The Indian Buddhist Dhāraṇī: An Introduction to its History, Meanings and Functions

Pedro Manuel Castro Sánchez

This dissertation deals with the Buddhist dhāraṇī, mainly understood as the term selected by Indian Buddhism to assimilate the non-Buddhist notion of mantra. In the Introduction the two major categories of dhāraṇīs are defined, i.e., the ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs. In Chapter 1 the two sources for the emergence of dhāraṇīs are studied: the non-Buddhist source being focused on the non-Vedic, Vedic and Śaiva Tantric factors, and the Buddhist one being focused on several mainstream Buddhist and Mahāyāna factors. It continues with a study on the Dhāraṇī Scriptures’ emergence and their inclusion within Vajrayāna Tantras. Chapter 2 provides a detailed summary on the traditional definitions of the dhāraṇī term, its synonyms, compound terms, and its pairing with other Dharma qualities. It is followed by a survey on how the dhāraṇī term is defined and classified according to key Indian Mahāyāna Sūtras and Śāstras, and the Indo-Tibetan and East Asian Vajrayāna traditions. Chapter 3 is focused on the dhāraṇī practice, first dealing with its ethical basis, its non-ritual and ritual approaches, and its mundane and supramundane accomplishments, and then the main dhāraṇī practices are analysed intended for worldly and soteriological purposes. The dissertation closes with five Appendices including a study on a set of early Vedic mantras appearing within the Buddhist dhāraṇīs, an analysis of the ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs, a survey on mantras/dhāraṇīs accepted by several mainstream Buddhist schools, and another one on mantras/dhāraṇīs within Mahāyāna Scriptures, and finally, a ‘References’ list providing a comprehensive and updated bibliography in several Western languages mainly focused on Buddhist mantras/dhāraṇīs.

Pedro Manuel Castro Sánchez The Indian Buddhist Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī: ṇī: An Introduction to its History, Meanings and Functions MA Buddhist Studies, June 2011 University of Sunderland Acknowledgements First and foremost, I am indebted to my supervisor, Professor Peter Harvey for his unconditional and patient guidance, for kindly sharing with me several papers quite useful for this dissertation, and above all, for backing from the start my project and raising his always thought-provoking questions. I thank my MA mates Penelope Davis, Indro Marcantonio, Adam Henderson, Brett Morris, and Arjuna Ranatunga for their useful comments and words of warm support. I am quite grateful to Dr. Tony K. Lin (Mantra Publishing’s chief editor), and Dr. Wing Yeung for their very generous donations that made it possible for me to enjoy the perusal of The New Edition of All Mantras in Mahāpiṭaka. I am very gratetul to Dr. Lokesh Chandra for his wise words of advice and encouragement during our personal meeting at New Delhi, and for his gracious donation of an old dhāraṇī collection edited by him and now out of print. A number of Professors and Doctors have been very kind and generous sharing their dissertations, books, and papers on mantras and dhāraṇīs, whether in printed or electronic formats, or even in photocopies, they are: Richard McBride II, Jacob Dalton, Tibor Porció, Christina Scherrer-Schaub, Kate Crosby, Yael Bentor, Jaan Braarvig, J. F. M. DesJardins, Gergely Hidas, South Coblin, Neil Schmid, Jürgen Hanneder, Shingo Einoo, Dorji Wangchuk, Asko Parpola, Peter Bisschop, Jacqueline Filliozat, Robert A. Yelle, and Lambert Schmithausen. Thanks to their sound scholarship, a large part of the contents and scope of this dissertation had improved in a significant way that I would not hoped to envisage at its initial stage; I am very grateful to all of them, indeed. I am very grateful to the Shingon bhikṣuṇī Rev. Myōshō Taniguchi, who had the generosity, patience, and courage to collect, scan and photocopy a large amount of very hard to find papers and books on dhāraṇīs, through her contacts with the Kōyasan University’s Library staff. I also thank to the Libraries’s staffs of the Nava Nālandā University (Nālandā, India), and that of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (New Delhi, India), for their help in finding key materials for this dissertation. I thank Ramón López Soriano for his efforts in getting a hard to find book on the Atharvaveda’s Pariśiṣṭas in India, and I thank Juan Carlos Torices for generously sharing his Tibetan canonical materials on dhāraṇīs. A special thank is due to Debra Beatty, who kindly read the whole dissertation and corrected the English. And last but not least, I am greatly thankful to Jose Luis Moreno who helped me in many ways, generously providing his time, skillfulness and resources on behalf of this dissertation, and to Elena Madroñal, who quietly supported all my struggles and had been a true dhāraṇī for me along the way. Finally, I acknowledge that the responsibility for any errors of fact or interpretation are solely mine. 2 Table of Contents Charts 5 Abstract 6 Abbreviations 7 Introduction 13 Chapter 1. History: Doctrinal and Chronological Development of Dhāraṇīs 15 1.1. Non-Buddhist Factors for the Emergence of Dhāraṇīs 1.1.1. Vedic Tradition 1.1.1.1. Early Vedic Mantras 1.1.1.2. The Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭas’ Mantras 1.1.1.3. Upaniṣads’ Phonetical Correspondences 1.1.1.4. The ‘Truth Act’ (satyakriyā) 1.1.2. Tantric Tradition 1.1.2.1. Śaiva Pre-Mantramārgic Mantras 1.1.2.2. Śaiva Mantramārgic Mantras 1.2. Buddhist Factors for the Emergence of Dhāraṇīs 1.2.1. Mainstream Buddhism 1.2.1.1. Early Mainstream Buddhist Attitudes towards Mantras 1.2.1.2. Parittas, Mahāsūtras, and Mātikās/Mātṛkās 1.2.2. Mahāyāna Buddhism 1.2.2.1. Acceptance of the Soteriological Validity of Language and Mantras 1.2.2.2. Dhāraṇī Scriptures 1.2.3. Vajrayāna Buddhism 15 15 16 16 17 18 18 19 20 21 21 21 22 26 Chapter 2. Meanings: Traditional Definitions and Classifications of Dhāraṇīs 34 2.1. Primary Definitions 2.1.1. Meanings of the Term Dhāraṇī 2.1.2. Synonyms and Compound Terms 2.1.2.1. Mantra'pada, Dhāraṇī'mantra-pada 2.1.2.2. Vidyā, Vidyā'mantra, Mahā'vidyā, Vidyārajñī, Vidyā'dhāraṇī 2.1.2.3. Hṛdaya, Hṛdaya'dhāraṇī 2.1.2.4. Vajra'pada, Dhāraṇī'vajra'pada 2.1.3. Dhāraṇī paired to other Dharma Qualities 2.1.3.1. Dhāraṇī'mukha and Samādhi'mukha 2.1.3.2. Dhāraṇī and Pratibhāna 2.2. Indian Mahāyāna Definitions and Classifications 2.2.1. In Sūtras 2.2.2. In Treatises (Śāstras) 2.3. Indo-Tibetan Vajrayāna Definitions and Classifications 2.4. East Asian Vajrayāna Definitions and Classifications 2.4.1. In China 2.4.2. In Japan 34 34 35 35 36 37 37 38 38 39 40 40 42 44 47 47 49 26 28 32 3 Chapter 3. Functions: Dhāraṇīs in Practice 51 3.1. Some Premises on Dhāraṇī Practice 3.1.1 Ethical Foundations 3.1.2. Non-ritual and Ritual Approaches 3.1.3. Mundane and Supramundane Accomplishments 3.2. Mundane Dhāraṇī Practices 3.2.1. Protection 3.2.2. Increase 3.2.3. Defence 3.3. Supramundane Dhāraṇī Practices 3.3.1. Depositing Dhāraṇīs in Stūpas 3.3.2. Karmic Purification 3.3.3. Attaining Enlightenment 51 51 52 55 56 56 57 58 59 59 61 62 Conclusions 65 Appendix A: Early Vedic Mantras within Buddhist Dhāraṇīs Appendix B: Analysis of two Dhāraṇī Typologies B-1: ‘Formulaic’ Dhāraṇīs B-2: ‘Syllabic’ Dhāraṇīs Appendix C: ‘Formulaic’ and ‘Syllabic’ Dhāraṇīs in Mainstream Buddhist Schools Appendix D: Dhāraṇīs within Mahāyāna Sūtras Appendix E: References 68 70 70 75 4 78 81 84 Charts Chart 1: The ‘Formulaic’ Dhāraṇī Pattern 71 Chart 2: The ‘Arapacana’ Syllabary 77 5 Abstract This dissertation deals with the Buddhist dhāraṇī, mainly understood as the term selected by Indian Buddhism to assimilate the non-Buddhist notion of mantra. In the Introduction the two major categories of dhāraṇīs are defined, i.e., the ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs. In Chapter 1 the two sources for the emergence of dhāraṇīs are studied: the non-Buddhist source being focused on the non-Vedic, Vedic and Śaiva Tantric factors, and the Buddhist one being focused on several mainstream Buddhist and Mahāyāna factors. It continues with a study on the Dhāraṇī Scriptures’ emergence and their inclusion within Vajrayāna Tantras. Chapter 2 provides a detailed summary on the traditional definitions of the dhāraṇī term, its synonyms, compound terms, and its pairing with other Dharma qualities. It is followed by a survey on how the dhāraṇī term is defined and classified according to key Indian Mahāyāna Sūtras and Śāstras, and the Indo-Tibetan and East Asian Vajrayāna traditions. Chapter 3 is focused on the dhāraṇī practice, first dealing with its ethical basis, its non-ritual and ritual approaches, and its mundane and supramundane accomplishments, and then the main dhāraṇī practices are analysed intended for worldly and soteriological purposes. The dissertation closes with five Appendices including a study on a set of early Vedic mantras appearing within the Buddhist dhāraṇīs, an analysis of the ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs, a survey on mantras/dhāraṇīs accepted by several mainstream Buddhist schools, and another one on mantras/dhāraṇīs within Mahāyāna Scriptures, and finally, a ‘References’ list providing a comprehensive and updated bibliography in several Western languages mainly focused on Buddhist mantras/dhāraṇīs. 6 Abbreviations Āka Āsurīkalpa AM. The New Edition of All Mantras in Mahāpiṭaka: References to volume, and mantra(s) number(s); eg. AM.12.6866. Amog Amoghapāśa'hṛdaya'dhāraṇī Āṅga Ārya'sarvabuddhāṅgavatī'nāma'dhāraṇī Anir Anantamukha'nirhāra'dhāraṇī'sūtra Aṣṭa Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā: References to chapter(s) and page(s) number(s). AV Atharvaveda: References to book, section(s) and verse(s) number(s). Avat Avataṃsaka'sūtra Āyuḥ Aparamitāyuḥ'sūtra Bala Ārya Mahābala'Nāma'Mahāyānasūtra: References to page(s), and line(s) number(s). BCE Before the Christian Era Ben Benkenmitsunikyōron Bhadra Bhadramāyākāra'vyākaraṇa: References to paragraph number. BHSD Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary Bodhi Vajraśekharayogānuttarasamyaksambodhicittotpāda'śāstra Bonji Bonji shittan jimo narabi ni shakugi Brajā Brahmajāla'sutta BU Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad: References to chapter, section(s) and verse(s) number(s). Bubhū Buddhabhūmyupadeśa c. circa. CBD Śikṣā Samuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhist Doctrine 7 CBSM Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Possession of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hodgson Collection) CCBT A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka: References to Scripture number. CE Christian Era Ch. Chinese CU Chāndogya Upaniṣad: References to chapter, section(s) and verse(s) number(s). Cundī Cundīdevī'dhāraṇī'sūtra DBDh Chinese'Sanskrit Sanskrit'Chinese Dictionary of Words and Phrases as Used in Buddhist Dhāraṇī DBI Dictionary of Buddhist Iconography: References to volume and page(s) number(s). DEB Dictionnaire encyclopédique du Bouddhisme Dhasa Dharmasaṃgraha Divy The Divyāvadāna, a Collection of Early Buddhist Legends DMT Dictionary of Early Buddhist Monastic Terms DN Dīgha Nikāya: References to Sutta and paragraph(s) number(s). DUK Dakshiṇāmūrti’s Uddhāra'kośa Durga Sarvadurgatipariśodhana'tantra Ekāk Bhagavatī'prajñāpāramitā'sarva'tathāgata'mātā'ekākṣarā'nāma Făjù Dà făjù tuóluóní jīng Gaṇa Gaṇapati'hṛdaya Gorin Gorinkujimyōhimitsushaku Guhya Sarvatathāgatādhiṣṭhāna'hṛdaya'guhyadhātu'karaṇḍamudrā' dhāraṇī'sūtra Gusa Guhyasamāja'tantra HBG Hôbôgirin: References to volume, and page(s) number(s). 8 Hizō Hizōhōyaku HT Hevajra Tantra: References to part, chapter and verse number(s). IMT Inventaire des Manuscripts tibétains de Touen'houang: References to volume, manuscript, and text number; eg. IMT.I.6/3. Jap. Japanese JUB Jāiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa: References to chapter, section(s) and verse(s) number(s). Kan Analyse du Kandjour Kāpa Kāśyapaparivarta'sūtra: References to volume and chapter number. Kāru Āryāvalokiteśvara'sāhasrikabhujalocana' nirmāṇavistaraparipūrṇāsaṅga'mahākāruṇika'dhāraṇī Kośa Abhidharmakośa'bhāṣya: References to chapter(s), section(s) number(s), and letter(s) in original text. KU Kaṭha Upaniṣad: References to chapter, section(s) and verse(s) number(s). Laṅkā Saddharmalaṅkāvatāra'sūtram: References to chapter and page(s) number(s). Mapa Mahāparinirvāṇa'sūtra: References to volume and page(s) number(s). Māta Mātaṅgī Sūtra Māyū Mahāmāyūrī'vidyārājñī'sūtra MDPL Materials for a Dictionary of the Prajñāpāramitā Literature MM The Mantra Mahodadhi of Mahidhara: References to chapter (taraṅga) and verse number(s). MN Majjhima Nikāya:References to Sutta and paragraph(s) number(s). Mns Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti: number(s). MP Milindapañha: Reference to page(s) number(s) in original text. Mppś Mahāprajñāpāramitā'śāstra: References to volume and page(s) number(s). References to page(s) and verse(s) 9 Mpsū Mahāprājñāpāramitā'sūtra MS Mahāsūtras: References to volume and page(s) number(s). Msa Mahāyānasaṃgraha: number(s). Mslb Mahāyānasūtrālaṁkāra'bhāṣya: References to chapter and verse number(s). MU Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad: References to chapter, section(s) and verse(s) number(s). Mūkā Mūlamadhyamakakārikā: References to chapter and verse number(s). P Pāli PED Pali'English Dictionary Pph Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya'sūtra: References to section number. Prati Mahāpratisarā'mahāvidyārājñī Pratyu Pratyutpannabuddhasaṃmukhāvasthitasamādhi'sūtra: to chapter number and paragraph letter. Puṇḍa Saddharmapuṇḍarīka'sūtram: References to chapter and page(s) number(s). Pvr Pāśupatavratam: References to section(s) and verse(s) number(s). PWE('V)('S) The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & its Verse Summary: References to Verse Part (PWE'V) include chapter and verse number(s) in original text; references to Sūtra Part (PWE'S) include chapter, and page number(s) in original text. Ragā Ratnaguṇasaṃcaya'gāthā: References to chapter(s) and verse number(s). Ragot Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānôttaratantra'śāstra Ratna Mahāratnakūṭa'sūtra RCB Répertoire du canon bouddhique sino'japonais Rgyud Rgyud sde spyiḥi rnam par gźag pa rgyas par brjod Ṣaṇm Ṣaṇmukhī'dhāraṇī 10 References to volume and page(s) References Sashī Sangō shīki ŚB Śatapatha Brāmaṇa: References to Kânda, Adhyâya, and Brâmana number(s) in original text. SBLN The Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal SED A Sanskrit'English Dictionary Sgol The Sūtra of Golden Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra Shes Shes bya mdzod: References to book and page(s) number(s). Shōji Shōjijissōgi Shōmo Shōrai mokuroku Śikṣā Śikṣā Samuccaya: References to chapter and page(s) number(s). Skt. Sanskrit Sitā Ārya'sarvatathāgatoṣṇīṣasitātapatrā'nāmaparājitapratyaṅgirāmahā' vidyārajñī SN Saṃyutta Nikāya: References to Part and page(s) number(s) in original text. Śūrsū Śūraṃgama'sūtra: References to volume and page(s) number(s). Susi Susiddhikāra'sūtra Suvar Suvarṇaprabhāsa'sūtra Śūrsam Śūraṃgamasamādhi'sūtra T Taishō Tripiṭaka (CBETA): References to fascicle number, page, register (a, b, or c), and line number(s); eg., T 1060 105c8-111c19. TĀB Dictionaries of Tantra Śāstra or The Tantrābhidhānam TAK Tantrikābhidhānakośa: References to volume and number(s). TED A Tibetan'English Dictionary with Sanskrit Synonyms Tib. Tibetan Light: Being a translation of the page(s) 11 TMD Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang: References to manuscript and text number from the India Office Library; eg. TMD: 103/2 (In the original text referenced as IOL Tib J 103/2). TP Tibskrit Philology Triś Triśaraṇasaptati: References to verse number(s). TU Taittirīya Upaniṣad: References to chapter, section(s) and verse(s) number(s). Ugra Ugraparipṛcchā'sūtra Uka Ucchuṣmakalpa: References to section(s) and verse(s) number(s). Un Unjigi Upka Upāyakauśalya'sūtra: References to paragraph(s) number(s). Uṣṇī Uṣṇīṣavijayā'dhāraṇī'sūtra Vai'sū Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi'sūtra Vai'ta Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi'tantra: References to part, chapter and section number(s) in original text. Vāk Vākyapadiyam'Brahmakāṇḍaḥ: References to verse number(s). Varat Śrīvajraratiru'nāma'dhāraṇī Vaśek Vajraśekhara'sūtra VC A Vedic Concordance Zabao Za bao zang jing Zong Zongshi tuoluoni jing 12 Introduction According to the Japanese scholar H. Yoshimura, ‘the word ‘dhāraṇī’ was selected among many Buddhist technical terms to absorb the non-Buddhist idea of mantra’ (1987: 8). Taking this assertion as a starting point, the leitmotiv of the present dissertation will be to investigate and eventually corroborate its accuracy through its matching with related historical, doctrinal, and textual data. Despite the fact that dhāraṇīs were described and catalogued in the West for the first time by Brian H. Hodgson in 1828 (CBSM: 39, 41-43, 49-50; SBLN: xli-xlii; Davidson, 2009: 99-100), the dhāraṇī remained for almost two centuries on the sidelines of Western Buddhist studies, and only very recently has the dhāraṇī received the scholarly attention it deserves. Although a few excellent monographs on specific dhāraṇīs have appeared, as well as a few papers focused on the dhāraṇīs’ meanings in Western languages, yet there is no work covering this topic in a more comprehensive way. Therefore, the foremost aim of this dissertation is to provide, it is believed for the first time, a preliminary overview of the dhāraṇī covering its history, meanings, and functions. Since the dissertation’s author is quite aware of his heavy limitations to carry out this project, this dissertation should be viewed as what in fact is, just a first intent drawing a rough picture on a quite complex and rich subject in need of further refinements. As the first part of its title suggests, this dissertation will focus exclusively on the dhāraṇī as was conceived by Indian Buddhism and its spread through Central Asian, Northern, East Asian and Southern Buddhisms. The dhāraṇī term is understood here in a quite specific way, including two typologies recognized by the dissertation’s author with the names of ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs. A ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇī consists of a linguistic pattern in prose, sonic or written, regarded as promulgated by Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and/or any deity accepted by Buddhism and endowed with their ‘spiritual support’ (Skt. adhiṣṭhāna), composed by one or more formulas of certain Indic languages, that pledges (Skt. samaya) the attainment of its mundane and/or supramundane goals if the prescriptions established by her/his promulgator are followed. Occasionally, the synonymic expressions of ‘dhāraṇī formula’ or ‘mantra/dhāraṇī’ will be used to refer to the same meaning as the ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇī does. By ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇī a list of syllables is understood, each of which is linked to a particular statement or word that embodies a key aspect of Buddhist doctrine. There are ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs issued from a particular arrangement of syllables following Buddhist topics, and there is another type in which the standard Sanskrit syllabary (Skt. varṇapāṭha) is used to convey a set of Buddhist doctrinal terms. Occasionally, the synonymic expressions of ‘arapacana’ syllabary, or just ‘syllabary’ will be used, to refer to the same meaning as the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇī does. This dissertation is divided into three chapters, each one being focused on one of the three subjects referred to within the dissertation’s title: the dhāraṇīs’ history, meanings, and funcions. Chapter 1 gives answers to why the dhāraṇī appeared and how it was included within the Buddhist doctrinal/practical corpus, analysing the non-Buddhist and Buddhist factors for the emergence of dhāraṇīs. The non-Buddhist factors include a set of early Vedic mantras, the Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭas’ mantras, the Upaniṣads’ phonetical correspondences, the ‘truth act’ (Skt. satyakriyā), and the Tantric Śaiva Pre-Mantramārgic and Mantramārgic mantras, that were assimilated by Indian Buddhism to propitiate protection, the communication and identification with cosmic/divine entities, and the condensation and memorizing of teachings. The 13 Buddhist factors include an early acceptance of mantras within several mainstream Buddhist Vinayas, followed by the elaboration of specific texts reconcilable with the mantric perspective as the Theravāda parittas, the Sarvāstivāda and Mūlasarvāstivāda Mahāsūtras, and the Abhidharma’s mātṛkās. In the same vein, the Mahāyāna accepted Sanskrit as a suitable language to convey its doctrines and simultaneously considered language and mantras as means conducive to enlightenment. This favourable context stimulated, on the one hand, the inclusion of non-Buddhist mantras and the Sanskrit syllabary within Mahāyāna Scriptures, and on the other hand, the creation of Buddhist syllabaries and dhāraṇī formulas inspired by non-Buddhist patterns, that later would give rise to the Dhāraṇī Scriptures and their inclusion within the Vajrayāna Tantras. Chapter 2 answers the questions of what is the dhāraṇī’s nature, what are its key definitions and classifications, and in what sense could it be considered Buddhist. Therefore, this chapter provides a detailed summary on the traditional definitions of the dhāraṇī term, its synonyms, compound terms, and its pairing with other Dharma qualities. It is followed by a survey on how the dhāraṇī term is defined and classified according to key Indian Mahāyāna Sūtras and Śāstras, and the Indo-Tibetan and East Asian Vajrayāna traditions. Chapter 3 answers the question of how dhāraṇīs are seen to work, first dealing with their ethical basis, their non-ritual and ritual approaches, and their mundane and supramundane accomplishments, and then the main dhāraṇī practices intended for worldly and soteriological purposes are summarized. This dissertation closes with five Appendices where topics basically outlined within the dissertation’s body are analysed. They include a study on a set of early Vedic mantras assimilated within Buddhist dhāraṇīs, an analysis of the ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs, a survey on mantras/dhāraṇīs within several mainstream Buddhist schools, and another one on mantras/dhāraṇīs within Mahāyāna Scriptures, and finally, a ‘References’ list mainly focused on Buddhist mantras/dhāraṇīs. Given that this dissertation delineates a preliminary overview on dhāraṇīs, it is mainly emphasizing a descriptive approach, drawing any interpretation from the dhāraṇī sources themselves, alongside other documentary evidences (archaeological, historical, living practice, etc.). In the same vein, this dissertation will also address a number of misunderstandings and biased views on dhāraṇīs, again taking into account those same dhāraṇī sources to avoid as much as possible any arbitrary speculation on the topic. Lastly, this dissertation pays special attention to citing sources, so as to gather an updated bibliography on the Buddhist mantras/dhāraṇīs in some Western languages, that would supplement H. P. Alper’s bibliography on mantras (1989: 327530), which scarcely makes any references to the dhāraṇīs. 14 Chapter 1 History: Doctrinal and Chronological Development of Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs 1.1. NonNon-Buddhist Factors for the Emergence Emergence of Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs 1.1.1. Vedic Tradition The Vedic tradition finds in the word (Skt. vāc) its unifying factor (BU.2.4.11). The term vāc encompases all its modalities, from natural sounds, of inanimate objects, of animals, of humans and of supernatural beings, to the absolute reality (Skt. brahman) as sound (Skt. śabda) (Pingle, 2005: xvi, 262-263; BU.1.3.21; SED: 936). This twofold nature of language as being simultaneously a mundane reality and a spiritual one, is reflected into the notion of ‘syllable’ (Skt. akṣara), understood as the primary and indivisible phonic unity. According to its traditional etymology, besides meaning ‘syllable’, akṣara also means ‘na kṣarati or na kṣīyate– is that which does not flow out or perish, hence the imperishable, the indestructible, the eternal’ (Padoux, 1990: 13; JUB.I.24.1-2; Buitenen, 1959: 179; SED: 3).1 The mundane and spiritual nature of vāc is made manifest mainly in two ways, as cosmogony and as Vedic revelation. Prajāpati, the ‘all-maker’ god (Skt. viśvakarmā), created everything through naming every part of the whole cosmos with the ‘great utterances’ (mahāvyāhṛtis) (ŚB.II.1.4.11). The Vedas are considered eternal and as revealed (Skt. śruti) by the gods to the ‘seers’ (Skt. ṛṣis) through a supernatural inspiration, and the ṛṣis, who were endowed with a spiritual ‘vision’ (Skt. dhīḥ) able to perceive the Vedic knowledge, transformed it into language (Padoux, 1990: xiv; Gonda, 1963a: 64; 1963b: 269, 273-274). Just like Prajāpati did, the ṛṣis are seen to have identified their discovery of language with the faculty of naming, for the first time, everything, establishing in this way an ontological correspondence between words and objects. According to this correspondence, the name of a given thing is expressing the nature or essence of the thing named, thus, naming is not just a conventional labelling, but it is pointing out to the individual or specific nature of the being/thing named. Therefore, naming implies calling up or evoking this same nature inherent in the being/thing itself. It is precisely this same correspondence between words and objects that, on the one hand, is seen to bestow effectiveness to mantras, and on the other hand, allows one to draw conclusions regarding the nature of things based on their names, i.e., according to their etymology (Bronkhorst, 1999: 8-10).2 Indian Buddhism did not remain impermeable before this Vedic cosmovision centered around vāc and its influence was so significant that Indian Buddhism ended up assimilating those factors of vāc reconcilable with its tenets. Here, three of them will be emphasized: (1) a set of early Vedic mantras, and especially those from some Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭas, (2) the Upaniṣads’ phonetical correspondences, and (3) the ‘act 1 On the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna interpretations of akṣara, see sections 2.2.1 and 2.3. 2 On the close relationship between the terms ‘name’ (nāma) and mantra, see next section. On the application of the Vedic words/objects correspondence to dhāraṇīs, see Appendix B-1 and section 3.2.1., and on its application by Kūkai, see section 2.4.2. 15 of truth’ (Skt. satyakriyā). These factors will be studied below according to their original premises. 1.1.1.1. Early Vedic Mantras Mantras The traditional Indian definition of mantra is ‘that which saves (trā' ‘to save, rescue’) the one who, in thought, formulates it, meditates upon it (man')’. According to its etymology, however, the term mantra is derived from the root man and is related to the Skt. manas meaning ‘mind’ in a generic sense as ‘mental and psychical powers’, and within a Vedic context, man also means ‘evoking, calling up’, and is frequently associated to the noun ‘name’ (nāma). And the ending –tra, indicates instrumentality, and also ‘faculty’ or ‘function’. Hence, a literal translation of mantra would be that of ‘an instrument of thought’, emphasizing its pragmatic function (Yelle, 2003: 11). Within a Vedic context though, mantra refers to words endowed with power to evoke cosmic/divine forces to carry them into concrete actions, mainly those of a ritual order (Gonda, 1963b: 248-250, 255, 257). On a formal level, a Vedic mantra consists of an utterance shaped as a ‘verse’ (Skt. ṛc) (from the Ṛgveda), a ‘chant’ or ‘melody’ (Skt. sāman) (from the Sāmaveda), and a muttered ‘formula’ (Skt. yajus) or one spoken aloud (Skt. nigada) (both from the Yajurveda) (Staal, 1989: 48). To each Vedic mantra is assigned the ṛṣi who revealed it, its meter (Skt. chandas), its presiding deity (Skt. devatā), and the application or purpose for which it is used (Skt. viniyoga). The knowledge of these four factors turns out to be indispensable for a proper use of Vedic mantras (Hanneder, 1998: 153). The reason for this is that if the practitioner understands and applies those four factors, she/he would reproduce through a sonic mimesis act the original model which constituted the mantra (Burchett, 2008: 836), participating in the fundamental vision originating the mantra, and of its effectiveness pledged (Skt. samaya) by its promulgator (Eltschinger, 2001: 22-27).3 However, Indian Buddhism discarded those Vedic mantras of a poetic nature and preferred instead, to assimilate those non-discursive mantric utterances of an imperative and evocative nature, able to propitiate protection, the communication and identification with cosmic/divine entities, and the condensation and memorizing of teachings. Here, those Vedic mantric utterances which appear most frequently in Buddhist dhāraṇīs are expressions such as Oṃ, Huṃ, Phaṭ, Svāhā, and in some less frequent cases, the mahāvyāhṛtis are found as well.4 1.1.1.2. The Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭ Pariśiṣṭa ṣṭas’ Mantras Mantras Unlike the Ṛgveda that revolves around sacrifice rituals, the Atharvaveda is focused on mantras intended for ‘drastically practical’ purposes (Modak, 1993: 2), which turned it into a favourable receptacle to assimilate Indian local cults (Staal, 2008: 73). The Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭas consist of ‘appendices’ complementing and 3 On a similar process in the Buddhist dhāraṇīs, see sections 1.2.2.2. paragraph (a) and Appendix B-1. 4 For a study of those mantras, see Appendix A. Those same mantras are located at the beginning and/or at the end of the dhāraṇī formulas and denote specific functions, see Appendix B-1. 16 expanding topics concisely treated in the Atharvaveda.5 Directly related to the present dissertation are the Pariśiṣṭas Āsurīkalpa (Āka) and Ucchuṣmakalpa (Uka), because their mantras’ formal pattern show a striking similarity with Buddhist dhāraṇī formulas. Several authors already pointed out such similarity: La Vallée Poussin recognized in the ‘Atharvanamantras’ the prototype of the ‘dhāraṇī collections’ (1895: 436), Goudriaan described as ‘dhāraṇīs’ the mantras appearing in Uka.9 (1978: 227), and Sanderson noticed that the ‘archaic style’ of the Ucchuṣmakalpa’s mantras was ‘strongly reminiscent’ of those from the Mahā'māyūrī'vidyārājñī'sūtra (2007: 199-200, n. 14). According to the research developed here, the influence of the Āsurīkalpa and Ucchuṣmakalpa’s mantras on Buddhist dhāraṇī formulas can be seen in that those Pariśiṣṭas mantras provide a basic formal pattern to be assimilated and developed later by the ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs.6 Besides taking such pattern though, Indian Mahāyāna also assimilated the deities invoked in those Pariśiṣṭas’ mantras. Āsurīkalpa’s mantras are dedicated to the god Rudra, which is the early form of Śiva, and those of the Ucchuṣmakalpa to Ucchuṣma, again a modality of Rudra (TAK.I: 225). Likewise, some early ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs invoke Ucchuṣma, other modalities of Rudra, and several non-Vedic goddesses, as is the case with some early Tantric Śaiva mantras (Sanderson, 2007: 200). This indicates that the likely ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs’ origin can be found within a substratum where the Pariśiṣṭas’ mantras assimilated a non-Vedic mantric lore that in turn was assimilated by an early Śaiva tradition and a Mahāyāna in transition to the Vajrayāna.7 1.1.1.3. Upaniṣ Upaniṣads ads’ Phonetical Correspondences In some Upaniṣads phonetical correspondences are established between certain syllables and Vedic terms beginning with those syllables. Prajāpati taught the syllable ‘da’ and his disciples extracted the notions of ‘restraint’ (dāmyata), ‘bounty’ (datta), and ‘compassion’ (dayadhvam) (BU.5.2.1-3). In other Upaniṣad are indicated the phonetical correspondences of the sevenfold Sāman chant: the sound huṃ is identical to the interjection Hiṃ, ‘pra’ is identified with the term ‘Introductory Praise’ (pra.stāva), the sound ‘ā’ with the ‘Opening’ (ā.di), ‘ud’ with the ‘High Chant’ (ud.gītha), ‘prati’ with the ‘Response’ (prati.hāra), ‘upa’ with the ‘Finale’ (upa.drava), and the sound ni is the ‘Concluding Chant’ (ni.dhana) (CU.2.8.1-3). The functioning of these phonetical correspondences is quite analogous to that of mantras, because mantras establish a ‘linkage’ (Skt. bandhu) between cosmic forces and ritual elements that make it a real and efficient one (Wheelock, 1989: 108), and simultaneously, those ‘linkages’ serve, on the one hand, as a mnemonic guide to remember the sequential ‘procedure’ (Skt. itikartavyatā) of ritual, and on the other hand, as a ‘medium of knowledge’ (Skt. pramāṇa) of its meaning (Taber, 1989: 149, n. 15). Likewise, and as the quoted example shows, the phonetical correspondences serve as a mnemonic guide to perform the Sāman chant because the term ‘Sāman’ 5 The Pariśiṣṭas include seventy two texts dealing with topics as ritual, magic, astrology, religious observances, phonetics, etc., and were composed between the second century BCE to the fifth century CE (Modak, 1993: 191, 473). 6 On this ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇī pattern, see Appendix B-1 and Chart 1. 7 See section 1.1.2.1. 17 establishes ‘linkages’ between the parts of the cosmos and human beings, and these ‘linkages’ in turn, propitiate benefits such as mundane power and wealth (CU.1.6.1-8; 1.7.1-9). Despite the fact that those Upaniṣads’ phonetical correspondences are not reproducing the ‘alphabetical’ pattern shown by the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs and that there is no evidence of any historical link between both of them, nevertheless, the Upaniṣads give evidence of the earliest instance of phonetical correspondences used as mnemonic and spiritual device that would be reflected upon the Buddhist ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs (HBG.VI.571a).8 1.1.1.4. The ‘Truth Act’ (Satyakriy (Satyakriyā Satyakriyā) Being defined as: ‘A formal declaration of fact, accompanied by a command or resolution or prayer that the purpose of the agent shall be accomplished’ (Burlingame, 1917: 429), the ‘truth act’ (satyakriyā) finds its origin in the Vedas.9 Thus, to avoid a premature birth, it is declared: ‘As this great earth receives the embryos of existences, so let thine embryo be maintained, in order to birth [i.e., to be born] after pregnancy’ (AV.VI.17.1). Satyakriyā extracts its effectiveness from the complete tuning of the proclaimer with the same reality/truth (satya) that constitutes the cosmic order (Skt. ṛta). If Vedic gods are satyadharman, that is, ‘having Truth as their basic law or principle’, likewise, a human being realizing to perfection his duty within the cosmos will embody a divine power enabling him to ‘bend cosmic forces to his will’ (Brown, 1968: 172-174). This cosmic power is communicated through a true language of a superhuman nature (Wayman, 1984a: 392), because according to the Vedas, to speak the truth is identical to expressing the universal ‘Law’ (Dharma) (BU.1.4.14). She/he who may utter the truth is protected by the truth itself, as that man who was falsely accused of robbery and was left immune from the ordeal by ‘uttering the truth and covering himself with the truth’ (CU.6.16.1-2). Satyakriyā also implies an utterance of a ritual nature, because another meaning of kriyā is that of ‘rite’, hence, satyakriyā can be translated as ‘rite of truth’, too (Wayman, 1984a: 392-393). Within a Buddhist context, however, the Theravāda parittas originally grounded their efficiency on the sole ‘declaration of truth’ (saccakiriyā) (first century BCE), to which a ritual framework was added later (fifth century CE) (Silva, 1991: 141-142).10 1.1.2. Tantric Tradition While Vedic mantras serve as the mediators between cosmic/divine forces and the ritual process, Tantric mantras manifest the identity between practitioner and deity instead (Wheelock, 1989: 119). Tantric mantras depart from the Vedic ones in their linguistic structure too, replacing the Vedic poetic forms for sets of terms 8 On the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs, see Appendices B-2, C, and D section (b). 9 It should be noted, however, that ‘satyakriyā’ term does not appear in the Vedas as such, but with synonyms as ‘true speech’ (satya'vāc) or ‘truth-command’ (satyādhishṭhānaṁ). Satyakriyā (P saccakiriyā) term and its synonyms appear only in later Buddhist texts such as the Jātakas, the Milindapañha, or the Divyāvadāna (SED: 1136; Burlingame, 1917: 434). 10 On the parittas, see section 1.2.1.2. 18 (frequently injunctions) related to syllables and phonemes that, leaving aside their semantic meaning or lack of it, only make sense within a ritual context (Hanneder, 1998: 150). The two main modalities of Śaiva Tantric mantras will be analyzed below, pre-Mantramārgic and Mantramārgic ones, which Buddhist assimilation approximately coincides with the two Tantric assimilation stages within Buddhism: the first stage centered around the ‘incantation and ritual’ of a standard Mahāyāna (c. third century CE), and the second one during the Vajrayāna systematization (c. seventh and eighth century CE) (Kapstein, 2001: 245).11 1.1.2.1. Śaiva PrePre-Mantramārgic Mantramārgic Mantras Mantras As it was indicated before, the Āsurīkalpa and Ucchuṣmakalpa Pariśiṣṭas mantras invoke the power of Rudra, or one of his variants as Ucchuṣma (‘Desiccating [Fire]’). Within the Śaiva exorcist tradition, Ucchuṣmarudra is invoked as a protector against evil beings with mantras quite similar to those Pariśiṣṭas mantras mentioned before, and his main role is that of removing impure substances (Sanderson, 2007: 197-200). Moreover, according to certain Śaiva Tantras, Ucchuṣma is the first of a series of ten Rudras: Ucchuṣma, Śavara, Caṇḍa, Mataṅga, Ghora, Yama, Ugra, Halahala, Krodhin, and Huluhulu (TAK.I: 225). It is highly significant the correspondence shown between these ten Rudras (and their female counterparts) as they appear in the Śaiva mantras and their parallels in Buddhist dhāraṇīs. The Śaiva Mahāgaṇapatividyā includes a long mantra invoking Ucchuṣma and the female consorts of Caṇḍa (Caṇḍāli), Mataṅga (Mataṅgī), and the goddesses Pukkasī and Cāmuṇdī (Sanderson, 2007: 199-200, n. 16). And in certain dhāraṇīs invoking Ucchuṣmakrodha Mahābala, that is the Buddhist equivalent of Ucchuṣma, the non-Vedic goddesses Śabari, Mataṅgī, and Caṇḍāli are also invoked (Bala: 53.2-3). Likewise, in numerous protective (Skt. rakṣa) and dhāraṇī formulas appear invocations to a common set of five non-Vedic goddesses: Gauri, Gandhāri, Caṇḍāli, Mataṅgī, and Pukkasī (Skilling, 1992: 155; MS.I: 678-679).12 In all likelihood, seemingly unintelligible expressions such as ‘hala hala’ and ‘hulu hulu’ appearing in a number of mantras/dhāraṇīs (MS.I: 687; Harrison/Coblin, 1999: 156; Filliozat, 2004: 500), were originally invocations to the Rudras Halahala and Huluhulu, that later were assigned to the Buddhist Hālāhala Avalokiteśvara, whose iconography includes distinctive features of Rudra/Śiva (Bhattacharyya, 1958: 132-133).13 These data give 11 The term ‘pre-Mantramārgic’ refers to the early ascetic tradition focused on Śiva as Rudra Paśupati intended for exclusively soteriological goals, and the ‘Mantramārgic’ one (lit. ‘path of mantras’) refers to a later tradition open to ascetics and laypeople alike including mundane goals, too (Sanderson, 1988: 664-668). 12 See (with variants) AM.1.220, 257; AM.2.450; AM.3.1352; AM.4.1453, 1473; AM.5.2285; AM.7.3310, 3320; AM.8.3662, 3775, 3790, 3800, 3817; AM.10.5336; AM.12.6872; AM.13.7462; AM.14.7879, 8223, 8225; AM.15.8355; AM.16.9989, 10133. The names of those goddesses denote ‘untouchable’ Indian tribal castes and occupations (hunting, cleaning, corpse handling, etc.) (Shaw, 2006: 397-398). On the continuity of those tribal castes and the Buddhist Vajrayāna ‘accomplished ones’ (siddhas), see Davidson, 2002: 224-233. On the goddess Mataṅgī within a Śaiva context, see Kinsley, 1997: 209-222. On the conversion of the mahāvidyādharī Mataṅgī, see Appendix C. 13 In the influential Āryāvalokiteśvara'mahākāruṇika'dhāraṇī, Avalokiteśvara is venerated with a number of Śiva epithets and the exclamation ‘hulu hulu’ (Chandra, 1979: 14-16). 19 support to the theory described before on the Buddhist origins of ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs, whose pattern arose from a substratum made up of a non-Vedic mantric lore assimilated by the Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭas, and assimilated in turn and almost simultaneously by the Pre-Mantramārgic Śaivism and a proto-Tantric Mahāyāna.14 1.1.2.2. Śaiva Mantramārgic Mantras Mantras Considered as specific modalities of the word’s energy (Skt. vākśakti), Tantric mantras are characterized as being ‘the phonic, “expressing” (vācaka), form of a deity, its subtle form, its essence, its efficient aspect’ (Padoux, 1990: 378-380). This characteristic is usually identified with their ‘seed syllable’ (Skt. bīja) because, save rare exceptions, ‘a Tantric mantra is defined by its bīja’ (Hanneder, 1998: 149, n. 8). According to a traditional definition: ‘All mantras consist of phonemes and their nature is that of energy, O dear One. Know, however, that this energy (śakti) is the mātṛkā, whose nature is that of Śiva’ (tr. in Padoux, 1990: 374). In this sense, mātṛkā in singular, lit. ‘little mother’, designates the ‘matrix-energy’, the generative power that simultaneously creates and holds the mantras and the universe. In plural, the mātṛkās are the fifty phonemes of the Sanskrit syllable system (Skt. varṇapāṭha), understood as the basis of all mantras (Padoux, 1990: 147, n. 170, 151-153). Hence, to know the mātṛkās’ nature and their śakti is equal to know the absolute itself, especially in its twofold aspect as the world’s manifestation/reabsortion (Padoux, 1990: 78, 152-153, n. 186).15 Besides assigning the ‘seer’, the meter (in fact, an inner rhythm), the deity, and the application as the Vedic mantras, every Tantric mantra includes a ritual of mantric ‘imposition’ (Skt. nyāsa) and a deity’s ‘visualization’ (Skt. dhyāna), where the mantra syllables are ‘imposed’ ritually on specific parts of the body’s practitioner, and then he/she visualizes herself/himself as identical to the deity (MM.II.3-6; Bühnemann, 1991: 292-293; Padoux, 1978: 67-68; 1980: 59-61). Moreover, usually every Tantric mantra is subdivided into three parts: (a) an initial part, its bīja, (b) a middle part, its śakti, and (c) a final part, its wedge (kīlaka) (Bühnemann, 1991: 293). According to other sources, the kīlaka part can be subdivided again into five types of mantras: ‘heart-essence’ (hṛdaya), ‘wedge’ (kīlaka), ‘weapon’ (astra), ‘cuirass’ (kavaca), and ‘supreme mantra’ (paramo mantra) (Hanneder, 1998: 153-154). The idea lying behind those divisions and subdivisions, namely, that from the concrete mātṛkās of a given mantra can arise more mantras, will be assimilated by the Buddhist dhāraṇīs according to their own models.16 Lastly, another significant aspect of Tantric mantras is that they hold a specific gender. According to several Tantras, mantras are divided into ‘male’ ones (puṃmantra) 14 The presence of this non-Vedic mantric lore within Buddhist dhāraṇīs is also noticed by references to formulas in Dravidian language (‘drāmiḍā mantrapadāḥ’) (Māyū: 379, 389, 439) and to ‘the dhāraṇī of [the deity] Draviḍa’ (Bala: 50.19), see also Appendix C. 15 On the notion of mātṛkā (P mātikā) in the Theravāda Abhidhamma, see section 1.2.1.2., on the varṇapāṭha in the Mahāyāna and the Vajrayāna, see section 1.2.2.1. and Appendix D section (b). 16 See section 2.3. The mantra’s śakti (b) indicates the part expressing ‘what is to be effected’ (sādhya) for such mantra and is equivalent to the central part of a dhāraṇī, see Appendix B-1, n. 171. 20 with ending expressions such as huṃ and phaṭ, and being used in rites of subduing, ‘female’ ones (strīmantra), also called ‘vidyā’, with endings in svāhā and used in rites of eradication of disease, or ‘neuter’ ones, ending in namaḥ (‘obeisance’) and used in other rituals (Wayman, 1984b: 418-420; Bühnemann, 1991: 304). This mantra classification based on gender would be assimilated by Buddhist dhāraṇīs, as well.17 1.2. 1.2. Buddhist Factors for the Emergence of Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs 1.2.1. Mainstream Buddhism Overall, it can be asserted that mainstream Buddhism initially rejected mantras and only assimilated them later, first within their Vinayas and then within special collections called Vidyādhara'piṭakas or Dhāraṇī'piṭakas. It is a question of a complex process that will be studied from three approaches: (1) the early mainstream Buddhist attitudes of rejection and acceptance of mantras, (2) the emphasis on Buddhist ‘protective’ texts based on the ‘act of truth’ (saccakiriyā) as the Theravāda parittas, and those based on mantras as the Sarvāstivāda and Mūlasarvāstivāda Mahāsūtras, and the role played by the Abhidharma’s mātṛkās as the forerunners of the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs, and (3) the acceptance of mantras/dhāraṇīs within Southern Buddhism and their systematization among several mainstream Buddhist schools that were precursors of the Mahāyāna. 1.2.1.1. Early Mainstream Buddhist Attitudes towards Mantras Mantras The Theravāda Nikāyas rejected Vedic mantras on the basis of three arguments: soteriological, ethical, and linguistic ones. The historical Buddha negated that ṛṣis could have a direct knowledge of Brahmā, hence, their tradition lacked any soteriological validity (DN.13.12-15). From an ethical level, reciting mantras was considered ‘a wrong means of livelihood’ (Brajā: 59-61), and the Theravāda Vinaya only accepted as a ‘true Brahman’ someone wise and virtuous who ‘does not confide in the sound huṃ’ (P nihuhuṃka) as a protective and purificatory method (McDermott, 1984a: 49-50). And from a linguistic level, mantras are just a kind of deceitful language worth of ‘reject and despise’ (DN.11.5-7).18 Nevertheless, Mahāsāṃghika, Mahīśāsaka, Sarvāstivāda, and Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinayas acknowledged some efficacy to mantras when considered acts such as killing and having sex through mantras as a ‘defeat’ (Skt. pārājika) (Shes.V: 107). Moreover, Dharmaguptaka and Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinayas admitted using mantras with protective and therapeutical goals (Davidson, 2009: 113-116; Pathak, 1989: 32-38).19 The main reason for using those mantras was quite a pragmatic one: they demonstrated their 17 See section 2.3. and Appendix B-1. 18 However, the South Asian Theravāda accepted mantras/dhāraṇīs in an extra-canonical way, see Appendix C. 19 Despite a few schools negating them, Sarvāstivādins and others admitted the five ‘supernatural knowledges’ (Skt. abhijñā) among ordinary persons (pṛthagjanas) and nonBuddhists (Kośa.VII.41-d; Bareau, 1955: 140). The abhijñā called ‘supernatural power of conservation’ (ādhiṣṭhānikī ṛddhi), is able, among other functions, to empower mantras, hence, it is hardly surprising that those mainstream Buddhist schools would accept mantra efficacy (Eltschinger, 2001: 71-72). On ādhiṣṭhānikī ṛddhi, see section 1.2.2.2. paragraph (a). 21 effectiveness against the ten ‘dangers’ or ‘hindrances’ (P/Skt. antarāyas) liable to obstruct a normal monastic life, such as dangers from the king, thieves, water, fire, human beings, non-human beings, wild animals, reptiles, death or severe illness, and falling away from śīla under certain compulsion (DMT: 15-16).20 In some instances, loving-kindness (P mettā) meditation proved not to be adequately effective as selfprotective device against the antarāyas, and was supplemented or even replaced by other methods such as the Buddha’s commemoration and mantra recitation (Schmithausen, 1997: 67). Those needs of protection and prophylaxis were, among other causes, what promoted the apotropaic use of certain Buddhist Scriptures and the inclusion of mantras within some of them, that will be studied below. 1.2.1.2. Parittas, Parittas, Mahāsūtra Mahāsūtras, ātikās/M ātṛkās āsūtras, and Mātikās/ s/Mātṛkā ṛkās Despite their rejection of the Vedas, Theravādins, Sarvāstivādins, and Mūlasarvāstivādins, among others, acknowledged some features of the Vedic understanding of language and mantras able to be assimilated by Buddhism without betraying their tenets. Those schools emphasized three qualities of the Buddha’s speech that could be reconcilable for such purpose: (1) the Buddha’s speech as expressing the truth/reality (P sacca; Skt. satya), (2) its protective power, and (3) its faculty to facilitate insight derived from its memorizing. These three qualities got an outstanding significance in the parittas, the Mahāsūtras, and the mātikās/mātṛkās. The Pāli term paritta means ‘protection’ or ‘safeguard’, and originally consists of a selection of Nikāyas’ Suttas used for prophylactic goals, that is, ‘to ward off or overcome dangers and problems’, and benedictive ones, ‘to assure success in an undertaking and attain positive good’ (Harvey: 1993: 53-56).21 There are a variety of powers propitiating the efficacy of parittas, among them, stand out the power of ethical virtue (P/Skt. śīla), the universal loving-kindness (mettā), the Three Jewels, the contemplation of enlightenment factors (P bojjhaṅgas), the deities’ power (P yakkhas, nāgas, etc.), and even the parittas’ sound, whose pitch induces mindfulness (Piyadassi, 1975: 15-16; Greene, 2004: 53-54). However, the pivotal power enabling parittas to be effective is that all of them are modalities of the ‘act of truth’ (saccakiriyā) or ‘truth utterance’ (P saccavajja). While the Vedic satyakriyā is based on the perfect harmony between oneself and her/his own duty within the cosmos (ṛta), the Buddhist saccakiriyā instead, extract its power from the speakers’ ethical perfection: ‘(moral) truth is a natural force with irresistible power’ (Harvey, 1993: 67-68, 70-71, 74). In this sense, it would be argued that saccakiriyā is closely related to two powers of the Buddha’s speech: the Buddha as a ‘truth-speaker’, and the Buddha’s ‘Brahmā Voice’ (P/Skt. brahmasvara). In the first case, ‘he is a speaker whose words are to be treasured, seasonable, reasoned, well-defined and connected with the goal’ (DN.1.9), and in the second one, his voice is ‘distinct, intelligible, melodious, audible, ringing, euphonious, deep, and sonorous’ (MN.91.21), a persuasive voice that ‘what he 20 The antarāyas were included and expanded within the dhāraṇīs’ protective benefits lists, see section 3.2.1. On the continuity between the antarāyas and the dṛṣṭadhārmikas, see Appendix D section (a). 21 Those two parittas’ goals are quite akin to the śāntika and pauṣṭika dhāraṇīs’ functions, see sections 3.2.1. and 3.2.2. Besides those uses, however, paritta compilations became the basis of two monastic revivals in Sri Lanka during the thirteenth century CE and the eighteenth century CE (Blackburn, 1999: 360-365), and nowadays, parittas are also used as formative handbooks for novices (Piyadassi, 1975: 5; Samuels, 2005: 346-360). 22 says will carry weight’ (DN.30.23-24). This means that the Buddha’s speech is perfect in form and content and is able to transform spiritually the listeners’ lives, as happened to Kondañña, who opened his Dhamma’s eye after listening to a Buddha’s Sutta (SN.V.423).22 However, normally paritta practice is focused on attaining mundane benefits exclusively, and their efficacy can be hindered because of karma obstructions, defilements, and lack of faith (MP.154). Both of those aspects, among others, distinguish parittas from dhāraṇīs, because many dhāraṇīs were seen to be able to overcome those factors preventing paritta effectiveness. Although both parittas and dhāraṇīs may share common functions of protection and increase, nevertheless, claiming that ‘the dhāraṇī is the counterpart of paritta’ as does H. Saddhatissa (1991: 127), is inaccurate.23 Lastly, it is significant that some parittas such as the Mahāsamaya'sutta (DN.20) and the Āṭānāṭiya'sutta (DN.32), among others, invoke the presence of non-Vedic and Vedic deities as protectors of the Buddhist community. Specifically, there is a core-set of deities that will remain constant as Dharma’s protectors: the ‘Four Great Kings’ (Skt. catvāri mahārājākayika) Vaiśravaṇa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka, and Virūpākṣa, the gods Indra (or Śakra) and Brahmā Sahāṃpati, followed by their hosts of minor deities. This fact gives evidence of an early incorporation of local cults within Indian Buddhism that will be developed with the Mahāyāna and the Vajrayāna.24 And not only that, as it will be seen below, the mantric language of those deities will be identified as buddhavacana through its inclusion within the Mahāsūtras. Around the 4th century CE, Sarvāstivādins and Mūlasarvāstivādins extracted from their Āgamas a selection of Scriptures, called Mahāsūtras (‘Great Sūtras’), whose main function was that of overcoming religious opponents and malignant beings (MS.II: 4-30). Among them, the Mahāsamāja'sūtra, the Āṭānāṭiya'sūtra, and the Vaiśālīpraveśa'sūtra contain mantras. In the Mahāsamāja'sūtra an assembly of deities (most of them goddesses) gather in order to contemplate the Buddha and to keep off Māra’s hosts, then, the deities announce their purpose to protect the Sūtra and promulgate mantras and ritual prescriptions (MS.I: 624-661; MS.II: 537-542). In the Āṭānāṭiya'sūtra, Vaiśravaṇa describes the ‘Four Great Kings’ and their retinues, whose promulgated to the Buddha protective mantras for the Sangha. The next day, the Buddha teaches those same mantras to the monastic community (MS.I: 662-694; MS.II: 575-577). In the Vaiśālīpraveśa'sūtra, the Buddha visits Vaiśālī city in order to eradicate an epidemic and by reciting a long mantra, and by the power of the Buddha and that of 22 It would be argued that the Buddhist assimilation of the thirty two ‘marks of the Great Man’ (brahmasvara is one of them) from the Vedic lore (DN.3.1.3; 4.5), together with all the mentioned speech qualities of the Buddha, could be understood as a Buddhist adaptation/answer to two parallel doctrines already appearing in the Upaniṣads: the ultimate reality as embodied speech (BU.1.3.21), and Dharma and truth’s speech are identical (BU.1.4.14). 23 P. Harvey rightly noticed that ‘the power of dhāraṇīs exceeds that of parittas’ (1993: 83, n. 7). On the mundane and supramundane dhāraṇī goals, see sections 3.2. and 3.3. 24 On the symbiosis between Indian Buddhism and local cults, see Coomaraswamy, 2001: 4-37; Sutherland, 1991: Chap. 4; Cohen, 1998: 399-400; DeCaroli, 2004: 186-187; Ruegg, 2008: 19-29. On the continuity of such ‘core-set’ of deities within Mahāyāna, see Pratyu.14E, Puṇḍa.I: 2; Aṣṭa.3.25-26, PWE'S.III.50-51; Suvar: 36-54, Sgol: 24-44, and in Vajrayāna, see Vai'sū: 10; Susi: 287289; Bhattacharyya, 1933: 361-363. On the ‘Four Great Kings’ iconography, see DBI.3: 772-775. 23 the deities, the epidemic ceased (MS.I: 696-738; MS.II: 593-597).25 These three Mahāsūtras are significant for the Dhāraṇī'sūtras for three reasons: (1) including mantras within those Mahāsūtras entailed their legitimation as ‘Buddha Word’ (buddhavacana). If the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya, among others, already recognized as buddhavacana the gods’ Dharma preaching (Lamotte, 1983-4: 6), Sarvāstivādins and Mūlasarvāstivādins went a step further including as buddhavacana the deities’ mantras approved by the Buddha. The assimilation of this mantric language reflects a ‘conversion device’ based on the following exchange: the converters (i.e., Buddhists) convey the Dharma to the those converted (i.e., tribal/lower caste populations), while in return, they assimilate a ‘new’ and powerful kind of buddhavacana: the converteds’ mantric lore. This ‘conversion device’ adopted two modalities: the Buddha approves the deities’ mantras (Mahāsamāja'sūtra and Āṭānāṭiya'sūtra cases), or the Buddha is presented as the supreme source of the mantric lore (Vaiśālīpraveśa'sūtra case), and both modalities will be reproduced within the Dhāraṇī'sūtras.26 (2) These Mahāsūtras set up a basic Scriptural pattern that will be reproduced by the Dhāraṇī'sūtras, consisting of a narrative where an issue is addressed to the Buddha and he gives a solution through the promulgation or approval of a mantra/dhāraṇī, the description of their benefits, and eventually, giving ritual prescriptions.27 And (3), these three Mahāsūtras will be identified later as Dhāraṇī'sūtras and classified as Kriyā Tantras within the Tibetan Buddhist canon (MS.II: 78-84). All those factors indicate, on the one hand, a continuity between the non-Vedic and Vedic mantric lore and the mantras/dhāraṇīs of Indian Buddhism, and on the other hand, a pan-Indian and transectarian use of those mantras, because ‘they were employed by Buddhists of all yānas’ (MS.II: 75). The Sangīti'sutta understands the faculty of memory (P. sati; Skt. smṛti) as a protection giving factor (P nātha'karaṇa'dhammā): (b) he has learnt much, and bears in mind and retains what he has learnt. In these teachings, beautiful in the beginning, the middle and the ending, which in spirit and in letter proclaim the absolutely perfected and purified holy life, he is deeply learned, he remembers them, recites them, reflects on them and penetrates them with wisdom … (i) he is mindful, with a great capacity for clearly recalling things done and said long ago (DN.33.3.3). The mahāvyāhṛtis has already been described as the condensation of the three Vedas, whose recitation and bodily ‘wearing’ bestow knowledge and protection,28 and in the Buddhist case, the same idea is detected but formulated differently: remembering that bearing in oneself the Buddhist teachings bestows protection, this establishes a solid basis for their further realization. This close relationship between memory and protection is made evident within the semantic field of the Pāli term sati, that despite being commonly translated as ‘mindfulness’, in fact its primary sense is that of ‘memory’, or ‘remembering’ and ‘bearing in mind’ (PED: 672b, 697b). That is 25 Those Mahāsūtras parallels the narrative of three Paritta'suttas: the Mahāsamaya'sutta, the Āṭānāṭiya'sutta, and the Ratana'sutta, respectively (Piyadassi, 1975: 70-81, 103-114, 30-34). 26 See section 1.2.2.2. paragraph (a) and Appendix C. 27 On this dhāraṇīs’ narrative pattern, see section 1.2.2.2. paragraph (a). 28 See Appendix A. 24 why the Dhammasaṅgaṇi considers the term dhāraṇatā, whose meaning is that of ‘bearing [in mind]’, to be a synonym of sati (Gethin, 2007: 36-37), that also means ‘wearing, being dressed with’, and it is related to dhāraṇa ‘wearing, mantaining, sustaining, keeping up, bearing in mind, remembrance’ (PED: 341a), and dharati ‘to hold, bear, carry, wear, to bear in mind’, and in turn the Pāli dharati is derived from the Skt. dharati, whose root dhṛ is identical to the term dhāraṇī (PED: 340a; Whitney, 1885: 84-85).29 Although the term dhāraṇī does not appear in the Theravāda Nikāyas, one of its primary meanings as being a condensed formula able to unleash innumerable Dharma teachings, is already present within the Theravāda notion of ‘matrix’ or ‘mother’ (P mātikā; Skt. mātṛkā). Mātikā is understood as the Abhidhamma’s generator, because according to the Kassapa’s Mohavicchedanī: ‘The word mātikā is used because of the begetting, looking after and bringing up of dhammas and meanings without end or limit like a mother’ (tr. in Gethin, 1992: 161).30 In a specific sense, the mātikās consists of lists of items organized according to a system of numerical progression and terms linked by doublets-triplets (eg. non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion), extracted from Scriptures such as the Sangīti'sutta and others. Arisen from subtle contemplative states, the mātikās allows the condensation and memorizing of large corpus of teachings, provide a map of the path, and may constitute a meditative practice conducive to insight (Gethin, 1992: 160-167), hence, mātikās and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs share relevant common factors. Despite the fact that ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs are not based on lists of items but they are built up from the first syllables of key doctrinal terms, just like the mātikās, ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs allows the condensation and memorizing of a great deal of teachings, they provide a path’s map, and serve as contemplative methods to attain the true nature of existence (Pagel, 2007a: 111-115).31 Moreover, that one who is a specialist in ‘retaining the mātikās’ (P mātikādhara) is also a ‘protector of Dhamma’ (P dhammarakkha), and both functions are similar to those belonging to the Bodhisattva, who, according to the Asaṅga’s Bodhisattvabhūmi: ‘Finds joy in the summaries (mātṛkā) of the piṭaka’ and attains dhāraṇīs (Braarvig, 1985: 2122). As will be seen below, parittas, Mahāsūtras, mātikās/mātṛkās, and a mantric lore accepted by several mainstream Buddhist schools, would be assimilated and reelaborated by Mahāyāna Buddhism according to its own outlook.32 29 On the etymology of the term dhāraṇī, see 2.1.1. On the dhāraṇīs as protective ‘amulets’ to be worn, see Hidas, 2007: 190-198; Sen, 1965: 70-72. 30 On the Tantric mātṛkās, see section 1.1.2.2. On the dhāraṇīs as condensed formulas, see section 2.4.2. On the embryological function of the Mahā Nikāya mantra ‘saṃ vi dhā pu ka ya pa’, understood as the condensation of the seven Abhidhamma books and which syllables are viewed as ‘mothers’ (mātikās), see Bizot/Lagirarde,1996: 41, and Castro-Sánchez, 2010: 7, Chart 2. 31 On the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs, see Appendices B-2 and D section (b). 32 On the ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs within some mainstream Buddhist schools, see Appendix C. 25 1.2.2. Mahāyāna Mahāyāna Buddhism Indian Mahāyāna introduced two decisive changes that would consolidate the legitimization as buddhavacana of the mantric lore held by the mainstream Buddhist schools already referred to: (1) a soteriological validation of language and mantras reflected in the Sanskritization of Mahāyāna, understood as the Buddhist answer to the rising of Sanskrit literature in the early centuries CE, and being stimulated by Buddhist leaders of a Brahmanical origin (Wayman, 1965: 114), and (2) the passage from a Scriptural ‘closed canon’ based on an oral transmission, to an ‘open’ one allowing a further expansion through written Scriptures issued from visionary experiences (McDermott, 1984b: 32).33 As will be studied below, the emergence of this Mahāyāna ‘open canon’ was what allowed the widespread inclusion of ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs within Mahāyāna Scriptures, and particularly, what allowed the elaboration of the Dhāraṇī Scriptures. 1.2.2.1. 1.2.2.1. Acceptance of the Soteriological Validity of Language and Mantras Mantras The Sanskrit language, besides being accepted by the Mahāyāna for its technical precision and cultural prestige (Lamotte, 1958: 634-657), was also accepted as a medium conducive to enlightenment. Probably, the first step towards this direction was recognizing the Mahāyāna Sūtras as written manifestations of the Buddha’s ‘Dharma-body’ (Skt. dharma'kāya): And when one learns it, one should carefully analyze it grammatically, letter by letter, syllable by syllable, word by word. For as the dharma-body of the past, future and present Tathāgatas is this dharma-text authoritative (Aṣṭa.28.227-228; PWE' S.XXVIII.461-462). As is the case with the Brahmans’ grammatical training, a mastery of the Sanskrit grammar became one of the hallmarks of Bodhisattva training, who wanted to ‘acquire the skill in the cognition of sounds’ (Skt. rutajñānakauśalya) (Mpsū: 162). And for that purpose, the Bodhisattva will follow Sudhana’s example, who visited the grammarian Megha to teach him a dhāraṇī whose recitation bestows an omniscient eloquence (Skt. pratibhāna) and is able to transform him into an irreversible (Skt. avaivartika) Bodhisattva (Avat: 1189-1191).34 Hence, Sanskrit grammar became a meditative practice through reciting, memorizing, writting, and teaching specific Sūtras’ paragraphs as if they were mantras (Kent, 1982: 324-325).35 This explains that 33 The Mahāyāna arose simultaneously to the proliferation of a non-Buddhist written visionary literature in India (first or second century BCE), and this Mahāyāna acceptance of written Scriptures was a key factor for its survival (McMahan, 1998: 255, 264). 34 On dhāraṇī and pratibhāna, see section 2.1.3.2. The avaivartika state coincides with the accomplishment of the ‘conviction of the non-arising of dharmas’ (Skt. anutpattikadharmakṣānti) and locates the Bodhisattva on the eighth stage (Skt. bhūmi) to Buddhahood (Pagel, 1995: 186-187; Dayal, 1932: 213). On the avaivartika state as a supramundane dhāraṇī goal, see sections 3.3.1. and 3.3.2. 35 Likewise, Bhartṛhari (fifth century CE) recognized Sanskrit grammar as ‘a gateway to liberation’ (Vāk.14), and his grammatical treatises were included within the curriculum of the Buddhist university of Nālandā (Takukusu, 1896: 178-180; Biardeau, 1964: 255-260). 26 Mahāyāna would include special syllabaries as the ‘arapacana’ and the standard Sanskrit syllabary (varṇapāṭha) within several Mahāyāna Scriptures, as mnemonic and contemplative means to realize Buddhist teachings (Mpsū: 160-162; Mapa.I: 201-207). Even a commentary of the influential Mahāparinirvāṇa'sūtra went so far as to acknowledge the ‘eternal’ (akṣara) and ‘inexhaustible’ (akṣaya) nature of the Sanskrit syllabary and its ‘invention’ from age to age by the god Brahmā (HBG.II: 117).36 Nevertheless, this Sanskritizaton did not necessarily imply a Mahāyāna recognition of Sanskrit as the Buddha’s ‘sacred language’. In fact, on a relative level, such language mastery was included within the Bodhisattva’s ‘detailed and thorough knowledges’ (Skt. pratisaṃvids) and was mainly used to skillfully teach the Dharma to people, because ‘the teaching of both the Dharma and (its) meaning happens only through speech and knowledge’ (Mslb.XVIII.36); and on a definitive level, language is subjected to a rigorous deconstruction divesting it of any reification that demonstrates its inability to express ultimate reality: ‘One cannot properly express the emptiness of all dharmas in words’ (Aṣṭa.18.174; PWE'S.XVIII.348). When confronted with mantras/dhāraṇīs though, this linguistic deconstruction was understood in two different ways: for the mainstream Mahāyāna, mantras/dhāraṇīs reveal their emptiness as a ‘no-meaningness’ (Skt. nitarthathā) emphasizing the inexpressible nature of all dharmas, for the Vajrayāna instead, mantras/dhāraṇīs reveal their emptiness as producers of innumerable meanings.37 Concerning the Mahāyāna doctrinal assimilation of mantras, an early reference indicates that mantras were rejected due to their ‘heretical’ origins (Pratyu.14B), while another source ackowledges mantra efficacy and its likely use among Buddhists (Kāpa.4.48). But it is in the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā'sūtra and its versified part, the Ratnaguṇasaṃcaya'gāthā (1st century BCE, Conze, 2000: 1), where the mantric lore got an unreserved acceptance. One passage refers to mantra power (Skt. mantra'bala) as a metaphor for the unsupported power of suchness (Skt. tathatā) (Ragā.27.5; PWE'V. XXVII.5), while the other passage refers to the mantras and vidyās’ attaining as a mark of the irreversible Bodhisattva (Aṣṭa.17.167; PWE'S.XVII.337). In practical terms though, the irreversible Bodhisattvas are identified with the ‘Dharma'preachers’ (Skt. dharmabhāṇakas), considered as quite advanced Bodhisattvas who are very near to the attainment of Buddhahood.38 And if the dharmabhāṇakas were the inspirers of the Mahāyāna Sūtras and their legitimate promulgators (MacQueen, 1982: 60; Drewes, 2006: 246-247), they were, moreover, the introducers of the veneration to the ‘Four Great Kings’, Śakra, and Brahmā Sahāṃpati, and the practice of their mantras within Mahāyāna, through ‘invocation formulae’ (Skt. ākarṣaṇapada), and the only ones authorized to recite and transmit them (Pagel, 2007a: 60-61). This implies that, in all likelihood, the dharmabhāṇakas also introduced the different understandings of 36 However, this approach was not followed by other Mahāyāna streams, see below and section 2.2.1., and it was accepted by the Vajrayāna but with a key difference: the varṇapāṭha is not created by Brahmā but ‘appears spontaneously from suchness’ (Bonji: 139). On the mantras as issued from the dharmatā, see section 2.3. 37 On the Mahāyāna approach to mantras/dhāraṇīs, see sections 2.2.1. and 2.2.2., and on the Vajrayāna approach, see sections 2.3., 2.4.1. and 2.4.2. On the Bodhisattva’s pratisaṃvids, see section 2.1.3.2. 38 If the irreversible Bodhisattva is located in the eighth bhūmi (see n. 34 above), the dharmabhāṇaka is located in the ninth one, identified with the pratisaṃvids mastery (Drewes, 2006: 248-251). 27 dhāraṇī concept within the Mahāyāna Sūtras, and later on, they inspired the Dhāraṇī Scriptures, as well. In the first case, the dhāraṇī concept passed through several stages before becoming a mature Dhāraṇī Scripture,39 and concerning the second case, it will be studied below. 1.2.2.2. Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī Scriptures From the third century CE to the eighth century CE, a new modality of Buddhist Scripture appeared in India and spread through Central Asia, Tibet, and East Asia, in fact, a new version of buddhavacana, where the ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs became the core of the Sūtra’s narrative (Sørensen, 2011b: 162). The success and wide dissemination of those Scriptures was such, that Arthur Waley rightly called it ‘Dhāraṇī-Buddhism’ (as quoted in McBride, II, 2005: 87). It can be seen in the arising of the Dhāraṇī Scriptures the first consolidation of the non-Vedic, Vedic and early Śaiva mantric lores within Indian Buddhism, as a result of a long process of assimilation and re-elaboration that began, at least, three centuries before (Skilling, 1992: 164).40 Among the key socio-religious factors contributing to the emergence of the Dhāraṇī Scriptures, two factors already dealt with stand out as the Buddhist assimilation of local cults and their mantric lore from the second century BCE to the third century CE (Skilling, 1992: 164), and the Sanskritization of Indian Mahāyāna, and a third one should be added, the Brahmanical revival focused on Vedic rituals established by the Gupta dynasty (320-500 CE), interacting/competing against an institutionalized Mahāyāna led by the Yogācāra school (Matsunaga, 1977: 171; Staal, 2008: 337).41 And among the likely reasons lying behind the dissemination and survival of the Dhāraṇī Scriptures, four would be emphasized: (1).- Preciseness. The Dhāraṇī Scriptures offer a precise sense of their nature and methods, contrasting with the vague references to those topics appearing in standard Mahāyāna Sūtras. For instance, a Sūtra refers to a Bodhisattva who ‘has received the dhāraṇīs’, but does not specify which ones (Aṣṭa.30.252; PWE'S.XXX.510), in other Scripture dhāraṇī is defined both as ‘memory’ and the ‘means’ to attain it (Braarvig, 1985: 18), but again, this Scripture does not specify what these ‘means’ concretely entail. The Dhāraṇī Scriptures instead, reveal with preciseness the dhāraṇī goals and their concrete methods of practice to attain them.42 (2).- Practicality. Overall, Dhāraṇī Scriptures leave aside discussions on doctrinal topics, and are focused instead on a dhāraṇī formula presented as a practice capable of accomplishing a concrete goal, whether mundane or supramundane, or both. In fact, 39 On those stages of dhāraṇīs within Mahāyāna Sūtras, see Appendix D. 40 The second Buddhist consolidation of those mantric lores would be established by the Indian Vajrayāna, from the mid-seventh to the mid-eleventh centuries CE (Davidson, 2002: 117-118). 41 On the dhāraṇī mastery of Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, see Chimpa/Chattopadhyaya, 1970: 166172; Davidson, 2009: 139; and sections 2.2.2. and 3.1.1. On the dhāraṇī mastery of Mādhyamika authors as Bhavāviveka, see Beal, 1884: ii, 224-226, and section 2.3, and on Śāntideva’s, see Śikṣā.VI.139-142, CBD: 136-140. 42 See section 3.1.2. 28 for most Dhāraṇī Scriptures there is no dividing line between mundane and supramundane goals, since both are viewed as an interrelated wholeness.43 (3).- Effectiveness. Given that Dhāraṇī Scriptures condensate numerous teachings within their formulas, they present themselves as a short-cut to enligthenment and as a rapid method to attain any goal (Chou, 1945: 258). According to their own claims, the Dhāraṇī Scriptures show effective, feasible, and verifiable methods to realize the desired goals, adapting their prescriptions to the characteristics of any person, and even indicating the concrete signs and time in which their results can be made manifest.44 (4).- Dhāraṇīs as Relics. Several Dhāraṇī Scriptures identified themselves as ‘Dharma'kāya relics’ and were used to consecrate stūpas and images, hence, the stūpa consecrated by those dhāraṇīs became a ‘living Buddha body’ and the practitioner getting in touch with it could easily attain mundane and supramundane benefits.45 The Dhāraṇī Scriptures collected by the Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist canons testify, on the one hand, an obvious proof of their proliferation, and on the other hand, the difficulty to classify them neatly because of their versatile nature. In the first case, the Chinese Buddhist canon contains at least one hundred fourteen Scriptures entitled as ‘Dhāraṇī'sūtras’ (Ch. tuoluoni jing) (RCB: 82-121), but it also includes numerous dhāraṇīs/mantras within other Sūtras, Tantras, ritual texts, etc., that according to the The New Edition of All Mantras in Mahāpiṭaka, come to 10,402 formulas.46 The Tibetan Buddhist canon contains ninety six Dhāraṇī Scriptures, entitled as ‘Dhāraṇī’, ‘Kalpa’, and ‘Vidyā’, besides numerous Tantras containing dhāraṇī formulas (Kan: 561-563, 566). And in the second case, the denomination of ‘Dhāraṇī Scripture’ is an extensive one, including basically four textual modalities: (a).- Single Scriptures: Entitled as ‘Dhāraṇī’ or ‘Dhāraṇī-sūtra’, also includes Scriptures entitled as ‘Mahāyānasūtra’ (eg. Bala), and others as ‘Vidyārajñi’ (eg. Māyū, Prati), or ‘Hṛdaya’ (eg. Gaṇa). In most cases those Scriptures are divided into two parts: a narrative one, where a concrete issue is addressed to the historical Buddha, and a practical one, where the Buddha or another authority (Bodhisattva, deity, etc.) approved by him, promulgates a dhāraṇī formula as the solution to the raised issue, praising its benefits and claiming the pledge (samaya) of its efficacy. A feature of foremost relevance for those Scriptures is that the dhāraṇī formula is presented as buddhavacana, uttered by the Buddha or issued from his craneal protuberance (Skt. uṣṇīṣa) (Sitā: 90-91), from his eyebrows (Prati: 193), or it is claimed that the dhāraṇī formula has been promulgated by the Buddha and endowed with his ‘spiritual support’ or ‘blessing’ (Skt. adhiṣṭhāna) (Anir: 103; T 1022(b) 713c17-19, Guhya: 4). The adhiṣṭhāna is an attribute of the Buddhas’ ‘perfection of power’ (Skt. prabhāvasaṃpad), which allows them to create, transform, and conserve (adhiṣṭhāna) an external object (Kośa.VII.34-c). Those three functions correspond to three modalities of the ‘supernatural power’ (Skt. ṛddhi), consisting of the ‘supernatural power of conservation’ (ādhiṣṭhānikī ṛddhi) in ‘the thing that the magician consecrates 43 See sections 3.1.3, 3.2. and 3.3. 44 See sections 3.1.2., 3.3.2., and 3.3.3. 45 See section 3.3.1. 46 See detailed summaries of the Dhāraṇī Scriptures and other esoteric texts within the Chinese canon in Giebel, 2011, and those extra-canonical ones in Sørensen, 2011a. 29 (adhitiṣṭhati) by saying, “may this thing be thus” is termed adhiṣṭhāna. This thing is the object (prayojana) of this ṛddhi, or this ṛddhi is produced in this thing: thus this ṛddhi is called ādhiṣṭhānikī’ (Kośa.III.9-d, p. 31, n. 2). The Buddhas give their adhiṣṭhāna to the dhāraṇīs to endow them with efficacy and extend their power indefinitely. Moreover, the adhiṣṭhāna can be given not only by Buddhas, but by Bodhisattvas and deities, too. Likewise, the prescriptions for the dhāraṇī practice participate of the promulgator’s adhiṣṭhāna and pledge (samaya), who secures its effectiveness if her/his prescriptions are strictly followed (Eltschinger, 2001: 24-27, 62-74).47 Among the earliest Dhāraṇī-sūtras stand out the Mahāmāyūrī'vidyārājñī'sūtra (The Scripture of the Queen of Vidyās of the Great, Golden Peacock), of high significance for the early East Asian esoteric Buddhism, whose Sanskrit original dates from the third century CE (Sørensen, 2006a: 91-92, 109). In its narrative, a monk is suffering from snakebite and the Buddha transmitted to Ānanda the Mahāmāyūrī dhāraṇī to be recited by him to the poisoned monk, regarded as an infallible antidote against poison. Moreover, the Buddha approves the recitation of mantras/vidyās/dhāraṇīs from a large host of deities intended to protect the Sangha from all kinds of dangers, since ‘true words eliminate poisons’ (Māyū: 458).48 (b).- Dhāraṇī Ritual Manuals (Skt. Dhāraṇī'vidhis): A great number of Dhāraṇīsūtras contain a third part, focused on ritual practices (vidhi) directly related to the Sūtra’s dhāraṇī formula (Copp, 2011: 176). However, originally the vidhis circulated independently c. mid-fifth century CE, to be attached to the Dhāraṇī-sūtras after the sixth century CE. The successful spreading of the Dhāraṇī'vidhis lies in that the exact following of their prescriptions is seen to evoke the deity’s presence and obtaining the desired goals. The Dhāraṇī'vidhis established the textual basis for the early Buddhist Tantras’ emergence (Dalton, 2010: 14-15).49 (c).- Dhāraṇī Collections (Skt. Dhāraṇī'saṃgrahas): Of a wide diffusion in India, Nepal, and Tibet, the Dhāraṇī'saṃgrahas consist of a selection of dhāraṇī formulas to be recited within a liturgical context, and normally are divided into three parts: an invitation to mundane deities as witnesses and recitation’s beneficiaries, the dhāraṇī formulas themselves, and a closing part with praises and prayers (Dalton, 2010: 5-10). Among the most popular Dhāraṇī'saṃgrahas, stand out the Pañcarakṣā (‘Five 47 On the Bodhisattvas’ adhiṣṭhāna on mantras, see section 2.2.2., on the function of adhiṣṭhāna in the Vajrayāna mantras, see section 2.3. Some Buddhist schools admitted the ādhiṣṭhānikī ṛddhi in non-Buddhist mantras, see section 1.2.1.1., n. 19. On the samaya role in the Vedic mantras, see section 1.1.1.1., and in the dhāraṇīs, see Appendix B-1. On the Dharmakīrti (600660 CE) definition of mantra’s efficacy as exclusively related to a human ādhiṣṭhānikī ṛddhi, see Eltschinger, 2008: 278-281. 48 The Atharvaveda already described a mantra invoking a peacock as antidote against snakes poison (AV.VII.56.7). The Mahāmāyūrī’s narrative core is based on the Khandha and Mora parittas (Piyadassi, 1975: 37-38, 41-42; Lévi, 1915a: 20-21), and the deities’ lists appearing into the Mahāsamaya and Āṭānāṭiya parittas are reproduced in the Mahāmāyūrī (Przyluski/Lalou, 1938: 41-44), which in turn, are identical to their parallels Mahāsamāja and Āṭānāṭiya Mahāsūtras already described in section 1.2.1.2. On another key early Dhāraṇī Scripture entitled Mātaṅgī'sūtra, see Appendix C, n. 185. 49 See section 1.2.3. On the Dhāraṇī'vidhis, see section 3.1.2. However, there are instances of early Dhāraṇī'sūtras (c. second-third centuries CE) including both dhāraṇī formulas and rituals, see Appendix C, n. 185. 30 Protections’) (Gellner, 1993: 127, n. 39), and Saptavāra (‘Seven Days’) collections (Grönbold, 2001: 372), still in use among Nepalese Buddhist Newars.50 (d).- Dhāraṇī Anthologies (Skt. Dhāraṇī'sammucayas): These are one of the three modalities adopted by the Dhāraṇī Scriptures in China.51 One of the most outstanding is the Tuoluoni zi jing (Skt. Dhāraṇīsammucaya'sūtra) (T 901), compiled by Atikūṭa between 653-654 CE. Besides including a vast selection of Dhāraṇī-sūtras and dhāraṇī formulas, the Tuoluoni zi jing describes numerous rituals, especially, that of the consecration (Skt. abhiṣeka) and fire sacrifice (Skt. homa), becoming a pivotal work that would anticipate a mature East Asian Vajrayāna (Strickmann, 1996: 72-87, 133136). A later and highly relevant Dhāraṇī'sammucaya is the quadrilingual Dazang quanzhou (‘Great Collection of dhāraṇīs’) in Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian, and Tibetan, compiled between 1748-1758 under mandate of the Qing emperor Qianlong (17111799).52 Given that Atikūṭa’s Tuoluoni zi jing is an abridged version of a Vidyādhara'piṭaka (Duquenne, 1988: 322), it is likely that the Dhāraṇī'sammucayas could be the direct descendants of the earlier Vidyādhara/Dhāraṇī'piṭakas already mentioned. Judging by their contents, the Vidyādhara/Dhāraṇī'piṭakas include early protective mantras (Śikṣā.VI.143; CBD: 140), and Scriptures with a threefold division of rites, accomplishments (Skt. siddhis), and Buddha Clans (Skt. kulas), as the Subāhuparipṛcchā and the Susiddhikara (Lalou, 1955: 71-72), for this reason they were classified later as the earliest Kriyā Tantras. According to the testimonies of Yijing (635-713 CE) and Wuxing (?-674 CE), the Vidyādhara/Dhāraṇī'piṭakas were presented as a ‘new teaching’ of great prestige in India (Chavannes, 1894: 101-105; Li-kouang, 1935: 83-84, n. 2). Those piṭakas advocate the model of the vidyādhara, lit. ‘bearer of knowledge’, as a human being able to transform himself into a ‘superman’ or ‘man-god’ through a mantra/dhāraṇī practice (Buitenen, 1958: 308).53 The Dhāraṇī-sūtras’ hybrid nature, whose narratives makes them similar to the standard Mahāyāna Sūtras, but their ritual methods relate them to the Tantras, locate them into a frontier area between Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna (TMD: xxii), which other authors have described as ‘proto-Tantric’ (Strickmann, 1996: 129-133), or ‘esoteric’ 50 See other Dhāraṇī'saṃgrahas in CBSM: 41-43, 49-50; IMT.I.410-411; SBLN: 80-81, 93-95. On the parallels between the Pañcarakṣā collection and some Theravāda parittas, see Skilling, 1992: 180-182. 51 The other two are translations of Indian Dhāraṇī-sūtras, and Scriptures elaborated in China (‘apocryphal’) but based on Indic originals (Strickmann, 1996: 72-73; Franke, 1984: 320-334). 52 Qianlong was seriously involved in dhāraṇīs and wanted to restore their original Indic pronunciations (Wang, 1995: 149-151; Yuyama, 2000: 166; Berger, 2003: 39). The contemporary The New Edition of All Mantras in Mahāpiṭaka (2001) is an improved reproduction of the Dazang quanzhou. 53 The vidyādharas have their origin in the non-Buddhist ‘semigods’ or ‘men-gods’ (Skt. divyamānuṣas) (Przyluski, 1938: 125), and they are described as being able to fly, to change shape at will, always young and ‘accomplished’ (siddhas) in mantric lore (Grafe, 2006: 135-136). The vidyādharas are mentioned in the Milindapañha and certain Jātakas (Lüders, 1939: 90-93), they play a key role in some early Buddhist Tantras (Przyluski, 1923: 306-307), and are the precursors of the siddha model advocated by a mature Indian Vajrayāna (Davidson, 2002: 170171). 31 (Sørensen, 2006b: 57-58).54 Regardless the debatable accuracy of those designations, the documentary evidence shows an indisputable fact: ‘There is in fact a historical connection between the earlier dhāraṇī texts and the later Buddhist Tantras. The earliest textual precursors of the Tantras are dhāraṇī'collections’ (Gray, 2005: 427). 1.2.3. Vajrayāna Vajrayāna Buddhism Among the foremost Vajrayāna contributions to the dhāraṇīs, two stand out: endowing them with sophisticated definitions which identify them definitely as mantras, and with a doctrinal and methodological systematization incomparable to their former generalized presentations. According to the earliest classification of the Indo-Tibetan Tantras, Buddhaguhya (the eighth century CE) established two subclasses within the Kriyā Tantra category: the ‘general Tantras that are compilations of ritual manuals’ (Tib. spyi’i cho ga bsdus pa’i rgyud), and the ‘distinct Tantras’ (Tib. bye brag gi rgyud). Under the former type he included texts such as the Susiddhikara (Susi) or the Subāhuparipṛcchā, i.e., compilations of ritual manuals (vidhi), while that under the second type Buddhaguhya included texts such as the Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi' tantra (Vai'ta; Vai'sū). This means that most of the earliest Kriyā Tantras are composed by Dhāraṇī'vidhis, hence, those ritual manuals established ‘a key developmental bridge between the earlier dhāraṇīs and the later tantras’ (Dalton, 2010: 15-16, n. 33). In later classifications, Indo-Tibetan Vajrayāna recognized the dhāraṇīs as a type of Kriyā (‘Action’) and Carya (‘Conduct’) Tantras: ‘The action and conduct tantras are distinguished as five types according to style of presentation alone: sutras, tantras, skills, detailed rituals, and retention mantras [sic] (dharani)’ (Shes.V: 273-274).55 It had been argued that Kriyā and Carya Tantras lack any soteriological goals, therefore, dhāraṇī practice would limit itself to exclusively mundane goals (Williams/Tribe, 2000: 205-208). However, the Dhāraṇī Scriptures themselves refute such biased claim, and demonstrate instead a more complex evidence: there are dhāraṇīs with only mundane goals, others with mundane and supramundane goals, and still others with exclusively supramundane goals.56 Moreover, in the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa and the Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi'tantra the first soteriological 54 Despite some authors considering the Dhāraṇī Scriptures as belonging to the ‘Mantranaya’, understood as a stage previous to the Vajrayāna (Williams/Tribe, 2000: 196, n. 8), such inclusion is problematic for two reasons: ‘Mantranaya’ was indentified as synonym of ‘Vajrayāna’ by later Vajrayāna authors (Ōmi, 2008: 307-308), and ‘Mantranaya’ is not applicable to the East Asian Vajrayāna. On the other hand, claiming that the Dhāraṇī Scriptures are unrelated to Vajrayāna Tantras as does Hartzell (1997: 253-256), is completely without foundation, see below and section 1.2.3. Likewise, it had been acknowledged ‘the emergence of tantric materials out of the dhāraṇī literature’, despite that those tantric materials included practices alien to standard Dhāraṇī Scriptures (Davidson, 2011: 23). 55 The other categories of Tantras are Yoga, Mahāyoga, and Yoginī Tantras (Williams/Tribe, 2000: 209-217). 56 The pivotal Kriyā Tantra Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa includes both mundane and supramundane goals (Wallis, 2002: 19-23), and the same occurs with the seminal Carya Tantra Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi'tantra (Vai'ta.I.7; XIII.50). On the mundane and supramundane dhāraṇī goals, see sections 3.2. and 3.3. 32 rationales for Buddhist dhāraṇīs/mantras are articulated, which locates them neatly within a doctrinal and methodological Vajrayāna context.57 But being faithful to their fluidic nature, dhāraṇī formulas are not only located within Kriyā and Carya Tantras, but they permeate through the whole spectrum of Vajrayāna Scriptures, establishing ‘genetic connections’ between early and late Tantric texts (Cantwell/Mayer, 2010: 77-78). To quote just a few examples, one of the accomplishments for the initiated to the Yoga Tantra Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha is that of ‘[the mastery of] Dhāraṇīs’ (Sanderson, 2009: 134); according to an IndoTibetan tradition, ‘dhāraṇī'mantras of Mahāyoga Tantra, Yoga Tantra, Caryā Tantra and Kriyā Tantra’ should be inserted for consecrating stūpas (Bentor, 1995: 256); the Cakrasaṃvara'tantra, one of the pivotal Yoginī Tantras, is ritually treated as a ‘dhāraṇī' dharmakāya relic’ (Gray, 2005: 427-428, n. 26 and 27); and dhāraṇī formulas are included within Mahāyoga Tantras as the Guhyasamāja'tantra (Gusa: 298-306, 332), Yoginī Tantras as the Hevajra'tantra (HT.I.2.32; II.5.45-47), or ritual manuals as the Cakrasaṃvarabalividhi (Finot, 1934: 57). Within the East Asian Vajrayāna, it is precisely the term dhāraṇī what was selected to define this tradition.58 The contents of this esoteric lineage are based on the Scriptures, dhāraṇīs, and mudrās that ‘the revered Vairocana [Buddha] entrusted to the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi’ until reaching the Indian ancestor Amoghavajra (Orlando, 1981: 135), and the initiatic transmission of dhāraṇīs is realized through a ‘consecration’ ritual (Skt. dhāraṇyabhiṣeka) (Chou, 1945, 284, n. 62). And to distinguish clearly the Buddhist dhāraṇī from the Daoist ‘spell’ (Ch. zhou), which it was commonly confused with in China, Amoghavajra composed a normative definition on the meaning of the term dhāraṇī, where it is identified explicitly as mantra (Zong: 151-154; McBride, II, 2005: 109).59 In the same line, the Japanese successor of the esoteric lineage Kūkai (774-835 CE), described his school as the ‘mantra'dhāraṇī'piṭaka’ (Jap. shingon'darani'zō), and as emanating from the Buddha Mahāvairocana’s Dharma'kāya and being only accessible through consecration (abhiṣeka) (Abé, 1999: 197-198). Kūkai’s emphasis on the idea that the Buddha as Dharma'kāya actively preaches the Dharma (Jap. hosshin seppō), validated mantric language as being both a means to attain enlightenment and as a perfect expression of it (Payne, 2006: 79). And it is precisely the dhāraṇī ‘secret function’ as being able to ‘unleash countless meanings from within each letter of a word’ which unveils the innumerable contents of the Dharma'kāya’s preaching (Abé, 1999: 264, 271).60 The dhāraṇī definitions and classifications according to Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna will be dealt with in the next chapter. 57 See section 2.3. 58 An institutional Vajrayāna lineage was established in China by the Indian masters Śubhakarasiṁha (637-735), Vajrabodhi (671-741), and Amoghavajra (705-774 CE) (Chou, 1945: 251-307). 59 See section 2.4.1. 60 See section 2.4.2. 33 Chapter 2 Meanings: Traditional Definitions and Classifications of Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs 2.1. Primary Definitions 2.1.1. Meanings of the term Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī If it had been stated that ‘the Buddhist term dhāraṇī is ambiguous’ (Gyatso, 1992: 173), probably this is due more to some Western interpretations of the term, than to the accuracy of its semantic field. Certainly, translating dhāraṇī just as ‘spell’ (Waddell, 1912: 156), ‘magic formula’ (BHSD: 284b), ‘mantric prayer’ (Gellner, 1993: 128), or as a ‘short mnemonic string of words’ (Snellgrove, 2002: 122), had contributed to limiting its meaning, and to a certain extent, to misunderstanding it. From more accurate approaches, dhāraṇī had been interpreted as ‘retaining in memory (dhāraṇa), both as the process itself and the means to bring it about’ (Braarvig, 1985: 19), and ‘grasp … to hold (whether in one’s mind or nature or otherwise) and to understand (including in the sense of “to have the knack for”)’ (Copp, 2008: 493-494). A recent polysemic dhāraṇī interpretation identifies it as a ‘code/coding’ of Buddhist words/sounds understood as mantras, and linguistic/cognitive skills such as knowledge, analogical thinking, memory, and eloquence (Davidson, 2009: 141-142). From a contemplative side, according to a contemporary interpretation of the Theravāda Mahā Nikāya, the dhāraṇī is conceived as a ‘mental formation’ (P saṅkhāra) composed of spiritual syllabic formulas that, through its contemplative cultivation (P bhāvanā), the meditator is able to purify his mind and liberate it from the conditioned (Bizot, 1976: 85, n. 1, 140-141). And according to the Vajrayāna that clearly identifes dhāraṇī as mantra, a dhāraṇī ‘is a vessel that bears, holds, preserves, and contains a linguistic space that is occupied by the force of some enlightened being’ (Wallis, 2002: 30). While those interpretations rightly point out diverse aspects directly related to the dhāraṇī term, its etymological analysis, however, will yield a clearer understanding of their foundations. The Sanskrit noun ‘dhāraṇī’ derives from the root dhṛ ‘to hold’, and shares such root, among others, with the term dharmán, ‘bearer, supporter, arranger’, that is the old form of the Vedic dhárman, ‘that which is established or firm, steadfast decree, statute, ordinance, law’ (Whitney, 1885: 84-85; SED: 510, 512). In a primary sense, the feminine noun ‘dhāraṇī’ means ‘any tubular vessel of the body; the earth’, and is derived from the verb ‘dhāraṇa’, ‘holding, bearing, keeping (in remembrance), retention, preserving, protecting, maintaining, possesing, having’ (SED: 515).61 This etymological meaning is reflected in the traditional translations of the term dhāraṇī to the Chinese as ‘completely retaining’ (Ch. zongchi), and to the Tibetan as ‘holder’ (Tib. gzuṅs), related to the perfect tense gzuṅ from the root ḥdzin pa ‘to lay hold of, to seize’ (Mppś.IV: 1854). Nevertheless, the meaning of this ‘holding’ is twofold: ‘”Dhāraṇī” describes both what is grasped, or held to, and the means by which one does so. One can dhāraṇī a dhāraṇī, in other words, and “dhāraṇī” names the quality of being that allows this’ (Copp, 2005: 168). 61 On the meanings of the Pāli term ‘dhāraṇa’, see section 1.2.1.2. 34 It is precisely this twofold meaning of dhāraṇī, understood on the one hand as a content/faculty, and on the other hand, as a means to attain it, which allowed it to be selected by Buddhists to assimilate the mantra’s semantic field. As it will be demonstrated with the dhāraṇī’s traditional definitions referred to below, all of them keep the basic meaning of dhāraṇī as a content/faculty that is held to, whether ‘memory’, ‘protection’, ‘virtue’, ‘knowledge’, etc. However, the synonyms and compound terms of dhāraṇī denote a semantic field that unmistakably identifies it with the term mantra, understood as the means through which those contents/faculties that are held to are realized.62 2.1.2. Synonyms and Compound Terms Undoubtedly, this is a complex area that had raised some confusion among several authors, hence, a basic profile will be offered which, hopefully, will clarify to some extent the semantic richness of dhāraṇī term. T. Skorupski already rightly pointed out concerning the terms mantra, hṛdaya, and vidyā that: ‘On the basis of their fundamental notion of mystic recitation they can be considered one. However, each one of them has its particular significance’ (Durga: 111). Likewise, the basic principle established here asserts that the terms dhāraṇī, mantra, vidyā, hṛdaya, vajrapada, and their compounds, are identical because all of them belong to the uncommon language of mantra; hence, they only differ in their specific functions, which as will be made evident below, are fluidic and according to different contexts though, they even become interchangeable. 2.1.2.1. Mantra' Mantra'pada, pada, Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī' ṇī'mantramantra-pada Despite the fact that there is no Buddhist definition for the term mantra within Mahāyāna Sūtras, in the Bodhimaṇḍala'ekākṣara'uṣṇīṣa'cakra'sūtra the Buddha is named as ‘mantra’ and ‘great mantra’, and turns his Dharma wheel ‘with innumerable kinds of mantras’ (Ben: 38-39). What there are in Mainstream and Mahāyāna Buddhist Scriptures are references to the term mantra, designed as ‘mantra’, or ‘mantra'pada’, i.e., ‘mantra' words’ (MS.II: 74; Harrison/Coblin, 1999: 151), and also to the pairing ‘dhāraṇī'mantra' pada’ (Puṇḍa.XXI.233-235). Overall, mantra'pada denotes a formula facilitating any mundane or supramundane goal of the Buddhist practitioner, and dhāraṇī'mantra' pada has basically the same meaning, as ‘mantra'words of dhāraṇīs’ (Dayal, 1932: 267), although this basic meaning may vary according the context. Thus, in some cases ‘mantra'pada’ and ‘dhāraṇī'pada’ are used as synonyms and as interchangeable terms, indicating in this way their ‘identity of reference’ (samānadhikarana) (Davidson, 2009: 117), while in others, the terms ‘mantra'pada’, ‘dhāraṇī'mantra'pada’, and ‘dhāraṇī'pada’ appear separately but within identical context, being understood as synonymous 62 On the Vedic meaning of mantra as ‘an instrument of thought’, see section 1.1.1.1. In some Dhāraṇī'sūtras however, a dhāraṇī formula is simultaneously viewed as a means to attain the goal and the goal itself, eg. a Mahāpratisarā dhāraṇī formula is described ‘as equal to the heart of all the Tathāgatas’ (Prati: 206). This view will be developed within Vajrayāna, see sections 2.3. and 2.4. 35 expressions denoting a set of mantras intended for mundane and supramundane goals (Prati: 217-218).63 2.1.2.2. Vidyā Vidyā, Vidyā Vidyā'mantra, mantra, Mahā Mahā'vidyā vidyā, Vidyāraj Vidyārajñ ārajñī, Vidyā Vidyā'dhāra dhāraṇī āraṇī The feminine Sanskrit noun vidyā is derived from the root ‘vid’ ‘to know’, being identical to the term ‘Veda’, hence, it means ‘knowledge’, ‘science’, ‘learning’ (Whitney, 1885: 159; SED: 963-964). And one of the key means to attain vidyā is by reciting the vidyā mantras. It would be remembered here that the mahāvyāhṛtis’ mantras extract the ‘sap’ of the threefold Vedic knowledge, which denotes a natural connection between Vedas and vidyā. However, the notion of vidyā as mantra is originated with the formulas revealed by non-Vedic goddesses, as the ‘Seven Mothers’ (sapta'mātṛkās), Śabari, Cāmuṇḍa, Caṇḍika, Dūrga, Kālarātri, etc., assimilated later into the Atharvaveda. A proof of this lies in the authoritative Devī Purāṇa, true compendium of non-Vedic goddesses’ vidyā mantras according to the Atharvaveda’s prescriptions (Gupta, 2002: 232-233, 237).64 The Theravāda Nikāyas rejected the vidyās (P vijjā) ‘Gandhāra’ and ‘Maṇika’ as proper means to attain the powers of invisibility and reading others’ minds (DN.11.57), however, the Abhidharmakośa accepted those vidyās (Kośa.VII.47c-d, 56b). With his mastery of the gāndhārī'vidyā, it is said that Asaṅga was able to transfer himself instantaneously to the Tusiṭa heaven (Chimpa/Chattopadhyaya, 1970: 166). The Suvarṇabhāsottama'sūtra includes the goddess Śrī’s vidyā'mantra (Suvar: 61; Sgol: 51), and the Kāraṇḍavyūha'sūtra describes its influential six-syllable mantra ‘oṃ maṇipadme hūṃ’ as a mahā'vidyā (Studholme, 2002: 61).65 But it is into the Dhāraṇī Scriptures where, besides identifying vidyā as dhāraṇī with the compound vidyā'dhāraṇī (Māyū: 378, n. 49, 386), its feminine quality is emphasized calling it ‘vidyā'queen’ (vidyā'rajñī), although it is concealed as the Buddha’s mantric wisdom. In several Dhāraṇī'sūtras the vidyā'rajñīs emanate as light from the Buddha’s body, whether from his uṣṇīṣa (Sitā: 9091), or from his eyebrows (Prati: 193). Within the Dhāraṇī'vidhis and the early Kriyā Tantras, however, the vidyā'rajñīs reveal their feminine nature as being simultaneously dhāraṇī formulas and personified goddesses, becoming ritual referents (Hidas, 2010: 481-483) and models for visualization and self-identification (Skt. iṣṭa' devatā) (Porció, 2000: 14-16; Przyluski, 1923: 308-310), and a mature Vajrayāna would identify vidyā as a ‘female mantra’.66 63 The same thing occurs with the compound ‘mantra'dhāraṇī’, being understood as an appositional compound indicating a dhāraṇī that is a mantra (mantra eva dhāraṇī) (Davidson, 2009: 117). This is precisely the meaning of the ‘mantra'dhāraṇī’ compound in the Asaṅga’s Bodhisattvabhūmi, see section 2.2.2. On the ‘dhāraṇī'mantra’ compound in the Vajrayāna, see sections 2.3. and 2.4. 64 Some of those vidyā mantras appear in Buddhist Tantras (Vai'ta.IV.11; Vai'sū: 73). On the nonVedic goddesses within Buddhist dhāraṇīs, see section 1.1.2.1. 65 On other references to the ‘mahā'vidyā’ as mantra, see Appendix D section (a). 66 See section 2.3. On vidyā as a ‘female mantra’ within the Śaiva Tantric context, see section 1.1.2.2. On the iconography of the twelve dhāraṇīs or vidyā'rajñīs, see DBI.3: 925; Bhattacharyya, 1958: 337-342. 36 2.1.2.3. Hṛdaya, ṛdaya, Hṛdaya' ṛdaya'dhāra dhāraṇī āraṇī The term hṛdaya, lit. ‘heart’, or ‘essence’, appears in the Dhāraṇī Scriptures adopting three meanings: (1) as a title of a Scripture, hṛdaya denotes ‘the essence or quintessence of that which is required for accomplishing a powerful supernatural result’, i.e., the dhāraṇī formulas, rituals and benefits included within a given Scripture, eg. the Amoghapāśa'hṛdaya'dhāraṇī (Amog: 290, n. 13). (2) As a synonym of dhāraṇī, hṛdaya also indicates the complete set of dhāraṇī formulas included within a Scripture: ‘I shall now recite … this Hṛdaya named Amoghapāśa …’ (Amog: 295). And (3), hṛdaya also designates a ‘mantra-essence’ (hṛdaya'mantra), understood as the deity’s ‘sonic body-mind’, that despite being functionally equivalent to the Tantric ‘seedmantra’ (bīja'mantra), differs in its form, because the hṛdaya'mantra consists of several syllables (Snellgrove, 2002: 141).67 The term hṛdaya also appears as the compound hṛdaya'dhāraṇī, denoting the ‘essential dhāraṇī’ of a deity akin to her/his hṛdaya'mantra, although it is not used to invoke the deity’s body-mind itself, but to invoke the essential qualities that characterize a given deity. For instance, the Sarvadurgatipariśodhana'tantra refers to the five Vajrapāṇi’s hṛdaya'dhāraṇīs propitiating his powers to remove all obstructions and pacifying all sorrows (Durga: 42-45, 188, 190). Likewise, the Mahāmāyūrī’s hṛdaya' dhāraṇī condensates all her protective powers and its recitation ‘eradicates completely all evils and misfortunes’ (Māyū: 379-381). 2.1.2.4. Vajra' Vajra'pada, pada, Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī' ṇī'vajra' vajra'pada It is significant that several Mahāyāna Scriptures as the Upāyakauśalya'sūtra (Upka.110, n. 130) and others, refer to a semantic equivalence between dhāraṇī and vajra'pada terms. Basically, vajra'padas ‘are keywords that identify or sum up central premises of Buddhist thought’, i.e., being similar to the Abhidhamma’s mātikās and the ‘syllabic dhāraṇīs’, vajra'padas serve as mnemonic support to organize significant teachings and stimulate mind’s transformation (Pagel, 2007a: 2-4, 85-86, 109). According to the Ratnagotravibhāga, a vajra'pada is a term expressing the meaning of enlightenment in a favourable way to its attaining (‘pada’), but such meaning is as the diamond (‘vajra’), difficult to penetrate for an untrained mind (Ragot: 142). In more precise terms, the Sarvadharmāpravṛttinirdeśa'sūtra defines vajra'padas as ‘words of reality and thusness … identical with space and correspond to awakening … they are words [that pertain to] the non-differentiable Dharmadhātu and engage with the nonestablished state’. However, it is the Ratnacūḍaparipṛchā'sūtra that describes how ‘to engage’ with vajra'padas, as being through the dhāraṇī'vajra'padas: ‘It is to engage with all words by means of a single word … it is a word that is imperishable … the letter ‘A’ is the imperishable word. When one has engaged with the letter ‘A’, one engages with all syllables’ (tr. Pagel, 2007a: 75-76). To this previous Mahāyāna identity of vajra'pada as an ‘imperishable’ (akṣaya) syllable, ie. ‘A’, understood as a dhāraṇī holding ‘all syllables’, was followed naturally by the Vajrayāna identity of vajra'pada as mantra.68 The Kāraṇḍavyūha'sūtra describes the mantra ‘oṃ maṇipadme hūṃ’ as a ‘phrase which is a vajra without equal 67 On the hṛdaya'mantra and its variants, see section 2.3. 68 On the Vedic meaning of the ‘imperishable word’, see section 1.1.1. On the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna interpretations of the syllable ‘A’, see sections 2.2.1. and 2.3. respectively. 37 (asamavajrapadam); an indestructible vajra (abhedyavajrapadam)’ (Studholme, 2002: 147), and the Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi'tantra identified as vajra'pada a dhāraṇī'mukha and a vidyā'rajñī ‘which transcends all mundane states of existence’ (Vai'ta.III.VII.65). But now it will be dealt with the most common double associations of dhāraṇī term. 2.1.3. Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī paired to other Dharma qualities 2.1.3.1. Dhāra Dhāraṇī mukhas and Samādhi Samādhi' mukhas āraṇī' ṇī'mukhas ādhi'mukhas In several Mahāyāna Scriptures it is asserted that the irreversible Bodhisattvas obtain ‘dhāraṇī'doors’ (dhāraṇī'mukhas) and ‘concentration-doors’ (samādhi'mukhas) (Mpsū: 92; Ratna: 115). Overall, a dhāraṇī'mukha means ‘those superior recollective wisdoms which are able to support immeasurable Buddha qualities and hold them without failure’, so that ‘in one expression it can support all expressions’, whereas a samādhi'mukha refers to ‘those superior contemplations which include all the various concentrations’, i.e., they are samādhis allowing the realization of numerous samādhis; and are called ‘doors’ ‘because they engender all conditioned merits and all uncontaminated states’, that is, they embody the limitless accumulation of the Bodhisattva’s merit and wisdom (Bubhū: 159-160, 220).69 From a specific level, according to the Asaṅga’s Āryadeśanāvikhyāpana'śāstra, a dhāraṇī'mukha is the ‘accomplishment of the penetration of syllables … With this power of recollection, within a single letter he can illuminate, distinguish, and fully reveal every kind of object, whether indicative of defilement or purity’ (Tr. Davidson, 2009: 125), and for the Dà făjù tuóluóní jīng (592-594 CE), a dhāraṇī'mukha is analogous to the ‘earth’, enabling the production of ‘all dharmas all sūtras, all words, all their different meanings’ and can sustain them all (Tr. Overbey, 2010: 64). Obviously, for those Scriptures dhāraṇī'mukha is equal to a soteriological language mastery, but, how to attain it? The Mahāprajñāpāramitā'śāstra understands dhāraṇī'mukhas not as language mastery as such, but as three dhāraṇīs to obtain it: (1) the ‘dhāraṇī retaining what is listened’ (śrutadhara'dhāraṇī), that includes four methods: memory cultivated through analogies, a samādhi to develop memory, mantra practice to obtain dhāraṇīs, and memory acumulated from past lives; (2) the ‘dhāraṇī entering into [the true characteristic] of the articulated sounds’ (ghoṣapraveśa'dhāraṇī), i.e., to know that sounds and words are impermanent and ‘utterly empty’ (atyanta'śūnya); and (3), the ‘dhāraṇī penetrating the syllables’ (akṣarapraveśa'dhāraṇī), i.e., to contemplate the ‘arapacana’ syllabary grasping its empty nature (Mppś.IV: 1864-1868).70 From the fourteen samādhis described in the Mahāprajñāpāramitā'śāstra, stand out the ‘samādhi that does not forget any dharma’, the samādhi allowing ‘the knowledge of all articulated sounds and all languages’, the ‘samādhi overcoming the king of all dhāraṇīs’, and the ‘samādhi of the universal eloquence’ (samanta'pratibhāna). 69 According to Yogācāra sources, in the Bodhisattva’s tenth bhūmi, that is equal to Buddhahood, the ultimate reality (Skt. dharmadhātu) is identified as the dhāraṇī' mukhas/samādhi'mukhas’s complete mastery (Msa.II: 199). At that stage, the dhāraṇīs become ‘completely purified and great’ and the Bodhisattva relies on them to ‘illuminate the holy Dharma and uphold it always’ (Mslb.XVIII.72-74). On the dharmadhātu, see section 2.3. and n. 90. 70 Note the references to ‘mantra practice to obtain dhāraṇīs’, see section 2.2.2., and to the ‘arapacana’ syllabary contemplation, see Appendix B-2. 38 At first sight, this text emphasizes an interplay between dhāraṇīs, samādhis, and pratibhāna, understood as three interrelated qualities where the growing of a single one stimulates that of the others. However, the text also recognizes certain differences among them: whereas the dhāraṇīs remain within the Bodhisattva’s mental continuum life after life, the samādhis instead, disappear after death; moreover, it is the samādhi practice joined to the wisdom of emptiness that produces the dhāraṇīs, because the Bodhisattva, ‘for all beings’ sake, have to hold dhāraṇīs to maintain the qualities’ (Mppś.IV: 1875-1877). 2.1.3.2. Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī and Pratibhāna Pratibhāna Another frequent pairing found in Sūtras is the fact that the Bodhisattvas ‘possessed the dhāraṇīs; they were gifted with eloquence (pratibhāna)’ (Śūrsam: 117; Upka: 1; Puṇḍa.I.2; Ratna: 149, 427). The Sanskrit term pratibhāna is etymologically related to prati'bhā', ‘to shine upon, come into sight, but also to appear to the mind, to flash upon the thought, occur to, become clear or manifest’, and usually denotes ‘a sudden thought, a quick understanding or insight’, and even means ‘the power of understanding all kinds of sounds without effort’ (Gonda, 1963a: 318).71 Within a Mahāyāna context, pratibhāna means ‘quick-wittedness, inspiration’ (BHSD: 366b), being a highly significant faculty for the Bodhisattva in her/his function as dharmabhāṇaka, whether as an attribute that legitimates her/his own Scriptural authority, as ‘when the Buddha invites Subhūti to speak, with the words “may it be clear to you” (pratibhātu te)’ (MacQueen, 1982: 50), and as a pivotal faculty in her/his role as Dharma preacher. In the last case, pratibhāna is one of the four ‘detailed and thorough knowledges’ (pratisaṃvids): (1) dharma'pratisaṃvid: knowledge of all phenomena in all their names and forms; (2) artha'pratisaṃvid: knowledge of all phenomena in all their characteristics and meanings; (3) nirukti'pratisaṃvid: knowledge of all phenomena in all their etymological explanations, and the knowledge of all languages; (4) pratibhāna'pratisaṃvid: knowledge of the verbal distinctions of all kinds, that together with the dhāraṇīs and other qualities, constitute the essential factors that any dharmabhāṇaka needs for a successful Dharma’s spreading (Dayal, 1932: 251, 259-269).72 The pratisaṃvids’ characteristics demonstrate their focus on a language mastery intended mainly for soteriological goals, hence, their association with dhāraṇīs is hardly surprising, however, the Sūtras usually refer first to dhāraṇīs and then to pratibhāna, which suggests a view in which realizing dhāraṇīs first is a necessary basis to produce pratibhāna: ‘The Bodhisattva who bears in mind these dhāraṇīs will come face to face with all the flashes of insight and all analytical knowledges (pratibhāna'pratisaṃvida)’ (Mpsū: 488-489). 71 The Bodhisattva’s skillfulness ‘in the cognition of sounds’ will be remembered here (Mpsū: 162); for instance, the Central Asian dhāraṇī master Fotudeng (?-349 CE) ‘when he heard the sound of bells, he would foretell events therefrom, and [these prophecies] were never once unfulfilled’ (Wright, 1948: 338). 72 On the dharmabhāṇakas’ pratisaṃvids and mantra mastery, see section 1.2.2.1., and n. 38. 39 2.2. Indian Mahāyāna Mahāyāna Definitions and Classifications 2.2.1. In Sūtras ūtras As was said before, dhāraṇī term was closely linked to Mahāyāna Sūtras from their beginnings.73 The Buddhabhūmyupadeśa even commented upon the expression ‘at one time’ from the sentence ‘Thus have I heard at one time’, as ‘he who enunciated (this doctrine) has attained dhāraṇīs and, in one word, in one instant, he was able to convey all doctrines’ (Bubhū: 7). Hence, the present section will focus on an overview on the dhāraṇī’s understandings according to several Mahāyāna Sūtras following a chronological order. Overall, the Prajñāpāramitā'sūtras already established the seminal foundations to the emergence of ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs, and at the same time, they constitute the earliest Mahāyāna reformulation of those non-Vedic, Vedic and Śaiva mantric factors assimilable to Buddhism, as protection, memorizing and condensation of knowledge, eloquence, spiritual realization through language, and the identity between language and ultimate reality.74 Already it was stated that the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā'sūtra recognized mantras and vidyās as an attribute of the irreversible Bodhisattva, and the same Scripture identified itself as a mahā'vidyā, bestowing five ‘advantages even here and now’ (dṛṣṭadhārmikas) to the Bodhisattva ‘who bear it in mind’ (dhārayisyati): avoiding disputes, harmonious speech, avoiding to be killed in battle, omniscience, and getting safety in those places where the Scripture is deposited (Aṣṭa.3.27-29; PWE'S.III.50-57).75 In the Mahāprājñāpāramitā'sūtra, after obtaining the dhāraṇīs and producing the pratisaṃvids, the Bodhisattva remembers the Dharma ‘even after he has died’ until he would attain omniscience (Mpsū: 532), and is ‘able to utter and retain in his mind all the languages, agreed symbols and meaningful sounds’ (Mpsū: 541). Moreover, the Bodhisattva cultivates the recognition that ‘this deep perfection of wisdom is the entrance to all the syllables and the door to the dhāraṇīs’ (Mpsū: 488), and this realization is obtained through contemplating the ‘arapacana’ syllabary, which will allow her/him a kind of detachment in which she/he ‘will not be tied down by any sounds, he will accomplish everything through the sameness of all dharmas, and he will acquire the skill in the cognition of sounds’ (Mpsū: 162). Later on, the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya'sūtra would summarize all factors already referred to within its mantra, as being identical to the Prajñāpāramitā, and described as: ‘A great mantra, a great vidyā'mantra, the utmost mantra, the unequalled mantra, allayer of all suffering’ (Pph.VIII). Lastly, for the Bhagavatī'prajñāpāramitā'sarva'tathāgata'mātā'ekākṣarā'nāma, the Prajñāpāramitā is identical to the syllable ‘A’ (Ekāk: 201).76 73 See Appendix D section (a). 74 On these non-Buddhist mantric backgrounds, see sections 1.1.1. and 1.1.2., and on their influence upon Mahāyāna, see section 1.2.2. 75 On the relationship between antarāyas, dṛṣṭadhārmikas, and mantra/dhāraṇī practice, see Appendix D section (a), n. 195, and section 3.2.1. 76 This identification denotes an esoterization of the Prajñāpāramitā Scriptures (Conze, 2000: 87). On the syllable «A»’s Vajrayāna meaning, see section 2.3. 40 Besides the Prajñāpāramitā'sūtras, in other Mahāyāna Scriptures the dhāraṇī concept gradually would become more explicit in terms of definition and methods. What follows is a basic survey of the most relevant texts on this respect.77 The Ajātaśatrukaukṛtyavinodanā'sūtra (147-186 CE) defines dhāraṇī as memory, intelligence, eloquence, and the capacity to ‘maintain the Buddha’s lineage’ (Tr. Pagel, 2007a: 83, n. 67). Here dhāraṇī is understood more as knowledge and a soteriological language mastery than as just memory, moreover, it adds the factor of ‘preserving’ the Dharma, denoting thus the dhāraṇī’s protective faculty. Despite the fact that this Sūtra does not include any protective mantras, the contemporary Druma'kinnara'rāja' paripṛcchā'sūtra (c. 170-190 CE) does, including a mantra'pada for the ‘protection, preservation and defense’ of the Sūtra and the Sangha (Harrison/Coblin, 1999: 151),78 which makes explicit the identification of dhāraṇī as a mantra capable of ‘maintaining the Buddha’s lineage’. However, the later Akṣayamatinirdeśa'sūtra (265-316 CE) will narrow dhāraṇī’s definition as memory itself and the means of retaining in memory the Buddha’s teachings (Braarvig, 1985: 18), but without specifying what those means would be. The contemporary Bhadramāyākāra'vyākaraṇa (265-316 CE) offers a hint on the nature of those ‘means’ when it points out ‘to aim at understanding the hidden sense of the Tathāgata’s teaching by means of setting words and letters in the right order’, as one of those means to attain dhāraṇī (Bhadra.115). But it is the Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśa'sūtra (265-316 CE) that offers the most detailed account of dhāraṇī practice, describing eight dhāraṇīs that ‘serve primarily to secure the transmission of the Dharma and thereby contribute to universal liberation’. Most of those dhāraṇīs revolve around language mastery: the ability to condense any number of teachings within the sound ‘A’, ‘arapacana’ syllabary’s contemplation, and the four pratisaṃvids’ accomplishment, establishing thus ‘a close link between dhāraṇī, scriptural memory and teaching’ (Pagel 2007b: 175-180). In the same vein, numerous Scriptures emphasized the value conducive to enlightenment of the syllable ‘A’, as the Kuśalamūlasaṃparigraha'sūtra (384-417 CE): ‘the portal to [the sound] ‘A’ is a portal that leads to imperishable gnosis (jñāna) and eloquence (pratibhāna)’. Nevertheless, ‘A’ is not manifesting an eternal principle as the Vedic and Śaiva Tantric ‘A’ does; instead, the Mahāyāna chose it because it is emphasizing ‘A’ as the privative particle ‘a’ in Sanskrit grammar, demonstrating in this way the ineffable and indefinable nature of language and all dharmas (Pagel, 2007a: 63-64, n. 51). Accordingly, the Mahāyāna approach to language is focused, on the one hand, to prove its conventional nature lacking any inherent existence, and on the other hand, its inability to express ultimate reality, that for definition, is inexpressible, ‘for not in the letters is the perfection of wisdom’ (Mpsū: 209). In the last analysis, the Mahāyāna mastery of language is aimed at its deconstruction. The syllables are ‘inexhaustible’ (akṣaya) not because they are eternal as the Vedas claim, but because their grammatical meaning, as that of all dharmas, ‘has no proper reality’ (Bhadra.114). For instance, contemplating the syllable ‘VA’ prompts that ‘the sound of the paths of speech (vākpathaghosha) has been quite cut off’ (Mpsū: 160).79 Being 77 The dates are of the first Sūtra’s Chinese translation according to CCBT: 182, 161, 74, 35, 79, and 425, respectively. 78 See Appendix D section (c). 79 On this Mahāyāna language’s deconstruction, see section 1.2.2.1. 41 faithful to this position, the ‘meaningless’ nature of mantras/dhāraṇīs will be emphasized by Asaṅga. 2.2.2. In Treatises (Śāstra (Śāstras) Śāstras) Undoubtedly, the two most influential definitions of dhāraṇī within a Mahāyāna context appear in the Mahāprajñāpāramitā'śāstra attributed to Nāgārjuna (fourth century CE), and in the Asaṅga’s Bodhisattvabhūmi (c. 310-390 CE). Their influence would be projected on successive Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna texts. The Mahāprajñāpāramitā'śāstra gives the following definition of dhāraṇī: Dhāraṇī … means ‘able to maintain’ (dhāraṇa), or ‘able to dispel’ (vidhāraṇa). As for being able to maintain, once one has collected all wholesome dharmas (kuśaladharma), one is able to maintain them (dhārayati) so that they do not scatter or become lost. It is like an intact vessel (bhājana), which, when it is filled with water, the water does not leak out. As for being able to dispel, the unwholesome roots (akuśalamūla) that [are wont to be] born in the mind are dispelled (vidhārayati) and not born. If there is the desire to commit evil, [the Dhāraṇī] will take hold and not allow oneself to commit it. This Dhāraṇī either is associated to the mind (cittasaṃprayukta) or is dissociated to the mind (cittaviprayukta); is either defiled (sāsrava) or undefiled (anāsrava). It is formless (ārūpya), invisible (anidarśana), and unhindered (apratigha); it is contained within one element (dhātu), within one sense field (āyatana), within one aggregate (skandha), that is, the Dharmadhātu, the Dharmāyatana, and the Saṃskāraskandha … Moreover, the Bodhisattva who possess the Dhāraṇī, due to the power of his memory (smṛtibala), is able to keep and not forget all teachings he hears (śrutadharma) (Mppś.I: 317-318). Here dhāraṇī is understood mainly as a ‘mental formation’ (saṃskāra) contained within the ‘Saṃskāraskandha’, that protects the practitioner through a double function of holding the wholesome dharmas and avoiding the unwholesome ones, and as already had been noted, this ‘dhāraṇī'saṃskāra’ goes with the Bodhisattva’s mental continuum through all her/his existences. As to the question of how to realize this dhāraṇī, in another passage from the Mahāprajñāpāramitā'śāstra several methods are described, among others, those dhāraṇī'mukhas of mantra practice and ‘arapacana’ syllabary’s contemplation (Mppś.IV: 1864-1868).80 Here again the basic twofold understanding of dhāraṇī is found as a faculty holding attributes as protection, memory, knowledge and ethics, and as a method to attain it. In this case, as faculty, dhāraṇī is understood as a ‘mental formation’ able to hold the wholesome and reject the unwholesome, and as method, dhāraṇī is mostly related to a language mastery also including mantras and the ‘arapacana’ syllabary, that can be understood as ‘sonic formations’ endowed of soteriological efficacy, hence, this proves that dhāraṇī term was selected to assimilate the non-Buddhist notion of mantra.81 However, the identification of dhāraṇī as mantra is still not made fully explicit by the Mahāprajñāpāramitā'śāstra, to do that, it should be turned to the fourfold dhāraṇī definition according to the Asaṅga’s Bodhisattvabhūmi:82 80 See the śrutadhara'dhāraṇī and the akṣarapraveśa'dhāraṇī on section 2.1.3.1. 81 On dhāraṇī’s definition as ‘mental formation’, see section 2.1.1. On the Vedic, Śaiva Tantric and Indo-Tibetan Vajrayāna definitions of mantra, see sections 1.1.1.1., 1.1.2.2., and 2.3. respectively. 82 Because of space limitations, here the long Asaṅga text will be summarized. 42 -‘Dharma'dhāraṇī: By her/his memorizing and wisdom faculties, the Bodhisattva retains innumerable teachings (Dharmas) in their names, phrases, and phonemes. -Artha'dhāraṇī: It is the same as the previous one, but here the meanings (artha) of those teachings are retained. -Mantra'dhāraṇī: i.e., ‘a dhāraṇī that is a mantra’. Because of her/his samādhi mastery, the Bodhisattva ‘spiritually supports’ (adhiṣṭhita) the mantra'words (mantra' padas), becoming thus ‘supremely effective and infallible’ to appease the distresses of sentient beings. -Bodhisattva'kṣānti'lābhāya'dhāraṇī: i.e., ‘the dhāraṇī which give rise to the receptivity of a Bodhisattva’. It consists in meditating on the sense of a mantra promulgated by the Buddha as ‘tadyathā iṭi miṭi kiṭi bhikṣānti padāni svāhā’, until it is realized that these mantra-words have no meaning, this, namely ‘no-meaningness’ (nitarthathā), is indeed their meaning.83 Then, the Bodhisattva realizes the meaning of all dharmas as follows: the meaning of the ‘own being’ (svabhāva) of all dharmas is not completely revealed by any number of words; the absence of expressible essence is the meaning of their essence (tr. Inagaki, in Anir: 14-15; Kapstein, 2001: 237-238). This Asaṅga’s dhāraṇī definition is highly significant because it makes the identification of dhāraṇī clear as mantra within a Mahāyāna prescriptive framework. Although Asaṅga was not explicit on how to attain dharma'dhāraṇī and artha'dhāraṇī, it is quite likely that mantras also were used for that purpose, as the quoted passage from the Mahāprajñāpāramitā'śāstra made it clear.84 Concerning mantra'dhāraṇī, Asaṅga adds to the standard dhāraṇī qualities as protection, memory, and knowledge, a key soteriological one as ‘suffering’s allayer’, which indicates a tendency developed later for those dhāraṇīs focused on the removal of karmic obstructions.85 In other places of the Bodhisattvabhūmi, Asaṅga refers to the Bodhisattva’s samādhi mastery as the power endowing of adhiṣṭhāna to mantras and making them effective for two reasons: because the Bodhisattva attained a special dhyāna called ‘dispenser of spiritual support’ (adhiṣṭhāyaka) having as its object the relief of beings and that provides a basis for mantra efficacy (Eltschinger, 2001: 66-67), and because the Bodhisattva’s bodhicitta, being able to make effective any kind of mantras and vidyās to heal sentient beings’ ills (Wangchuk, 2007: 164).86 Lastly, the bodhisattva'kṣānti'lābhāya'dhāraṇī identifies mantra practice with realizing the empty and inexpressible nature of all phenomena, hence, it follows the language’s deconstructive approach characteristic of the Mahāyāna.87 But Asaṅga’s dhāraṇī definition was not limited to justifying mantra practice within Mahāyāna, it also involved ‘a doctrinal warrant for the expansion of practices allied with those of esoteric Buddhism’ (Kapstein, 2001: 238). Now the Vajrayāna understandings of dhāraṇī will be studied. 83 In fact, this is a ‘meaningless’ mantra (Gyatso, 1992: 176). However, on the supposed dhāraṇīs’ unintelligibility, see Appendix B-1. 84 See the śrutadhara'dhāraṇī in section 2.1.3.1. 85 See section 3.3.2. 86 On adhiṣṭhāna applied to dhāraṇīs, see section 1.2.2.2. paragraph (a). 87 See sections 1.2.2.1. and 2.2.1. 43 2.3. IndoIndo-Tibetan Vajrayāna Vajrayāna Definitions and Classifications As was stated previously, with the Vajrayāna, dhāraṇī is identified as mantra and was object of elaborated rationales, highlighting those from the Mañjuśrīmūla' kalpa, the Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi'tantra, and the Vajraśekharamahāguhyayoga'tantra, that will be summarized below.88 According to the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, the buddhavacana consists of mantras/dhāraṇīs uttered by ‘all Buddhas’ throughout time. The mantras/dhāraṇīs arise from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas’ meditative absorption, or in more concrete terms, because of their ‘power of miraculous transformation’ (Skt. vikurvaṇa'bala), Buddhas and Bodhisattvas themselves are transformed into mantras/dhāraṇīs (Wallis, 2002: 31-34).89 The term vikurvaṇa means ‘the capacity to effect, by sheer psychic power, the transformation, displacement or multiplication of the human body’, and this power emanates from Bodhisattvas who have accomplished ultimate reality or the ‘Dharma Realm’ (dharmadhātu) in its aspect of manifestation of magical productions (Gómez, 1977: 225, 228).90 Therefore, the mantras/dhāraṇīs are linguistic spaces occupied by the consciousness and energy of enligthened beings, sonic embodiments of their power. That is why each mantra/dhāraṇī has a specific function: soteriological ‘essence mantras’ (hṛdaya'mantras), ‘all-accomplishing’ ‘near-essence mantras’ (upahṛdaya' mantras), ‘invocation mantras’ (āhvānana'mantras), and so on.91 The Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa acknowledged the inclusion of mantras from the Atharvaveda and those belonging to Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava deities as a conversion device, which reflected a context quite inclined to religious eclecticism.92 The Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi'tantra refers to Bodhisattvas that because of their pure minds, obtain ‘dhāraṇīs in unlimited languages, sounds and tones’ (Vai' ta.I.I.13), which allows them to know others’ minds, preserving the Buddhas’ 88 On the first two Tantras, see section 1.2.3. n. 56. The seventh century CE Vajraśekharamahāguhyayoga'tantra (abbreviated as Vajraśekhara) is the main explanatory Scripture of the Yoga Tantras (Rgyud: 25). 89 One of the names of the Dhāraṇī Scripture Ārya Mahābala'Nāma'Mahāyānasūtra is that of being the ‘magical transformation (vikurvaṇa) of the Tathāgata’, in the sense that such Scripture ‘will accomplish the Tathāgata’s acts’ after his parinirvāṇa (Bala: 61.24-25, 64.7-17). 90 According to the Mahāyāna, dharmadhātu has as its foundation the dharmatā, i.e., the fundamental purity of all dharmas because they are unoriginated, its goal is the buddhatā, i.e., the sphere of a Buddha’s gnosis, including the scope and range of his actions, its path is the bodhicaryā, i.e., the cultivation of the ultimate object of enlightenment, and it also includes the accumulation of the wholesome roots, bringing all beings to enlightenment, and the manifestation of magical productions (Gómez, 1977: 228-229). See the dharmadhātu as identical to the mantras’ dharmatā, below. 91 On some of these categories within a dhāraṇī formula, see below. 92 As strategies emphasizing its supremacy, the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa claimed that those nonBuddhist mantras were in fact promulgated by the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī disguised as one of the Hindu deities (Wallis, 2002: 46-49), it also stated that all non-Buddhist mantras and rituals are effective if they are recited in front of the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa’s maṇḍala (Granoff, 2000: 404409). On the dhāraṇī practice in a ritual context, see section 3.1.2. 44 teachings and getting their protection (Müller, 1976: 117). Besides recognizing those standard dhāraṇī features though, this Tantra elaborated a mantra theory also applicable to dhāraṇīs that will be summarized below. The term mantra refers to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas because they are endowed with ‘knowledge’ (man') and ‘protection’ ('tra). ‘Mantra’ also refers to the words (pada) of their liberation methods and to the syllables transforming into Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (Vai'ta.I.I.3). Despite Buddhas and Bodhisattvas promulgating mantras, they do not create them, because the mantras’ nature is identical to the intrinsic nature of all dharmas (dharmatā).93 Despite the mantras’ dharmatā being unconditioned, it is able to endow words and syllables with ‘spiritual support’ (adhiṣṭhāna), and this support is twofold: a relative one, understood as words and syllables manifesting the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas’ qualities and realizations, and an absolute one, as syllables manifesting the intrinsic emptiness of all phenomena.94 This twofold relative and absolute nature of mantra is reflected in its basic unit, the ‘syllable’ (akṣara), understood as an ‘unchanging intrinsic nature’ endowed with three characteristics: (1) syllable as sound, denotes mantra syllables and are ‘unchanging’ because their sound constantly manifest the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas’ accomplishments; (2) syllable as ‘Enlightenment-Mind’ (bodhicitta), refers to the intrinsic nature of suchness (tathatā), fundamentally manifesting itself as the syllable ‘A’, understood as the essence of all mantras and being identical to bodhicitta (Bodhi: 241); and (3) syllable as energy, since all syllables depend on the syllable ‘A’, this is the ‘vital-energy’ (jiva) and the ‘life-force’ (prāṇa) of all syllables. This ‘vital-energy’ of ‘A’ is twofold: relative one, because the rest of syllables could not be uttered if they lacked the syllable ‘A’, and absolute one, because the syllable ‘A’ produces the knowledge (jñāna) realizing that ‘all phenomena are primordially unborn and unarisen’ (Vai'ta.II.X.9-10; II.XVIII.34).95 Nevertheless, the producing constancy of the syllable ‘A’ limits itself to be the cause for all Dharma accomplishments and ‘all Scriptural Dharma’ (Vai'ta.II.X.10), hence, it is not a cosmogonical and/or a metaphysical constancy as it is the case with 93 Such identity is also referred to in the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṅgraha'tantra (Eltschinger, 2001: 122). Here a parallel is established with a pivotal axiom already signaled in the Nikāyas, i.e., if the Buddhas do not create the Dhamma, but they discover it because ‘the stableness of the Dhamma’ (P. dhammaṭṭhitatā) ‘still persists’ (SN.II.25), likewise, the Buddhas do not create the mantras, but they promulgate them because ‘their intrinsic nature [i.e., their dharmatā] has always been present’ (Vai'ta.II.II.81). However, there is a key difference between both approaches: the Nikāyas’ dhammaṭṭhitatā is stable only because its nature is a ‘fixed condition’ (SN.II.25, n. 51, p. 741), i.e., it always remains within the conditioned sphere of reality, the Mahāyāna/Vajrayāna’s dharmatā instead, given that it is identical to the dharmadhātu (see n. 90 above), is a ‘fixed non'condition’ capable of operating within the conditioned, because according to Nāgārjuna, nirvāṇa and dharmatā are both ‘non-arisen and non-ceased’ (Mūkā.18.7). On the Vajrayāna mantras’ dharmatā, see below. 94 This Tantra recognizes two kinds of adhiṣṭhāna: the dharmatā’s as it is referred to above, and the Buddha’s, on this, see below. On the Buddhas’ adhiṣṭhāna on dhāraṇīs, see section 1.2.2.2. paragraph (a). 95 Cf. the meaning of ‘A’ according to the ‘arapacana’ syllabary, see Appendix B-2, Chart 2, No. 1. 45 the Vedic and Śaiva Tantric akṣara.96 Undoubtedly, with this understanding of akṣara, the Vajrayāna approach differs from the deconstructive Mahāyāna one already referred to, however, both approaches also differ on how they understand emptiness, not in its nature itself, but in its linguistic functioning. If the Mahāyāna conceives emptiness as inexpressible, the Vajrayāna instead, emphasizes emptiness’s power to produce innumerable meanings.97 Put in different terms, if the Mahāyāna illuminates mantras/dhāraṇīs to exhaust them into silence, the Vajrayāna illuminate them to unleash their enlightening sonic/linguistic power.98 Likewise, if the Śaiva Tantric mantra realization is based exclusively on a ‘grace act’ bestowed by the absolute as Rudra/Śiva (Sanderson, 1988: 665), that of Vajrayāna instead, only will be manifested through the concurrence between the dharmatā’s constant transformative power and several causes and conditions (Vai'ta.II.VI.17). Among those conditions, stand out ethical purity (Vai'ta.III.V.9), generating bodhicitta, understanding Dependent Arising (Vai'ta.II.VI.10), visualizing the deity and reciting the mantra properly, and the Buddha’s adhiṣṭhāna (Vai'ta.II.VI.95).99 According to the Vajraśekhara, the characteristic of mantras is identical to the mind of all Buddhas, to Dharma’s realization, and posseses the dharmadhātu. This threefold mantra characterization is manifested by three types of mantras: (a) ‘secret mantra’ (Skt. guhya'mantra), (b) ‘knowledge mantra’ (Skt. vidyā'mantra), and (c) ‘dhāraṇī'mantra’. The guhya'mantra is called ‘mantra’ because it protects the mind from signs (from sense objects) and discursive thought (vikalpa), and because it is the nonduality of void (man') and compassion ('tra), and it is ‘secret’ because it is outside the scope of non-Buddhist gods and ‘Hīnayāna’ practitioners. The vidyā'mantra denotes ‘countering avidyā (nescience) by overcoming the darkness of passion and by overcoming defilements’, and the character of the dhāraṇī'mantra is ‘to hold the Buddha-dharmas; its holding is called ‘holding of dharmas’ and ‘virtue’ (Tr. Wayman, 1990: 64-65). This threefold mantra classification would be retained by later authors who, while keeping their basic characteristics, would also add to them new factors. According to the Bhāvaviveka’s Tarkajvāla, the guhya'mantra reveals the esoteric 96 See sections 1.1.1.1. and 1.1.2.2. If the Nikāyas emphasize metaphorically that Buddha’s Dhamma has only ‘one taste’, that of liberation (P dhammavinayo ekaraso vimuttiraso) (Mppś.III: 1588, n. 1), likewise, Vajrayāna emphasizes literally that the Buddha’s Dharma has only ‘a constant sound’, that of Buddhahood. 97 As Kakuban put it: ‘Exotericism [i.e. Mahāyāna] explains that principle decidedly lacks expression. Esotericism [i.e. Vajrayāna] explains that principle has countless expressions’ (Gorin: 266). On the Dharma'kāya’s preaching (hosshin seppō), see section 2.4.2. 98 As illustration of both approaches, there is the following exchange within a Korean Sŏn/dhāraṇī practice context: ‘The master asked a monk … How about the dhāraṇī of no characters? The monk answered: [That is] the character a. The master said: That is one character! The monk had no answer. The master said: You are now manifesting the True Way!’ (Sørensen, 2005: 66-67). However, for the Vajrayāna approach ‘the emptiness of language and conceptual thought is just as empty as anything else, and that since emptiness marks the character of awakened consciousness, the emptiness of language and conceptual thought is just as much awakened consciousness’ (Payne, 2006: 96, n. 63). On the dhāraṇī faculty to unleash meanings, see section 2.4.2. 99 On the ethical/doctrinal foundations for the dhāraṇī/mantra practice, see section 3.1.1. 46 meaning of the syllables expressing the Buddha’s knowledge and bestows the power to accomplish one’s own wishes, the vidyā'mantra extinguishes the defilements (kleśa), and the dhāraṇī'mantra pacifies misdeeds and counteracts its roots (Tr. Kapstein, 2001: 248).100 According to the ninth century CE Tibetan lexicon Sgra sbyor bam gnyis, the guhya'mantra ‘captures and secretly invokes the deity of the mantra’, the vidyā'mantra is an ‘antidote to ignorance, embodied as a goddess’,101 and the dhāraṇī'mantra retains without forgetfulness and acquires special sequences (Tr. Kapstein, 2001: 254, n. 34). And according to the Drukpa Kagyu scholar Pema Karpo (1527-1592 CE), who identified mantras as Tantras, the guhya'mantras are Tantras that expound the method aspect of the male deity, the vidyā'mantras are Tantras that expound the wisdom aspect of female deity, and the dhāraṇī'mantras recollect the import of guhya and vidyā mantras, and also are Tantras including both male and female aspects of one Tantra (Shes.V: 457, n. 70). From a different perspective, the Indian Jñanavajra (eleventh century CE) understood dhāraṇī as a long formula made up of a series of mantras ‘because it retains many meanings and terms’, and recognized two types: a vidyā'dhāraṇī if it evokes a female deity, and a mantra'dhāraṇī if it evokes a male deity (Wayman, 1984b: 421-422). In the same vein as Jñanavajra’s, it was established a dhāraṇī division composed basically of three kinds of mantras: a ‘root mantra’ (mūla'mantra), an ‘essence mantra’ (hṛdaya'mantra), and a ‘near-essence mantra’ (upahṛdaya'mantra) (Rgyud: 116-118, n. 18).102 To summarize, the Indo-Tibetan Vajrayāna, besides acknowledging the Mahāyāna dhāraṇī’s faculties as memory, virtue accumulation and language mastery, identified it as a type of mantra, as a mantra composed by several mantras, and as a type of non-dual Tantra, and in all those cases involved, the dhāraṇī’s soteriological nature was emphasized. Now the East Asian Vajrayāna understandings on the dhāraṇī will be studied. 2.4. East Asian Vajrayāna Vajrayāna Definitions and Classifications 2.4.1. In China The use of incantatory formulas or ‘spells’ (Ch. zhou) as antidote against diseases and demonic influences already was practised by early Chinese Daoists, hence, the introduction of Buddhist mantras/dhāraṇīs in China (second-third centuries CE) was received with great interest (Kieschnick, 1997: 82-83). However, the apparent resemblance between zhou and mantras/dhāraṇīs caused confusions and controversies 100 Bhāvaviveka’s definitions are inserted into his defence on mantra efficacy as meditation method (bhāvanākāra) conducive to enlightenment, as he expressed it against a ‘Śrāvaka’ criticism alleging the non-Buddhist origin of mantras, their irrationality, and lack of any soteriological value (Braarvig, 1997: 33-36; Kapstein, 2001: 240-243). 101 As it was defined by Abhayākaragupta (eleventh century CE): ‘For the purpose of eliminating nescience (avidyā) and promoting clear vision (vidyā) are the vidyās’ (Wayman, 1984b: 421). On the vidyā'mantra and its synonyms, see section 2.1.2.2. 102 According to a traditional interpretation, the mūla'mantra invokes the awakened body of a deity, the hṛdaya'mantra its awakened speech, and the upahṛdaya'mantra its mind (Shes.VIII: 233, n. 7). For a more complex dhāraṇī’s division, see Amog: 295-298. 47 between Daoists and Buddhists. To rectify such a situation, Amoghavajra, who ‘showed superiority particularly in dhāraṇī’ (Chou, 1945: 302), composed the Zongshi tuoluoni jing (A Complete Explication of the Meaning of Dhāraṇīs), where a normative definition of dhāraṇī is established, which will be summarized below. The mantras/dhāraṇīs condense the accumulation of Buddhas’ enlightenment, and their syllables and words receive their adhiṣṭhāna.103 Amoghavajra defines four terms: ‘encompassing retention’ (Skt. dhāraṇī; Ch. tuoluoni), ‘true words’ (Skt. mantra; Ch. zhenyan), ‘secret words’ (Skt. guhya'mantra; Ch. miyán), and ‘illumination’ (Skt. vidyā; Ch. ming), applying to each one four categories: (1) ‘dharma’ (i.e., ‘nature’), (2) ‘meaning’, (3) ‘samādhi’ (i.e., ‘practice’), and (4) ‘text’ or ‘hearing’ (i.e., ‘linguistic expressions’). -Dhāraṇī: Its ‘dharma’ is the removal of defilements and attaining the dharmadhātu teachings. Its ‘meaning’ is the obtaining of eloquence and the understanding of innumerable teachings within the meaning of a single syllable. Its ‘samādhi’ develops uncountable samādhis, the five abhijñās, allowing rebirth in any of the six planes of existence. Its ‘text’ is remembering all the Scriptures forever. -Mantra: Its ‘dharma’ is the dharmadhātu understood as mantra.104 Its ‘meaning’ corresponds to emptiness, and each of its syllables contains the characteristic of reality. Its ‘samādhi’ is arranging the mantra’s syllables upon a moon disc and concentrating the mind upon it. Its ‘text’ are all words and syllables, from oṃ to svāhā. -Guhya'mantra: Its ‘dharma’ is the non-Buddhist mantras and those of the Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas, together with their rites and accomplishments (siddhis).105 Its ‘meaning’ is only understood by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Its ‘samādhi’ is the imposition of its syllables on the body to transform its coarse form into a subtle one.106 Its ‘hearing’ is the secret transmission of those mantras, their practices and accomplishments. -Vidyā: Its ‘dharma’ is the removal of ignorance and defilements. Its ‘meaning’ is the yogic understanding of the Prajñāpāramitā. Its ‘samādhi’ is the contemplation of its seed syllables within the mind’s moon disc. Its ‘hearing’ is grasping the Dharma, the delusion’s removal, and the accomplishment of bodhicitta.107 Whether they are one-syllable mantras or myriad-syllable ones, they are all named dhāraṇīs, mantras, guhya'mantras, and vidyās (Zong: 151-154). Amoghavajra definition of dhāraṇī provides three key elements: as included within the text’s title, dhāraṇī denotes a general designation integrating all typologies of mantric expressions; as a particular typology, dhāraṇī, besides including its standard faculties as memory, eloquence, and samādhi, its soteriological value as a 103 On the Buddhas’ adhiṣṭhāna on dhāraṇīs, see section 1.2.2.2. paragraph (a). 104 On the identity of mantras and dharmadhātu understood as dharmatā, see section 2.3. 105 Here it is implicitly acknowledged the non-Buddhist origin, i.e., non-Vedic, Vedic and Śaiva, of those mantras assimilated by some mainstream Buddhist schools, see section 1.2.1.1. and Appendix C. 106 107 See Vai'ta.II.XIX. On the Śaiva Tantric nyāsa, see section 1.1.2.2. On the vidyā'mantra’s definitions, see sections 2.1.2.2. and 2.3. Here the vidyā’s ‘meaning’ may be explained by the continuity between the vidyā'mantra’s feminine nature, and that of the Prajñāpāramitā as the ‘mother of all Buddhas’ because ‘the all-knowledge of the Tathāgatas has come forth from her’ (Aṣṭa.12.125-126; PWE'S.XII.253-255). 48 remover of defilements and accomplisher of dharmadhātu is also recognized, and particularly, its ability to condense in one syllable innumerable Sūtras; and from a formal level, dhāraṇī is identified as a mantra regardless of the number of syllables it may contain, hence, dhāraṇī is interchangeable with mantra, guhya'mantra, and vidyā.108 As will be analysed below, Kūkai would highlight the comprehensive nature of dhāraṇī and its function as meaning condenser. 2.4.2. In Japan It should be remembered here that Kūkai emphasized the ability of the Dharma'kāya to preach the Dharma (hosshin seppō), and the key role played by the dhāraṇī to unveil the innumerable contents of such preaching.109 This vast semantic potential of the dhāraṇī lies in its comprehensive nature. The Chinese master of Kūkai, Huiguo (746-805 CE), taught him that the terms vidyā, zhou, guhya'mantra, and mantra ‘illustrate only a limited aspect of dhāraṇī’, i.e., dhāraṇī as vidyā reveals wisdom’s light, as zhou eliminates misfortune, as guhya'mantra points to the secret of the dhāraṇī, and as mantra suggests that dhāraṇī contains only truth and no falsehood. Kūkai accepted this comprehensive understanding of dhāraṇī and conceived mantra (Jap. shingon) term as denoting the esoteric function of dhāraṇī as ‘to unleash countless meanings from within each letter of a word. Because of this, dhāraṇī is translated as sōji, the container of all’ (Abé, 1999: 263-264). Kūkai intrepreted this translation as ‘container of all’ with the meaning of ‘within a single letter all teachings are contained, within a single dharma all dharmas are contained, within a single meaning all meanings are contained, and within a single sound all virtues are stored’ (Bonji: 140). Such dhāraṇī faculty ‘to unleash countless meanings’ is based on a principle holding two correspondences: (1) the correspondence between ‘sound’, ‘sign’ and ‘reality’, and (2) the correspondence and interpenetration between elements, languages on all planes of existence, signs of sense objects, and the Dharma'kāya. According to Kūkai, no ‘sound’ is arbitrary, but it invariably expresses the name of something, and this is termed ‘sign’. Thus, a name invariably evokes the essence of an object, and this is called ‘reality’, and the distinctions between ‘sound’, ‘sign’, and ‘reality’ are called their ‘meanings’.110 For instance, mantras correspond to ‘sounds’, their syllables and names correspond to ‘signs’, and the real characteristics of the diverse deities, i.e., their accomplishments and virtues, correspond to ‘reality’ (Shōji: 86, 89). Likewise, the five elements (earth, water, fire, wind, and space) are the original essence of sound, hence, all of them have acoustic vibrations, and correspond 108 On this aspect the East Asian Vajrayāna differentiates from the Tibetan Vajrayāna, which usually designates dhāraṇīs as ‘long mantras’ (DEB: 369). 109 See sections 1.2.3. and 2.3. n. 97. Hosshin seppō’s notion is already traceable in several Mahāyāna sources, as this one: ‘the Buddhas of the Body of the law (dharmakāyabuddha) throw beams (raśmi) without ceasing and preach the law without ceasing, but because of their faults, those beings do not see them and do not listen to them’ (Mppś.I: 546). See more sources in Ben: 19-60. 110 Although Kūkai is assuming here the Vedic correspondence between words/objects (see section 1.1.1.), he does it emphasizing its ‘meaningful’ aspect but without reifying it into an ‘eternal’ or ‘fixed’ one, because the ultimate nature of all names, mantras, and syllables is empty and unborn, see below, and sections 2.3. and 2.4.1. 49 to five syllables, five Buddhas, etc.111 And languages on all planes of existence arise from sound, and likewise occurs with the sense objects’ names or ‘signs’ and their constitutive aggregates, and the Dharma'kāya means that all dharmas (i.e., ‘sounds’, ‘signs’, ‘elements’, ‘planes’ languages’, and ‘sense objects’) are originally unborn, and this correspond to ‘reality’ (Shōji: 90-103).112 Coming back to the dhāraṇī’s function as ‘container of all’ already mentioned, it will become clear with the esoteric interpretation made by Kūkai on Asaṅga’s fourfold dhāraṇī definition:113 the dharma'dhāraṇī consists of the fact that ‘a dharma represented by a single letter itself forms the basis for [knowing] all other dharmas. In each letter all dharmas are held’; the artha'dhāraṇī means that ‘within a single letter is encompassed the meanings of all the teachings’; the mantra'dhāraṇī entails that when reciting this single letter all sufferings are relieved and enlightenment is gained; and the kṣānti'lābhāya'dhāraṇī consists in the unceasing practice of this single letter, then one will eliminate all delusions, afflictions, and karmic hindrances and suddenly realize the innate wisdom of enlightenment. Kūkai concludes emphasizing his principle based on the correspondence/interpenetration af all dharmas (see above), because ‘the meaning of any single letter contains within it the truth of the meanings of all other letters’ (Bonji: 141).114 According to this Kūkai’s interpretation, dhāraṇī goes beyond the position assigned by Asaṅga as one modality of dhāraṇī conceived as mantra'dhāraṇī, and becomes a mantra able to accomplish the four purposes of the Asaṅga’s definition, i.e., dhāraṇī is a mantra composed by one or more syllables which contemplation allows the Dharma’s memorizing and understanding, and also is able to remove all sufferings and attain enligthenment. Moreover, if the Mahāyāna approach differentiates dhāraṇī as faculty/content and the means to attain it, for Kūkai both meanings are subsumed within the dhāraṇī as mantra. And on the practices, and mundane and/or supramundane goals of the dhāraṇīs will be dealt with in the next chapter. 111 On those quinary Vajrayāna correspondences, see Gorin: 275-292; HBG.I: 4-5; Yamasaki, 1988: 150-151; Williams/Tribe, 2000: 211. 112 Accordingly, ‘the many utterances made by the tongue are all mantras’ (Vai'sū: 138), although in practical terms, the East Asian Vajrayāna (and Kūkai) recognized Sanskrit (i.e., the siddham syllabary) as the only ‘sacred language’ able to preach and realize the Dharma (Bonji: 147; Shōmo: 144). However, such linguistic exclusivism is not followed by the Dhāraṇī Scriptures nor by the Indo-Tibetan Vajrayāna, see Appendix B-1. 113 114 See section 2.2.2. This follows the Prajñāpāramitā teaching asserting ‘within a single letter all letters are contained, and within all letters each single letter is contained’ (Bonji: 140, n. 16; Davidson, 2009: 126). 50 Chapter 3 Functions: Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs in Practice 3.1. Some Premises on Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī Practice 3.1.1 Ethical Foundations Some Dhāraṇī Scriptures present themselves as a path particularly indicated for those who have commited heavily unwholesome actions, such as the monastic ‘defeats’ (pārājikas), or the five acts of ‘immediate’ retribution (Skt. ānantarya) (Ben: 44). Even for other Dhāraṇī'sūtras, following an ethical conduct appears as irrelevant: ‘[This dhāraṇī] will bestow success to she/he who is ethically pure, to she/he who is impure, to she/he who is fasting, to she/he who is not fasting, and even, to she/he engaged in amorous pleasures’ (Bala: 60.24-26). But it would be mistaken to interpret those claims as an invitation to moral laxity. In fact, their goal is to emphasize the dhāraṇīs’ ability to counteract whatever nocive past karma may still hinder a present possibility of spiritual accomplishment for the individual. However, despite the fact that dhāraṇīs define themselves as endowed with quasi ‘omnipotent’ purifying and transformative virtues, those virtues do not preclude an ethical responsibility: ‘The preliminary stage [of a dhāraṇī ritual] will be achieved if one stands immovable in the moral precepts without doubting, even if one were ill-behaved formerly’ (Śikṣā.VI.139; CBD: 137). But going beyond those Scriptural claims, in practical terms all modalities of traditional Buddhist ethics, i.e., Vinaya, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna ones, establish the necessary foundations for a proper dhāraṇī practice. Already it had been noted that mantra practice was accepted within Vinayas of several mainstream Buddhist schools.115 Likewise, the Vinaya also constitutes the ethical basis among the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna dhāraṇī practitioners. To quote just a few examples, before his death, Vasubandhu (320-400 CE) saw a monk ploughing his field, and said: ‘The Law of the Teacher is degenerated’, then recited thrice the Uṣṇīṣavijayā'dhāraṇī in the reverse order and died (Chimpa/Chattopadhyaya, 1970: 174). Of the dhāraṇī master Fotudeng it was said ‘that wine had not passed his teeth, that he had not eaten after noon, that he had never acted without reference to his vows, that he was desiresless and unseeking’ (Wright, 1948: 367). And Amoghavajra was considered a Sarvāstivāda Vinaya master (Orlando, 1981: 136, 156), being lauded by emperor Dai-zong because he ‘held firmly the Vinaya’ and ‘guarded the śīlas’. In fact, a significant group of Chinese monks belonging to the ‘Vinaya school’ (Ch. Jièlù zōng) also practised Vajrayāna, because they found a common basis lying behind the ‘right procedures’ of esoteric rituals (vidhi) and a sound monastic deportment (Chou, 1945: 313). Concerning the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna ethical context, the arising and stabilization of the bodhicitta is an essential condition to accomplish dhāraṇī practice.116 The Trisamayarāja asserts that: ‘He whose thought of enlightenment is firm, and his mind free from attachment, he need have no doubt, and his aim is always accomplished’ (Śikṣā.VI.140; CBD: 137), and the Subāhuparipṛcchā'tantra states that ‘one will be ruined’ if mantras are recited without having generated bodhicitta (Wangchuk, 115 See section 1.2.1.1. and Appendix C. 116 On the bodhicitta as condition to mantras’ efficiency, see section 2.2.2. 51 2007: 158). Besides the bodhicitta, however, an understanding of Mahāyāna teachings is also necessary, i.e., maintaining discipline, having self-control, cultivating compassion, and a grasping of the Interdependent Arising, to produce success in dhāraṇī practice ‘with only a little hardship’ (Vai'ta.II.VI.10; III.VII.54).117 Those factors were integrated within a common ethics for all Tantras and summarized in the ‘four great root pledges’: to have a correct view of the conventional, i.e., the belief in the law of causality; not to forsake the Three Jewels; to safeguard the bodhicitta; and not reject the true initiation (abhiṣeka) (Shes.V: 230). Nevertheless, the Kriyā Tantras’ ethics, which overall is followed by most Dhāraṇī Scriptures, prescribes, besides a mainstream Buddhist ethics, specific precepts of a markedly ritual nature. Now those from the Susiddhikāra'sūtra will be described as a representative example for the whole tradition:118 (1) to take refuge, (2) to confess negative deeds, (3) to generate bodhicitta, (4) to make aspirational wish (praṇidhāna) on the strength of having studied the Tantras and being knowledgeable about ritual procedures, (5) to make an earnest effort to practise giving, (6) to be free from greediness, (7) to be endowed with compassion, (8) to be endowed with patience or receptivity, (9) to be endowed with benevolence, (10) to be endowed with diligence, (11) practising the six kinds of recollection [i.e. the Three Jewels, morality, generosity, and deities], (12) to listen to various teachings, (13) to analyse them with devotion, (14) to recite tantric ritual procedures (vidhi), (15) to make offerings of mantras and mudrās, (16) to draw maṇḍalas, (17) to initiate the ‘four retinues’ [i.e., bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakas, upāsikās] who have a correct view and firm bodhicitta, (18) to expound Tantras to those who abide by their pledges, and (19) to propagate Tantric Scriptures (Wangchuk, 2007: 301).119 Another outstanding feature of Vajrayāna ethics is that mantras/dhāraṇīs themselves are part of the pledges, such as ‘to have impartial and non-judgmental faith in guhya'mantras, vidyā'mantras, and dhāraṇī'mantras’ (Shes.V: 232), to make offerings to mantra formulas, not abandoning hṛdayas and mantras, not disclosing mantras, and not interrupting mantras. Even a method to make amends for the severest transgression, i.e., the abandonment of bodhicitta, consists of reciting mantras (Wangchuk, 2007: 306, 324, 329, 354). To summarize, the Buddhist ethics of all vehicles establishes the key foundations for a sound dhāraṇī practice, and keeping their precepts, vows, and pledges is essential to ‘swiftly gain spiritual attainments’ (Shes.V: 229). Yet, to such ethics can be added, or not, ritual prescriptions. 3.1.2. NonNon-ritual and Ritual approaches Depending on which are their Scriptural sources, the dhāraṇī formulas may adopt two practical approaches: one non-ritual or ‘exoteric’, and one ritual or 117 On the conditions to mantras’ accomplisment according to the Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi' tantra, see section 2.3. 118 This Scripture offers one of the most detailed versions of a mature ‘dhāraṇī ethics’, for other examples, see Shes.V: 231-234, and Wangchuk, 2007: 295-304. Note that the Susiddhikāra' sūtra belongs to certain Vidyādhara'piṭakas, see sections 1.2.2.2. paragraph (d) and 1.2.3. On the dhāraṇī ritual practice, see section 3.1.2. 119 However, dhāraṇīs can be practised without following such ritual precepts or any ritual prescriptions, see section 3.1.2. 52 ‘esoteric’. In the first case, the promulgator (Buddha, Bodhisattva, or deity) utters the dhāraṇī formula and promises its efficacy and concrete benefits to her/his reciter, but does not provide any specific method to practise it; this is the approach followed by most appended dhāraṇīs on Mahāyāna Sūtras.120 In the second case, instead, the promulgator, besides promising the dhāraṇī’s efficacy and benefits, extends her/his efficacy’s pledge (samaya) to its ritual prescriptions, and this is the approach followed by most Dhāraṇī Scriptures, hence, implying a shift from the exoteric sphere to the esoteric one.121 How are both approaches applied in practice? The non-ritual approach is quite straightforward, consisting of reciting the dhāraṇī formula a minimum of three times, a figure already being in use in some early Buddhist formal acts and Vedic rituals.122 However, there are cases where a dhāraṇī formula is extracted from a Dhāraṇī'sūtra to be recited the prescribed number of times exoterically within a communal context. Classical examples of this kind of practice were the ‘permanent recitation’ of the Uṣṇīṣavijayā'dhāraṇī twenty one times every day by all monastics, intended to protect the Chinese empire (Kuo, 2004-2005: 479), or the public dhāraṇīs’ recitations for healing purposes carried out by monastics in medieval Japan (Abé, 1999: 160-163). The non-ritual approach also includes a private recitation of dhāraṇīs along with other sacred texts (Sūtras, verses, etc.) as part of a daily liturgy (Gellner, 1993: 283), or an intensive recitation to attain a concrete goal, such as reciting 800,000 times the Cundīdevī'dhāraṇī to remove ‘all his or her deadly karmic transgressions created since beginningless time’ (T 1077 185a20-22, Cundī: 1), or even a dhāraṇī recitation intended for several purposes as part of the daily monastic schedule, such as it is practised by the East Asian Ch’an/Sŏn/Zen Buddhist monasticisms (Bodiford, 2011: 925-930). Before dealing with the dhāraṇīs’ ritual approach, it would be convenient to summarize its origins. It was stated before that the revelation of Vedic and Śaiva mantras include their ‘application’ (viniyoga), being described with detail in the ritual ‘procedures’ (Skt. kalpa) including their practice methods and precepts (Modak, 1993: 123). A synonym of kalpa is that of ‘prescription’ or ‘ritual manual’ (vidhi), containing instructions so detailed that have the faculty of inviting or summoning the mantra’s deity, because not only the mantra but its kalpa/vidhi as well extract their power from the efficacy’s pledge (samaya) secured by the mantra’s revealer (Eltschinger, 2001: 25, 32). Despite being already included within the Atharvaveda and its Pariśiṣṭas, the kalpa/vidhi stimulated the rising during the Gupta period (320-500 CE) of a new genre of ritual texts such as the Śaiva Āgamas, the Śākta Tantras, and the Vaiṣṇava Samhitās, being replicated by the Buddhist Kalpas (Wallis, 2002: 12) and Dhāraṇī'vidhis, that first circulated independently to be adhered later to the Dhāraṇī'sūtras (Dalton, 2010: 1415).123 120 See Appendix D section (c). 121 See sections 1.2.2.2. paragraphs (a) and (b), and 1.2.3. The nature of such shift was rightly expressed by R. Abé: ‘One of the features that distinguish esoteric scriptures from exoteric Mahāyāna sūtras is this shift from sūtra reading to ritual action as a normative method of mastering the text’ (1999: 167). 122 For instance, the threefold repetition of the refuge formula, or the threefold repetition of the Vedic sacrificial formulas (Wayman, 1984b: 415-416). 123 See section 1.2.2.2., paragraphs (a) and (b). 53 The dhāraṇīs’ ritual approach functions in an identical way to their nonBuddhist models, albeit keeping its own particularities. The promulgator utters the dhāraṇī formula and its benefits, pledging that the practitioner will attain them if she/he follows exactly its ritual prescriptions. The dhāraṇī rituals may fall within two general categories: rituals where no previous ‘consecration’ (abhiṣeka) is needed, and rituals in which one is indeed needed. In the first case, a dhāraṇī recitation is prescribed along with the performance of a protective ritual space delimited by a maṇḍala, which is worshipped (pūjā) with diverse offerings such as lamps, incense, scents, non fermented beverages, and vegetarian dishes (Māyū: 367-368, 459). Other rituals add to the maṇḍala a painted image (Skt. pratimā'vidhi) of a Buddha, Bodhisattva, or deity, to which offerings are made and in front of which is recited the dhāraṇī formula a prescribed number of times. This recitation is preceded by a ritual bath, a vegetarian diet, the formulation of bodhicitta and benevolence towards all beings (Amog: 299-300; Prati: 222-227). In some Dhāraṇī'sūtras the ritual writing of the dhāraṇī formula is emphasized, and its wearing around one’s arm or neck (Prati: 207), or its insertion into stūpas, or hanging it in banners, high places, gates, etc. (Sitā: 127).124 And in the second case, dhāraṇī practice is preceded by an abhiṣeka ritual (Bala: 59.3-5), where besides including those elements already described, dhāraṇī’s recitation is combined with the performance of hand gestures (Skt. mudrās), and the visualization of a more elaborated maṇḍala and pratimā designs, concluding with a fire ritual offering (Skt. homa) (Susi: 150-151).125 Although at first sight this dhāraṇī ritual practice may contradict the rejection of Vedic ritualism advocated by the early Buddhism (DN.5.22-27), in fact, the dhāraṇī ritual should be viewed as a skillful adaptation to a quite ritualized non-Buddhist context, but without betraying the fundamental Buddhist tenets.126 If the mainstream Buddhist ethics asserts that the wholesome actions are wholesome in themselves and hence, they produce wholesome results (Harvey, 2000: 17), the Dhāraṇī'sūtras added to this the vidhi’s ritual efficacy, but always preceded by a right ethical intention. Thus, the Dhāraṇī'sūtras unified the Buddhist notion of karma as ‘intentional action’ (Harvey, 2000: 16-17), with the Vedic conceptions of karma as ‘sacrificial act’ and ‘creative act’ (Goudriaan, 1978: 221-222). However, how to deal with the issue of someone ethically pure who performs rightly a dhāraṇī ritual but does not attain the desired goal? To 124 On the Vedic antecedent of ‘investing’ oneself with a mantra as protection, see Appendix A. On dhāraṇīs’ insertion into stūpas and related practices, see section 3.3.1. 125 Despite its rejection in the Nikāyas (Brajā: 58-59), the Vedic homa would be assimilated by the Vajrayāna. Basically, the Vedic homa is a banquet offered to a deity through fire oblations, and to this external ritual, the Buddhist homa added to it an internal contemplation, where the officiator, after identifying herself/himself with the deity, ‘burns’ the ‘fuel’ of her/his defilements with the ‘fire’ of insight (Strickmann, 1996: 347, 358-359). On the mental fire offerings in Hinduism and Buddhism, see Bentor, 2000: 604-607. There are also Buddhist homas with mundane goals, see section 3.1.3., below. 126 In fact, in DN.5.18-27 Vedic sacrifice is not rejected in toto, but some of its aspects are admitted after being ‘ethicized’, as the acceptance of non-bloody offerings (ghee, oil, etc.), and of some Vedic sacrificial prescriptions, eg. the donations to Brahmans and taking ascetic vows (vrata) (Modak, 1993: 199, 298-301), being reinterpreted in Buddhist terms as ‘gifts to virtuous ascetics’, ‘providing shelter for the Sangha’, and taking refuge in the Three Jewels and undertaking precepts (DN.5.22-25). Providing feeding to Brahmans of ‘pure conduct’ is a key prerequisite for the efficacy of some Śaiva Tantric mantras (MM.II.7-8). 54 this likely issue the Dhāraṇī'sūtras provided different answers, some of them including an ‘escape clause’ noting that the dhāraṇī formula might not succeed ‘due to the fruition of past karma’ (Skilling, 1992: 148-149), while others signaled an increase of the number of recitations until getting its expected result (T 1077 185b2-3, Cundī: 1). But most Dhāraṇī'sūtras are seen to have secured an indisputable effectiveness to their formulas (Amog: 298-299; Sitā: 126; Prati: 220), albeit they will not be effective if the practitioner has not faith in them (T 1060 107a26-27; Kāru: 168-169). Some Dhāraṇī' sūtras even mention a maximum of seven years to attain their goals (Davidson, 2009: 137; Suvar: 61, Sgol: 52).127 3.1.3. Mundane and Supramundane Accomplishments One of the most significant aspects of dhāraṇī formulas is to integrate ‘mundane’ (Skt. laukika) and ‘supramundane’ (Skt. lokottara) goals as an interrelated wholeness.128 This ‘holistic’ nature of dhāraṇīs was rightly grasped by the Huayan/Vajrayāna master Daozhen (eleventh century CE), who recognized in the dhāraṇīs ten inherent virtues: (1) they guarantee national security (protection from enemies, from astrological and natural disasters, from family dissension, from crop failure, from drought, etc.), (2) they purge defilements and exorcize ghosts, (3) they cure illnesses and increase blessings, (4) they guarantee the miraculous achievement of things sought, (5) they ensure rebirth in paradise, (6) they are the font of all teachings and practices, the mother of all Buddhas, (7) they enable the easy practice of adamantine protection for the ‘four retinues’, (8) they confirm the equality of ordinary beings with Buddhas, (9) they effect awakening by both own power and other power, (10) they are of such value that even Buddhas still cherish them (Gimello, 2004: 238). As it will be seen below, despite existing Dhāraṇī'sūtras only focused on one goal, the most influential of them are ‘all-purpose’, i.e., they embrace a wide spectrum of goals, mundane and supramundane alike.129 Therefore, those ‘all-purpose’ Dhāraṇī'sūtras are presented as mediators between the conditioned and unconditioned planes of reality, because as being a modality of buddhavacana, they are seen as embodying in sound and writing the Buddhas’ presence: ‘By the power of this sūtra [and dhāraṇī] all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and even all devas are arriving’ (Bala: 64.21-22). And this Buddhas’ mediator present as dhāraṇīs is not only pointing to a world’s transcendence, but also, to the attaining of ‘all his desires, as the Buddhas have said’ (Prati: 235). In this aspect, however, the dhāraṇīs are more closely related to the Vajrayāna approach, and hence, with their Vedic and Śaiva predecessors, than with the transmundane approach advocated by the Nikāyas (DN.16.6.7) and the mainstream Mahāyāna (Śikṣā.XI; CBD: 127 This feature is already traceable in the Nikāyas, where is asserted the possibility to attain Arahantship after just seven years of practicing the satipaṭṭhānas (DN.22.22; MN.10.46). 128 On both dhāraṇī goals, see sections 3.2. and 3.3. This is also the case with the ‘arapacana’ syllabary’s ‘advantages’ (Mpsū: 162). 129 This is also the case with many influential Vedic and Śaiva Tantric mantras. For instance, the pivotal Vedic gāyatrī mantra is used during the initiation ritual of becoming a Brahman (upanayama) (Staal, 2008: 213-216), and for therapeutical goals (Romu, 1986: 223, 243, 263); and the Tantric Hanumān mantra can be used for protective, therapeutical, increase, and offensive goals (MM.XIII.14-39). 55 188-195).130 If the dhāraṇīs describe themselves as endowed with supreme and irresistible faculties (Māyū: 453; Prati: 237), this is because of their nature as buddhavacana expressing what is true, a higher power is derived able to counteract the inferior power embodied by the referents to which dhāraṇīs are focused (eg. defilements, past harmful karma, dangers, demons, diseases, others sects’ mantras, etc.). Whatever may be the envisaged dhāraṇī and its goal, it is always reproducing this hierarchical principle: the dhāraṇī manifests itself as endowed of a higher power than its opponent’s.131 Sections 3.2. and 3.3. will deal with the most characteristic dhāraṇīs’ goals as they appear in some of their most influential Dhāraṇī'sūtras.132 The three parts of section 3.2. are reflecting an adaptation of the Kriyā Tantras’ classification collecting the mundane accomplishments according to the rites of ‘pacification’ (śāntika), ‘increase’ (pauṣṭika), and ‘subjugation’ (ābhicāruka), that despite the fact that it does not always correspond exactly with the dhāraṇī goals, is employed here for heuristic reasons.133 And section 3.3. summarizes some of the most outstanding dhāraṇīs’ supramundane goals, as they are reflected in several ritual and contemplative practices widespread among Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhisms. 3.2. Mundane Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī Practices 3.2.1. Protection The early use of mantras within some mainstream Buddhist schools as an antidote against the antarāyas had already been noted, being followed by the Mahāyāna’s dṛṣṭadhārmikas.134 Likewise, the dhāraṇīs counteract those same dangers and still others in a more detailed way. Within this context, the main dhāraṇīs’ function is providing protection and immunity against noxious agents, technically called ‘pacification’ or ‘removal of calamities’ (śāntika) (Susi: 181). The dhāraṇīs are regarded as being able to protect the practitioner from a large number of dangers and obstructions provoked by the following categories of harmful factors: By adverse socio'political conditions. Some dhāraṇīs offer protection against all kinds of despotism, tyranny, invasion, or any military conflict (Amog: 299; Prati: 234; Sitā: 103). By human beings. Certain dhāraṇīs include protection against hostile individuals promoting envy, gossip, slander, perjury, quarrels, robbery, etc., and even those who use black magic and destructive mantras to harm others (Varat: 7-10; Sitā: 110-112, 121; Waddell, 1895: 42-44). 130 As it is the case with dhāraṇī practice, with the Śaiva mantra practice ‘one can attain … [religious] merit, worldly prosperity, sensual pleasure, and liberation’ (Bühnemann, 1992: 72). 131 Some Dhāraṇī'sūtras make such hierarchical principle explicit: the Sitātapatrā'vidyārajñī’s power is higher than all non-Buddhist mantras and other Buddhist mantras considered inferior (Sitā: 109-112), or the Vajratuṇḍa'dhāraṇī is superior against Vedic mantras to stop raining (Waddell, 1914: 41-42). 132 Note that if identical dhāraṇīs’ quotations appear for different functions, this means that such dhāraṇīs are ‘all-purpose’ ones. 133 This threefold classification comes from the Vedic tradition (Goudriaan, 1978: 95). 134 See sections 1.2.1.1. and 2.2.1. 56 By non'human beings. Some dhāraṇīs provide long and detailed lists of spirits or demons (Skt. graha) of a harmful or ambivalent nature, who can provoke nightmares, diseases, premature death, possession, etc. (Varat: 7). An influential dhāraṇī by its power against ‘the danger of possession by all kinds of demons’ includes the names of no less than sixty six kinds of such beings, from aggressive gods (devas) to ‘consciousness-stealers’ (cittāhāriṇī) (Sitā: 104-109). By wild and/or poisonous animals. As was referred to frequently here, the protection against poisonous animals (particularly snakes) was one of the foremost reasons to accept mantras among early Buddhists. The dhāraṇīs added protection against wild animals such as mungooses, lions, tigers, bears, hyenas, wild yaks, and wolves, and poisonous ones such as mosquitoes, flies, bees, horseflies, scorpions, and of course, snakes (Sitā: 120-121; Māyū: 372). By natural elements. Dangers coming from a negligent handling of fire and water, or natural disasters such as earthquakes, storms, and droughts ruining harvests (Māyū: 454), were prevented with dhāraṇīs by governments sensitive to Buddhism. One of the major Amoghavajra’s dhāraṇī powers was producing rain in the exact time to avoid droughts, and with enough amount to avoid floods (Chou, 1945: 298-299, 304305). By astral influences. The dhāraṇīs counteract negative astral conjunctions capable of disturbing those activities ruled by the lunar calendar, and those of an unfavourable personal astral chart (Sitā: 98; Māyū: 446-450; Grönbold, 2001: 372). By diseases/death. Without doubt, this is the category most referred to in the dhāraṇīs, able to counteract the ‘four hundred four diseases’ (Māyū: 455), provoked by an imbalance of bodily elements, by viruses, poisonings, spirits, and avoiding any kind of unnatural death, i.e., a premature one, provoked by accidents, execution, and murder (Amog: 291; Āṅga: 5; Bala: 57.12-17; Prati: 227-228; Sitā: 114-120; Varat: 8-9). Likewise, some Dhāraṇī'sūtras and the medical treatises of Vāghbaṭa (seventh century CE), describe remedies based on medicinal substances and empowered with dhāraṇīs (Amog: 298-299; T 1060 110a20-110c26, Kāru: 192-199; Romu, 1986: 228-237). The reason for such preciseness in naming the danger (spirit, disease, etc.) from which oneself is protected by the dhāraṇī, lies in the Vedic notion postulating the correspondence between the being/object itself and the name that designate it.135 Including the harmful agents’ names within a Dhāraṇī'sūtra’s text or even within its dhāraṇī formula itself, is equal to neutralize/dissolve their power because they are ‘enveloped’ under the dhāraṇī’s higher power.136 Likewise, invoking the names of the spiritual entities or wise beings who transmmitted the dhāraṇī, constitutes a key condition to obtain its powers (Māyū: 450-451). 3.2.2. 3.2.2. Increase The dhāraṇīs not only protect from dangers, they also propitiate factors of ‘increase’ (pauṣṭika), that according to its traditional definition includes longevity, rejuvenation, health, vitality, and the development of virtues and desires (Susi: 184). Overall, the Dhāraṇī'sūtras are seen as promoting the following categories of pauṣṭika: 135 See section 1.1.1. and within a Buddhist context, see section 2.4.2. 136 According to the Indian magic, ‘enveloping’ the name of a ‘victim’ or ‘patient’ (sādhya) within the syllables of a mantra entails to ‘envelop’ the sādhya’s individuality itself (Goudriaan, 1978: 288). 57 Health. This implies basically that ‘all his illnesses disappear’ and ‘long-lasting weakness ceases’ (Prati: 233), and ‘a disease will not occur in his body; when a disease caused by karman has arisen, it will quickly be cured’ (Amog: 293). Vitality. One’s health needs to be increased with ‘strength’ (Sitā: 126), ‘energy, power, vigour and self-confidence’ (Prati: 233), and having a ‘smooth, handsome and slender’ body, while keeping it away from ‘whatever robs the vital strength’ (Amog: 293). Fecundity. Avoiding infertility, getting an abundant progeny of healthy aspect, a normally developed foetus, and that her/his birth may be safe and painless, are the goals frequently found in dhāraṇīs (Bala: 57.14-19; T 1022(b) 714b21-22, Guhya: 6; T 1060 110b24-25, Kāru: 196; Prati: 197, 229; Sitā: 126). This need of fecundity is also expanded to trees and herbs’ growing, and to the proper ripening of fruits and crops (T 1060 111c6, Kāru: 203-204; Prati: 213). Longevity. Numerous Dhāraṇī'sūtras effect an extension of one’s life ‘after it has reached its [natural] limit’ (Prati: 233), so that, according to several sources, it can reach one hundred years (Āyuḥ: 294). Hence, it is emphasized to get a long life (T 1022(b) 714b3-4, Guhya: 5-6) and being able to ‘see the brightness of one hundred autumns’ (Māyū: 366, 443). Prosperity. Eradicating forever poverty (Āyuḥ: 296), the ‘accomplishment of wealth’ (Gaṇa: 344), ‘prosperity without effort’ (T 1022(b) 714b19-20, Guhya: 6), the abundance ‘in money and grain’ (Prati: 230), or obtaining clothes, money, gold, or cows (Bala: 60.34-35), is intended for the prosperity of the Buddhist community. Intellectual faculties. Several dhāraṇīs related to female deities are recited to attain specific intellectual faculties, such as the Vajraśaṃkala’s to ‘deeply remember’ the Dharma study (Bongard-Levin, 2000: 127), and above all the Sarasvatī’s, bestowing memory, eloquence, knowledge, and skillfulness in all kinds of learning and ‘success in the performance of various arts’ (Suvar: 56, Sgol: 45, 48; Ludvik, 2007: 158-161, 188190). Likewise, the dhāraṇīs of the Bodhisattvas Ākāśagarbha and Mañjuśrī are recited to obtain memory, eloquence, and the knowledge of ‘all Scriptures’ and ‘all scholastic works’ (Abé, 1999: 74; Mns: 43-44). Supernormal Knowledges (abhijñā). Undoubtedly, the most reiterated abhijñā within the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs (Mpsū: 162) and the Dhāraṇī'sūtras, is that of remembering one’s former existences (Skt. jātismara), ‘wherever he is born, in each birth he will remember all previous births’ (Āyuḥ: 294; Gaṇa: 344; Prati: 230; Sitā: 124; Schopen, 2005b: 202-205). 3.2.3. Defence The Vedic tradition elaborated a third set of accomplishments focused on ‘inimical actions’ (Skt. ābhicara) in order to ward off dangers and enemies of diverse kind.137 The Vajrayāna assimilated such approach but moderated by Buddhist ethics with the generic term of ‘subjugation’ (ābhicāruka), including actions as ‘making close friends hate one another, or making [your foe] seriously ill, or causing his retainers to scatter, or stultifying him’. Nevertheless, those harmful actions are only directed ‘to 137 Ābhicara may include, among others, actions such as ‘causing dissension’ (vidveṣaṇa), ‘eradication’ (uccāṭana), and ‘liquidation’ (māraṇa) (Goudriaan, 1978: 62, 365). Uccāṭana means depriving a person of an object or removing them from a location, and māraṇa means taking a person’s life (Burchett, 2008: 817). On the original meaning of the mantra Phaṭ as a ‘counterattack’ against an ābhicara ritual, see Appendix A. 58 punish wicked people who … commit various sins, or violate the bodhisattva’s pure code of discipline, or slander the Three Jewels, or rebel against their teachers and elders’.138 Moreover, a proper ābhicāruka action only can be carried out without anger and resentment and in a controlled way, paying particular attention to avoid taking a person’s life (Susi: 187-188).139 However, within the Dhāraṇī'sūtras where the ābhicāruka faculty is invoked, it takes generally the form of a subtle wrath (Skt. krodha), that can be directed to remove heavy mental defilements (kleśa) obstructing an effective meditation (Bala: 55.30-41), or becoming a means to create an ‘armour’ or ‘body of blazing flame’ able to destroy ‘all enemies’, i.e., ‘all misdeeds and obstructions’ (Prati: 207), or also can be transformed into a ‘psychic defence’ focused against all kinds of fears, evil spirits, malevolent magic, contagious diseases, physical pains, and inimical people (Varat: 512). 3.3. Supramundane Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī Practices 3.3.1. Depositing Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs in Stūpa Stūpas ūpas As was said before, identifying some Dhāraṇī'sūtras as ‘Dharma'kāya relics’ implied the prolongation of a previous idea identifying the Mahāyāna Scriptures as ‘Dharma relics’.140 This group of Dhāraṇī'sūtras consititues a specific genre widespread through the Asiatic Buddhist world, and revolves around the idea that to introduce into a stūpa one or more of those Dhāraṇī'sūtras is equal to the placing innumerable Buddhas, their physical relics, and the totality of Buddhist teachings into such stūpa, i.e., those Dhāraṇī'sūtras become the Buddhas’ ‘Dharma Body relics’ (Skt. Dharma'kāya' śarīras) (Bentor, 1995: 252-253; Schopen, 2005c: 310-311).141 Basically, the Indo-Tibetan classifications recognize three kinds of relics: (1) the relics of the Tathāgata’s Dharma'kāya, identified as dhāraṇīs, (2) the relics of his corporeal substance, and (3) the relics of his garb, and the first ones are considered as the highest (Rgyud: 107). These are inserted in the form of several Dhāraṇī'sūtras and Vajrayāna Tantras within prominent locations of the stūpa, sometimes in its uppermost tip, expressing that the dhāraṇīs are ‘the essence of the Buddha’, while in others they are inserted into the upper, lower and middle parts of the stūpa, showing in this way the identity between the Buddha’s physical body, i.e., the stūpa itself, and his ‘eighty-four thousands heaps of Dharmas’, i.e., the Dharma'kāya'śarīras (Bentor, 138 On a precedent of ābhicāruka against some ‘Dhamma’s critics’ by the deity Vajrapāṇi (P Vajirapāṇi) in the Theravāda Nikāyas, see DN.3.1.21; MN.35.14. 139 Nevertheless, under adverse circumstances, ābhicāruka can transform into a ‘defensive weapon’. Some masters from Vikramaśīla monastery performed ābhicāruka rituals to repel Muslim invaders (Chimpa/Chattopadhyaya, 1970: 307, 327-328), and using the same methods, Amoghavajra helped to pacify the An Lu-shan rebellion (Orlando, 1981: 22) and neutralized an attempt to invade the Chinese empire (Chou, 1945: 305-306). 140 See section 1.2.2.2. paragraph (4). 141 The most influential Dhāraṇī'sūtra related to stūpas is the Uṣṇīṣavijayā'dhāraṇī'sūtra (Uṣṇī), see below; for other similar Dhāraṇī'sūtras, see Scherrer-Schaub, 1994: 712-719, and Bentor, 1995: 254. 59 1995: 252-253; Martin, 1994: 298, 301, 304-305). Equivalent ideas are found within East Asian Buddhism, where the Uṣṇīṣavijayā'dhāraṇī'sūtra’s Dharma'kāya'śarīras and related Dhāraṇī'sūtras, not only were identified as the Buddhas’ ‘Dharma Body’, but also with the three ‘Bodies’ of all Buddhas of the three times, hence, to enshrine those Dhāraṇī'sūtras into a stūpa, i.e., the Dharma'kāya'śarīras, is equal to enshrine all Buddhas’ Bodies into it (Shen, 2001: 269-272). In all likelihood, the practice of inserting dhāraṇīs into the stūpas as a meritorius action able to fulfill all wishes ‘at will’ (T 1022(b) 714b22, Guhya: 6), and the daily dhāraṇīs’s recitation to attain longevity, rebirth into a Pure Land, or even, to attain ‘the unsurpassed bodhi’ (T 970 360a11, Uṣṇī: 8), stimulated the invention of printing in China (seventh century CE). Thus, a Mahāpratisarā'dhāraṇī’s Chinese translation secures that if ‘someone print or copy [the dhāraṇī] and carry it with her/him, all her/his nocive acts and heavy transgressions will be removed at once’ (Drège, 1999: 29-30).142 However, the popularity of some of those Dhāraṇī'sūtras did not lie as much in their insertion into stūpas as in their public display. This is the case of the Uṣṇīṣavijayā' dhāraṇī'sūtra, that according to one of its key passages, if a Uṣṇīṣavijayā'dhāraṇī’s written copy is hung on the tip of a banner pole, and whoever sees it, stands close by, or is touched by its shadow or by its dust when the wind blows, she/he will be liberated from being reborn into the three unfortunate planes (animals, hungry spirits, and hells), and will receive the prediction by all Buddhas of being irreversible (avaivartika) from the supreme enlightenment (T 970 360a26-b16, Uṣṇī: 8; Kuo, 2006: 42).143 This passage originated in China the creation of the ‘dhāraṇī [stone] banners’ (Ch. tuoluoni'chuang), known in the West as ‘dhāraṇī'pillars’, consisting in most cases, in the Uṣṇīṣavijayā'dhāraṇī'sūtra’s inscription or that of its dhāraṇī formula on octagonal stone columns, being widespread through all China from seventh century CE until thirteenth century CE (Kuo, 2006: 37-42; 2005-2006: 461-466).144 Transformed into stone, the dhāraṇī is transferring its sonic efficacy to the visible and tangible spheres, and with such sonic empowerment of the matter, this same matter is in turn able to empower, i.e., the dhāraṇī'pillar’s dust and shadows ‘have the same qualities that the scriptural words have’, hence, the dhāraṇī'pillar is acting in an autonomous way as the Buddha’s spoken utterance (Copp, 2005: 226-232). 142 The earliest printed document in the world found until now, is a dhāraṇī formula in Sanskrit found in the Chinese city of Xi’an (c. 650-670 CE), followed by a Dhāraṇī'sūtra printed in 702 (Pan, 1997: 978-979). The dhāraṇīs’ printing was introduced later into Korea (751 CE) (Barrett, 2001: 4), and was spread to Japan (c. 764-770 CE) (Hickman, 1975: 89). 143 On the avaivartika state and mantra/dhāraṇī practice, see sections 1.2.2.1. n. 34, and 3.3.2., below. 144 On ‘dhāraṇī'pillars’ in Korea, see Sørensen, 2006b: 76-79. The Uṣṇīṣavijayā'dhāraṇī'sūtra became so popular, that in some instances, its modality as ‘dhāraṇī'pillar’ was transformed into a complex ‘maṇḍala'pillar’ synthesizing the whole East Asian Vajrayāna’s teachings (Howard, 1997: 35-42), or this dhāraṇī was represented as being held in lecterns within several Dunhuang’s mural paintings (Schmid, 2010: 6-18). 60 3.3.2. Karmic purification It had been argued that the early dhāraṇīs’ protective functions directed against the negative consequences of previous karma, evolved towards a dhāraṇīs’ soteriological use as antidotes against their causes, i.e., the defilements (Davidson, 2009: 134). Nevertheless, the Scriptural evidence contradicts, to some extent at least, such claim because most Dhāraṇī'sūtras assert the removal of both the harmful effects of karma as well as the mental defilements causing them. For instance, a Dhāraṇī'sūtra claims its power to remove former transgressions and harmful deeds and their defiled causes, i.e., lust (rāga), hatred (dveṣa) delusion (moha), pride (mana) and arrogance (mada) (Sitā: 126), and other Dhāraṇī'sūtra, besides eliminating ‘the dangerous consequences of actions’, also ‘roots out all [their] latent impressions’ (Skt. vāsanās) (Prati: 218, 222).145 What is detectable, however, are two different approaches concerning the karmic purification’s method and its results. On the one hand, there are Dhāraṇī'sūtras postulating generalized methods and results derived from such purification, such as securing longevity, avoiding an unfortunate rebirth, birth into a Pure Land (T 1022(b) 714b27, Guhya: 6), or attaining supreme enlightenment (T 970 360a4, Uṣṇī: 7), and on the other hand, there are Dhāraṇī'sūtras describing very concrete purification’s methods and results. The focus will turn now to some of those Dhāraṇī'sūtras. As a general premise, the most common types of harmful karma to be purified as found in the Dhāraṇī'sūtras are the accumulation of serious transgressions ‘since beginningless time’ (T 1077 185a22-23, Cundī: 1) such as the five ānantaryas, and the three root defilements perpetuating rebirth (rāga'dveṣa'moha), also known as the ‘obstructions of defilements’ (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa) (Kuo, 1994: 137-138).146 Another more comprehensive classification divides defilements into three kinds: (1) ‘obstructions of vexation’ including both the ‘obstructions of defilements’ (kleśāvaraṇa) and the ‘obstructions to knowledge’ (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa), (2) ‘obstructions of endowment’, i.e., obstructions due to mental and physical defects, and (3) ‘obstructions of karma’ (karmāvaraṇa) (Stevenson, 1986: 64, n. 64).147 145 See more examples in T 1022(b) 714c6-7, Guhya: 7; T 970 359c4-5, Uṣṇī: 7; T 1060 107a20-28, Kāru: 167-169. 146 Mainstream Buddhism posited three kinds of obstructions: (1) the ‘obstructions of karma’ (Skt. karmāvaraṇa) identified with the five ānantaryas including matricide, patricide, the killing of an Arhat, schism, and wounding the Tathāgata with thoughts of hatred. They are said of ‘immediate retribution’ because after death, the transgressor is reborn in hells without passing through the intermediate state; (2) the ‘obstructions of defilements’ (kleśāvaraṇa) including the referred to root defilements and their derivations; and (3) the ‘obstruction of retribution’ (Skt. vipākāvaraṇa). Those obstructions prevent the rebirth in favourable destinations and attaining liberation (Kośa.IV.95c-d.96). On vipākāvaraṇa, also known as ‘obstructions of endowment’, see below, and n. 147. 147 To kleśāvaraṇa, rooted in the belief in a self that clings to ‘I’ and ‘mine’, the Yogācāra added jñeyāvaraṇa, that ‘covers over the indefectible [i.e. unfailing] nature of knowables and causes them not to appear in the mind’, because the belief in a self that clings to all imagined things, mental states of ignorance, the love to things, and affection for malicious thoughts (Bubhū: 206). The ‘obstructions of endowment’ are those such as congenital blindness or deafness, having a short life, hereditary sicknesses, etc., experienced in the present life, but as result of harmful actions committed in previous lives (Mppś.I: 486-499; Avat: 716). 61 According to the Cundīdevī'dhāraṇī'sūtra, the purification’s method consists of reciting the Cundī’s dhāraṇī formula a fixed number of times, normally 200,000, 700,000, or 800,000 times, until oneself experiences an auspicious oneiric signal, such as ‘vomiting a white substance such as a thick paste of rice’ (T 1077 185b3-5, Cundī: 1).148 This recitation may be combined with the Cundīdevī’s mudrā and visualizing her image, and her dhāraṇī can be recited in a loud voice, in a soft voice audible only to oneself, or by way of ‘adamantine’ recitation, that is, ‘by actually speaking the dhāraṇī but with barely perceptible movement of lips and tongue (“under one’s breath,” as it were)’ (Gimello, 2004: 237).149 The Mahāvaipulya'dhāraṇī'sūtra is describing a different method, where periods of dhāraṇī recitation are combined while walking around a Buddha’s image with periods of sitting meditation, where the mind is focused on the non-apprehension (anupalabdhitā) of all phenomena, and according the transgression’s seriousness, this practice must be repeated a fixed number of times and days.150 The auspicious sign revealing a successful practice is that of clearly contemplating a Buddha’s image while oneself is receiving from him his adhiṣṭhāna, the bodhicitta awakening, and the prediction of being irreversible (avaivartika) along the path to supreme enlightenment (Swanson, 2000: 213, 231). The ‘secret essence’ of this dhāraṇī practice though, is that of realizing a true insight of the ‘Middle Way’ that the dhāraṇī embodies: ‘When [the practitioner] discerns the sound of the voice while he is reciting the dhāraṇī, he finds that the sound cannot be apprehended. It is without any self-substance … It is neither empty nor existent’ (Stevenson, 1986: 64-65).151 3.3.3. Attaining Enlightenment Owing to the dhāraṇīs condensing large teachings within their syllables, reciting/contemplating these entailed a drastic reduction of the time required to master them, hence, dhāraṇīs became a ‘short-cut to enlightenment and the lucky sea to release … A bodhisattva, having epitomized all the meditations in one string [i.e. dhāraṇī], would suddenly be elevated in rank and approach supreme enlightenment’ (Chou, 1945: 258). Given that each Dhāraṇī'sūtra describes its own approach to attain enlightenment, it will described below just two examples from the most representative ones.152 Perhaps the simplest approach is shown by the Ṣaṇmukhī' 148 Cundī (or Cundā) is one of the most important dhāraṇī goddesses of Northern and East Asian Buddhisms because her specialization in purifying harmful karma, and giving support to Dharma practice (Shaw, 2006: 265-275). On Cundī’s iconography, see DBI.3: 849-866. 149 Besides those three methods, the East Asian Vajrayāna included two more: the ‘samādhi recitation’ consisting of a purely mental recitation without moving the tongue, and the ‘light recitation’, whether silently or aloud, light streaming from the mouth is visualized (Abé, 1999: 125; Yamasaki, 1988: 116-117). The Indo-Tibetan Vajrayāna posits a whispered and mental recitations, both applied to the dhāraṇī syllables’ shape or to their sound (Rgyud: 187-191). 150 On experiencing anupalabdhitā while contemplating the ‘arapacana’ syllabary, see Appendix B-2. 151 Cf. the dhāraṇī'mukhas of the ghoṣapraveśa'dhāraṇī and the akṣarapraveśa'dhāraṇī, see section 2.1.3.1. 152 On other examples of soteriological dhāranīs, see Śūrsū.VI: 76-161; Zong: 134; Studholme, 2002: 147; Wallis, 2002: 19-23; Kőves, 2009: 125-139. 62 dhāraṇī (‘Six Doors dhāraṇī’), where six experiences/knowledges are described by the Buddha: (1) making known the suffering experienced by the Buddha, (2) sharing with all beings the Buddha’s spiritual bliss, (3) acknowledging one’s own harmful actions, (4) knowing that Māra acts against the Buddha, (5) identifying the supreme knowledge concerning all beings with the Buddha’s wholesome roots, and (6) knowing that Buddha’s liberation is useful to beings if oneself does not remain either in saṃsāra or in nirvāṇa (Ṣaṇm: 10-11). According to Vasubandhu’s commentary, those ‘Six Doors’ are related to six goals (artha) valid for all dhāraṇīs in general, that can also be applied to the Ṣaṇmukhī'dhāraṇī thus: (1) the completion of insight, (2) the power of compassion’s purity, (3) the purification of one’s stream of being, (4) comprehension of impediments caused by others, (5) summation of the factors of awakening, and (6) the reality and correct knowledge which are these factors’ fruit (Davidson, 2009: 139). The Ṣaṇmukhī'dhāraṇī’s formula, uttered by the Buddha from his residence in the Śuddhāvāsa heavens, refers to the complete purification of the body, speech, and mind from all defilements, and the accomplishment of the ultimate reality (Skt. paramārtha). The formula have to be recited six times a day, and if one remains detached from all kinds of acts, one will attain quickly the supreme enlightenment (Ṣaṇm: 11).153 The Anantamukha'nirhāra'dhāraṇī'sūtra received a versified commentary by Jñānagarbha (700-760 CE) to be memorized and used as a manual, and given that just a few Mahāyāna Scriptures hold this kind of commentary, this implies that the Anantamukha'nirhāra'dhāraṇī'sūtra was considered a Scripture deserving a particular attention (Schoening, 1991: 34-35). The main purpose of this Scripture is ‘[to] become unretrogressive and quickly attain the highest, perfect Bodhi’ (Anir: 87). To accomplish it, the Sūtra describes three methods: (1) the recitation-meditation into a ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇī or dhāraṇī'mantra'pada, (2) the recitation-meditation into a ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇī, and (3) the visualization of a maṇḍala composed by the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇī and the images of the Bodhisattvas and yakṣas refered to in the Sūtra. The Anantamukha'nirhāra’s formula has received the adhiṣṭhāna from innumerable Buddhas (Anir: 103) and includes three practices: (1) the ‘syllabledhāraṇī’, consisting of the dhāraṇī'mantra'pada’s recitation accompanied by a meditation (dhyāna'yoga) on their syllables, without getting attached to their characteristics of existence or non-existence (Anir: 66-68). (2) The ‘meaning-dhāraṇī’, also called ‘the practice of non-cognition of object’, that is equal to ‘attain the dhāraṇī’ manifested by the dhāraṇī'mantra'pada. It consists of realizing the emptiness of all dharmas ‘by being supported by the letters which contain all the supreme teachings and meanings’, i.e., the dhāraṇī'mantra'pada’s recitation-meditation is intended to realize the four pratisaṃvids (Anir: 100-101).154 And (3) the ‘syllable-meaning-dhāraṇī’, also called ‘wisdom'dhāraṇī’, consisting into the alternated practice of (1) and (2), i.e., first the dhāraṇī'mantra'pada is recited, and then it is followed by meditating on its ‘inconceivable’ nature (Anir: 107-108). The Anantamukha'nirhāra'dhāraṇī'sūtra describes another method to ‘attain the dhāraṇī’ based on a ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇī composed by eight syllables, where each syllable is conceived as a ‘door’ to attain a key teaching’s insight: (1) ‘pa’ (paramārtha) the 153 However, certain Ṣaṇmukhī'dhāraṇī’s Tibetan versions claim that enlightenment will only be attained after seven lives of practice (Ṣaṇm: 13, n. 8). 154 On the pratisaṃvids, see sections 1.2.2.1. and 2.1.3.2. 63 nonsubstantiality of all dharmas; (2) ‘la’ (lakṣaṇa) the marks and no-marks of the Tathāgata’s dharma'kāya; (3) ‘ba’ (bāla) the non-duality between ignorant persons and wise ones; (4) ‘ja’ (jāti) the non-arising and non-perishing of beings subject to birth, old age, death, and absence of birth, old age, and death; (5) ‘ka’ (karma) realization of karmas and rewards, and their absence; (6) ‘dha’ (dharmadhātu) it is equal to the voidness, formlessness, and desiressness; (7) ‘śa’ (śamatha) tranquilization and its absence, entry into the suchness (tathatā) of all dharmas; (8) ‘kṣa’ (kṣana) all dharmas are momentary and originally tranquil, inexhaustible, imperishable, causeless, and in a state of extinction. The eight syllables’ insight is realized through a cognitive process where simultaneously their meanings are discerned and intuitively perceived (Anir: 113-114, 131-138).155 Lastly, Jñānagarbha briefly describes a visualization ritual of a maṇḍala composed by the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇī’s eight syllables related to the images of eight Bodhisattvas and eight yakṣas, described as the protectors of the Anantamukha'nirhāra'dhāraṇī'sūtra’s teachings and their practitioners. It is significant that it was Jñānagarbha himself who elaborated the maṇḍala method after it was revealed to him through a dream (Anir: 129-130), which denotes a relevant example of a progressive Dhāraṇī'sūtras’s esoterization that would culminate with their identificaton as Kriyā Tantras.156 The combined practice of those three methods is conducive to attain the ‘Tranquil State’, i.e., the ‘nirvāṇa of no abiding’ (apratiṣṭhita'nirvāṇa), understood here as the kleśāvaraṇa and jñeyāvaraṇa’s removal, the rāga'dveṣa'moha’s extinction, and accomplishing the ‘supreme enlightenment’ (saṃbodhi), conceived as a threefold realization that, according to different cases, can liberate beings from unfortunate destinies, or can locate them on heavenly planes, or even can liberate them definitely from saṃsāra (Anir: 111).157 The two described examples of soteriological Dhāraṇī'sūtras emphasize their non-dual nature, that of being simultaneously means to attain ultimate reality and perfect expressions of such reality in sonic/written forms. This dhāraṇī’s non-dual nature was exactly grasped by the following description of a ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇī called the ‘dhāraṇī of nondefilement’ included within the Suvarṇaprabhāsa'sūtra, that who is able to master it, makes her/him as ‘no different from the Buddhas’. According to the Yijing’s Chinese translation, it goes like this: As you have said, the dhāraṇī is not bound to a particular direction or location. Nor is it devoid of a particular direction or location. It is neither a phenomenon nor a nonphenomenon. It belongs neither to the past, nor to the future, nor to the present. It is neither an event nor a nonevent, neither a cause nor a noncause, neither a practice nor a nonpractice. It is subject neither to the rising nor to the ceasing of things (tr. by Abé, 1999: 241). 155 On an equivalent process with the ‘arapacana’ syllabary’s contemplation, see section Appendix B-2. Note that with this method, language and its conceptual basis is not deconstructed but contemplated creatively from within its emptiness, see section 2.3. and n. 98. 156 157 See sections 1.2.3. and 3.1.2. On kleśāvaraṇa, jñeyāvaraṇa, and rāga'dveṣa'moha’s elimination, see section 3.3.2. and n. 146 and 147. 64 Conclusions After almost two millennium of being rooted on Indian soil before the advent of Buddhism, the Vedic tradition, that has in the mantras its origins and identity, established a sacred conception of language understood as manifestation of the absolute, as means to transform reality, and as protective and mnemonic means, which would cast its pivotal influence on Indian Buddhism. Overall, despite the fact that early Buddhism rejected mantras, such rejection denoted more a Buddhist intention to institutionally differentiate itself from its Vedic rival, than a rejection to mantra efficacy per se. This can be seen in that besides mantras, other Vedic linguistic factors such as the satyakriyā, and perhaps the phonetical correspondences as are found within some Upaniṣads, were also accepted and re-elaborated by the mainstream Buddhism according to its own criterion. Shortly after the historical Buddha’s disappearance, the early Buddhist rejection against mantras gave ground to their progressive acceptance, mainly because of a deeply rooted pan-Indian belief on mantras already established as a ‘taken for granted value’ since centuries before, and also because some mainstream Buddhist schools admitted the five abhijñās among non-Buddhist people, being one of those abhijñās that of empowering mantras through the ‘supernatural power of conservation’ (ādhiṣṭhānikī ṛddhi). From those premises, the Buddhist acceptance of mantras and the other Vedic linguistic factors already referred to basically adopted two modalities according to the characteristics and different concerns of each Buddhist school: a ‘canonical’ modality and an ‘extra-canonical’ one. The ‘canonical’ modality, being mainly represented by the Sarvāstivādins, Mūlasarvāstivādins, and Dharmaguptakas, began to discreetly introduce mantras through the door of their Vinayas, being used as antidotes against the antarāyas and as therapeutical means. Later on, Sarvāstivādins and Mūlasarvāstivādins introduced more mantras in some Mahāsūtras and other Scriptures, and those mantras were of a non-Vedic origin and promulgated either by some deities or were attributed to the Buddha himself, hence, this mantric lore became buddhavacana and also was used as a ‘conversion device’ to integrate several tribal peoples to Buddhism. In a similar vein, Mahāsāṃghikas, Siddhārthikas, Dharmaguptakas, Aparaśailas, and Pūrvaśailas went a step further and elaborated specific ‘baskets’ called either Vidyādhara'piṭakas or Dhāraṇī'piṭakas, which held a significant mantric lore which would be assimilated in turn by the Mahāyāna and the Vajrayāna. The ‘extra-canonical’ modality is represented by the Theravāda school and certain Southern Buddhist unorthopraxical ramifications such as the Southeast Asian Theravāda Mahā Nikāya and the Burmese Weikza movement, among others. At the beginning the Theravāda only accepted its ethicized version of the Vedic satyakriyā as one of the main doctrinal foundations of their parittas, however, a lasting Mahāyāna/Vajrayāna influence left in Sri Lanka, the ancient Angkor kingdom, and Burma, allowed that a later Theravāda would accept some mantras and dhāraṇīs inserted in a number of parittas and other liturgical texts. To such mantric lore already assimilated by most of the mainstream Buddhism, the Mahāyāna added three key factors: the adoption of Sanskrit language, an open canon in continuous expansion, and the elaboration of the term ‘dhāraṇī’ which endowed to such early mantric lore of a Buddhist identity. Thus, the Mahāyāna recognized as dhāraṇī several instances, such as a whole early Mahāyāna Scripture, syllabaries devised as mnemonic and soteriological means, mantric formulas intended 65 for protective, mnemonic and supramundane goals, that first would be appended to several Sūtras to finally become mature Dhāraṇī'sūtras and early Buddhist Tantras. Although it had been argued that a supposed original meaning of dhāraṇī as ‘memory’ was forgotten, to be replaced later by a sense of dhāraṇī as ‘mantra’, the textual evidence demonstrates just the opposite, the early Vedic and Śaiva Tantric meanings of mantra as including protective, mnemonic, teachings condenser, and soteriological means, were completely assimilated by the Buddhist dhāraṇīs and were transmitted through generations to be transformed into two main categories: the ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs, which despite having separate origins, both ended up being identified and integrated within the stage of an early Indian Vajrayāna. As is the case with the Vedic and Śaiva Tantric semantic field of the term mantra, which allows its identification within ritual, protective, mnemonic and soteriological contexts, the same occurs with the semantic field of the term dhāraṇī, whose semantic extent allows it to be identified with cognitive faculties such as memory, knowledge, virtue, protection, teachings condenser, etc, and as the means to attain all of them. Despite the fact that at first sight the term dhāraṇī seems to be diluted on a loose linguistic vagueness, on a closer scrutiny instead, dhāraṇī keeps revealing its extraordinary linguistic nature and constantly shows its relation to language mastery, as is the case with the term mantra. Likewise, if the Vedic and Śaiva Tantric mantra is related to a whole constellation of synonyms and paired terms, again the same occurs with the term dhāraṇī, also related to a large number of synonyms, compound terms, and paired to other Buddhist qualities. And if the Vedic and Śaiva Tantric mantras present themselves as secure means to attain any mundane and supramundane goal, so it is with Buddhist dhāraṇīs as well. However, going beyond those functional parallels between the Vedic and Śaiva Tantric mantras and the Buddhist dhāraṇīs, it is significant to emphasize their relevant differences which would rid dhāraṇīs of being just mere imitations of their non-Buddhist referents to become what in fact they are, an elaborated product of the Indian Buddhist creative genius. From a formal level, this dissertation had demonstrated that the dhāraṇīs follow a pattern originated on certain non-Vedic mantras assimilated later by the Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭas and some early Śaiva Tantras, which neatly differentiate the dhāraṇīs from the standard Vedic and Śaiva Tantric mantras. From a linguistic level, whereas the Vedic and Śaiva Tantric mantras strictly reproduce the Vedic Sanskrit and classical Sanskrit phonological rules, the Buddhist dhāraṇīs instead, are reproduced into a large variety of Indic languages. And from a doctrinal level, whereas the Vedic and Śaiva Tantric mantras are understood as sonic forms of an absolute and eternal brahman, the Buddhist dhāraṇīs instead, are manifesting the emptiness of all dharmas which can be understood from two approaches: the Mahāyāna one emphasizing the inexpressible nature of emptiness, and the Vajrayāna one emphasizing its capability to produce innumerable meanings. According to all that had been expounded, it can be asserted that, if under the generic term of ‘vipaśyanā’ the Indian Buddhism assimilated and recreated according to its own perspective the early non-Buddhist yogic tradition revolving around realizing the truth through a contemplative silence, likewise, under the generic term of ‘dhāraṇī’ the Indian Buddhism assimilated and recreated according to its own perspective the early non-Buddhist ritual tradition revolving around realizing the truth through the word’s power. Although the early Buddhism began integrating exclusively the ‘tradition of the silence’, only would be question of diverse conditions for that Indian Buddhism, this time under its mainstream, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna 66 modalities, would ended up to integrate also the ‘tradition of the word’. And are precisely those both traditions what are shaping the common substratum which gives lasting support and inspiration to the contemporary Southern, Northern, and East Asian Buddhisms, and as it could not be otherwise, to Western Buddhism as well. 67 Appendix A Early Vedic Mantras Mantras within Buddhist Buddhist Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs This Appendix is focused on a specific set of Vedic mantras being frequently found within most Buddhist dhāraṇī formulas. As already shown in their cosmogonical function,158 the three mahāvyāhṛtis ‘bhūr’ (‘earth’), ‘bhuvaḥ’ (‘atmosphere’), and ‘svar’ (‘sky’) have a pivotal significance for the Vedic tradition. Likewise, from the contemplation of the mahāvyāhṛtis the ‘sap’ of the threefold Vedic knowledge is extracted: from bhūr the Ṛgveda, from bhuvaḥ the Yajurveda, and from svar the Sāmaveda (JUB.I.1.3-5, II.9.7; TU.1.5.2). The mahāvyāhṛtis correspond to several parts of the human body implying its wholeness: bhūr correspond to the head, bhuvaḥ to the arms, and svar to the feet (BU.5.5.3-4), hence, the mahāvyāhṛtis bestow bodily protection. Thus, a Brahman secures her/his identification with the Vedas when she/he ‘wears’ upon her/him the mahāvyāhṛtis’ micro-macrocosmic power (CU.3.15.37). The foremost function of the mahāvyāhṛtis, however, is that of carrying out a ‘universal expiation’ (Skt. sarvaprāyaścitta) (JUB.III.17.2-3). Reciting the mahāvyāhṛtis has the power to atone any mistake committed during the performance of Vedic sacrifices and their evil consequences (ŚB.XI.5.8.6), and this same power is applied to any deliberate or unintentional offences. The idea lying behind here is that whatever disorder can be restored through the mahāvyāhṛtis, because they are the sonic embodiment of the world’s creation in its original perfection (Gonda, 1983: 35, 4950).159 From a spiritual level, the mantra Oṃ is a vehicle to attain the heavens (svarga) (JUB.III.13.10) and to become immortal (CU.1.4.4-5). From a mundane level though, Oṃ denotes assent towards the whole creation (CU.1.1.8), and knowing Oṃ’s meaning entails satisfying all desires (KU.2.16). Thus, Oṃ is recited mainly to propitiate the auspicious beginning of several Vedic rituals (CU.1.8), and especially, those related to welfare and prosperity (VC: 310-311). Another significant function of Oṃ is that of memorizing: Oṃ is recited at the beginning and at the end of a Vedic passage’s reading to secure its retention (Parpola, 1981: 196-197).160 The mantra Huṃ (and its variants Um, Hum, y Hūṃ) has an early meaning related to Oṃ as an interjection of ‘assent’, and is also used to connect the final and initial parts of some verses in several Vedic rituals (Parpola, 1981: 208-209; SED: 1301; VC: 1070). However, the most common Vedic (and Tantric) meaning of Huṃ is that of being the ‘armor’ mantra, whose pronunciation purifies and protects from evil influences (Wheelock, 1989: 107).161 158 See section 1.1.1.1. 159 The mahāvyāhṛtis appear in several Buddhist dhāraṇīs to propitiate a successful generative process, whether a fetal development (Prati: 201), or a spiritual one (Gusa: 316; Snellgrove, 2002: 230-231, 256-257, n. 233). For more examples, see AM.2.806, 842; AM.7.3231; AM.10.4740, 5495; AM.11.5769, 5910, 5972; AM.12.6319, 6334-6335, 6378. 160 161 On the Buddhist meanings of Oṃ, see Appendix B-1 paragraph (2). The Theravāda Vinaya criticized this view, see section 1.2.1.1. Within a Śaiva and Buddhist Tantric context, Huṃ denotes the ‘fierce side of the deity’ (Wayman, 1985: 36), hence, Huṃ 68 The mantra Phaṭ reproduces an onomatopoeia denoting ‘crash’, ‘crack’ (SED: 716), or a ‘horse’s hooves’ sound (DUK: 16), and was originally uttered as a ‘counterattack’ against an ‘inimical action’ (Skt. ābhicara)’s ritual (AV.IV.18.3). That is why the most common appellative of Phaṭ is that of being the ‘weapon-mantra’ (Skt. astra' mantra) (SED: 122; TAK.I: 163; TĀB: 7, 91; Wheelock, 1989: 107-108). Besides its protective/offensive use, Phaṭ is also employed to remove demonic entities obstructing the spiritual practice (Pvra.2.8), and from a yogic level, its sound ‘purifies the adept’s coarse and subtle bodies’ (Padoux, 1980: 86, n. 1).162 After uttering the mantra Svāhā, Prajāpati did the first offering to the fire god Agni (ŚB.II.2.1.4). According to its traditional etymology, Svāhā alludes to the Prajāpati’s own greatness (sva) with which he spoke (āha) to Agni, counteracting in this way Agni’s destructive voracity directed against Prajāpati and to the world (ŚB.II.2.4.6). Hence, the mantra Svāhā became the oblation’s utterance par excellence in Vedic rituals (BU.5.8.1, n. 8, p. 321; SED: 1284; VC: 1056-1058).163 also is named as the ‘cuirass’ (kavaca), ‘wrath’ (krodha), and ‘preservative’ (varma) mantra (SED: 264, 322, 926; TĀB: 43, 47, 91). On the East Asian Vajrayāna meaning of Hūṃ as synonym of dhāraṇī, see Un: 125. 162 On the Buddhist meanings of Phaṭ, see Appendix B-1 paragraphs (2) and (4), and Finot, 1934: 60, 77. 163 On the Buddhist meanings of Svāhā, see Appendix B-1 paragraphs (2) and (4). 69 Appendix B Analysis of two Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇī Typologies This Appendix is divided into two parts: ‘Appendix B-1’ dealing with the ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs, and ‘Appendix B-2’ dealing with the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs. Besides providing again definitions for the terms ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs and analysing their formal patterns, the present Appendix will clarify two common misunderstandings concerning dhāraṇīs, the first one, that dhāraṇīs (i.e., the ‘formulaic’ ones) ‘are not properly meaningful’ (McDermott, 1975: 296, n. 25), or that they are written in an ‘unintelligible jargon’ (SBLN: 291), and the second one, that the ‘arapacana’ syllabary and its variants (i.e., the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs) are primarily ‘mnemonic devices’ (Ugra: 291-292, n. 549). Appendix BB-1: ‘Formulaic’ Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs A ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇī consists of [1] a linguistic pattern in prose, sonic or written, [2] regarded as promulgated by Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and/or any deity accepted by Buddhism and endowed of their ‘spiritual support’ (adhiṣṭhāna), [3] composed of one or more formulas of certain Indic languages, [4] that pledges (samaya) the attainment of its mundane and/or supramundane goals if the prescriptions established by her/his promulgator are followed. Here only segments [1] and [3] of this definition will be studied.164 Previously, note had been made of the striking similarity between the formal structure of several mantras from the Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭas Āsurīkalpa and Ucchuṣmakalpa and that of the dhāraṇī formulas, and it was argued that Indian Buddhists extracted a pattern from the formal structure of those mantras that they then reproduced within most of their dhāraṇī formulas.165 What follows is an analysis of the four parts of the ‘formulaic dhāraṇī’’s pattern, first, providing a comparative analysis between the Āsurīkalpa’s ‘root-mantra’ (mūla'mantra) and a dhāraṇī formula invoking Vajrapāṇi from the Susiddhikara'sūtra, and then, providing an analysis of the ‘formulaic dhāraṇī’’s pattern as is understood in Buddhist Scriptures and according to certain contemporary interpretations. The Āsurīkalpa’s ‘root-mantra’ reads: oṃ namo rudrāya, oṃ kaṭuke kaṭukapattre subhaga āsuri rakte raktavāsase, atharvaṇasya duhite ghore ghorakarmakārike amukaṁ hana hana daha daha paca paca mantha mantha tāvad daha tāvat paca yāvan me vaçam ānayaḥ svāhā. Oṁ, obeisance to Rudra: oṁ, O pungent one, thou of the pungent leaf, blessed āsuri, reddish one, thou of the reddish garment, O daughter of the atharvan, non-terrific one, non-terrific wonder worker (deed-performer), ‘so-and-so’ smite, smite, burn, burn, cook, cook, crush, crush, so long burn, so long cook, until thou hast brought [him] into my power: svāhā (ed. and tr. Āka: 175, 180). 164 On segments [2] and [4], see sections 1.2.2.2. paragraph (a), and 3.1.2. 165 See section 1.1.1.2. 70 The Susiddhikara'sūtra’s Vajrapāṇi dhāraṇī reads: namo ratnatrayāya, namaś caṇḍavajrapāṇaye mahāyakṣasenanāpataye, oṃ hara hara vajra matha matha vajra dhuna dhuna vajra hana hana vajra [daha daha vajra] paca paca vajra dala dala vajra dāraya dāraya vajra vidāraya vidāraya vajra chinda chinda vajra bhinda bhinda vajra hūṃ phaṭ. Homage to the Three Jewels! Homage to Violent Vajrapāṇi, great General of the yakṣas! Oṃ, seize, seize, O vajra! destroy, destroy, O vajra! shake, shake, O vajra! slay, slay, O vajra! burn burn, O vajra! roast, roast, O vajra! split, split, O vajra! tear, tear, O vajra! tear [asunder], tear asunder,O vajra! cut, cut, O vajra! split, split, O vajra! hūṃ phaṭ! (Susi: 302-303).166 A formal common pattern is detectable in both texts, composed by four parts: (1) a salutation mantric sentence, (2) a beginning mantra word (generally, the monosyllable oṃ), (3) a mantra(s) formula(s), and (4) a closing mantra formula and/or mantra word(s) (generally, expressions as svāhā, hūṃ, and phaṭ). This fourfold pattern will be applied to both examples in the following Chart: Pattern’s Āsurīkalpa’s Āsurīkalpa’s mantra Parts A salutation oṃ namo rudrāya mantric sentence Susiddhikara' Susiddhikara'sūtra ūtra’s ra’s dhāra dhāraṇ āraṇī A beginning oṃ mantra word A Mantra(s) formula(s) oṃ A closing svāhā mantra formula and/or mantra word(s) kaṭuke kaṭukapattre subhaga āsuri rakte raktavāsase, atharvaṇasya duhite ghore ghorakarmakārike amukaṁ hana hana daha daha paca paca mantha mantha tāvad daha tāvat paca yāvan me vaçam ānayaḥ namo ratnatrayāya, namaś caṇḍavajrapāṇaye mahāyakṣasenanāpataye hara hara vajra matha matha vajra dhuna dhuna vajra hana hana vajra [daha daha vajra] paca paca vajra dala dala vajra dāraya dāraya vajra vidāraya vidāraya vajra chinda chinda vajra bhinda bhinda vajra hūṃ phaṭ Chart 1: The ‘Formulaic’ Dhāraṇī Pattern (Based on Āka: 175, 180, and Susi: 302-303). 166 ‘Daha daha vajra’ had been added (in square brackets) following Susi: 324, n. 112, because it appears in the Sūtra’s Japanese, Chinese and Tibetan versions. Whereas in the Āsurīkalpa the terms ‘hana, daha, paca’ are used in rites of ‘inimical action’ (abhicarā), in the Vajrapāṇi dhāraṇī instead, are used to bring a stolen article back (Susi: 302). Those same terms appear in other dhāraṇīs to propitiate health and longevity (Māyū: 408-409), removal of defilements (Bala: ed. 27.24, tr. 55.36-39), and protection against enemies and black magic (Varat: 7-12; Prati: 112-113, 201). 71 Although such pattern is not uniformly followed by all ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs,167 however, it is the most reproduced one, and in fact, such pattern is what defines formally a ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇī (see segment [1]), showing one of its most distinctive characteristics that differentiates it clearly from the standard Vedic and Śaiva Tantric mantras.168 Now those pattern’s four parts will be studied according to their Buddhist understanding and some contemporary interpretations. (1).- A salutation mantric sentence: The ‘formulaic dhāraṇīs’ usually begin with a set of salutations (Skt. namaskāras), in honour to the three Jewels, to the Buddha, to the Bodhisattva, or to the deity invoked by the dhāraṇī. It means that the auspicious presence of those invoked entities is summoned, and it is a way to give a general identity to the formula (eg. three Jewels) and a specific one (eg. Vajrapāṇi) (see example above). (2).- A beginning mantra word: Normally, this beginning mantra word is related to the closing mantra word (cf. Part 4), and indicates the dhāraṇī’s concrete purpose. Thus, the word Oṃ at the beginning and the word svāhā at the end refers to its use in pacifying calamities (Skt. śāntika) (Vai'sū: 268; Susi: 134), the word Oṃ at the beginning and the words Hūṃ Phaṭ at the end refer to its use in summoning, and the words Hūṃ Phaṭ at the beginning and end are for use in subjugating (Skt. ābhicāruka), the word Namaḥ at the beginning and end are for use in increasing benefits (Skt. pauṣṭika) (Vai'sū: 268), But according to a different interpretation, dhāraṇīs with no beginning and end words as described, are able to accomplish increasing benefits (Susi: 134).169 The monosyllable Oṃ is the most used as ‘beginning mantra word’, and acquired, among others, the Buddhist meanings of being the sonic manifestation of the Buddha’s three bodies (Skt. trikāya), of taking refuge and bowing to the three Jewels, and of denoting a vast offering (Gorin: 292). From an esoteric sense, Oṃ means ‘the fulfillment of the three bodies’ and ‘the basis and mother of all mantras’ (Unno, 2004: 158, 171-172).170 (3).- A Mantra(s) formula(s): This part constitutes the dhāraṇī’s ‘semantic corpus’ proper, the part expressing in referential and meaningful terms the effect the dhāraṇī proposes to manifest into the mundane and/or supramundane planes of reality.171 This part is conceived as a prose mantric utterance composed of several characteristic features, among them, the following stand out: (a).-Alliterations: Undoubtedly, this is one of the ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs’ distinctive features, reproduced again and again in most of them. It consists of 167 There are some early dhāraṇīs lacking parts (1), (2), and (4) (eg. AM.12.6873-6895), and some that instead of beginning with oṃ, begin with the term ‘tadyathā’ (Zabao: 156; AM.12.68966898), and those that only include parts (2), (3), and (4) (eg. AM.12.6905-6907). 168 See sections 1.1.1.1. and 1.1.2.2. 169 On the meanings of śāntika, pauṣṭika, and ābhicāruka, see sections 3.2.1., 3.2.2., and 3.2.3. 170 According to the Theravāda Mahā Nikāya, Oṃ is represented with an inverse form and broken down as ‘MA A U’, and those syllables establish a set of correspondences, see CastroSánchez, 2010: 6, Chart 1. 171 This part is equivalent to the portion of the Śaiva tantric mantra that declares ‘what is to be effected’ (sādhya) by the mantra into the world. The relationship between the mantra and the sādhya parallels that between language and reality (Yelle, 2003: 20-21, 42). This sādhya part is equivalent to the mantra’s śakti, see section 1.1.2.2., n. 16. 72 repeating an identical term, usually in 2nd. sing. imperative act, with the intention to intensify the dhāraṇī’s effect (Wayman, 1985: 35); and it signifies ‘a command of the speaker, but shades off into a demand, and exhortation, an entreaty, and expression of earnest desire’ (Amog: 269). Although the most common alliteration is double (see example above),172 in some instances, a single term is repeated four, and even ten times (Māyū: 418-428). (b).-‘Exhaustion’: It means ‘the enumeration of all, or nearly all, of a set or paradigm class, whether semantic or phonetic’, exhausting ‘the directional possibilities of language’ (Yelle, 2003: 15). Such device stamp to the dhāraṇī a tendency to comprise and dominate all linguistic possibilities intended by the formula, as in ‘kara kara, kiri kiri, kuru kuru’ (Amog: 296), expressing imperatives of multiple action (Wayman, 1985: 35-36). The combination of alliterations and ‘exhaustions’ intensifies the dhāraṇī’s transformative power (Amog: 269). (c).-Augmentation: It consists of repeating a word or concept with progressive increase of intensity (Yelle, 2003: 14). One well-known example is the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya'sūtra’s vidyā: ‘oṃ gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā’ (Pph.VIII), i.e. ‘oṃ gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond, enlightenment, svāhā’ (Lopez, 1990: 356). (d).-‘Unintelligible’ terms: Occasionally, the dhāraṇīs may include terms considered as ‘unintelligible’ ones. For instance, there are three terms appearing very frequently: ‘hili’, ‘mili’, and ‘kili’, and those terms appear, to name just a few examples, in therapeutical formulas as ‘hili mili’ (Romu, 1986: 217; Śikṣā.VI.142; CBD: 140), against snakes ones as ‘ili mili phuḥ phuḥ’ (HT.I.2.32), or within ‘all-purpose’ dhāraṇīs as ‘hili hili, mili mili, kili kili’ (Prati: 232). Several theories can explain the origin and meaning of those so-called ‘unintelligible’ terms, for instance, those terms and similar ones may refer to certain deities’ names, as the vidyārāja Kīlikīli (Susi: 201, 288),173 or they may come from the spirits or gods’ languages invoked by the formula (Goudriaan, 1978: 78), or they may be emerged from a state of meditative absorption (Whitaker, 1963: 12, n. 8), or they may be onomatopoeias, as the god Hanuman’s bīja'mantra ‘kilikili vuvu’ (cf. HT.I.2.32, above) imitating the monkey’s noise ‘to frighten others’ (DUK: 22). The dhāraṇī’s Scriptural and ritual context would provide the keys to clarify which of those theories, or others, may be applicable to each case. Anyway, it should be taken into account that the dhāraṇīs are invoking or summoning the presence of a given ‘other’, hence, those terms are not nonsensical, but are seen as only intelligible for the entities invoked and for those initiated into such language (Tambiah, 1968: 177-178).174 (e).-Personalizations: In most dhāraṇīs appears the clause ‘mama’ (‘your name here’), signaling the place where to insert the name of the dhāraṇī’s recitation beneficiary, or the name of that one who sponsored a massive dhāraṇī’s copying (Hidas, 2008: 25, n. 90; Copp, 2005: 194-195). (f).-Terms related to specific rites: Besides the beginning and end mantra words (cf. Part 2), it is possible to know the ritual purpose of a given dhāraṇī according to which terms it may include. A śāntika dhāraṇī may include terms such as ‘śānti'kuru’ 172 See also DBDh: 3, 10, 17, 27, 36, 37, 45, 50, 51, 62, 86, 109, 111. 173 See the Rudras’ names within several mantras and dhāraṇīs, in section 1.1.2.1. 174 As it was stated by the Mīmāṁsaka Śabara: ‘In cases where the meaning is not intelligible, it is not that there is no meaning; it is there always, only people are ignorant of it’ (as quoted in Coward, 1989: 166). 73 (‘render auspicious’), or ‘śama’ (‘remove’), a pauṣṭika one include terms such as ‘puṣṭi’ (‘increase benefit’), or ‘bala’ (‘strength’), and an ābhicāruka one, words such as ‘hana’ (‘strike’), or ‘bhañja’ (‘shatter’) (Susi: 132-133). (g).-Phrases of supplication: With the purpose of infusing radiant energy (Skt. tejas) to an object and making it effective, ‘phrases of supplication’ are inserted after the initial, middle, and final parts of a dhāraṇī, such as ‘jvala’ (‘emit light’) and ‘jvālaya’ (‘cause to emit light’) (Susi: 262). (4).- A closing mantra formula and/or mantra word(s): Besides the closing mantra words related to those of the beginning already referred to in Part 1 (see above), some dhāraṇīs including ‘phrases of supplication’ end with the three words Hūṃ, Phaṭ and Svāhā to intensify its power (Susi: 262). The above points demonstrate that the ‘formulaic dhāraṇīs’, far from being ‘unintelligible’ or ‘meaningless’, are a kind of language with semantically identifiable contents based on performative expressions (Payne, 1998: 10). This dhāraṇī language, however, does not follow the parameters of an ordinary communication, but those only concerned with spiritual and ritual goals that are what provide them with their sense (Wallis, 2002: 30). The dhāraṇīs differ from conventional language because they facilitate states of mental concentration and insight, being able to get in touch with mundane/supramundane entities, and even attaining the unconditioned (Tambiah, 1968: 206, n. 7). Said in different words, dhāraṇī language is not intended for discriminative proliferation (Skt. prapañca), but only for ritual and transcendental goals (Padoux, 1990: 373, 377).175 Concerning the languages of dhāraṇīs (see definition’s segment [3]), it is significant to clarify that, on the contrary to the Vedic and Śaiva Tantric mantras following exclusively the Sanskrit phonology (Staal, 1989: 61), the Buddhist mantras/dhāraṇīs are composed of several Indic languages. The Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhi'tantra acknowledges as one category of the ‘nature of mantras’ that of the ‘local languages’, i.e., ‘those that are spoken in accordance with whatever language is used in each region’ (Vai'ta.II.II.80), and other Vajrayāna sources admit mantras and Tantras in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhraṃśa, and Śabari (Lamotte, 1958: 614), and as already have been noted, there are dhāranīs in Dravidian (Bernhard, 1967: 162-164) and Pāli (Bizot/Lagirarde,1996: 214-216, 225-228).176 In practical terms, however, the dhāranīs retained a characteristic feature of any non-Vedic, Vedic and Śaiva Tantric mantra: a large part of its efficacy is directly related to a proper 175 This may explain the inclusion of dhāraṇī formulas within Sūtras emphasizing discriminative conceptualization (Skt. vāgvikalpa) as a danger to accomplishing ultimate reality. Thus, out of sixteen Mahāyāna Scriptures focused on the ultimate reality’s inexpressibility (Lugli, 2010: 139-140), nine of them include references to dhāraṇīs (Pagel, 2007b: 163-164, n. 28 and n. 31). 176 Another mantric language related to the Śabari and the Dravidian is the Paiśācī, designated as bhūtabhāṣā (‘the language of bhūtas or ghosts’), spoken by deities such as yakṣas, rākṣasas and nāgas, see Konow, 1910: 95-100, 118; Grierson, 1912: 67-73; Master, 1943: 39-42. On the mastery of non-human languages as one of the Buddha’s ‘conversion devices’, see section 1.2.1.3., and as a Bodhisattva’s attribute, see Mpsū: 541, and Pagel, 2007a: 68. On the Dravidian mantras/dhāranīs, see section 1.1.2.1., n. 14, and Appendix C. 74 enunciation in its original language, hence, it is also related to its untranslatability (Padoux, 1987: 120; Copp, 2005: 180-183).177 Appendix BB-2: ‘Syllabic’ Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs By ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇī a list of syllables is understood each of which is linked to a particular statement or word that embodies a key aspect of Buddhist doctrine. In most cases, the syllabaries connect the syllables phonetically to headwords, and the syllables constitute, save rare cases, the first syllable of the corresponding headword. There are ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs issued from a particular arrangement of syllables following Buddhist topics, and there is another type in which the standard Sanskrit syllabary (varṇapāṭha) is used to convey a set of Buddhist doctrinal terms (Pagel, 2007a: 18-38). In either of both cases and as it was said before, the goals for all ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs are identical: they serve as means to memorize Dharma topics, describe a map to the Buddhist path, and are contemplative methods conducive to insight.178 Undoubtedly, the most influential ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇī is that named ‘arapacana’, which according to one of its earliest and most widespread Mahāyāna versions, includes forty three syllables, conceived as ‘doors’ (mukhas) to attain an insight to key Buddhist teachings.179 Some authors, however, have insisted in that the primary function of the ‘arapacana’ syllabary is an ‘aid to memorisation’ (Pagel, 2007a: 24, n. 25), and that the sonic syllables and their graphic signs by themselves are more important to allow easy memorisation than the concepts they designate, because those concepts change according to different versions (Davidson, 2009: 124-125). Nevertheless, without questioning the relative validity of those views, an impartial observation of the ‘arapacana’ syllabary itself along with its Scriptural context, demonstrates that the ‘arapacana’ syllabary, besides being used as a mnemonic device, is above all a means of spiritual realization. Just a preliminary reading of their contents, will show that all the ‘arapacana’ syllabary’s headwords point to experiencing the ‘nonapprehension’ (Skt. anupalabdhitā) of an inherent existence in any dharma, whether conditioned or unconditioned, which is a pivotal tenet of the Prajñāpāramitā'sūtras (PWE'S.IX.205-207; Mpsū: 80, 101), and as their commentaries repeat, such experience is equated to grasping the ‘true characteristic’ (Skt. bhūtalakṣaṇa) of all dharmas, i.e., their lack of any characteristic (Mppś.III: XLII). The soteriological function of the ‘arapacana’ syllabary is demonstrated again by the akṣarapraveśa'dhāraṇī, revolving around the 177 Northern, Central Asian, and East Asian Buddhisms made particular efforts to transliterate as faithfully as possible the dhāranīs’ Indic original sounds. For instance, Tibetans devised a specific set of letters to reproduce exactly Sanskrit syllables (TED: xviii-xxi), Sogdians devised special diacritical marks to transliterate dhāranīs (La Vallée Poussin/Gauthiot, 1912: 634-635), and Chinese and Japanese focused on the Indic siddham script to reproduce mantras/dhāraṇīs (Bonji: 142-143; Gulik, 1956: 45-138). 178 See sections 1.2.1.2., and Appendices C, and D section (b). 179 See Chart 2 below. For a detailed study of the ‘arapacana’ syllabary and its variants, see Pagel, 2007a: 18-38; for its earlier versions, see Brough, 1977, Mukherjee, 1999, and Salomon, 1990 and 1993. 75 contemplation of their syllables.180 From the first instant in which the Bodhisattva listens to the syllable ‘A’, she/he penetrates immediately the fact that ‘all dharmas are unproduced from the very beginning’, and the same process is repeated with the rest of the syllables, and as she/he is listening to them, penetrates even more into the ‘true characteristic’ (bhūtalakṣaṇa) of all dharmas (Mppś.IV: 1866-1868).181 In the same vein, another feature to be emphasized here is the ‘circularity’ of the ‘arapacana’ syllabary, because it begins with ‘all dharmas are unproduced from the very beginning’ (No. 1), and ends with ‘in their ultimate and final station dharmas neither decease nor are they reborn’ (No. 43), thus, pointing to the unconditioned nature of all dharmas and encouraging the practitioner to its realization. This ‘arapacana’ syllabary’s ‘circularity’ became the basis of the Vajrayāna method on the ‘revolving dhāraṇī’, consisting of a meditation on the regular and reverse order on the meanings of the individual syllables constituting the ‘arapacana’ dhāranī or other mantras arranged in a ‘wheel of letters’, where ‘both the final [letter] and the initial [letter] come to the same thing’, i.e., ‘if the cause is inapprehensible, then it is from the very beginning unborn [No. 1]; if it is from the very beginning unborn, then it neither increases nor decreases [No. 43] … then it is the Dharma body of the Tathāgata’ (Un: 109, 114-117, n. 14). Therefore, the ‘arapacana’ syllabary went beyond a Mahāyāna sphere to be assimilated by the Vajrayāna and reinterpreted as the ‘mantras’ method’, and as the ‘gates of the samādhis to the experience of reality’ (Vai'ta.II.II.84-86), and for Kūkai, the ‘arapacana’ syllabary is ‘the king of mantras’ which ‘eradicates suffering and bestows happiness’ (Shōji: 92). The ‘arapacana’ syllabary was even personified as the Bodhisattva ‘Arapacana Mañjuśrī’ (Bhattacharyya, 1958: 120-121; DBI.2: 379-380), becoming a pivotal figure in numerous ‘means of accomplishment’ (Skt. sādhanas) and influential ritual texts as the Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti (Mns: 22.27).182 Other ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs experienced a similar esoterization process, appearing integrated along ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs within the same Scripture. In the Dà făjù tuóluóní jīng (592-594 CE), the ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs serve as removers of negative influences and the ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇī ‘A-KA-NA’ induces the production of teachings (Overbey, 2010: 112), and in the Anantamukha'nirhāra'dhāraṇī'sūtra, both ‘formulaic’ and ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇīs are intended for attaining Buddhahood (Anir: 65-87, 113-144).183 180 See section 2.1.3.1. 181 One of the ‘arapacana’ practice’s ‘twenty advantages’ is that of ‘the cognition of the extinction of the outflows’ (Mpsū: 162). 182 The Tibetan Buddhist canon contains several sādhanas focusing on the ‘arapacana’ syllabary (TP: 38, 2117). 183 76 On this Dhāraṇī'sūtra’s practice, see section 3.3.3. No. 1 Syllable A Headword(s) ādyanutpannatvād 2 3 4 RA PA CA rajas paramārtha cyavana 5 6 NA LA nāman loka/latā 7 DA dānta'damatha 8 9 10 BA ḌA SHA bandhana ḍamara shaṇga 11 VA vākpatha'ghosha 12 13 14 15 16 TA YA SHṬA KA SA tathatā yathāvad shṭambha kāraka samatā 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 MA GA STHA JA ŚVA DHA ŚA KHA KṢA STA JÑĀ RTA HA BHA CHA SMA HVA TSA GHA mamakāra gamana sthāna jāti śvāsa dharmadhātu śamatha kha kṣaya stabdha jñāna mārtya hetu bhaṇga chedana smarana āhvāna utsāha ghana 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 ṬHA ṆA PHA SKA YSA ŚCA ṬA ḌHA viṭhāpana raṇa phala skandha ysara = jarā ścarana ṭalo niḍha Insight All dharmas (Alldh./alldh.) are unproduced from the very beginning (ādyanutpannatvād). Alldh. are without dirt (rajas). Alldh. have been expounded in the ultimate sense (paramārtha). The decease (cyavana) or rebirth of any dh. cannot be apprehended, because alldh. do not decease, nor are they reborn. The names (nāman) of alldh. have vanished. Alldh. have transcended the world (loka); the causes and conditions of the creeping plant (latā) of craving have been utterly destroyed. ‘Tamed’ (dānta) and ‘taming’ (dānta'damatha) have been circumscribed. The bonds (bandhana) have departed from alldh. The tumult (ḍamara) of alldh. has vanished. No attachment (shaṇga) in any dharma is apprehended; they are neither attached nor bound. The sound of the paths of speech (vākpatha'ghosha) has been quite cut off. Alldh. do not depart from Suchness (tathatā). The nonapprehension of any fact (yathāvad). The nonap. of a support (shṭambha). The nonap. of an agent (kāraka). The nonap. of sameness (samatā); alldh. never stray away from sameness. The nonap. of mine-making (mamakāra). The nonap. of motion (gamana). The nonap. of subsistence (sthāna). The nonap. of birth (jāti). The nonap. of a principle of life (śvāsa). The nonap. of the Realm of Dharma (dharmadhātu). The nonap. of calming-down (śamatha). The nonap. of the sameness of space (kha). The nonap. of the extinction (kṣaya). Each dh. is fixed (stabdha) in its place, and never leaves it. The cognition (jñāna) cannot be apprehended. The mortality (mārtya) cannot be apprehended. A root-cause (hetu) cannot be apprehended. A breaking-up (bhaṇga) cannot be apprehended. A cutting-off (chedana) cannot be apprehended. A remembrance (smarana) cannot be apprehended. The true appellations (āhvāna) cannot be apprehended. The will-power (utsāha) cannot be apprehended. Things and persons are not apprehended each as one solid mass (ghana). The nonap. of fabricated appearances (viṭhāpana). The strife (raṇa) has departed. No fruit (phala) is apprehended. No aggregates (skandhas) are apprehended. No decay (ysara = jarā) is apprehended. The nonapprehension of good conduct (ścarana). The nonapprehension of the other shore (ṭalo). The nonapprehension of unsteadiness. In their ultimate and final (niḍha) station dharmas neither decease nor are they reborn. Chart 2: The ‘Arapacana’ Syllabary (based on Mpsū: 160-162, and Conze, 1955: 120-122). 77 Appendix C ‘Formulaic’ and ‘Syllabic’ Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs in Mainstream Buddhist Schools Besides the Mahāsūtras’ mantras already referred to,184 more pivotal mantras are found within other Sarvāstivāda and Mūlasarvāstivāda texts. It should be emphasized here that the Upasena'sūtra, included within the Saṃyuktāgama of both schools, where has the Buddha empowering a mantra against snakebites with his ‘formulation of truth’: given that the Buddha has ‘killed’ the three ‘poisons’ of greed, hatred, and delusion, the snake poison, too, is ‘killed’ (Schmithausen, 1997: 11-13). There is also a mantra for healing ocular diseases in a second century CE Sarvāstivāda’s Avadāna collection (Zabao: 155-157) (Nakamura, 1980: 139, 107, n. 43), and the ‘six syllables mantra’ (ṣaḍakṣari'vidyā) promulgated by the Buddha in the second or third century CE Sarvāstivāda’s Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna (Divy: 613-614). In this text the incorporation of the mantric lore belonging to the ‘holders of knowledge’ (Skt. vidyādhara) and to the followers of the non-Vedic goddess Mataṅgī into Buddhism is dramatized, through the monastic ordination of ‘Prakṛti’ (‘nature’), daughter of the mahāvidyādharī Mataṅgī, that, despite falling in love with Ānanda, finally she became a nun through the Buddha’s mantric power.185 Within the same line of the Buddhist incorporation of local cults, the conversion to Buddhism of the ‘Four Great Kings’ through a dhāraṇī formula is significant. According to the second century CE Sarvāstivāda’s Abhidharma' mahāvibhāṣā'śāstra (Nakamura, 1980: 107), the Buddha’s gift for languages allowed him to teach the Dharma in Sanskrit to Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Virūḍhaka, in a barbarian language (mleccha) to Vaiśravaṇa, and in Dravidian (drāviḍa or drāmiḍā) to Virūpakṣa, with the dhāraṇī ‘īne mīne dapphe daḍapphe’, understood as a summary of the ‘Four Ennobling Truths’ (Bernhard, 1967: 163-164; Lamotte, 1958: 608-609).186 The Abhidharma'mahāvibhāṣā'śāstra also includes a series of mantras (called vidyās) for therapeutical and apotropaic goals (McBride, II, 2005: 108-109, n. 79). Likewise, the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya contains several protective mantras, specially, a mantra against snakebites that will reappear in an expanded version within the influential Mahā'māyūrī'vidyārājñī'sūtra (Skilling, 1992: 156-157; Pathak, 1989: 32-36). The Dharmaguptaka school (third century BCE) was founded by Dharmagupta, who allegedly received teachings and mantras from Maudgalyāyana (Demiéville, 1932: 61). In the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya is mentioned for the first time the syllables ‘a'ra'pa' ca'na’ as an example of recitation for the set of syllables (akṣara) with mnemonic and soteriological goals, which indicates the earliest use of a ‘syllabic’ dhāraṇī before the 184 See section 1.2.1.2. 185 For an earlier account of the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, see Māta: 166-170. A Chinese version of this text (T 1300) translated in 230 CE, includes rituals and six dhāranīs and can be considered one of the earliest Dhāraṇī'sūtras (Chou, 1945: 242). On the goddess Mataṅgī, see section 1.1.2.1., on the vidyādharas, see section 1.2.2.2., n. 53. 186 Such dhāraṇī appears in Māyū: 438-439, and is functionally akin to the Pāli rosary chant ‘du, sa, ni, ma’, composed by the two first letters of ‘dukkha, samudaya, nirodha, magga’ (Harvey, 1993: 83, n. 7). On the mantras and dhāraṇīs in Dravidian, see section 1.1.2.1. n. 14, and Appendix B-1. 78 Mahāyāna (Lévi, 1915b: 440, n. 1), and the same Vinaya also includes protective and therapeutical mantras (Davidson, 2009: 113-116). The ‘Bajaur Collection’, of a likely Dharmaguptaka origin (c. late first century CE), includes a fragment of the ‘arapacana’ syllabary and a mantra (lit. a vidyā) offered by the Nāga king Manasvin to the Buddha as antidote against the antarāyas (Strauch, 2008: 18, 37-47).187 Despite its absence in the Theravāda Nikāyas, mantras (P mantas) and dhāraṇīs found an extra-canonical place within South and Southeast Asian Theravāda. They demonstrate a persistent impact left by a Mahāyāna/Vajrayāna established in Sri Lanka from the third to the ninth century CE (Mudiyanse, 1967: 1-9; Chandra, 2000: 111), in the ancient Angkor empire from the tenth to the fifteenth century CE (Harris, 2005: 14-25), and in Burma from the eleventh to the nineteenth century CE (Bizot, 1976: 36-37). The Sri Lankan paritta lore uses texts such as the Sīvalī'paritta, Gini'paritta, Abhisambhidhāna'paritta, Jalanandana'paritta, and Araṇyaka'paritta containing Mahāyāna dhāraṇī formulas and esoteric diagrams (Skt. yantras), and the Randeṇe' gāthā is recited including Tantric bīja'mantras, and the Sarvārakṣaka'mantra and yantra invoking eight Mahāyāna Bodhisattvas as protective devices, as well. Some canonical parittas are recited a fixed number of times (7, 21, 1,000, and 100,000 times), as it is prescribed in the Śaiva and Vajrayāna mantra methods. Moreover, there is a monastic mantra masters’ lineage (mantrācāryas), the Koṇḍadeniya Paramparāva, focused on exorcism services (Chandawimala, 2007: 215-226). Likewise, Sri Lankan traditional medicine preserves therapeutic mantras from a Vajrayāna origin (Liyanaratne, 2001: 393-395). The Southeast Asian Theravāda Mahā Nikāya preserved until the twentieth century CE the recitation of the Salākarivijā'sutta, Indasāva, Dhāraṇa'paritta, Disāpāla' paritta, Ādhāraṇa'paritta, Mahāvira'paritta, Dibbamanta'Dhāraṇiya'paritta, and Mahādibba'manta containing Mahāyāna dhāraṇī formulas, along with other dhāraṇī formulas composed by themselves.188 And the contemporary Burmese Buddhist esoteric movement Weikza (from the P vijjā, Skt. vidyā), integrated by monastics and laypeople alike, is based on a mantric tradition related to Vedic and Tantric lores called gandhārī'vijjā.189 Besides the mantra practice followed by those schools, other mainstream Buddhist schools assimilated a growing mantric lore that ended up getting a canonical status. Mahāsāṃghikas (Beal, 1884: ii, 164-165), Siddhārthikas (Walser, 2005: 53), Dharmaguptakas (Demiéville, 1932: 60-61), Aparaśailas, and Pūrvaśailas (Triś.57-58), elaborated and transmitted a new Scriptural ‘basket’ (Skt. piṭaka), called Vidyādhara' piṭaka for those schools, or called with its synonym of Dhāraṇī'piṭaka by the 187 The name ‘arapacana’ is drawn from the first five syllabes a'ra'pa'ca'na of a complete syllabary containing forty two or forty three syllables, its early language is the Gāndhārī (North West India) and was created c. first or second century CE (Salomon, 1990: 256, 259; Lévi, 1937: 362). On the ‘arapacana’ syllabary, see Appendices B-2 Chart 2, and D section (b). 188 See Filliozat, 2004: 499-501, 506-507, 510, 512-513; Jaini, 2001b: 507-513; Bizot, 1976: 27, 85, n. 1.; Castro Sánchez, 2010: 6-8, Charts 1-3. 189 See Pranke, 1995: 350; Ferguson/Mendelson, 1981: 68-71; Mendelson, 1961: 564, n. 2. The gandhārī'vijjā (Skt. gandhārī'vidyā) is regarded as bestowing powers of invisibility, a body’s multiplicity, and flying (PED: 244; DN.11.5-7; Kośa.VII.47c-d). On the vidyā mantras, see section 2.1.2.2. 79 Mahāsāṃghikas, that, together with the traditional Tripiṭaka and a Bodhisattva'piṭaka, established a primary doctrinal and institutional core from which would develop the Mahāyāna and then the Vajrayāna.190 190 Some Scriptures refer to the Dhāraṇī'piṭaka as a Mahāyāna esoteric canon (Ben: 43-45), and to the Vidyādhara'piṭaka as a denomination for the Vajrayāna canon as a whole (Shes.VI: 73-74; Chavannes, 1894: 101-104), or as a section within it (Dalton, 2010: 16, n. 33; Lalou, 1955: 71-72). These data demonstrate that Indian Mahāyāna should be viewed ‘as a primarily textual phenomenon that arose and developed within the institutional context of mainstream Buddhism’ (Drewes, 2006: 160). 80 Appendix D Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs within Mahāyāna Mahāyāna Sūtras ūtras The complex process of the Buddhist assimilation of mantras initiated within some Vinayas, the Mahāsūtras, and other mainstream Buddhist Scriptures already described,191 continued within Mahāyāna through several stages from which three of the most relevant will be summarized here, taking into account that the dates indicated are quite approximated and in a few cases, different dates of stages overlap. (a).(a).- Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs as Identical to Mahāyāna Mahāyāna Sūtras ūtras The earliest references to the dhāraṇī term within Mahāyāna identify it with some Sūtras, that is, the whole Sūtra is viewed as a dhāraṇī. The Upāyakauśalya'sūtra (first century BCE) is also named as a ‘Doctrinal system of the Bodhisattva collection known as the ‘Incantation of the Irreversible Wheels, the Diamond Word, the Nonarising of All Phenomena’ (Avaivartika'cakra'dhāraṇī'vajrapada'sarvadharmānutpāda' bodhisattva'pitaka'dharmaparyāya), that only with its listening, allows Bodhisattvas ‘to attain conviction that phenomena are unarising’ (Upka.110, n. 130).192 Significant here is the identification of dhāraṇī with its synonym term ‘diamond word’ (vajrapada), both understood as Dharma words whose sole listening prompts insight.193 Another early Sūtra is self-defined as a dhāraṇī directed to those who ‘uphold the True Dharma when the last age arrives’ (Pratyu.25F-1).194 Besides these indirect references though, it can be said that the earliest identification of dhāraṇī as mantra began with a previous identification of Sūtra as vidyā, this last term being a synonym of mantra. The Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā'sūtra defines itself as a ‘great lore’ (Skt. mahā'vidyā) bestowing five ‘advantages even here and now’ (Skt. dṛṣṭadhārmikas) (Aṣṭa.3.27-29; PWE'S.III.55), and likewise, the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya'sūtra’s mantra is a mahā'vidyā ‘allayer of all suffering’ (Pph.VIII). As will be seen, the protective and soteriological functions of mahā'vidyā and dhāraṇī are equivalent, hence, both are included within the mantra’s semantic field.195 191 See sections 1.2.1.1. and 1.2.1.2., and Appendix C. 192 On anutpattikadharmakṣānti, see section 1.2.2.1. and n. 34. In Hinduism the complete Bhagavadgītā is ritually recited as a single long mantra (mālāmantra) for spiritual welfare or curing illness (Hanneder, 1998: 152). 193 On the relationship between dhāraṇī and vajrapada terms, see section 2.1.2.4. 194 Dhāraṇī'sūtras frequently refer to themselves as texts favourable for ‘the last age’, i.e., one of an ‘apocalyptic eschatology’ (Strickmann, 1990: 86-89; 2002: 104). 195 On its Vedic background, see section 1.1.1.1. Within the Prajñāpāramitā'sūtras’ context, vidyā’s range of meanings may include: ‘knowledge’, ‘lore’, ‘sciences’, ‘secret lore’, and ‘magical formula’ (MDPL: 354). There is continuity between the early mantras counteracting the antarāyas (see section 1.2.1.1.) and the five dṛṣṭadhārmikas bestowed by the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā'sūtra as a mahā'vidyā (Strauch, 2008: 41-42). On these dṛṣṭadhārmikas, see section 2.2.1. On mahā'vidyā and dhāraṇī, see section 2.1.2.2. 81 From a different perspective, the expanded Prajñāpāramitā'sūtra versions (first century CE, Conze, 2000: 10) conflate two meanings of the term dhāraṇī, i.e., as identical to the whole Sūtra, and as the ‘arapacana’ syllabary, called as ‘dhāraṇī-doors’ (dhāraṇī'mukhas), or simply named as ‘dhāraṇīs’: ‘I have taught this perfection of wisdom as a dhāraṇī. When you bear in mind those dhāraṇīs of the perfection of wisdom [i.e., the ‘arapacana’ syllabary], you bear all dharmas in mind’ (Mpsū: 489). Here dhāraṇī can be understood simultaneously as the ultimate reality or goal, and as method to attain such goal, and this twofold dhāraṇī nature would be developed by the ‘formulaic’ dhāraṇīs.196 (b).(b).- Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs as Syllabaries in Mahāyāna Mahāyāna Sūtras ūtras The Chinese Buddhist canon keeps twenty six texts, most of them Scriptures, composed between the third century CE to the eleventh century CE, where two types of syllabaries appear, the ‘arapacana’ (and its variants) in nineteen texts, and the Sanskrit syllabary (varṇapāṭha) in the remaining seven (HBG.VI.565-572). The pattern followed by both syllabaries is identical: each syllable corresponds phonetically to the first syllable (or a different one) of a set of selected key Buddhist terms, and their memorizing/contemplation works in a quite similar way as the Abhidhamma’s mātikās.197 The arapacana and varṇapāṭha syllabaries were later assimilated by the Vajrayāna, the first one being understood as ‘mantra teachings’ (Vai'sū: 49-51), and the second one as the ‘alphabet «let there be success»’ (Skt. siddham mātṛkā) viewed as a ‘sacred language’ used by the Buddhas to preach (Bonji: 143-147).198 Likewise, specific syllables from both syllabaries were identified as bīja'mantras (Gulik, 1956: 81-90), and summaries or partial sets of the varṇapāṭha syllabary became dhāraṇīs/mantras (HT.I.1.6; IMT.I.50/2). (c).(c).- Appendage of Dhāra Dhāraṇī āraṇīs ṇīs as Mantras Mantras in Mahāyāna Mahāyāna Sūtras ūtras In the Druma'kinnara'rāja'paripṛcchā'sūtra appeared the earliest Buddhist mantra in a Mahāyāna Sūtra with a reliable date (c. 170-190 CE). It is a mantra promulgated by the ‘Four Great Kings’ intended to protect the Sangha from hostile influences and securing the Sūtra’s durability. Although the formula is named as ‘mantra'words’ (mantra'pada), its nature and formal structure is basically identical to later dhāraṇī formulas, hence, it can be said that this same formula is the first case of a Buddhist dhāraṇī understood as mantra and not as a syllabary (Harrison/Coblin, 1999: 149-174). This tendency continued into a few Scriptures, as the second century CE Saddharmapuṇḍarīka'sūtra, the fourth century CE Saddharmalaṅkāvatāra'sūtra (Nakamura, 1980: 186, 231) and others (Ratna: 35-36; Suvar: 56-58, 61, Sgol: 46-48, 51). It had been argued that those dhāraṇīs were appended to famous Sūtras for the sake of propagation (Pagel, 2001: 45), but the evidence, at least in some cases, demonstrates that they were appended mainly for the benefit and protection of the dharmabhāṇakas 196 See sections 2.1.1. and 3.3.3. 197 See section 1.2.1.2. and Appendix B-2. 198 In a technical sense, siddham mātṛkā or siddhamātṛkā refers to a late sixth century CE script which appeared in the Gupta empire of Northern India, and was used by the East Asian Vajrayāna for transcribing dhāraṇīs/mantras (Salomon, 1998: 39-40; Shōmo: 144). 82 (Puṇḍa.XXI.234-236; Laṅkā.IX.106), and also as condensations of the whole Sūtra, i.e., the dhāraṇī recitation entailed the recitation of the whole Sūtra (Laṅkā.IX.106). 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