This term in its broadest sense can refer to any being, whether human, animal, or nonhuman. However, it is often used to refer to a specific class of nonhuman beings, especially when bhūtas are mentioned alongside rākṣasas, piśācas, or pretas. In common with these other kinds of nonhumans, bhūtas are usually depicted with unattractive and misshapen bodies. Like several other classes of nonhuman beings, bhūtas take spontaneous birth. As their leader is traditionally regarded to be Rudra-Śiva (also known by the name Bhūta), with whom they haunt dangerous and wild places, bhūtas are especially prominent in Śaivism, where large sections of certain tantras concentrate on them.
An Indian paṇḍita resident in Tibet during the late eighth and early ninth centuries.
An incantation, spell, or formula, that “holds” or allows to be “retained” (Skt. √dhṛ) a particular meaning, point of realization, or protective power, and is expounded by a realized being so that it may be used to attain mundane and supramundane goals. In the case of many texts (like the present one) in which dhāraṇīs are expounded, the term dhāraṇī is also used to designate the text itself.
A type of evil spirit that exerts a harmful influence on the human body and mind. Grahas are closely associated with the planets and other astronomical bodies.
An Indian Kashmiri paṇḍita who was resident in Tibet during the late eighth and early ninth centuries. He worked with several Tibetan translators on the translation of several sūtras. He is also the author of the Nyāyabindupiṇḍārtha (Toh 4233), which is contained in the Tengyur (Tib. bstan ’gyur) collection.
A Buddhist deity, the embodiment of the eponymous dhāraṇī revealed in The Dhāraṇī “Vajra Conqueror” and a form of the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi.
A Buddhist bodhisattva and protective yakṣa whose name can be translated “vajra-in-hand.”
Yeshé Dé (late eighth to early ninth century) was the most prolific translator of sūtras into Tibetan. Altogether he is credited with the translation of more than one hundred sixty sūtra translations and more than one hundred additional translations, mostly on tantric topics. In spite of Yeshé Dé’s great importance for the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet during the imperial era, only a few biographical details about this figure are known. Later sources describe him as a student of the Indian teacher Padmasambhava, and he is also credited with teaching both sūtra and tantra widely to students of his own. He was also known as Nanam Yeshé Dé, from the Nanam (sna nam) clan.
“Āryavajravidāraṇānāmadhāraṇī.” Dhīḥ 40 (2005): 159–64.
Iwamoto, Yutaka, ed. Kleinere Dhāraṇī Texte. Vol. 2. Beiträge zur Indologie. Kyoto: Iwamoto Yutaka, 1937.
Vajravidāraṇahṛdayamantradhāraṇī. The Nepalese-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project: Catalogue nos. E 1414/8 and E 1774/3.
rdo rje rnam par ’joms pa’i gzungs zhes bya ba (Vajravidāraṇanāmadhāraṇī). Toh 750, Degé Kangyur vol. 95 (rgyud, dza), folios 265.b–266.b.
rdo rje rnam par ’joms pa’i gzungs zhes bya ba (Vajravidāraṇanāmadhāraṇī). 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. 98, pp. 112–17.
rnam ’joms gzungs (Vidāraṇadhāraṇī). Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 109 (rgyud ’bum, tsha), folios 85.b–87.b.
IOL Tib J 416. British Library, London. Accessed through The International Dunhuang Project: The Silk Road Online.
Jinamitra. rigs pa’i thigs pa’i don bsdus pa (Nyāyabindupiṇḍārtha). Toh 4233, Degé Tengyur vol. 189 (mtshad ma, we), folios 99.b–100.b.
Buddhaguhya. rdo rje rnam par ’joms pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs kyi rgya cher ’grel pa rin po che gsal ba (Vajravidāraṇanāmadhāraṇīṭīkāratnabhāsvara). Toh 2680, Degé Tengyur vol. 71 (rgyud, thu), folios 176.a–186.b.
Vimalamitra. rdo rje rnam par ’joms pa’i gzungs zhes bya ba’i rnam par bshad pa (Vajravidāraṇanāmadhāraṇīṭīkā). Toh 2681, Degé Tengyur vol. 71 (rgyud, thu), folios 186.b–193.a.
Khomthar Jamlö (khoM thar ’jam los), editor for si khron pod yig dpe rnying bsdu sgrig khang. rgyal po mdo bcu’i rtsa ’grel phyogs bsgrigs [The Ten Sūtras of the King, collected texts and commentaries]. 10 vols. Sichuan: si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang [Sichuan Minorities Publishing House], 2014.
Mipham Gyatso (mi pham rgya mtsho). “rdo rje rnam par ’joms pa’i gzungs kyi mchan ’grel.” In Khomthar Jamlö 2014, vol. 1, pp. 443–58.
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.
Bühnemann, Gudrun. “A Dhāraṇī for Each Day of the Week: The Saptavāra Tradition of the Newar Buddhists.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 77, no. 1 (2014): 119–36.
Douglas, K., and G. Bays, trans. The Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava: Padma Bka’i Thang. Emeryville: Dharma Publishing, 1978.
Edgerton, Franklin. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. 2 vols. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953.
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. “The Lhan kar ma as a Source for the History of Tantric Buddhism.” In The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism: Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000, edited by Helmut Eimer and David Germano, 129–49. Leiden: Brill, 2002.
Monier-Williams, Monier. A Sanskrit–English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2012.
Yoshimura, Shyuki, ed. The Denkar-ma: An Oldest Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons. Vol. 18. Kyoto: Ryukoku University, 1950.