra section.

n.7Regarding this topic, see the 84000 Knowledge Base article, “Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (Kangyur Section).”

n.8Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 900 version of this text within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 900, n.­8, for details.

n.9The Stok Palace recension mostly follows the readings in Toh 900 rather than those in Toh 705. There are differences between the two Degé recensions, but the Stok Palace recension also has several differences of its own. For example, it adds a list of additional items found neither in Toh 705 nor Toh 900.

n.10Toh 900 here reads brgyan pa, “adorned.” S agrees with Toh 900.

n.11Toh 900 omits this word. S agrees with Toh 900.

n.12S adds to this list Indra, Brahmā, and the World Protectors (brgya byin dang/ tshangs pa dang/ ’jig rten skyong ba dang/).

n.13Toh 900 has a slightly different order: ma ’dres pa/ yongs su byang ba/ yongs so dag pa, “in an unmixed way, completely cleansed, and completely pure…” S agrees with Toh 900.

n.14S here just reads “Ah, Blessed One,” which is the reading from the parallel text, Toh 706.

n.15Toh 900 here reads byed la mkhas, “are skilled in action.” S agrees with Toh 900.

n.16Tib. zlum. This figurative expression is an alusion to the marks of a great being (Skt. mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇa), and meant to evoke the picture that the tips of the outstretched arms, spread legs, and the top of the head of a standing figure are aligned in a perfect circle.

n.17The nyagrodha tree is commonly identified either as the Indian fig tree (Ficus Indica) or the Banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis). Regarding it, see Pandanus Database of Plants. This simile can be found in a number of sources, e.g. in The Stem Array (14.­3, 20.­5, 43.­98), in The Question of Maitreya (1.­35), and in The Play in Full (26.­157).

n.18The plant nāgakesara, also known as nāgapuṣpa, presumably refers to the Mesua ferrea L., for which see Pandanus Database of Plants.

n.19thong ka seng ge ’phyong ba ’dra. Toh 900 here reads mthon ka seng ge’i ral pa ’dra, “you are blue like a lion’s mane.” S agrees with Toh 900. We have tentatively followed the reading transmitted in Toh 705. Nonetheless, the text in both versions remains ambiguous or problematic, and it is possible that both readings are corruptions. What is relatively certain is that this line alludes to the common description of the broadness of great beings’ chests. The same picture is evoked also in other texts such as, for example, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines (Toh 10), 73.­90, and The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines (Toh 3808), 5.­1319.

n.20This line is omitted in S.

n.21These three lines are omitted in S.

n.22Here we read kyi as dang following the parallel line in Toh 706.

n.23“Stout” renders the Tibetan sha rgyas.

n.24Toh 900 reads snyan, “melodious.” S agrees with Toh 900.

n.25Toh 900 reads padma ’dra, “lotus-like.” S agrees with Toh 900.

n.26Toh 900 omits this word. S agrees with Toh 900.

n.27Toh 900 instead reads rab tu drag pa’i, “fierce.” S agrees with Toh 900.

n.28Toh 900 instead reads yid bzhin ’khor lo dge ba sbyor, “You are a wish-fulfilling wheel, engaging in virtue.” S agrees with Toh 900.

n.29Toh 900 omits this word. S agrees with Toh 900.

n.30S omits this line.

n.31Toh 900 omits this word.

n.32Toh 900 omits this line. S agrees with Toh 900.

n.33S omits this sentence.