Introduction

i.1Vajra Conqueror is a short dhāraṇī text with an illustrious history in several different Buddhist communities. The text begins with a brief narrative introduction and a sweeping statement on the qualities and function of the dhāraṇī. After a series of three dhāraṇī-mantras, the text concludes with ten verses, which first extol the benefits of the practice and finally outline a concise purification ritual. In the narrative introduction, set abstractly “in the vajra” (Skt. vajreṣu, Tib. rdo rje la), Vajrapāṇi, through the power of the Buddha Śākyamuni, reveals the dhāraṇī. The elaborations on this narrative found in the Indic commentarial tradition inform us that the dhāraṇī was revealed in order to cure the ailments afflicting King Ajātaśatru of Magadha after he had usurped the throne of his father, King Bimbisāra, and terrorized the Gangetic basin with his martial adventurism.

i.2The Sanskrit dhāraṇī is popular among Newar Buddhists in Nepal, where it is included in a set of daily dhāraṇī practices referred to collectively as the Saptavāra (Seven Days), of which the National Archives in Kathmandu today holds more than two hundred Sanskrit witnesses.

i.3The fourteenth-century Tibetan Chronicles of Padma (padma bka’ thang) mentions that the dhāraṇī was first translated into Tibetan during the imperial period and was included in the Ten Royal Sūtras (Tib. rgyal po mdo bcu), the recitation of which was prescribed by Padmasambhava to the Tibetan king Trisong Detsen (Tib. khri srong lde bstan, 755–97 ᴄᴇ) to prolong his life. It is also traditionally placed in a subset, the “Five Royal Sūtras.” According to the colophon of the Tibetan translation, it was translated by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla, along with the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé. The dhāraṇī is also listed in the Denkarma (Tib. ldan kar ma) catalog of 812 ᴄᴇ, which confirms its transmission to Tibet prior to that date. During the early period of Tibetan Buddhist history, such luminaries as Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra, Buddhaguhya, and Smṛtijñānakīrti wrote commentaries on the dhāraṇī. During the later diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet (tenth to fourteenth century), many other commentaries on the dhāraṇī and its rituals were translated into Tibetan. Since that time, it has remained important to all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism down to the present day, mainly for its use as a dhāraṇī to purify and heal illnesses arising due to karmic obscurations. Major scholars of all four schools have composed commentarial and practice literature on this dhāraṇī.

i.4This translation is based on the Degé Kangyur xylograph, while the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma) and Stok Palace Kangyurs were consulted to clarify problematic readings. Within the Degé canon, the dhāraṇī is included twice: once in the Tantra section (Tib. rgyud, Toh 750), and once in the Dhāraṇī section (Tib. gzungs ’dus, Toh 949). The two versions are generally equivalent, preserving the same translation colophon and very few variant readings. This translation is also informed by the earliest and most extensive commentary, attributed to Buddhaguhya (Toh 2680), as well as the Sanskrit edition presented in Dhīḥ (2005).

i.5The Sanskrit retained here was compiled by comparing the Sanskrit transliteration of the Degé edition (Toh 750) with the two editions of the Sanskrit Vajra Conqueror dhāraṇī‍—those of Iwamoto (1937) and Dhīḥ (2005). Finally, we referred to a late Devanāgarī manuscript witness (NGMCP: E 1414/8). For assistance in interpreting and translating the Sanskrit of the dhāraṇī-mantras, we have also consulted Ju Mipham’s (’ju mi pham, 1846–1912) synthesis of the commentarial traditions of Buddhaguhya, Padmasambhava, Smṛtijñānakīrti, and Vimalamitra.

i.6Following the Tibetan precedent of leaving the syllables of mantras (Skt. mantrapada) in transliteration and untranslated, we have reproduced the mantric syllables as they appear in the Degé Tibetan version in the translation’s main body, while noting the variants found in the consulted Sanskrit editions. Note that within Sanskrit editions, numerals following Sanskrit terms indicate a repetition of the last term. In the endnotes, following the three constituent dhāraṇī-mantras, we have included an English interpretative translation of the Sanskrit mantras as edited by Iwamoto.