Introduction
i.1The Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations” is a short but important text providing many teachings to aid the dead toward a favorable rebirth. The text provides glimpses into the types of practices Buddhist communities in India and Tibet undertook for a situation that affects us all: the death of a loved one. The most important canonical text in this regard is The Tantra Purifying All Evil Destinies (Toh 483), and indeed, if the form of the dhāraṇī is anything to go by, our text does seem to have some kind of connection with that major scripture.
i.1《淨除業障陀羅尼》是一部簡短但重要的文獻，提供了許多教導來幫助亡者獲得善趣投生。這部經文讓我們看到印度和西藏佛教社群為應對一個影響我們所有人的情況——親人的死亡——所進行的各類修行。在這方面最重要的經典文獻是《淨除惡趣密續》（Toh 483），而且，從這個陀羅尼的形式來看，我們的這部文獻確實似乎與那部重要經典有某種關聯。
i.2The evidence for the original Sanskrit is somewhat thin: a mere fragment of two and a half lines in an Indian Compilation of Dhāraṇīs. However, even from this small fragment, which contains the full dhāraṇī and a passage from the applications, we can surmise that the version transmitted in India was somewhat different. We also know of an eponymous goddess who is clearly a personified dhāraṇī from the Indian tradition. The distinguished and influential scholar Abhayākaragupta in his Niṣpannayogāvalī describes her as an inhabitant of the Dharmadhātuvāgīśvara maṇḍala, green in color and holding a white lotus with a red tint marked by a vajra scepter with three prongs.
i.2關於原始梵文的證據相當有限：只是印度陀羅尼編纂本中短短兩行半的片段。然而，即使從這個包含完整陀羅尼和應用段落的小片段，我們也能推測出在印度傳承的版本有所不同。我們還知道有一位同名的女神，顯然是來自印度傳統中人格化的陀羅尼。傑出而有影響力的學者無畏論師在其《成就瑜伽集》中描述她是法界語自在曼陀羅中的住者，膚色翠綠，手持一朵白蓮花，花瓣帶有紅色，標有三叉金剛杵。
i.3The Tibetan translation is recorded in the imperial catalogs and there is at least one Dunhuang witness available to us. Unfortunately, the identity of the translators was not recorded, or if there was once a record, this has not survived. This witness from the famous Dunhuang collection is, despite its age, not a perfect copy. However, it provides some interesting variant readings, which we discuss in the notes to the translation. This text is included in both the Action Tantra section (Toh 743) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section (Toh 1009) of the Degé Kangyur and other Tshalpa-lineage Kangyurs that include such a separate section. As far as we are aware, there is no extant Chinese translation.
i.3藏文譯本記錄在帝國目錄中，我們可以找到至少一份敦煌文獻證本。不幸的是，譯者的身份沒有被記錄下來，或者如果曾經有過記載，這份記錄也沒有保存下來。這份來自著名敦煌藏書集的文獻證本，儘管年代久遠，但不是完美的副本。然而，它提供了一些有趣的異文讀法，我們在翻譯的註釋中討論過。這部文本被收錄在德格版大藏經的事續部（第743號）和陀羅尼匯編部分（第1009號）以及其他包含這種獨立部分的札倫派系列大藏經中。據我們所知，目前沒有現存的漢文譯本。
i.4This English translation was made principally on the basis of the Tibetan translations of the text found in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) and the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (gzungs ’dus) of the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Stok Palace Kangyur. We also compared these texts carefully against the Dunhuang witness, as will be evident from the notes that mark all major discrepancies. Additionally, we consulted the Sanskrit manuscript fragment, a transcript of which we include here in an appendix.
i.4本英文翻譯主要基於德格版大藏經《密續總集》（rgyud 'bum）和《陀羅尼彙集》（gzungs 'dus）中的藏文譯本製作，並參考了斯托克宮版大藏經。我們也仔細對比了這些文本與敦煌本，這一點從標註所有主要異文的注釋中可以看出。此外，我們還查閱了梵文手稿殘片，並在附錄中收錄了其轉錄文本。