Chanting the Names of Mañjuśrī1
In Indian language: Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṅgīti2
In Tibetan: pakpa jampal gyi tsen yangdakpar jöpa
In English: Chanting the Names of the Noble Mañjuśrī
Homage to ever-youthful Mañjuśrī!
1. The request3
Then Vajradhara, ever glorious,
Supreme subduer of the hard to tame,
The hero conquering the triple world,
The vajra lord and master of all secrets, (1)
With eyes wide open like white lotuses,
His face just like a lily in full bloom,4
While shaking in his hand repeatedly
A vajra of the highest excellence—(2)
Accompanied by countless Vajrapāṇis,
With features such as fierce, turbulent brows,
Subduers of the hard to tame, heroes,
Appearing with heroic, hideous forms, (3)
Brandishing in their hands their mighty vajras,
The tips of which emit intensive light,
Great benefactors to all living beings
Through skill, through insight, and through great compassion, (4)
With pleased and happy attitudes, with joy,
Their bodies those of wrathful deities,
Protectors who assist the buddhas' deeds,
Their bodies bowing reverentially—(5)
Paid homage to the true awakened one,
Protector, Blessed One, Tathāgata.
And joining his two palms respectfully,
He said before the lord the following: (6)
'O omnipresent lord, for my well-being,
With due concern for me and for my sake,
That I may reach complete awakening
Upon the basis of Illusion's Net;5 (7)
And for the sake of every living being—
Sunk deep into the mud of ignorance,
Their thoughts disturbed by various afflictions—
So that they may obtain the highest fruit, (8)
May you—the most supreme awakened one,
The Blessed One, the world's guru, and teacher,
Who knows the great samaya's reality,
Aware of wishes and abilities—(9)
Reveal to us the great name chanting of
The wisdom body of the Blessed One,
The great uṣṇīṣa, master of all speech,
The self-arising wisdom emanation,
The wisdom deity called Mañjuśrī; (10)
These names with meaning both profound and vast;
Of great significance; unmatched; serene;
With goodness at their start, middle, and end; (11)
Proclaimed by buddhas of the aeons past,
And to be taught by buddhas yet to come;
And taught not once but time and time again
By all the buddhas of the present age; (12)
Which were respectfully recited in
Illusion's Net, the tantra most supreme,
By multitudes of mighty Vajrapāṇis,
The joyous guardians of secret mantras. (13)
Just this I shall uphold with firm resolve,
Until I reach my final liberation,
So that I may become, O great protector,
The bearer of the buddhas' every secret; (14)
And this I shall reveal to living beings
According to each one's capacity,
In order that afflictions may be quelled,
So ignorance may fully be dispelled.' (15)
With this request to the Tathāgata,
The master of all secrets, Vajrapāṇi—
His body bowed, his palms politely joined—
Then stood before the lord devotedly. (16)
And so the Blessed One, lord Śākyamuni,
The best of men, the fully awakened one,
Extending from his mouth his handsome tongue,
A tongue unmatched in both its breadth and length, (17)
Displaying a gentle smile to living beings—
A smile that fills the threefold world with light;
That tames the enemy, the four Māras;
That ends unwanted birth in all three forms6—(18)
His voice melodious, like that of Brahmā,
Completely filling all the triple world,
Replied as follows to the lord of secrets,
To Vajrapāṇi, strongest of the strong: (19)
'That you, abounding in supreme compassion
And aiming to assist all living beings,
Are willing and prepared to hear from me
This evil-quelling, purifying chanting—(20)
The chanting of the names, so filled with meaning,
Of Mañjuśrī's embodiment of wisdom—
How truly excellent, O Vajradhara;
How excellent of you, O Vajrapāṇi! (21)
And so I shall, O master of all secrets,
Reveal just that to you most splendidly.
With single-minded focus, listen well!'
'How excellent!' responded Vajrapāṇi,
'So truly excellent, O Blessed One.' (22)
And then the Blessed One, lord Śākyamuni,
Surveyed in full the family great with mantras,
The family of the vidyās and the mantras,
The family that is threefold by its nature, (23)
The family of and yet beyond the world,
The family great in brightening the world,
The foremost family of mahāmudrā,
And so the family great with great uṣṇīṣas. (24)
And then, about the lord of speech,7 he spoke
These verses, which include six kingly mantras,8
Which manifest from non-duality,
Which bear the quality of non-arising: (25)
a ā i ī u ū e ai
o au aṃ aḥ sthito hṛdi |
jñāna-mūrtir ahaṃ buddho
buddhānāṃ trya-dhva-vartinām ||9 (26)
oṁ vajra-tīkṣṇa duḥkha-ccheda
prajñā-jñāna-mūrtaye
jñāna-kāya vāgī-śvara
arapacanāye te namaḥ |10 (27)
And so, he is the Blessed One, the Buddha,
Awakened fully, born of the letter a;
He is the letter a, the foremost phoneme,11
Supreme-most syllable, with meaning great, (28)
Arising from great vital force,12 unborn,
Beyond expression based on words or speech,
The foremost cause of every form of speech,
The shining forth of every kind of language, (29)
Great feast13 who takes the form of great passion,
Producing bliss in every sentient being,
Great feast who takes the form of great anger,
Great enemy of every mental poison, (30)
Great feast who is by nature great delusion,
Delusion's vanquisher for deluded minds,
Great feast who is in essence great fury,
Great adversary to all furiousness, (31)
Great feast who takes the form of great desire,
Who vanquishes desire in all forms;
He is great carnal lust; he is great bliss;
He is great happiness; he is great joy; (32)
With great appearance, bearing forms supreme,
With great complexion, marked by great physique,
With great renown, the great munificent one,
His maṇḍala voluminous and great, (33)
The bearer of the mighty sword of wisdom,
The foremost goad for taming great afflictions,
Possessing great renown, his glory great,
His brightness great, his lustre most supreme, (34)
Most wise upholder of the great illusion,
Fulfiller of the great illusion's aims,
Enraptured by the great illusion's rapture,
The great illusion's great illusionist, (35)
The foremost lord of great munificence,14
Supreme upholder of great discipline,
Intent supporter of great tolerance,
With valour rooted in great diligence, (36)
Samādhi-resting through great meditation,
Endowed with bodies flowing from great wisdom,
Both great in strength and great in skilful means,
A brimming ocean filled with vows and knowledge, (37)
By nature great in kindness, limitless,
The foremost mind, enriched by great compassion,
Of great insight, of great intelligence,
Great dexterous one, with methods ever great, (38)
Commanding powers and great miracles,
With driving force supreme, with speed unmatched,
Renowned great lord, of foremost majesty,
Most valorous owing to his great might, (39)
Destroying the massive mountain of becoming,
Unyeilding, holding strong a massive vajra,
Great terrifying lord, the great cruel one,
Provoking fear in great and daunting creatures,15 (40)
Protector as the greatest of all vidyās,16
A guru as the greatest of all mantras,
Traversing well the Mahāyāna's path,
Himself the Mahāyāna's foremost way; (41)
He is Mahāvairocana; the Buddha;
Great sage; observing great, intensive silence;17
Arising from the Great Mantra Way;
He is at heart the Great Mantra Way; (42)
Accomplished in the ten pāramitās,
Having the ten pāramitās as home,
In whom the ten pāramitās are pure,
For whom the ten pāramitās are means, (43)
Protector, reigning over all ten grounds,18
Residing steadily on all ten grounds,
Made pure in nature by the tenfold knowledge,19
Maintaining purity through tenfold knowledge, (44)
With tenfold forms, intent on tenfold content,20
With tenfold strength,21 pervasive, lord of sages,
Achieving every aim for every being,
Endowed with tenfold mastery,22 supreme, (45)
Beginningless, complexity devoid,
By nature pure, reality in essence,
Unwavering, a speaker of the truth,
With speech and actions perfectly aligned, (46)
A teacher of the non-dual truth, non-dual,
Atop reality's most lofty peak,
With selflessness his wild lion's roar,
Instilling fear in deer-like misled seekers,23 (47)
With journeys fruitful, travelling everywhere,24
As swift as thought in all tathāgatas,
A victor, slayer of foes, triumphant lord,
A universal king, with forces great,25 (48)
Assembly head, instructor for assemblies,
Assembly lord, assembly chief, the ruler,
Most influential, bearing precious burdens,
Not other-bound, his way the greatest way, (49)
The lord of speech, the master of expression,
Most skilled in words, adept with language, truthful,
With boundless words, the teacher of the truth,
Providing teachings on the fourfold truth, (50)
Not coming back, not turning 'round, rhino,
The leader of the pratyekabuddhas,26
Gone forth by going forth in different ways,
The single cause of all great elements, (51)
Arhat, bhikṣu, defilements exhausted,
Devoid of passion, master of the senses,
Arrived at comfort, met with security,
For he, having cooled down, is free from stains; (52)
Equipped in full with knowledge and its base,27
A sugata, best knower of the world,
Not thinking 'me', not clinging onto 'mine',
Established in the system of two truths, (53)
Upon the edge of cyclic life's far shore;
With deeds accomplished; resting on the bank;
Emerging from untainted, lone awareness;
With sword-like insight ever penetrating; (54)
The sun, the Dharma king, the noble Dharma,
Supreme illuminator of the world,
The Dharma lord, the sovereign of the Dharma,
The teacher of the path to excellence, (55)
Accomplishing all goals,28 fulfilling aims,
Completely free from wants of any kind,
Bereft of thought, a non-depleting source,
The Dharma source,29 supreme, beyond decay, (56)
Enriched by merit; merit's gathering;
Unique great wisdom; wisdom; wisdom-rich;
Aware of what exists and what does not,
While gathering the twofold gathering; (57)
Eternal, yogin, king of everywhere,
The object and the mind of concentration,
The master of intelligent reflection—
For by oneself alone is he experienced—
Immovable, the ultimate beginning,
The holder of the three enlightened bodies, (58)
The Buddha, formed of five embodiments,30
The omnipresent, made of five wisdoms,
His diadem with five awakened ones,
With all five eyes,31 maintaining non-attachment, (59)
The great progenitor of all the buddhas,
The buddhas' eminent and foremost son,
Arising from the world of true insight,
The sourceless, Dharma source, existence ending, (60)
Comprised of vajras, wholly dense and firm,
The newborn sovereign ruler of the world,
Emerging from the sky, the self-arisen,
A massive blaze of knowledge and of insight, (61)
Illuminating,32 beacon of great light,
A lamp of wisdom, shining brilliantly,
A light for beings, a lantern unto wisdom,
With energy supreme, most radiant, (62)
The vidyā king, the greatest mantra's lord,
The mantra king, achieving noble aims,
The great uṣṇīṣa, marvellous uṣṇīṣa,
The lord of space, revealer of all things, (63)
The best embodiment of every buddha,
With eyes the joy of every living being,
Creator, manifesting varied forms,
Great sage, deserving praise, deserving worship, (64)
A mantrin, born unto the triple family,33
Upholding mantras of the foremost pledge,34
The greatest bearer of the triple gem,
Who teaches all three peerless vehicles, (65)
With snare unfailing, most victorious,
The snatcher ever great, the vajra snare,
The vajra hook, the snare of excellence.35
Called Vajrabhairava, he is terrific, (66)
Six-faced, the king of anger,36 hideous,
Six-eyed, six-armed, the ever powerful,
Baring his terrible fangs, a skeleton,
Halāhala,37 a hundred faces proud, (67)
The Yama killer,38 ruling obstacles,39
Instilling fear, with vajra impetus,
The vajra-hearted, famous for his vajra,
With belly large, with vajras of illusion, (68)
The vajra-born; the sovereign of the vajra;
Akin to space; his core comprised of vajras;
Unmoving;40 haughty with his single dreadlock;
His clothes an elephant's raw hide, still moist; (69)
The great terrific one, who cries hā hā,
Who screams hī hī, instilling fervent fear,
His laugh a screeching laugh, a booming laugh,
He is the vajra laugh, the mighty howl; (70)
He is the noble sattva, Vajrasattva,
The vajra's sovereign lord, the highest bliss,
The vajra's wrathfulness, the highest joy,
Intoning hūṁs of Vajrahūṁkāra, (71)
With vajra arrows serving as his weapon,
His sword comprised of vajras, slashing all,
Upholding every vajra, vajra bearing,
With just a single vajra, ending strife, (72)
With eyes, like vajra fire, truly dreadful;
With hair that's like a vajra set ablaze;
Immersion of the vajra;41 great immersion;
With eyes like vajras; eyes a hundredfold; (73)
With vajra hairs that sprout upon his body;
His unique figure marked by vajra hairs;
With nails advancing, vajras at their tips;
With skin that's solid like a vajra’s core; (74)
The splendid master, donning vajra garlands,
Adorned with vajra-fashioned ornaments,
With booming voice, his laughter crying 'ha ha',
Six-syllabled, producing vajra rumbles, (75)
Great Mañjughoṣa, sound supremely loud,
A roar unique unto the threefold world,
The voice that reaches every bound of space,
Pre-eminent amongst all voice-endowed. (76)
He is a being who's fully realised truth,
Reality, its peak, and selflessness;42
Supreme in propagating emptiness;
Unspoken; teaching both the deep and vast; (77)
The Dharma conch, emitting piercing sound,
The Dharma gong, with lasting resonance,
Arriving at unbounded liberation,43
He is the Dharma drum in all directions; (78)
Without a form, with handsome form, supreme,
Replete with forms diverse, comprised of mind,
With splendour shining through his every form,
With all reflections under his control, (79)
Invincible, renowned as lord supreme,
The lord supreme who rules the threefold world,
Abiding on the nobles’ lofty path,
Great source of flourishing, the Dharma's crown, (80)
With youthful form unique unto all worlds,
The elder, senior, father of all beings,
Adorned with thirty-two auspicious marks,
Most beautiful, most handsome in all worlds, (81)
The teacher teaching mundane good and knowledge,
The teacher to all beings, most confident,
The world’s most trusted guide, protector, saviour,
The refuge unsurpassed, the guardian, (82)
With rich enjoyments filling all of space,
The knowledge-ocean of omniscient beings,
While smashing through the shell of ignorance,
And breaking through the cage of cyclic life, (83)
The thorough queller of intense affliction,
Arriving at saṃsāra's opposite shore,
His crown the crown of wisdom consecration,
His ornaments comprising perfect buddhas, (84)
The soother of the pain of threefold pain,
The ender of the trio,44 ending free,
Arriving at the threefold liberation,
Completely free of every obscuration,
Having achieved equality sky-like, (85)
Beyond the stains every last affliction,
Aware of timelessness in all three times,
Most eminent amongst all sentient beings,
The crown amongst those crowned with noble virtues, (86)
Completely free from every kind of substrate,45
Established firmly on the path of space,
A splendid wish-fulfilling jewel in hand,
The best of all that's precious, omnipresent, (87)
Great wish-fulfilling tree, most plentiful,
The greatest of all great auspicious vases,
Fulfilling the aims of living beings, a doer,
An ally, most beloved to all creatures, (88)
Aware of good and bad, aware of times,
The omnipresent knower of the pledges,
Upholding pledges, conscious of occasions,
Awake to varied aptitudes in beings,
With expertise in threefold liberation,46 (89)
With virtues, knowing virtues, knowing Dharma,
Auspicious, source of all auspiciousness,
Of all auspicious things the most auspicious,
Great splendour, glory, good, most prosperous, (90)
Great reassurance, foremost celebration,
Great joyousness, the highest form of pleasure,
Abundance, reverence, action venerable,
Great happiness, the noble lord of splendour, (91)
The greatest granter of all wishes, wished for,
The highest source of refuge, refuge granting,
The fearsome enemy of potent danger,
Alleviating danger in all forms, (92)
With tufts of hair, with plumes of luscious hair,
With matted hair, with matted locks, chord-tied,47
Five faced, with five hair tufts, his head well-crowned,
His head adorned with garlands of five strands, (93)
Upholding great observances, head shaven,
The foremost of observances, chaste student,
With great austerities perfected fully,48
He is the greatest bather, Gautama; (94)
A brahmin, Brahmā, knower of brahman,49
Arrived in full at brahman nirvāṇa,
Awakening, its branches,50 liberation,
Release, complete tranquillity, quiescence,51 (95)
Nirvāṇa, peacefulness, tranquillity,
Approaching graceful entry to nirvāṇa,
The culmination, ending pain and pleasure,
The state devoid of passion, free from substrates, (96)
Beyond defeat, unmanifest, unmatched,
Not making manifest, appearance-free,
Pervasive, timeless, fully omnipresent,
Minute, beyond defilements, seed-free, (97)
Unstained, devoid of passion, passionless,52
Controlling humours, free from every illness,
By nature most awakened, fully awake,
Omniscient, knowing everything, supreme, (98)
Beyond reality as consciousness,
Pristine awareness, bearing non-dual form,
Beyond conceptualisation, effort-free,
Acting as buddhas do in every age, (99)
The Buddha, endless and beginningless,
The Buddha at the start, devoid of sequence,
With wisdom as his only eye, unstained,
Tathāgata, with wisdom as his body, (100)
The sovereign of all language, great debater,
The king of discourse, best of orators,
The best and greatest of communicators,
The unassailable, the lion of speech, (101)
With universal vision, true delight,
With fire garlands, handsome to behold,
The endless knot,53 most radiant, great lustre,
With shining rays in hand providing light, (102)
The best and foremost of all great physician,
Unequalled in removing thorns of pain,
A tree providing medicine for all,
A foe opposing every malady, (103)
The lovely crowning jewel of all three worlds,
A cluster of the stars, most glorious,
The end of space in all its ten directions,
The hoisting high of Dharma's victory flag, (104)
Sharing one large umbrella with the world,
With love and kindness as his maṇḍala,
The celebrated lotus lord of dance,54
Pervasive with his precious parasol, (105)
The blazing energy of all the buddhas,
With bodies fully shared by all the buddhas,
The highest union formed with all the buddhas,
The single teaching taught by all the buddhas, (106)
Most glorious with Vajraratna's blessing,
The highest sovereign lord of Sarvaratna,
The king supreme of Sarvalokeśvara,
The lord on high of Sarvavajradhara, (107)
The quintessential mind of Sarvabuddha,55
Residing in the mind of every buddha,
The greatest body borne by every buddha,
The lovely speech enriching every buddha, (108)
The scorching brightness from the vajra sun,
With stainless lustre from the vajra moon,
Great passion of the passionless and others,
With multi-coloured rays that brightly blaze, (109)
The perfect buddhas' perfect vajra posture,
Retaining for all beings the buddhas' Dharma,
The lotus buddhas'56 celebrated son,
The knowledge treasurer for the omniscient, (110)
The sovereign king, controlling all illusions,
The foremost master of the Buddha's spells,
Called Vajratikṣṇa, sword supremely mighty,
Completely pure, the highest syllable, (111)
Atop pain's remedy—the Mahāyāna—
With vajra-Dharma as his mighty weapon,
With vajra depth, renowned as Jinajik,
With vajra thought, aware of how things are, (112)
Perfecting all perfections perfectly,
Adorned by all the grounds of bodhisattvas,
The selflessness of pure phenomena,
With lustre that is moonlight unto knowledge, (133)
With great endeavours as illusory nets,
The foremost master ruling every tantra,
Endowed in full with every vajra posture,
Completely furnished with all wisdom bodies, (114)
Completely good, with intellect supreme,
The embryo of earth,57 sustaining beings,
Great embryo from which all buddhas form,
With emanation circles most diverse, (115)
The highest nature of all entities,
Supportive of the nature of all things,
With goals for all, with dharmas unarisen,
Supportive of the nature of all dharmas, (116)
With full awareness of phenomena
In but an instant as the wisest sage,
With vivid realisation of all dharmas,
He is a sage, the greatest intellect,
The vanquisher of hosts of evil spirits; (117)
Unwavering, completely pure in nature,
Grasping the wakefulness of perfect buddhas,
The direct realization of all buddhas,
He is the flame of wisdom, luminous; (118)
The great fulfiller of desired aims,
The purifier of all evil states,
The greatest of all living beings, protector,
The earnest liberator of all creatures, (119)
Unrivalled knight in battle with afflictions,
Humiliating ignorance—his foe,
The celebrated mind58 of amorousness,
Endowed with forms heroic and repulsive, (120)
The dancer moving to and fro his hundreds
Of lengthy arms while setting down his stride,
The dancer spreading through the whole of space
And filling it with Śrīmat’s hundred arms,59 (121)
Stood tall atop the surface of the earth,
The sole of just one foot pervading all;
Stood tall atop the summit of the world,60
The nail of his big toe suppressing all; (122)
Whose aim is one; whose aim is non-dual Dharma;
Whose aim is ultimate; beyond destruction;
Whose mind consists in groups of consciousness
With varied objects, forms, and cognisance; (123)
Amused with every object of existence,
A mind of passion, loving emptiness,
Transcending worldly passion and the like,
With great enjoyment for the threefold world, (124)
With fair complexion white like pristine clouds,
With radiance like beams from autumn moons,
With lustre rivalling the morning sun's,
With nails emitting light of crimson redness,61 (125)
Whose handsome crown has sterling sapphires,
Whose hair has tips of sapphire deep blue,
With glory from the light of his great jewel,
Adorned with emanations of the buddhas, (126)
The shaker of a hundred worldly realms,
His strength the four miraculous powers,62
Reality, with mindfulness supreme,
Samādhi king of fourfold mindfulness,63 (127)
Infused with scents from bloom on bodhi's branches,
An ocean of tathāgata virtues,
With knowledge of the eightfold path's true way,
With knowledge of the path of perfect buddhas, (128)
The great attachment of all living beings,
Attachment-free, comparable to space,
When springing up in every creatures mind,
He is, for every being, as swift as mind; (129)
Aware of all the aptitudes of beings,
While captivating every creature's mind,
With insight into aggregated natures,64
Himself with fully pure five aggregates, (130)
Atop the peak of every going forth,
Most skilled in going forth in every way,
Established on all paths of going forth,
The teacher of all forms of going forth, (131)
Uprooting all becoming with twelve links,
Endowed with purity in all twelve forms,65
His form the way of fourfold noble truth,
With realization of the eightfold knowledge,66 (132)
With meaning of the truths in twelvefold form,67
Aware of suchness in its sixteen forms,68
With true awakening in twenty forms,69
Awakened fully, knowing all, supreme, (133)
Dispatching countless sets of some ten million
Embodiments of emanating buddhas,
The final realisation of all moments,
Who knows each moment’s object for all minds, (134)
And manifesting for the sake of beings
With means derived from varied vehicles,
Gone forth by way of all three vehicles,
Remaining in the single vehicle’s fruit, (135)
With purified afflictive spheres70 at heart,
Annihilating every karmic spheres,
Arrived atop dry land from flooding oceans,71
Emerged from yoga's perilous dark grove,72 (136)
Released from general, minor, and complete
Afflictions and their latent tendencies;
With insight, means, and foremost empathy;
Achieving fruitful aims for living beings; (137)
Abiding object-free through all perceptions,73
With consciousness as object, with cessation,
With every being the object of his mind,
With knowledge that's the mind of all the buddhas, (138)
Residing in the mind of every being;
Having become their minds' equality;
And satisfying the mind of every being;
He is, for every being, great inner joy; (139)
Confusion-free regarding points of doctrine,74
Completely free from error in all its forms,
His thinking free from doubt, his object threefold,
His object all, three properties by nature,75 (140)
Throughout three times, the content of five skandhas,
Discerning clearly each and every moment,
Awakening in but a single moment,
His basic nature equal to all buddhas, (141)
With body bodiless, the best of bodies,
With realization of the peak of bodies,
Displaying his form in every possible way,
He is the greatest stone, the precious gem; (142)
What all the perfect buddhas are to know,
The buddhas' unsurpassed awakening,
Devoid of syllables, yet born of mantra,
Arising from Great Mantra's threefold family,76 (143)
The father to the meaning of all mantras,
The greatest bindu, void of syllables,
With five great syllables,77 great empty one,
A hundred syllabled,78 devoid of bindu, (144)
Endowed with every form, yet free from form,
Supporting half of half of sixteen bindus,79
Transcending every grouping, void of members,
Sustaining dhyāna's fourth and final peak, (145)
Aware of dhyāna's each and every aspect,
With knowledge of samādhis' types and families,
The best of bodies—body of samādhi,
The sovereign king of all enjoyment bodies, (146)
The best of bodies—emanation body,
The heir to emanations of the buddhas,
With varied emanations everywhere,
While benefiting all, however needed, (147)
The sovereign of the gods, the god of gods,
Asura lord, the ruler of immortals,
The king of deities, the gods' guru,
The highest lord of pramathas,80 Pramatha, (148)
Emerged from cyclic life's imposing forest;
The single teacher; guru for all beings;
In every well-known world, in all directions,
The eminent bestower of the Dharma; (149)
Concealed by armour made of loving-kindness;
Well shielded by the shield of empathy;
With wisdom sword in hand, with bow and arrow;
Concluding war with ignorance and kleśas; (150)
The māras' enemy and tamer, hero,
Eliminating threats from all four māras,
Defeating all the armies of the mārās,
A guide for living beings, the perfect buddha, (151)
Deserving homage, worthy of respect,
Deserving reverence, always honourable,
Deserving worship, worthy of regard,
The highest guru, ever venerable, (152)
Traversing all three worlds in just one stride,
His step extending past the bounds of space,
With knowledge of the three, well-versed, and pure,81
With sixfold higher knowledge and recall,82 (153)
The bodhisattva and mahāsattva,
With power great, transcending worldly life,
Perfected by his excellence of insight,
Now one with the reality of insight, (154)
The whole, aware of self, aware of other,
For, fit for all, he is the best of men;
Surpassing all to which he is compared,
Supreme most lord of knowing and what's known, (155)
The foremost master of imparting Dharma,
Who shows the meaning of the fourfold seal,83
The most revered amongst all living beings,
Engaged in going forth on all three paths, (156)
With glory purified by ultimate truth,
Most fortunate within the threefold world,
The celebrated source of all endowments,
Supreme among the glorious, Mañjuśrī. (157)
Homage to you, boon granter, best of vajras;
O summit of existence, homage to you;
Homage to you, whose source is emptiness;
O Buddha's awakening, homage to you; (158)
O passion of the buddhas, homage to you;
Desire of the buddhas, I pay you homage;
O love of every buddha, homage to you;
The joy of all the buddhas, I pay you homage; (159)
O smile of every buddha, homage to you;
The laugh of all the buddhas, I pay you homage;
O speech of every buddha, homage to you;
The heart of all the buddhas, I pay you homage; (160)
Arisen from non-being, homage to you;
Homage to you, arisen from the buddhas;
Arisen from the sky, homage to you;
Homage to you, born of pristine wisdom; (161)
O net of illusion, homage to you;
Homage to you, the buddhas' spectacle;
Homage to you, the everything of all;
O body of wisdom, homage to you! (162)
oṁ sarva-dharmābhāva-svabhāva viśuddha-vajra a ā aṃ aḥ | prakṛti-pariśuddhāḥ sarva-dharmā yad uta sarva-tathāgata-jñāna-kāya-mañjuśrī-pariśuddhitām upādāyeti a āḥ | sarva-tathāgata-hṛdayaṃ hara hara | oṁ hūṁ hrīḥ bhagavan jñāna-mūrti vāg-īśvara mahā-vāca sarva-dharma gaganāmala-supariśuddha-dharma-dhātu-jñāna-garbha āḥ |84
Then Vajradhara, ever glorious,
Most pleased and satisfied, with folded palms,
Prostrated to the Buddha, noble guard,
The Blesssed One, the lord Tathāgata; (163)
And with a host of other Vajrapāṇis—
Of varied forms, the lords of guhyakas,
Sublime protectors, noble wrathful kings—
He then exclaimed this effervescent praise: (164)
Protector, we rejoice! How excellent!
How excellent what you have clearly taught!
Through you our lofty aim has been achieved,
Which leads to true and full awakening; (165)
And so the aims of helpless mundane beings,
Who seek the fruits of perfect liberation.
Just this taught in the Māyājāla is
The noble path that leads to excellence: (166)
With largeness, vastness, and profundity,
With meaning great, achieving beings' aims,
Just this comprises every buddha's sphere,
Just this is taught by all awakened ones. (167)
This concludes the supreme Chanting of the Names of the Blessed One Mañjuśrī, the Wisdom Deity. It was extracted from the noble Net of Illusion, a mahāyoga tantra in sixteen thousand parts, from its chapter on the net of samādhi. It was spoken by the Blessed One Śākyamuni, the Tathāgata.
Translated by Ryan Conlon with the assistence of Stefan Mang. Special thanks to Prof. Harunaga Isaacson, Adam Pearcey, and others for offering valuable suggestions that greatly improved our work. The translation is based on the Nāmasaṅgīti's Sanskrit text, for which we used as our main interpretative guides the ancient Tibetan translation (here printed alongside the English text), as well as commentaries by Vilāsavajra and Vimalamitra. For a version of the translation with detailed text-critical notes, a collection transcriptions of source materials, and a discussion of methodology etc., please visit https://github.com/con-jo-ry/NaSa.
Footnotes
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Chanting the Names of Mañjuśrī, commonly known as simply the Nāmasaṅgīti, is one of the most highly revered tantras throughout all lineages and practice systems of Vajrayāna Buddhism. In it Buddha Śākyamuni teaches Vajrapāṇi and his retinue a list of names for the wisdom body of Mañjuśrī, the heart of all tathāgatas. Expressed in attractive and at time playful verses, the names evoke an extremely vast array of topics and images, from the mundane to the transcendent, and from the quiescent to the ferocious. The Nāmasaṅgīti has had a central role in the daily chanting of Buddhist practitioners for centuries, and it is also commonly the first text to be recited on special occasions. ↩
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Note that so far we can presently determine, the title (Ārya)mañjuśrīnāmasaṅgīti does not appear to be attested in original Sanskrit sources and can only be found in Tibetan renderings of the Sanskrit title or in modern literature. The tantra's most common title in Sanskrit is simply Nāmasaṅgīti ('Chanting the Names'), while the colophons to the tantra itself gnerally give the full title as Bhagavato Mañjuśrījñānasattvasya Paramārthā Nāmasaṅgītiḥ ('The Supreme Name Chanting of the Blessed One, the Wisdom Deity Mañjuśrī'). ↩
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The chapter titles are included in many but not all witnesses of the Nāmasaṅgīti and its translations. Commentators employ them to explain the structure of the text. They are generally not chanted aloud by contemporary practitioners who recite the text. ↩
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Some witnesses of the ancient translations have an alternative reading (pad+ma rgyas pa'i gdan la bzhungs), which can be translated 'seated atop a seat that is a lily in full bloom'. ↩
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"Illusion's Net" can be understood as a proper name referring to the Māyājālatantra and the tantric system presented therein. Various esoteric and non-esoteric glosses of this name are possible: for example, Vimalamitra states that the word hints at the unity of a special form of insight and means. ↩
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The 'three forms of unwanted birth' are birth in hell, as a hungry ghost, or as an animal. ↩
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Vimalamitra, as well as the witnesses we have consulted of the Nāmasaṅgīti's Tibetan translations, indicates that 'the lord of speech' is the Buddha: i.e., 'the Buddha, the lord of speech, spoke these verses'. Vilāsavajra and the Sanskrit witnesses of the Nāmasaṅgīti, however, indicate that 'the lord of speech' refers to Mañjuśrī. The latter reading and interpretation are, in our opinion, preferable on the grounds of grammar and sense, and we therefore reflect it in our English translation. ↩
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These six mantra are expressed in verse 27. ↩
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This mantra can be translated as follows: a ā i ī u ū e ai o au aṃ aḥ—I, the Buddha, located in the heart, am the wisdom body of all buddhas residing throughout the past, present, and future. ↩
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This mantra can be translated as follow: Oṁ, homage to you, Arapacana—Vajratīkṣṇa ('vajra-sharp'), Duḥkhaccheda ('eliminator of suffering'), Prajñājñānamūrti ('embodiment of insight-wisdom'), Jñānakāya ('wisdom body'), Vāgīśvara ('lord of speech')! ↩
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The Sanskrit word akṣara (letter/phoneme/syllable) can also be understood to refer to an imperishable thing. This understanding is reflected in the Kangyur's translation of the Nāmasaṅgīti: i.e., 'He is the ultimate, imperishable thing'. ↩
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When used in reference to letters, the word mahāprāṇa (translated here as 'arising from great vital force') means 'aspiration', which would normally not apply to a vowel such as a. Vimalamitra explains that the vowel a is unique in not depending on the teeth, nose, tongue, and so forth for its articulation; rather, it arises simply from prāṇa, a person's vital force. Thus the word mahāprāṇa connotes something that is naturally arisen from the vital force alone. ↩
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We use the word 'feast' in the sense of a festival, particularly one that involves religious worship. ↩
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Beginning in this verse the tantra lists the ten pāramitās: 1. generosity ('munificence'); 2. discipline; 3. patience ('tolerance'); 4. diligence; 5. meditative concentration; 6. wisdom; 7. skilful means; 8. strength; 9. aspiration ('vows'); and 10. knowledge. ↩
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Vimalamitra understands what we translate as 'great and daunting creatures' (Skt. mahābhaya; Tib. 'jigs chen) to refer to non-Buddhist gods such as Viṣṇu and Śiva. Vilāsavajra, similarly, understands the word to refer to Śiva in his Mahābhairava form. ↩
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Here we believe that the majority of witnesses of the Tibetan translations have suffered from corruption, with the word 'rig' becoming 'rigs'. Following the corrupted text, we may translate the name, 'the best of the great families'. This reading, along with an interpretation of it, appears to be common in Tibetan commentaries, including that of Vimalamitra. Witnesses of the text reading 'rig' (vidyā) can also be found, and these are almost certainly to be regarded as correct. ↩
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At face value, the Tibetan could be taken to mean 'endowed with great sageness'. ↩
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The ten grounds (bhūmi; Tib. sa) refer to stages of the path to awakening that a bodhisattva traverses after having directly perceived reality. ↩
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The ten knowledges (Skt. daśa jñānāni; Tib. shes pa bcu) are mentioned, for example, in Vasubandhu's Abidharmakośa ch. 7. They are knowledge of 1. dharma; 2. concordance; 3. conventions; 4. other minds; 5. suffering; 6. origin; 7. cessation; 8. the path; 9. exhaustion; 10. non-arising. ↩
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Commentators interpret these enumerations variously: Vilāsavajra understands the "ten forms" to be the ten ways of grasping to the self, which are taught in the third chapter of the Madhyāntavibhāga, and he understands the "tenfold content" to comprise their remedies—i.e., the ten topics of mastery (which are mentioned in the same work, and which also serve as the main topics of Mipham Rinpoche's Gateway to Knowledge). Vilāsavajra further explains that Mañjuśrī receives such names because he can appear both as phenomena that are in discord with awakening and as the remedies to such phenomena. Vimalamitra, by contrast, takes the "ten forms" to be the five aggregates and the five mental afflictions, and the "tenfold content" to be the five wisdoms and five bodies. ↩
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The `ten strength' refer ten types of knowledge called the powers (or strengths) of a tathāgata (tathāgatabala; Tib. de bzhin gshegs pa'i stobs)—namely, knowledge of 1. what is correct and incorrect; 2. the results of actions; 3. the diverse aspirations of beings; 4. the diverse dispositions of beings; 5. the quality of beings' acumens; 6. the paths that lead in all directions; 7. all forms of meditative concentration and the like; 8. past lives; 9. death and rebirth; and 10. the destruction of defilements. ↩
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Vilāsavajra and Vimalamitra both understand this to refer to the ten masteries (vaśitā; Tib. dbang)—namely the power over 1. life; 2. mind; 3. material provisions; 4. action; 5. birth; 6. aspirations; 7. resolve; 8. supernatural powers; 9. Dharma; and 10. knowledge. ↩
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'Seekers' (tīrthya; Tib. mu stegs) refer to those who seek liberation from suffering. They are described as 'misled' or 'bad' insofar as they do not follow the Buddhist path, and they are 'deer-like' because they are terrified by the roar of the lion-like 'no self' doctrine. ↩
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Based on Vimalamitra's commentary, which contains an alternatively reading of the text found only in certain witnesses of the Tibetan translation (kun tu 'gro ba'i don yod stobs), we may translate the first quarter as, 'he who has strength that is fruitful for all beings'. ↩
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Here 'force' (bala; Tib. stobs) is most naturally understood in the sense of military force. ↩
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Vilāsavajra explains that 'rhino' refers to a pratyekabuddhas who leads a solitary life, whereas the name 'pratyekabuddha' refers to one who congregates in groups. ↩
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'Equipped in full with knowledge and its base' (vidyācaraṇasampanna; Tib. rig pa dang zhabs su/rkang par ldan pa) is a stock epithet for the Buddha and refers to knowledge and good conduct, or, more technically, the Eightfold Path of the Nobles (namely, knowledge refers to right view, and its "base", or supporting factors, consists in the remaining seven branches). ↩
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'Accomplishing all goals' translates the Sanskrit siddhārtha, also a well-known name of Buddha Śākyamuni. ↩
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'The Dharma source' translates the Sanskrit dharmadhātu. An alternative translation could, for instance, the Dharma sphere. ↩
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Four of these five bodies are the dharmakāya, svabhāvakāya, sambhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya. The fifth is given variously as 'the body of ripening' (vipākakāya), 'the body of wisdom-dharma' (*jñānadharmakāya), or the vajra body (vajrakāya). Vilāsavajra refers to the first of these, whereas Vimalamitra refers to the third. ↩
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The five eyes, which are five organs of superior vision, are the bodily eye, divine eye, insight eye, dharma eye, and buddha's eye. ↩
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This translates the name Vairocana. The name Mahāvairocana occurs in verse 42. ↩
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The three families are those of Body, Speech, and Mind. ↩
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The foremost pledge (or great samaya) may, as Vilāsavajra suggests, refer to a deity, or it may refer more generally to the pledges of the Vajrayāna. ↩
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A number of names in this verse correspond to well-known deities: Amoghapāśa (translated as 'with snare unfailing') is a form of Lokeśvara, while Vajrapāśa (translated as 'the vajra snare') and Vajrāṅkuśa (translated as 'the vajra hook') are found as door-keepers in a number of maṇḍalas. ↩
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Alternatively, 'the king of wrathful deities'. ↩
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Halāhala is the poison that, according to Indic mythology, was produced during the churning of the ocean. ↩
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This translates the name Yamāntaka. Yama can be understood as the personification of death or as death's messenger. ↩
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This translates the name Vighnarāja, a common epithet for Gaṇeśa. ↩
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This translates the name Acala. ↩
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Here 'immersion' (āveśa, Tib. 'bebs pa) can be understood in the sense of 'empowerment', 'blessing', 'possession', or simply 'entry'. ↩
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According to Vilāsavajra, the meaning of this epithet is that Mañjuśrī has knowledge of these four: truth, reality, reality's peak, and selflessness (the commentator glosses these four as slightly different aspects of ultimate reality). ↩
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'Unbounded liberation' (apratiṣṭhitanirvāṇa; Tib. mi gnas pa'i mya ngan las 'das pa) refers to the state of nirvāṇa that is bound to neither saṃsāra nor utter quiescence. ↩
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For Vimalamitra, 'the trio' here refers to the three poisons. Vilāsavajra interprets this name as meaning 'the end of the three', and the three refer to the Truth of Suffering, the Truth of Origin, and the Truth of Cessation; thus, Mañjuśrī is identified as the end of these three, the Truth of the Path. ↩
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For throughout Nāmasaṅgīti we translate upadhi as 'substrate', but the word as a technical Buddhist term has a number of possible meanings, depending on context. For example, it can also mean 'remainder', 'body', or 'afflictions'. Tibetan translations of the Nāmasaṅgīti and other texts render this term in various ways. ↩
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According to both Vimalamitra and Vilāsavajra, the three forms of liberations are that of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and buddhas. ↩
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'Chord-tied' (mauñjin) indicates that Mañjuśrī wears the sacred chord of a brahmin. In some witnesses of the text, this name is exchanged with the name mauṇḍin from the following verse, and this can be interpreted to mean that Mañjuśrī has a shaved head (as a renunciate) or that he carries a skull cup (as a practitioner of extreme asceticism). The Kangyur translation of the Nāmasaṅgīti indicates that mauṇḍin was read both in this verse and in the following. Regardless, commentators tend to agree that this portion of the text shows how Mañjuśrī can appear with the garb and appearance of various Buddhist and non-Buddhist religious practitioners. ↩
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More precisely, here two names should be understood: 'he whose austerities are great' and 'he in whom austerities have culminated'. ↩
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A 'brahmin' is a member of the bhramin caste, 'Brahmā' refers to the deity known by that name, and 'brahman' can be understood as ultimate reality. Commentators vary in their accounts of how these conventionally 'Hindu' terms relate to Mañjuśrī. ↩
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Vilāsavajra comments that 'the branches of awakening' (vimokṣāṅga; Tib. rnam grol lus) are the seven branches of awakening and the eight-branched path of noble beings. Vimalamitra, perhaps led by the Tibetan rendering the term 'branch' as lus ('body'), interprets as meaning 'the body of awakening'—i.e., the body that is achieved on achieving full liberation. ↩
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The word śiva (translated here as 'quiescence') may also be understood with the meaning 'good' or 'beneficial'; or, although not mentioned by commentators, it may refer to the god who bears the name Śiva. ↩
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The names translated here as 'devoid of passion' and 'passionless' point toward the guṇa of rajas, from the triad of sattva (light/goodness), rajas (passion/energy), and tamas (darkness/inertia). This connection also suits the two names given in 98b, which connote freedom from disease related to the three humours (which are in turn based on the three guṇas). The Tibetan translation of the word rajas (i.e., rdul), while also referring to the guṇa in a technical context, can equally imply either a minute particle or a fault (nyes rkyon). ↩
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Alternatively, Mañjuśrī is 'Śrī's beloved' (śrīvatsa). According to Vailāsavajra, a mark which has the shape of a so-called endless knot is situated uniquely at the hearts of buddhas. Śrīvatsa is also a common epithet for Viṣṇu and the mark on his chest. ↩
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The 'lotus lord of dance' translates Padmanarteśvara, a name commonly associated with Lokeśvara. ↩
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Vilāsavajra appears to treat Vajraratna and so on (i.e. the names in verse 107–108a) as proper names, and he, as Vimalamitra does too, identifies them with, respectively, Akṣobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitābha, Amoghasiddhi, and Vairocana. ↩
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Vilāsavajra explains that the name 'lotus buddhas' is to be understood as a metaphorical comparison: the buddhas are like lotus because they are free from stains. ↩
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The first three names mentioned in this verse are also the names of well-known bodhisattvas: Samantabhadra, Sumati, and Kṣitigarbha. ↩
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Or, alternatively, 'the glorious letter dhīḥ'. ↩
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According to Vilāsavajra, Śrīmat refers to Padmanarteśvara, who is mentioned in verse 105. ↩
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The Sanskrit word translated here as 'the world' is brahmāṇḍa, 'Brahmā egg', a term more commonly in non-Buddhist texts in reference to the universe. ↩
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Or 'of great passion' (mahārāga). ↩
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The four bases of miraculous powers (catur-ṛddhipāda; Tib. rdzu 'phrul gyi rkang pa bzhi) are: 1. intention (canda, 'dun pa); 2. diligence (vīrya, brtson 'grus); 3. attention (citta, sems pa); and 4. discernment (mīmāṃsā, dpyod pa). ↩
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The four applications of mindfulness (catuḥ-smṛtyupasthāna; Tib. dran pa nye bar bzhag pa bzhi) are mindfulness of 1. body (kāya, lus), 2. feelings (vedanā, tshor ba), 3. mind (citta, sems), and 4. phenomena (dharma, chos). ↩
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A more literal translation may be, 'he who knows the reality of the objects [subsumed in] the five aggregates'. ↩
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According to the commentators, the 'purity in all twelve forms' refers to the twelve sense sources (āyatana; Tib. skye mched) in their pure forms. ↩
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These eight knowledges are understood by Vilāsavajra as follows: knowledge of Dharma, knowledge of non-duality, knowledge of suffering, knowledge of the origin, knowledge of cessation, knowledge of the path, knowledge of destruction, and knowledge of non-arising. Vimalamitra offers another interpretation: Mañjuśrī realises that the eight forms of consciousness (from eye consciousness through to the storehouse consciousness) are unarisen. ↩
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Vilāsavajra identifies these twelve forms as the forms of the Four Truths as divided across the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma. Vimalamitra, by contrast, enumerates the twelve as the five families (rigs lnga), the five wisdoms (ye shes lnga), and insight (shes rab) and compassion (snying rje). ↩
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Vilāsavajra explains that sixteen forms referred to here are sixteen moments of realisation of the Four Truths on the Path of Seeing. Vimalamitra enumerates these as the sixteen varieties of emptiness. ↩
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Vilāsavajra enumerates these twenty forms as four ways in which each of the five aggregates are not to be conceptualised. For example, by achieving awakening, one does not believe that (1) material form is the self, (2) the self is within material form, (3) material form is within the self, or (4) material form possesses the self. Multiplied by the five aggregates, these add up to twenty forms. Vimalamitra, on the other hand, understands these twenty forms to be the transformation of the five elements, the five aggregates, the five afflictions, and the five faculties. ↩
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Vilāsavajra comments that 'afflictive spheres' refer to the eighteen spheres (dhātu; Tib. khams) beginning the eye sphere. ↩
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Vilāsavajra explains that 'oceanic floods' are the traditionally enumerated four floods—namely, the floods of desire, cyclic existence, views, and ignorance. ↩
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Vilāsavajra explains that here the practice of yoga is compared to a dark forest, or 'grove', because it is not easily traversed; Mañjuśrī has emerged from the practice of yoga and has arrived the state of nirvāṇa. ↩
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According to Vilāsavajra, the words 'all perceptions' (sarvasaṃjñā) refer to certain forms of mundane meditative concentration. Through these meditations, Mañjuśrī enters a state of objectless awareness. ↩
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An alternate reading and interpretation of this verse may be translated, 'one who has reached the end of accomplishment, confusion free'. ↩
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Vilāsavajra explains the final three cryptic names here as follows: 'three objects' are the past, present, and future; 'all objects' are all objects of the animate and inanimate world; and the 'three properties' are the three guṇas most extensively described in Sāṅkhya philosophy but well-known throughout all manner of Indic texts. ↩
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According to Vilāsavajra, the three families are those of Vairocana, Akṣobhya, and Amitābha. ↩
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Vilāsavajra and Vimalamitra both state that these syllables are the seeds of the five tathāgatas, but they diverge regarding precisely how these syllables are to be identified. ↩
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Some witnesses of the text in Sanskrit and Tibetan indicate that the name is 'one with six syllables'. Vilāsavajra identifies the six syllables as 'oṁ vāgiśvara hūṁ', while Vimalamitra, reading 'one with a hundred syllables', interprets the hundred syllables as a generic large number that points to all the various mantras for which Mañjuśrī is the source. ↩
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Vilāsavajra refrains from offering a commentary on this line, but Vimalamitra clarifies that the four drops/bindus (i.e. 'half of half of sixteen') are the seed syllables a ā aṃ aḥ. This being a frequently cited verse, a variety of highly esoteric interpretations can be found through Indian and Tibetan tantric literature. ↩
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Pramathas are a class of beings otherwise known as gaṇas. They are known as serving as attendants to Śiva. ↩
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The three names in this verse quarter evoke the Vedic learning of a brahmin. Vilāsavajra understands 'Knowing the three' to refer to the three Vedas: Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, and Sāmaveda. Vimalamitra comments that the three are the scriptures of the tripiṭaka, or else three bodies of a buddha. ↩
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The six forms of 'higher knowledge' (ṣaḍ-abhijñā; Tib. mngon shes drug) are as follows: (1) the divine eye (divyacakṣu, lha'i mig), (2) the divine ear (divyasrotra, lha'i rna ba), (3) knowledge of other minds (paracittajñāna; gzhan sems shes pa), (4) recollection of previous births (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti, sngon gyi gnas rjes su dran pa), (5) miraculous powers (ṛddhi, rdzu 'phrul), and (6) knowledge of the destruction of defilements (āśravakṣayajñāna, zag pa zad pa mkhyen pa). The six forms of recollection, or 'recall', (ṣaḍanusmṛti, rjes su dran pa drug) are listed variously in texts. According to the Mahāvyutpatti, they are recollection of (1) the Buddha, (2) the Dharma, (3) the Saṅgha, (4) discipline (śīla, tshul khrims), (5) giving (tryāga, gtong ba), and (6) deities (devatā, lha). In their commentaries on the Nāmasaṅgīti, both Vimalamitra and Vilāsavajra provide their own unique lists, which are more influenced by the doctrines of tantric Buddhism. ↩
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The four seals (caturmudrā; Tib. phyag rgya bzhi) are the action seal (karmamudrā, las kyi phyag rgya), the pledge seal (samayamudrā, dam tshig gi phyag rgya), Dharma seal (dharmamudrā, chos kyi phyag rgya), and great seal (mahāmudrā, phyag rgya chen po). ↩
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Oṁ—O you whose nature is the non-existence of all phenomena, whose vajra[-essence] is fully pure—a ā aṃ aḥ! All phenomena are by nature completely pure—to explain, [they are completely pure] based on their being the complete purity that is Mañjuśrī, the wisdom body of all tathāgatas—a āḥ! Seize, seize the heart of all tathāgatas! Oṁ hūṃ hrīḥ—O Blessed One, wisdom body, lord of speech, whose speech is great, who is all Dharma, whose essence is the wisdom of the Dharma realm that is completely pure like stainless space—āḥ! ↩