The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and so it can refer to the special capacity of practitioners to memorize and recall detailed teachings. It can also refer to a verbal expression of the teachings—an incantation, spell, or mnemonic formula—that distills and “holds” essential points of the Dharma and is used by practitioners to attain mundane and supramundane goals. The same term is also used to denote texts that contain such formulas.
A cosmic period of time, sometimes equivalent to the time when a world system appears, exists, and disappears. According to the traditional Abhidharma understanding of cyclical time, a great eon (mahākalpa) is divided into eighty lesser eons. In the course of one great eon, the universe takes form and later disappears. During the first twenty of the lesser eons, the universe is in the process of creation and expansion; during the next twenty it remains; during the third twenty, it is in the process of destruction; and during the last quarter of the cycle, it remains in a state of empty stasis. A fortunate, or good, eon (bhadrakalpa) refers to any eon in which more than one buddha appears.
The five most negative actions. Upon death, those who have committed one or more of these immediately proceed to the hells without first experiencing the intermediate state. They are (1) killing an arhat, (2) killing one’s mother, (3) killing one’s father, (4) creating a schism in the saṅgha, and (5) maliciously drawing blood from a tathāgata’s body.
Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.
The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha—the three objects of Buddhist refuge. In the Tibetan rendering, “the three rare and supreme ones.”
A class of semidivine beings that are known for wielding (dhara) spells (vidyā). Loosely understood as “sorcerers.” The later Buddhist tradition, playing on the dual valences of vidyā as “spell” and “knowledge,” began to apply this term to realized beings.
rje btsun ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi shes rab dang blo ’phel ba zhes bya ba'i gzungs (Mañjuśrībhaṭṭārakasya prājñābuddhivardhanadhāraṇī). Toh 549, Degé Kangyur vol. 89 (rgyud, pa), folios 14.b.3–14.b.7.
rje btsun ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi shes rab dang blo ’phel ba zhes bya ba'i gzungs (Mañjuśrībhaṭṭārakasya prājñābuddhivardhanadhāraṇī). Toh 895, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, e), folios 167.b.5–168.a.2.
rje btsun ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi shes rab dang blo ’phel ba zhes bya ba'i gzungs. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 89, pp. 56–57.
rje btsun ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi shes rab dang blo ’phel ba zhes bya ba'i gzungs. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 97, pp. 499–500.
rje btsun ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi shes rab dang blo ’phel ba zhes bya ba'i gzungs. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 102 (rgyud, da), folios 495.b.5–496.a.3.
’phags pa byams pas dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs (Āryamaitripratijñānāmadhāraṇī). Toh 643, Degé Kangyur vol. 91 (rgyud, ba), folios 127.b.2–128.a.3; and Toh 890, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, e), folios 165.b.4–166.a.4.
’phags ma sgrol ma rang gis dam bcas pa’i gzungs (Āryatārāsvapratijñānāmadhāraṇī). Toh 730, Degé Kangyur vol. 94 (rgyud, tsha), folios 222.a–222.b; and Toh 1002, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, waM), folios 160.a–160.b. English translation in Lhasey Lotsawa Translations and Publications 2021.
seng+ge sgras dam bcas pa’i gzungs. Toh 912, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, e), folios 242.a.7–242.b.3.
Bhattacharyya, Benoytosh, ed. Sādhanamālā. 2 vols. First published, Baroda: Central Library, 1925. Reprint, Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1968.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
Phangthangma (dkar chag ʼphang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
Lhasey Lotsawa Translations and Publications, trans. The Dhāraṇī “Tara’s Own Promise” (Āryatārāsvapratijñānāmadhāraṇī, Toh 730). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.