The Threefold Invocation Ritual

I take refuge with sincere devotion and reverence In the highest guru, the unsurpassed Three Jewels, And the greatest of them all, the sublime supreme lord.

1.2

Brahmā and Śakra‍—lords of heaven and earth, Source of all beings’ wealth, and protectors Of the Dharma, the supreme teaching; great kings Dhṛtarāṣṭra,

1.3

Virūḍhaka, Noble Virūpākṣa, and Kubera; World protectors Indra, Agni, Yama, Nairṛta, Varuṇa, Vāyu,

1.4

Vaiśravaṇa, Īśāna, and Pṛthivīdevatā; The Sun, Moon, grahas, nakṣatras, the elephants of the quarters, And the general, minister, and queen; the guardians of the directions,

1.5

Each with their full retinue of queens and princes; Renowned great commanders of the gods Such as Viṣṇu, Gaṇapati, Nandi, and Kārttikeya;

1.6

Great and powerful Mahākāla, Mahābala, Jambhala, Padma, and Mahāpadma, Śaṅkha and Mahāśaṅkha, Pūrṇa and Supūrṇa,

1.7

Sugrīva, Pūrṇabhadra, Maṇibhadra, [F.2.a] Kumbhakarṇa, Ghaṇṭākarṇa, Trikarṇa, Mahākarṇa, Sañjñeya and Sañjaya,

1.8

Jinarṣabha, Āṭavaka, Haimavata, Sātāgiri, Pāñcika, Pāñcālagaṇḍa, Pāñcālaka, Daśagrīva, Vibhīṣaṇa, Meghanāda, Gaganaghoṣa,

1.9

Triśirṣaka,4 Sāgara, Nanda, Upananda, Anavatapta, Manasvin, Vāsuki, and the hosts of grahas;5 Rṣis, vidyādharas, gods of the rains and harvest,

1.10

Gods of the road, of the day, the night, conjunctions, lunar phases, and moments; Powerful beings such as Hanuman and the like; Vāgīśvarī, Svaraghoṣā, and Sarasvatī;

1.11

Vatsavatī, Śrīmati,6 Mārīcī,

Gaurī, Guardian of Speech, Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Hārītī, Śaṅkhinī, Pārvatī, Durgā, and Kālī;

1.12

The seven mothers, the seven sisters, and the four sisters; Great goddesses and great yakṣiṇīs Such as Mahākālī and Ekajaṭī and so forth;

1.13

Great rākṣasīs and great piśācīs Revered for their youthful forms, nurturing, and magical powers, Awesome in their great hides and praised in battle by the army of the gods;

1.14

Marvelous, renowned great lay practitioners, Young gods and nāgas, Young vidyādharas and ṛṣis,

1.15

And their five hundred kinsmen, all of them venerated by monks; This entire group of resplendent youthful ones Including the young yakṣa Tiraka and the like;

1.16

Gods and nāgas who are lords of all beings; Yakṣas, gandharvas, uragas, asuras, Garuḍas, kumbhāṇḍas, rākṣasas, kinnaras,

1.17

Bhūtas, piśācas, local deities, and evil spirits; All you wise ones who have entered the path of compassion, All you who are held by the hook of the vidyāmantra, listen to me. [F.2.b]

1.18

May (insert name), a person blazing with good fortune Who has heard and recited the names Of the Three Jewels with their vowels and consonants

1.19

Have a prosperous and long reign,7 Serve and venerate the Three Jewels, which possess immeasurable Benefits and good qualities, have faith in the scriptures,

1.20

And, of course, study and practice the Dharma. Upon death, may (insert name) depart for the divine pleasure groves With their vast bounty of scriptures.

1.21

This one who is conscientious and devoted is crowned With the teachings of the sun-like omniscient Dharma lord, The supreme radiant jewel that crowns the king of the gods Who brings victory in battle over the asuras and hosts of Māra.8

1.22

Approach,9 children of the Victors! Knowing that10 we and all beings are already beyond suffering and thus not fearing that sentient beings will fail to transcend it, may we still insatiably cultivate the accumulations of merit and wisdom. May we know that things are intrinsically conditioned, yet not dismiss their characteristics. May we not reject the form body of a buddha, yet attain freedom from all attachment. May we be free from attachment to all phenomena, yet seek the wisdom that knows everything. May we completely purify all phenomena as buddha realms without depending on others, yet understand the space-like characteristic of buddha realms. May we never weary of bringing

beings to maturity, yet never abandon the characteristics of lacking self-identity. May we magically display supernatural powers, yet never waver from the sphere of reality. May we not stop setting our mind on enlightenment, yet may omniscient wisdom arise in us. May we satisfy all beings by turning the wheel of the Dharma, yet not pass beyond the inexpressible nature of reality. May we [F.3.a] demonstrate the magical emanations and blessings of a tathāgata, without nevertheless discarding the body of a bodhisattva, and yet in all the perceptions of beings may we appear and then display the great parinirvāṇa. Children of the Victors, uphold these aspects of the teachings and practice these obverse and direct ways of engaging in practice.11 These ten teachings are the most excellent activity of a buddha. Children of the Victor, these are the awakened activity of a bodhisattva. The spontaneous activity of the bodhisattvas is independent of others and is the perfect attainment of unsurpassed awakening.12

1.23

King of the gods, great sovereign, boon-granting lord, Fearless hero famous throughout the world Whose face is radiant with insight like the full moon‍— The aspiration and activity of a great being is your sole companion.

1.24

Brahmā, Śakra, and the other world protectors Used the vajra-like samādhi, Mt. Sumeru, as the churning stick And, along with compassion and effort, the nāga rope, Churned forth an elixir, the holy Dharma, From the ocean of great insight that spread everywhere like a feast of amṛta.

1.25

With this jewel of merit, the renowned Dharma, as the crown jewel, You were victorious in battle over the armies of rākṣasas and the asuras. I dedicate this to the mighty helmet of the kingdom of the gods.13 I dedicate this so that our radiance, retinues, and wealth may increase And in particular so that we may attain powerful and strong standings.

1.26

I dedicate this so that we may perfect all the means of liberation Such as the magical powers, supernatural cognitions, and perfections And accomplish all our virtuous actions and intentions. I dedicate this so that our bodies may be pervaded by the bliss of the Dharma nectar, Liberating us from minds that are plagued by suffering.

1.27

Spiritual teachers, kind and loving friends, We are wounded by the blade of the afflictions. Please sustain us with your compassionate blessing And ensure that whomever is granted the crown is powerful And protects the teachings of the Tathāgata.

1.28

We are faulted beings who are confused and act inappropriately‍—please forgive us! Those who know the time, vidyāmantra, and ritual, please be patient with us. [F.3.b] We pray that the good fortune of this Dharma offering to the hosts of gods Shall ensure prosperity and cause the supreme Dharma to flourish.

This concludes “The Threefold [Invocation] Ritual.”14

NOTES n.1 The present text, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, e), are listed as being located in volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases‍—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version displayed by the 84000 Reading Room‍—list this work as being located in volume 101. This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed another text‍—which forms a whole, very large volume‍—the Vimalaprabhānāmakālacakratantraṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med ’od, Toh 845), before the present volume, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags (catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation. n.2 See Lalou, “Notes de mythologie.” The reader should also note that the titles of these texts in the Kangyur differ from the titles in Lalou’s Dunhuang witnesses. Lalou’s first Dunhuang witness entitled The Threefold Ritual (rgyud gsum pa) corresponds to the first twenty-one stanzas in the present translation, and does not include either the passage (1.22) added from the Lokottaraparivarta (Toh 44-44), or the verses that follow (1.23–1.28). Lalou’s second Dunhuang witness, entitled An Invocation of the Great Deities and Nāgas (lha klu chen po rnams spyan dran pa) corresponds to the text that appears next in the Degé Kangyur, with the title The Threefold Ritual (rgyud gsum pa), which 84000 and other databases have designated Toh 846a. n.3 We thank Ryan Damron for identifying this section of The Threefold Invocation Ritual as an excerpt from the Lokottaraparivarta (Toh 44-44). See n.9 for the location of this passage in the Degé Kangyur Buddhāvataṃsaka itself. n.4 The Tibetan reads stong gsum or Trisahasra. Marcelle Lalou translates this as Triśirṣaka, who is listed as a nāgarāja in Bendall’s edition of the Mahāmegha (Toh 235). Here, following Lalou’s lead, stong gsum has been amended to gdong gsum or Triśirṣaka, “the three-faced one.” n.5 gdon la ’jebs. The translation of this term remains tentative. An alternate translation that adheres closely to the meaning that the term ’jebs pa bears in Tibetan might indicate that this is either a collective noun or a proper name and translate as “Pleasing to the Grahas.” This name does not have any Sanskrit equivalent of which we are currently aware. The Negi dictionary notes that the Tibetan ’jebs pa translates the Sanskrit prācuryam (“multitude,” “abundance,” “plenty”) in the Mahāyānasūtrālaṅkāra. I have attempted to integrate this reading of ’jebs pa into the translation “hosts of grahas,” based on the assumption that the Tibetan reading may have read an incorrect grammatical particle into the original compound. n.6 Possibly also “Śrīdevi.” We have gone with Śrīmati here because this yakṣiṇī is witnessed in the Mahāmāyūrī. n.7 gzha’ gzung yun gyi chu srid ’thob ’gyur na/. The la bdun particle na at the end of this line might also be read as a conditional, though that reading seems unlikely. n.8 The first text in Marcelle Lalou’s edition of the Dunhuang manuscripts for the rgyud gsum pa ends here with the final line of this stanza, and does not contain the full invocation that we see in the Kangyur versions of this text. See Lalou, “Notes de mythologie,” 132. n.9 This line begins a passage quoted from the Lokottaraparivarta, chapter forty-four of the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra (Toh 44-44). See ’phags pa sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo, Degé Kangyur vol. 37 (phal chen, ga), ff. 248.a.5–248.b.5. The pairing of phrases that is implied in the mention of “obverse and direct ways” toward the end of the passage, and is necessary to end up with the “ten teachings,” is not entirely obvious from the Tibetan but has been aided here by consulting the Chinese of the Buddhāvataṃsaka. n.10 While the text here in the Degé Kangyur reads mya ngan las ’das par bgyis la, the equivalent phrase in the Degé text of the Lokottaraparivarta reads mya ngan las ’das par shes par gyis la. n.11 Tib. snrel zhir sgrub pa mngon par bsgrub par rnams nye bar sgrub pa. n.12 The section that is reproduced from the Lokottaraparivarta ends here. n.13 lha yi rgyal srid dbu rmog btsan par bsngo/. The phrase dbu rmog btsan pa appears in imperial era Tibetan inscriptions and Dunhuang documents as one of a number of terms that are used to describe a ruler’s sovereign power, and these materials suggest that it should be understood as a martial metaphor for the territory over which a ruler has sovereignty. An alternate translation of this line might hold the phrases lha yi rgyal srid and dbu rmog btsan pa in apposition and translate as, “I dedicate this to the kingdom of the gods, the mighty helmet.” n.14 The concluding statement includes only the shorter form of the title rgyud gsum pa, also used for the following text.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Source Texts ’phags pa sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo (Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra). Toh 44, vol. 35–38 (phal chen, ka–a), folios 1.a–396.a.

spyan ’dren rgyud gsum pa. Toh 846, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs ’dus, e), folios 1.b–3.b.

spyan ’dren rgyud gsum pa. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [[[Comparative Edition of the Kangyur]]], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–2009, vol. 97, pp. 3–9.

Works Cited

Bendall, C. “The Mahāmegha Sūtra,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1880), 286–311.

Edgerton, Franklin. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2004.

Kapstein, Matthew. The Tibetans. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.

Lalou, Marcelle. “Notes de mythologie bouddhique.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 3 no. 2 (July 1938): 128–36.

Monier-Williams, Monier. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2005.

“Mahamayurividyarajni (Mmvr).” Input by Klaus Wille based on Takubo, Shūyo, ed. Ārya-Mahā-Māyūrī-Vidyā-Rājñī. Tokyo: Sankibo, 1972. Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages (GRETIL). Accessed May 23, 2018. http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/4_rellit/buddh/mmayuvru.htm.

Negi, J.S. Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary (bod skad dang legs sbyar gyi tshig mdzod chen mo). 16 vols. Sarnath: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, 1993.

GLOSSARY g.1 Agni me lha མེ་ལྷ། agni One of the eight guardians of the directions, Agni guards the southeast quarter.

1 passage contains this term: 1.3 g.2 Anavatapta ma dros མ་དྲོས། anavatapta Name of a nāga king.

1 passage contains this term: 1.9 g.3 Āṭavaka ’brog gnas འབྲོག་གནས། āṭavaka Name of a yakṣa general.

1 passage contains this term: 1.8 g.4 Brahmā tshangs pa ཚངས་པ། brahmā As one of the three primary deities of the Hindu pantheon, in the Purāṇic cosmogony Brahmā is said to issue the four Vedas (Ṛg, Yajus, Sāma, and Athārva) from his four mouths, from which the entirety of creation unfolds. In Buddhist traditions, Brahmā is said to be a worldly deity who exists at the zenith of cyclic existence. He is thus added to the list of the eight guardians of the directions as the guardian of the zenith. In most narratives of the life of the Buddha, Brahmā is said to appear together with Śakra to request that the Buddha Śākyamuni teach the Dharma.

2 passages contain this term: 1.2 1.24 g.5 Daśagrīva mgrin bcu མགྲིན་བཅུ། daśagrīva Name of a nāga king; also a name for Rāvaṇa, the primary adversary of Rāma in the Rāmāyaṇa.

2 passages contain this term: i.4 1.8 g.6 Dhṛtarāṣṭra yul ’khor srung ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྲུང་། dhṛtarāṣṭra One of the great kings of the four cardinal directions, Dhṛtarāṣṭra guards the eastern quarter of the heavens.

1 passage contains this term: 1.2 g.7 Durgā mkhar མཁར། durgā A goddess; another name for Pārvatī, the wife of Śiva.

3 passages contain this term: 1.11 g.26 g.34 g.8 Ekajaṭī ral pa cig རལ་པ་ཅིག ekajaṭī A goddess.

1 passage contains this term: 1.12 g.9 elephants of the quarters phyogs kyi glang po ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་གླང་པོ། diggaja The eight elephants corresponding to the eight cardinal and ordinal directions and the eight world protectors.

1 passage contains this term: 1.4 g.10 Gaganaghoṣa nam mkha’i dbyangs ནམ་མཁའི་དབྱངས། gaganaghoṣa Name of a nāga king. Also known as Gaganasvara.

1 passage contains this term: 1.8 g.11 Gaṇapati tshogs bdag ཚོགས་བདག gaṇapati Gaṇapati, or Ganeśa, is the lord of the gaṇas, a class of demigods usually associated with the god Śiva. In the Purāṇic traditions Gaṇapati is portrayed as the elephant-headed son of Śiva and Pārvatī.

2 passages contain this term: 1.5 g.27 g.12 Gaṅgā gang ga གང་ག gaṅgā A river goddess.

1 passage contains this term: 1.11 g.13 garuḍa gser ’dab གསེར་འདབ། garuḍa Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms: In Indian mythology, the garuḍa is an eagle-like bird that is regarded as the king of all birds, normally depicted with a sharp, owl-like beak, often holding a snake, and with large and powerful wings. They are traditionally enemies of the nāgas. In the Vedas, they are said to have brought nectar from the heavens to earth. Garuḍa can also be used as a proper name for a king of such creatures.

1 passage contains this term: 1.16 g.14 Gaurī dkar sham དཀར་ཤམ། gaurī A goddess; a rākṣasī in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).

1 passage contains this term: 1.11 g.15 Ghaṇṭākarṇa dril rna དྲིལ་རྣ། ghaṇṭākarṇa The name of a worldly deity who is identified variously as an attendant of Skanda, an attendant of Śiva, a piśāca attendant of Kubera, and a rākṣasa.

1 passage contains this term: 1.7 g.16 graha gza’ གཟའ། graha Deities associated with the planets.

3 passages contain this term: 1.4 n.5 g.21 g.17 Guardian of Speech brjod skyob བརྗོད་སྐྱོབ། — A goddess.

1 passage contains this term: 1.11 g.18 Haimavata gangs la gnas གངས་ལ་གནས། haimavata Name of a yakṣa general in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).

1 passage contains this term: 1.8 g.19 Hanuman ha nu man ta ཧ་ནུ་མན་ཏ། hanuman Name of a nāga king; a monkey god; Rāma’s companion and devotee in the Rāmāyaṇa.

2 passages contain this term: i.4 1.10 g.20 Hārītī sras ’phan སྲས་འཕན། hārītī A yakṣiṇī; a rākṣasī in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).

1 passage contains this term: 1.11 g.21 hosts of grahas gdon la ’jebs གདོན་ལ་འཇེབས། — The translation of this term remains tentative but is read here as a potential translation of the Sanskrit compound *grahaprācurya in which the Tibetan has employed an incorrect grammatical particle. An alternate translation that favors the meaning that the term ’jebs pa bears in Tibetan and the Tibetan reading of the compound indicates that this could be either a collective noun or a proper name that translates as “Pleasing to the Grahas.”

2 passages contain this term: 1.9 n.5 g.22 Indra dbang po དབང་པོ། indra One of the eight guardians of the directions, Indra guards the eastern quarter.

2 passages contain this term: 1.3 g.57 g.23 Īśāna dbang bdag དབང་བདག īśāna One of the eight guardians of the directions, Īśāna guards the northeast quarter.

1 passage contains this term: 1.4 g.24 Jambhala gnod ’dzin གནོད་འཛིན། jambhala A yakṣa king associated with wealth and often identified with Kubera/Vaiśravaṇa.

2 passages contain this term: i.3 1.6 g.25 Jinarṣabha rgyal ba’i khyu mchog རྒྱལ་བའི་ཁྱུ་མཆོག jinarṣabha Name of a yakṣa general; a son of Kubera.

1 passage contains this term: 1.8 g.26 Kālī nag mo ནག་མོ། kālī A goddess; a rākṣasī in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559); one of Durgā’s attendants.

2 passages contain this term: i.4 1.11 g.27 Kārttikeya ka rti ka ཀ་རྟི་ཀ kārttikeya Kārttikeya (alt. Skanda) is the son of Śiva and Pārvatī. Like Gaṇapati, Kārttikeya is said to lead the gaṇas in battle against demonic beings and is considered a god of war.

1 passage contains this term: 1.5 g.28 Kinnara mi’am ci མིའམ་ཅི། kinnara Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms: A class of nonhuman beings that resemble humans to the degree that their very name‍—which means “is that human?”‍—suggests some confusion as to their divine status. Kinnaras are mythological beings found in both Buddhist and Brahmanical literature, where they are portrayed as creatures half human, half animal. They are also usually depicted as highly skilled celestial musicians.

1 passage contains this term: 1.16 g.29 Kubera lus ngan po ལུས་ངན་པོ། kubera One of the great kings of the four directions, Kubera guards the northern quarter of the heavens. Also known as Vaiśravaṇa.

5 passages contain this term: 1.3 g.15 g.24 g.25 g.74 g.30 Kumbhakarṇa bum rna བུམ་རྣ། kumbhakarṇa Name of a yakṣa general.

1 passage contains this term: 1.7 g.31 kumbhāṇḍa grul bum གྲུལ་བུམ། kumbhāṇḍa Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms: A class of dwarf beings subordinate to Virūḍhaka, one of the Four Great Kings, associated with the southern direction. The name uses a play on the word aṇḍa, which means “egg” but is also a euphemism for a testicle. Thus, they are often depicted as having testicles as big as pots (from khumba, or “pot”).

In this text: ‍—

1 passage contains this term: 1.16 g.32 Mahābala stobs po che སྟོབས་པོ་ཆེ། mahābala Listed as the great yakṣa general of Rājagṛha in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).

1 passage contains this term: 1.6 g.33 Mahākāla nag po chen po ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ། mahākāla Mahākāla (“the great black one”) is both a name for one of the god Śiva’s wrathful manifestations and an important Buddhist protector deity. The Mahābhārata and Harivaṁśa list Mahākāla as one of Śiva’s attendants.

1 passage contains this term: 1.6 g.34 Mahākālī nag mo chen mo ནག་མོ་ཆེན་མོ། mahākālī A goddess; one of Durgā’s attendants.

1 passage contains this term: 1.12 g.35 Mahākarṇa rna bo che རྣ་བོ་ཆེ། mahākarṇa Name of a yakṣa general.

1 passage contains this term: 1.7 g.36 Mahāpadma pad+ma chen po པདྨ་ཆེན་པོ། mahāpadma “The great lotus.” One of the four great treasures and the being who presides over it.

2 passages contain this term: i.3 1.6 g.37 Mahāśaṅkha dung chen དུང་ཆེན། mahāśaṅkha “The great conch shell.” One of the four great treasures and the being who presides over it.

2 passages contain this term: i.3 1.6 g.38 Manasvin gzi can གཟི་ཅན། manasvin Name of a nāga king.

1 passage contains this term: 1.9 g.39 Maṇibhadra nor bu bzang ནོར་བུ་བཟང་། maṇibhadra Name of a yakṣa general; brother of Pūrṇabhadra in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).

2 passages contain this term: 1.7 g.54 g.40 Mārīcī ’od zer can འོད་ཟེར་ཅན། mārīcī A goddess; a rākṣasī in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).

2 passages contain this term: i.4 1.11 g.41 Meghanāda ’brug sgra འབྲུག་སྒྲ། meghanāda Name of a nāga king; name of Rāvaṇa’s son in the Rāmāyaṇa.

2 passages contain this term: i.4 1.8 g.42 mighty helmet dbu rmog btsan pa དབུ་རྨོག་བཙན་པ། — A martial metaphor for the territory that falls under the rule of a particular king.

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