A Collection of Tantric Ritual Texts from an Ancient Tibetan Scroll Kept at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences

国際仏教学大学院大学研究紀要第 17 号（平成25年)

A Collection of Tantric Ritual Texts from an Ancient Tibetan Scroll Kept at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Alexander Zorin

One of the most valuable Tibetan manuscripts kept at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences(hereafter, IOM RAS) is the scroll Дх-178, included in the collection of Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang, where a library of Buddhist texts dated from the 5th to the first years of the 11th century was found in

early 20th century. This is a clear mistake since at least two texts of the scroll were composed by the famous 12th century Tibetan yogi and translator Dpal rga lo, or Rgwa lotsawa. He spread some Tantric teachings such as those on Kālacakra and Mahākāla in Tibet.

The texts on the cult of Mahākāla comprise the larger part of the scroll and is further evidence of the later dating of the scroll, since the cult of Mahākāla was brought to and established in Tibet from the

mid-11th century when the famous Tibetan lotsawa Rin chen bzang po translated an important sādhana of Mahākāla by the great Indian yogi Śābaripāda.

During the 13th to 14th century, this cult was finally established by the Yuan Mongol dynasty of Chinese emperors who worshipped Mahākāla as their divine protector, and later this conception was borrowed by the

emperors of the Qing Manchu dynasty. The greatest collection of Tantric texts in Tibetan from Dunhuang kept at the British Library has no single text on Mahākāla . The codicological features of the scroll are also rather different from those of the Dunhuang manuscripts.

Nevertheless, our predecessors had some reasons to include the scroll into the Dunhuang collection. It is quite probable that it was sent to St Petersburg along with Dunhuang scrolls. This issue remains somewhat obscure. In 1913, a pile of Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang sent to the

St Petersburg Academy of Sciences by the Russian consul in Ürümqi N.N. Krotkov was passed to the Asiatic Museum (now the IOM RAS) following the suggestion by academician S.F. Oldenburg. Up to present,

these manuscripts are kept in the boxes marked with the date of the meeting at the Academy of Sciences when the decision was taken, viz. March 13, 1913. The scroll Дх -178 is kept in the same box but without the inscription.

Hence, it is not quite clear if this text was also sent to St Petersburg by N.N. Krotkov or if it was simply processed by the staff of the Asiatic Museum around the same time as the Dunhuang scrolls .

The scroll could be brought by Colonel P.K. Kozlov from his famous Mongol Sychuan expedition, 1907-1909, during which he explored the dead city of Khara Khoto and its library of Tangut texts and texts in some other

languages including Tibetan. In the collection of Tibetan manuscripts from Khara Khoto kept at the British Library, there are some texts that vividly reminds our scroll from the paleographic point of view (e.g. IOL Tib M 50

or Tib M 60 ). This may be an oblique indication of its Khara Khoto origin. The fact that Dpal rga loʼs teacher at Bodh Gaya, Rtsa mi lotsawa, was an ethnic Tangut and that Dpal rga lo himself could relate to

the Tanguts may link the scroll to the Tangut area, too . Most of the Khara Khoto texts are dated from the 12th through 14th century but, since Dpal rga lo died at the

very end of the 12th century or during the first years of the 13th century, we can assume that the scroll could not have been produced earlier than the latter part of the 12th century. On the other hand, its use of old Tibetan

orthography indicates that it must have been made no later than the 14th century. Hence, I suppose it is most probable that the scroll Дх-178 should be dated from the late 12th to 13th century.

1. Codicology and paleography

By 2008, the scroll Дх-178 appeared as eight separate long leaves, with some cursive Tibetan text on both sides. It was initially impossible to understand what text was written there because of the wrong order of the leaves. Nevertheless, after

some shuffling, it proved possible to unite the leaves in the right order and so assemble the original scroll, the leaves of which had been attached one below the other.

On the recto side of the eighth folio the text was interrupted to continue on the verso side of the same folio. Consequently, the end of the entire manuscript is found on the verso side of the first folio. In fact, each folio

consists of two thin leaves which are just put one on the other, there are no traces of glue. The size of the folia is as follows:

1) f. 1: 65.7/58.5 x 26,6 cm (the folio is defective, there is a deep semicircular cut at the top); 2) f. 2: 66.0 x 26.8 cm; 3) f. 3: 65.8 x 27.0 cm; 4) f. 4: 64.5 x 27.0 cm; 5) f. 5: 66.1 x 26.8 cm; 6) f. 6: 65.2 x 27.0 cm; 7) f. 7: 65.6 x 27.2 cm; 8) f. 8: 66.0 x 27.1 sm.

The left and right sides were probably even but now they are more or less damaged with small cuts, the first folio being especially damaged since it had to be left outside when the scroll was rolled down, hence it is rather fragile at the top.

There are some old brown spots indicating water damage, which are found at the edges of the manuscript, first of all the right sides of ff. 1-2. Fortunately, no traces of mildew are found.

According to analysis carried out by Dr. A. Helman-Ważny, paper of the scroll is composed of paper mulberry fibres (Broussonetia sp.). Her conclusion runs as follows - Paper is handmade, very thin and good quality, and soft (not sized) what suggest purpose selection of this type for a particular manuscript. Yellow dye and very good

quality of materials used suggest importance of this manuscript. Laid regular structure characterized by 7 laid lines in 1cm indicates that paper was made with movable type of papermaking mould equipped with bamboo sieve .

Each folio has vertical sidelines put on both the left and right sides: on the recto sides - 4.5 to 4.8 cm on the left one, 2.5 to 2.7 cm on the right one, on the verso sides of ff. 1-7 - 2 to 3 cm and 4.8-5.2 cm, f. 8 - 2.8 to 3 cm and 5.1 cm. It

indicates that the scroll was intended to be unwrapped horizontally, probably for some Chinese or Tangut text but the Tibetan text was written in the opposite direction without any

attention paid to the sidelines so that it covers the entire space of the folia. The text is written with black ink, a little bit darker than that of the sidelines. The space between the lines is as follows: f. 1 recto - about 1 cm on,

all the others - basically about 0.5 cm, sometimes more. The lines are usually rather even. There are a number of glosses between some lines.

The manuscript was probably written by three scribes - but writings by two of them are only found on the first four pages of the verso side of the scroll and they alternate with that of the main scribe. The semicursive dbu med script is used, the writing is legible, there are not so many

blots and orthographic mistakes in the first and third parts of the scroll (concerning the structure see below) but the texts of the second part are corrupted to a greater extent, especially those of the mantras which can

hardly be reconstructed. Abridged forms of some words such as rdo rje, ye shes, thams cad, yi ge are used. There is no colophon in the end of the scroll hence we have no data on the names of the scribes, nor the time and circumstances of its production.

Fig. 1. The ways the three scribes wrote the syllable ‘go’ - at left the main one document). I would like to thank Dr. A. Helman-Ważny for her contribution to my study.

The following features of old orthography used in the scroll should be noted: 1) the use of the subjoined letter ya btags in some syllables such as myi, myed, etc., written now as mi, med, etc.) ; 2) the use of the

follower ’a in the end of many syllables that do not have it now, e.g. in the particle pa’ instead of pa; 3) the use of the diverted form of the gi gu diacritical mark . The secondary follower da btags found in more archaic texts such as those from Dunhuang is not attested in the scroll.

2. The structure

The texts of the scroll can be clearly divided into three parts although the scribes did not mark them at all -

1) 13 texts on the cult of Mahākāla represented in two forms such as the Raven Faced One and the Four Handed One;

2) 8 texts on the cult of Narasiṅ ha, or the Man-Lion, one of the ten avataras of Visnu; ̇ ̇ 3) the last but rather long versified text on the mandala of Vajrapāni ̇ ̇ ̇ and the eight Nāga Kings .

Three texts of twenty two presented are found in Bstan ’gyur, the second part of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, four (including the first of the former ones) in the collection of texts on the cult of Mahākāla and his retinue preserved by the Phag mo gru pa subschool of Bka’ rgyud pa school of Tibetan Buddhism11. In the following list these cases are indicated.

I. Mahākāla

1) Dpal nag po chen po’i bsgrub pa’i thabs / Śrīmahākālasādhana (The Sādhana of Śrī Mahākāla), by Ārya Nāgārjuna; in Bstan ’gyur - Beijing ed.,

P.2628, rgyud ʼgrel, la, ff. 275b3-276a8; Derge ed., D.1759, rgyud, sha, ff.

250b4-251a7; in the Phag mo gru pa edition - Vol. 2, pp. 763-767.

2) A brief commentary on [[The Sādhana of Śrī] Mahākāla]]; in the Phag mo gru pa edition - Vol. 5, pp. 409-410.

3) Dpal nag po chen po’i las kyi cho ga (The Pūjā of Śrī Mahākāla’s Rite); in the Phag mo gru pa edition - Vol. 5, pp. 359-361)12.

4) A description of the wrathful rite.

5) A group of fragments of ritualistic texts on the practice of Mahākāla and an invocation to him to perform divine actions.

humans by some great teachers and yogis such as Nāgārjuna, etc., on the other hand, the nāgas can cause bad diseases and harm people.

11 Bya rog ma bstan sruṅ bcas kyi chos skor. Collected Tantras and Related Texts Concerned with the Propitiation of Mahakala and His Retinue.

Arranged according to the traditions transmitted by Phag-mo-gru-pa. Reproduced from the manuscript collection formerly preserved in the Khams-sprul Bla-braṅ at Khams-pa-sgar Phuntshogs-chos-ʼkhor-gliṅ by the 8th Khams-sprul Don-brgyud-ñi-ma. Vol. 1-7.

India: Sungrab nyamso gyunphel parkhang, Tibetan Craft Community, 1973-1979. Unfortunately, in the copy of this edition, kindly given to me by the representatives of the TBRC electronic library, the sixth volume is omitted, hence I cannot ascertain if there are some other texts from the scroll. Дх-178 presented in this volume.

12 Edited and translated in - Zorin A. Texts on Tantric Fierce Rites from an Ancient Tibetan Scroll Kept at the IOM RAS, in - Budhism and Society. Papers for the International Conference on Buddhism and Society, 13-15 January 2013. Sarnath, Varanasi: Central University of Tibetan Studies, 2013. Pp. 118-132.

6) A series of five texts, two of which are directly attributed to Dpal rga lo; the texts are marked with Tibetan letters, from ka to ca, but the fourth one, nga, is put ahead (probably by mistake) and the text located between ka and ga is not marked with the relevant letter kha (presumably a defect of the scribe). The contents of the texts listed in the right order are as follows:

1 (ka) - The Hymn to the Raven Faced Mahākāla by Dpal rga lo (see the Appendix);

2 ( 77kha?) - a hymn or a prayer to Mahākāla;

3 (ga) - an instruction on the practice of Mahākāla aimed at the oppression of the enemy, by Dpal rga lo (see the Appendix);

4 (nga) - an instruction on the oppression of the enemyʼs speech;

5 (ca) - a description of the fierce rite aimed at killing the enemy and an instruction on pleasing Mahākāla (may be two different texts); in the Phag mo gru pa edition - Vol. 5, pp. 333-336.

7) Dpal nag po chen po’i bstod pa rkang pa brgyad pa zhes bya ba / Śrīmahākālastotra-padāstaka-nāma (The Hymn to Śrī Mahākāla in Eight ̇̇ Stanzas), by Ārya Nāgārjuna; in Bstan ’gyur - Beijing ed., P.2644, 2645 , rgyud ʼgrel, la, ff. 298a4-299a6, 299a6-300b1; Derge ed., D.1778, 1779, rgyud, sha, ff. 272a7-273a6, 273a6-274a6.

8) [[Rje btsun dpal rje nag po chen po] la bstod pa / Śrībhattārakamahākā- lastotra (The Hymn to the Venerable Śrī Mahākāla), by Buddhakīrti; in Bstan ’gyur - Beijing ed., P.2642, rgyud ʼgrel, la, ff. 295b8-297a6; Derge ed., D.1776, rgyud, sha, ff. 270b2-271b4.

9) An instruction on the practice with a black skull and visualization of Mahākāla.

10) A description of the wrathful rite.

11) An instruction on the killing of the enemy via the fire offering.

12) A description of the fierce rite, a hymn to the Raven Faced Mahākāla, an instruction on Mahākālaʼs invocation (may be different texts).

13 Bya rog gi sgrub thabs (The Sādhana of the Raven Faced Mahākāla).

II. Visnu Narasiṅ ha ̇ ̇ 14) Khyab ’jug myi ’i seng ’ge dad pa’i lha (Vishnu Narasiṅ ha as the Personal Deity), on the expulsion of a demon out of a diseased person.

15) A group of ritualistic fragments (may be different texts) such as

1. the invocation of Visnu Narasiṅ ha to perform the divine actions via torma offering and a hymn (see the Appendix);

2. a rite aimed at the protection of oneʼs son;

3. a rite aimed at the protection against a hailstorm (see the Appendix);

4. an instruction on the production of an amulet;

5. an instruction on the curing of a disease;

6. on the protection against epidemic diseases. 16) A narrative about the killing of the asura Hiranyakaśipu by Visnu ̇ ̇ ̇ Narasiṅ ha to save the formerʼs son Prahlāda named here Thub rgyal nag po in Tibetan .

17) Khyab ’jug myi’i ’og gtor gyi cho ga (The Rite of Torma Offering to Visnu with the Human Body [and the Lion’s Head]) . ̇ 18) Khyab ’jug gi dgra ’o gsod pa’i thabs (The Method of the Killing of an Enemy by means of Visnu) . ̇ ̇

19) Khyab ’jug myi ’i seng ’ge’i ser khrir dbab thabs kyi cho ga (The Rite of Imposing of Visnu Narasiṅ ha on the Golden Throne); a description of the wrathful rite.

20) A description of the wrathful rite.

21) The fire offering aimed at killing the enemy.

III. Vajrapāni and the eight Nāga Kings ̇ 22) A verse text primarily aimed at curing diseases and averting poisons caused by the nāgas; probably incomplete (for fragments see the Appendix) .

3. The deities worshipped

Mahākāla was probably borrowed by the Buddhists from the Shivaite Tantras and reinterpreted as an emanation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. He belongs to the class of the Dharma Protectors, those of the supramundane type.

His functions are to eliminate both outer and inner obstacles for life and practice of the Buddhists such as enemies, diseases, personal afflictions, etc. Sometimes (and in our scroll, too), the deities of this type

can be treated as yidams, personal deities, with whose divine mind the yogis try to substitute their own ordinary consciousness so as to attain the Enlightenment.

R. de Nebesky-Wojkowitz mentions 72 or 75 forms of Mahākāla. Some of them were introduced by the Tibetans such as the Protector Trakshad with the head of the wild yak but the major forms were brought from India along with the relevant texts including The Tantra of Mahākāla .

Two of them are represented in the scroll Дх-178 but most texts are on one of them, the Raven Faced One, which is described by de Nebesky-Wojkowitz as follows:

Las mgon bya rog gdong can… “The mGon po of karma, who has the face of a raven”; he is occasionally included among the more prominent dharmapālas, depicted on the tshogs shing and his worship is supposed to have

been introduced by the Sa skya sect. The sadhana describes him as possessing a fierce, terrifying body of a dark-blue colour, with one face and two hands, his limbs being short and thick.

He has the face of a raven, threeeyed and with a beak of meteoric iron. His right hand lifts a sacrificial knife with a thunderbolt-hilt, and with his left hand he leads towards his mouth a skull-cup filled with

blood. His eyebrows and the hair of his face and head are radiant and stand on end. His sharp, blood-dripping beak is widely open and horrible shrieks as well as a fire-storm issue from it... .

The iconography of the other form, the Four-Handed One, is represented in the sādhana by Nāgārjuna, No. 1 of the scroll, -

[[[Mahākāla]]] whose name is Raven

[Has] one face, four hands, at right

[He holds] a red coconut with the first hand,

A sword with the second one,

At left [he] holds a skull

Full of blood with the first [hand],

A khatvāṅ ga21 with the second one. ̇

[He is] wrapped with a tiger skin,

[His] hair, beard and brows are yellow,

[He has] three eyes, terrible fangs,

[He is] adorned with skulls, jewels, and a snake, Upon the moon and lotus with variegated [petals] [He] resides in heroic posture.

The same description is given for an icon of the Four-Handed Mahākāla published at the most representative electronic resource of Tibetan arts - http://www.himalayanart.org22.

According the description by R. de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, though, the Four-Handed Mahākāla holds a chopper instead of a coconut.

This contradiction is eliminated by the author of a gloss to the main text of the scroll running as Or else a chopper (see fig. 2). The retinue of the Four-Handed Mahākāla includes, curiously enough, the Raven Faced Mahākāla. Can it be the reason for Mahākāla of Nāgārjunaʼs text to be named Raven?

Fig. 2. The fragment of the text with the glos Visnu Narasiṅ ha24, the deity with the human body and the lionʼs head, ̇ ̇ is the fourth of the ten avataras of the great Hindu God Visnu. This ̇ ̇

21 Khatvāṅ ga is a long club sometimes with a trident on the end, an attribute of some deities.

22 http://www.himalayanart.org/image.cfm/517.html [10.12.2012].

23 de Nebesky-Wojkowitz R. Oracles and Demons of Tibet… P. 46. 24 The standard Sanskrit form of this name is Narasimha. The form Narasiṅ ha, as used in the scroll, is more widespread in Nepal, and this might hint at the initial origin of spread of the cult in Tibet.

wrathful emanation came to the world to kill the malevolent asura Hiranyakaśipu25. In iconography, Narasiṅ ha is often depicted holding the asura with the lower pair of hands (of 2 or 6 pairs) and exploding his belly. According to No. 14 of the scroll that Visnu is with the body of white ̇ color, one-faced, four-handed, with the orange rampant mane, [he] shakes his hair, has three eyes, and bared fangs, holds an iron stick in his right hand, grasps the enemy with his left hand and points his

forefinger, presses the demon merrily with his two lower hands, eats the bowels that come from the [demon’s] belly, stands on the throne of the sun, moon and lotus in the heroic ālīdha posture with his right leg extended and left leg bent, he is ̇

decorated with a serpent and bone ornaments. This description is at least not controversial with the Hindu tradition.

Functionally, Narasiṅ ha is treated as a Dharmapāla, a Protector of Dharma, who helps the Buddhists, fulfills their wishes and repels hindrances and enemies. Texts of the scroll depict various rites aimed at the use of Narasiṅ ha for these purposes. His use in magical rituals is attested in the vernacular Hindu

tradition26. The data on the cult of Visnu Narasiṅ ha which was spread in Tibet to ̇some extent, are rare. It is possible that our scroll is the only extent source containing any information about this. Of course, it is not surprising that the cult of Visnu Narasiṅ ha might have come to Tibet.

Buddhist-Hindu syncretism is a common phenomenon in the regions influenced by Indian culture. Thus, in the hymns to the Buddha, Śiva and Visnu found in Bali all three deities are treated almost the same way27. The Newari people of

25 Narasiṅ ha Purāna (Text with English Translation). Edited & Translated by Joshi K.L. Shastri & Dr. Bindiya Trivedi. India, Parimal Publishers 2003.

26 Sontheimer G.-D. Folk Deities in the Vijayanagara Empire: Narasimha and Mallanna/Mailār, in - Sontheimer G.-D. Essays on Religion, Literature and Law. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Mahonar, 2004. Pp. 327-351.

27 Goudrian T., Hooykaas C. Stuti and Stava (Bauddha, Śaiva and Vaisnava) of ̇ ̇ Nepal worship both the Buddha and Ganeśha and sometimes even Śiva. In the Tibetan canon there are some hymns and sādhanas dedicated to Ganapati, one of the forms of Ganeśa, considered also by Buddhists as an emanation of Avalokiteśvara.

Moreover, the Bstan ’gyur contains five short sādhanas of Avalokiteśvara riding the lion, bird and Visnu28. The role of Visnu as a vāhana here hints rather at the Buddhist myths on the subjugation of Hindu gods29.

The absence of canonic texts with him as a central figure is eloquent enough. Buddhist texts relating to Narasiṅ ha could well exist in Sanskrit and then be translated into Tibetan. However, since they were not included into the Tibetan Buddhist canon they were forgotten (although we cannot rule out totally a possibility that some local

tradition might also bring such texts up to the present). The iconographic group of Vajrapāni and the eight Nāga Kings is so far scarcely studied. As is well-known, Mahāyāna considers Vajrapāni as one of the eight great bodhisattvas, disciples of the Buddha and the major auditor

Balinese Brahman Priests. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, afd. Letterkunde. Amsterdam, London: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1971.

28 1) Seng ge dang bya khyung dang khyab ’jug la bzhugs pa’i sgrub thabs /

Harihariharivāhanasādhana. Peking ed.: P. 3983, rgyud ʼgrel, thu, ff. 223b3-223b8; Derge ed.: No. 3162, rgyud, phu, ff. 181a7-181b4; Narthang ed.: rgyud, thu, ff. 211b6-212a4. 2) Seng ge dang bya khyung dang khyab ’jug la bzhugs pa’i sgrub thabs / Harihariharivāhanasādhana. Peking ed.: No. 3984, rgyud ʼgrel, thu, ff. 223b8-224b8;

Derge ed.: No. 3163, rgyud, phu, ff. 181b4-182b2; Narthang ed.: rgyud, thu, ff. 212a4-213a4. Etc.

29 On this subject - Davidson R. Reflections on the Mahesvara Subjugation Myth (Indic materials, Sa-skya-pa apologetics, and the birth of Heruka), in - Journal of the

International Association of Buddhist Studies, 14, 2, 1991. Pp. 197-235; Isaacson H. Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D. 1200), in - Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Band II, Hamburg, 1998. Pp. 23-49.

(Internal publication of Hamburg University.); Sanderson A. Vajrayāna: Origin and Function, in Buddhism into the Year 2000. International Conference Proceedings, Bangkok and Los Angeles: Dhammakāya Foundation, 1995. Pp. 89-102.

and protector of Tantric texts received from the Buddha in the form of Vajradhāra. It is no surprise then that his image obtained an important place in the Vajrayāna tradition. The image of the ]]Two-Handed Wrathful Vajrapāni]] is among the most wide-spread and familiar in Tibetan Buddhist arts.

It is hard to say in which text exactly he appears along with the eight Nāga Kings. Probably, it was in The Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra belonging to the class of yoga-tantra . The iconographic composition of the Mandala of Vajrapāni and the eight Nāga Kings fixed in a Sa skya pa icon of Nepalese style from the 15th century refers to this tantra.

Vajrapāni is depicted there as an one-faced, two-handed deity of white color and peaceful appearance, the eight Nāga Kings located in petals of a lotus surrounding the central figure. The joint use of their images in

one mandala can be connected with a legend on the taming of a gigantic serpent by the Buddha in Uddayana when he appointed Vajrapāni the protector of the nāgas against their enemies garudas. At the same time, Vajrapāni is a commander of the nāgas and can be depicted in the wrathful form - as in our scroll. The

remarkable features of the text are that it does not mention at all the important function of the group as the givers of rain and that it implies another figure of a serpent nature named Sngags bdag (the Master of Mantras) who is actually addressed mainly for the aim of the rite described. Moreover, if he does not obey the invocation to avert poisons from a person Vajrapāni threatens him with a severe punishment.

The textis not found in the Tibetan Buddhist canon being probably composed by a Tibetan author since some specific local objects are mentioned such as the Tibetan gnyan demons.

4. Textology

There are not so many Tibetan manuscripts belonging to the period of the formation of the Tibetan Buddhist canon, especially Tantric texts. Hence, our knowledge of this process is primarily based on the later editions and rather fragmentary. Therefore any new manuscript of this kind has a great significance for Tibetology. The

scroll Дх -178 surely belongs to this group of the Tibetan writings.

The three texts of the scroll having counterparts in the Bstan ’gyur allow a comparison of the ancient scroll with

the major later editions made in Beijing and Derge. The ancient edition is sometimes quite different from the canonical ones in respect of both separate words and entire passages. There are 46 cases of orthographic (including mistakes) and semantic

Дх-178 Beijing ed. Derge ed. Correspondence bla ma la smod bstan la sdang| | bla ma la dmod bstan la sdang| | bla ma la smod bstan la sdang| | Derge（ orth.）

gdug pa ma lus zhi byas ste| | gdug pa ma lus byi byas te| | gdug pa ma lus zhi byas te| | Derge（ sem.）

thod pa rin chen sbrul gyis brgyan| | thod pa rin chen sprul gyis brgyan| | thod pa rin chen sbrul gyis brgyan| | Derge（ orth.）

de nas rang gis thugs ka’i| | de nas rang gis thugs yi| | de nas rang gi thugs ka yi| | Derge（ orth.）

zhi rgyas dbang dang mngon spyod

kyis| | zhi rgyas dbang dang mngon spyod

kyis| | zhi rgyas dbang dang mngon spyod

kyi| | Beijing（ orth.）

las rnams gang yin de bcol bya| | las rnams gang yin de bcol bya| | las rnams gang yin de rtsol bya| | Beijing（ sem.）

bsod nams gang thob des ni ’gro ba ma lus pa’i| | bris pa’i bsod nams gang thob pa des || bris pa’i bsod nams thob pa des || different from both but closer to Beijing（sem.）

divergence. Just to show what kinds of divergence are attested I am supplying the table of them drawn for the first text (No. 1)

In 24 of 46 cases, the ancient scroll is closer to the Derge edition (9 orthographic and 15 semantic cases), in 22 to the Beijing edition (10 and 12 cases respectively). Hence, the scroll is closer to the Derge ed. in comparison with the Beijing edition but, in fact, it is rather far from

both of them, which are basically closer to each other than to the former one. It suffices to mention that the last stanza of No. 1 in the scroll is marked with a change of poetic meter from the 7-syllabled one to the 11-syllabled one, while its counterparts keep the same meter.

On the contrary, comparison of the four texts of the scroll with their counterparts in the Phag mo gru pa edition shows clearly that they belong to the same tradition. It is of a special significance that one of the texts is the same No. 1

that was compared with the canonical editions. There are also some divergences between the scroll and the Phag mo gru pa edition but they more often help to reconstruct the correct text of No. 1 than show the

principal textual difference between the two editions. It is probably no surprise since translations and own writings by Dpal rga lo and his teacher Rtsa mi lotsawa are widely present in the Phag mo gru pa edition. The texts of the second part, those on Visnu Narasiṅ ha, were probably ̇ ̇ translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan, at least two of them have the traditional heading, rgya gar skad du (in Sanskrit), although in one case it is just Narasiṅ ha, in the other it is totally corrupted. Anyway, these texts could not be included into the Tibetan Buddhist canon since they are of manifestly syncretic nature.

All the other texts were probably composed by the Tibetan authors but it is clear only in respect of two texts attributed to Dpal rga lo and the other one (No. 10) that mentions his poem.

Some fragments of the scroll (mostly the recto sides of ff. 1-7) use a number of interlinear glosses (see fig. 2). They are almost absent in the second part indicating that the commentator(s) did not have much to say about the cult of

Visnu Narasiṅ ha. Sometimes, the glosses can deepen the understanding of the text. Thus, the main text of No. 3 states that an effigy figure should be made of earth and, according to the commentator, that it must be the earth from the place where the enemy walked; the fifth part of No. 5 mentions the reciting of a mantra (to invite Mahākāla

as stated in a gloss) and the consequent appearance of the emanation the Protector, and the commentary describes the process in more details, viz. while reciting the mantra one shines a ray of light from oneʼs mouth which arrives in the Protectorʼs heart (and invites him to come); the text of No. 13 lists four mantras which are labeled by the commentator as the life mantra of the

Wisdom Protector, the invocation and union mantra of the Karma Protector, the mantra of taking life and liberating the enemy, and the mantra of separation from a deity and liberating.

Some texts or fragments end up with the expression ati which is ̇ written as one ligature in most of the cases but in three cases the two syllables are given separately. It is hard to say what it actually refers to, there are two well-known similar expressions, ati (attested in the ancient

atiyoga texts) and iti (Sanskrit mark for quotations, etc.), but the first would be rather strange as a final particle, while the other one is too different from ati; moreover, neither of them use the cerebral letter ta. I can only suppose that this ati was meant to convey the idea of sacredness of the texts.

Fig. 3. The expression ati’ written in two different ways

̇ A comparison of some texts of the scroll with later editions of Tantric texts shows that the ancient edition is rather corrupted in many respects and that their adequate translation would be quite hard without the more

carefully prepared editions. The remaining texts are not found anywhere else so far, hence their translation is often based on the translatorʼs intuition and can be but tentative.

5. Stylistics

Though the majority of the texts of the scroll are ritualistic in character and do not use any poetic devices some texts and fragments are nonetheless interesting from this point of view. Thus, there are several hymnal

compositions such as parts ka and [kha] of No. 6, Nos. 7 and 8, fragments of Nos. 12, 15, 21 and 22; functionally, the hymns combine salutations and evocations so that even a simple description of divine deeds carried out by the deities is in fact an implicit call for them to go on performing their deeds .

The versified sādhana, No. 1, is stylistically plain but the abovementioned change of meter in the last stanza, that of dedication of the merits, reminds us of classical Indian poetics, in which such a device is used to

mark a new subject of discourse. Finally, there is a narrative which is quite simple, although interesting as a rare piece of prose writing in Tibetan Tantric literature.

The two canonical hymns, by Nāgārjuna and Buddhakīrti, were translated into Tibetan with rather complicated 19-syllabled and 25syllabled meters corresponding to the 21-syllabled sragdharā meter and 25 syllabled krauñcapadā or 26-syllabled bhujaṅ ga-vijrmbhita meters, although ̇ I am not quite sure in the case of the second text, since this was, quite unusually, translated from a Prākrit as is stated at the colophon.

Both texts were, most probably, rather elaborate poetical compositions enriched with alliteration, word play, and sound symbolism. The Tibetan translation could not keep all phonetic richness of Indian verses but incorporated some elements of sound symbolism important for structuring of the text, viz.

Mahākālaʼs exclamations conveying the description of his actions for the protection of the Doctrine or some features of his iconography. They are found in 20 of 32 lines of the main part of the first text such as in the first stanza - HŪM HŪM PHAT! - with these fierce exclamations [you are]̇ able to cover the three realms entirely,

HA HA TA TA! - with these exclamations [you are] constantly terrifying,

KĀM KĀM KĀM! - [you are] adorned with a garland of skulls on ̇ ̇ ̇ the head, [you have] the body black as a raven’s beak,

BRUM BRUM BRUM! - [you] frown in an utterly fierce way, ̇ ̇ ̇ terrifying, your mouth gaping, devouring flesh,

Using your brown hair and whiskers to [horrify], the Protector of the Buddha’s Field, you guard [me]!

Sound symbolism is also used in Buddhakīrtiʼs hymn and that by Dpal rga lo, but in a more specific way in the latter which deserves a special consideration.

This text is preceded with an initial sentence stating that Dpal rga lo composed the hymn spontaneously when he personally saw Mahākāla during his practice. It reminds us about the probably most famous Buddhist text on Mahākāla, a short praise of the Six Handed Wise Protector, by the great Indian yogi Śābaripāda who saw Mahākāla when

practicing in a cave near modern-day Rajgir, in Bihar, and he praised him, raising his eyes gradually from the feet to the face of the deity who could not be looked upon in his entirety . This order of praise is however rather unique. Dpal rga lo starts with the general description of Mahākālaʼs figure (the name of the location, his standing

amid a great fire, his being raven faced, big and black) and then focuses on some details (the bulging belly, snake decoration, ferocious three-eyed face, attributes held in the two hands, yellow plaits, garland of blood-soaked heads, mouth with grinning tusks, tigerʼs skin as a skirt, etc.). Lexically, this part,

consisting of 24 lines, is rather plain and standard. The next line indicates that Mahākāla is followed by a host of spiteful serpent demons (klu gdon) and after four lines of an invocation a rather long passage consisting of seven lines follows that describes another kind of Mahākālaʼs retinue such as an horde of yaksas ̇ whose horrible appearance conveys the idea of their extreme ferocity 33. The four lines in between contain a short description of Mahākālaʼs activities. As was stated, the plain description of divine deeds is internally an invocation to continue making them. In this case, his ability to trample published in India:

To Him who wears bracelets on his feet and tramples on Vināyaka, / To Mahākāla with the tiger skin on the girdle, / To the Six-Armed One ornamented with the snake necklace, / To Him who holds the chopper with the top right hand, the rosary with the middle one, / And beats the damaru fiercely with the low one, / While ̇ in his left [hands] he holds the skull, three-pointed khatvāṅ ga / And the hook with ̇ which he catches [violators of the vows], / To Him whose face is fierce and grinning, / Who has three fierce eyes and rampant fiery hair, / Whose forehead is covered with sindhūra powder, / Whose crown is ornamented with the image of Buddha Aksobhya, ̇ / To Him who wears the necklace of fifty bleeding human heads, / Who is ornamented with the crown of five dry skulls, / To Him who appeared out from the tree and who received the torma, / To the Glorious Six-Armed One I bow down! /

I pray [you], the Wrathful One, to protect the Doctrine of the Buddha, / Glorify, the Wrathful One, the high status of the Jewels, / Pacify all obscurations, bad circumstances / Of us, the teacher and retinue of disciples, / Bestow [us] with all the siddhis desired!

33 Both kinds of the retinue are mentioned by de Nebesky-Wojkowitz in the relevant fragment on the Raven Faced Mahakala of his Oracles and Demons in Tibet (p. 49).

the earth, to ʻliberateʼ (i.e. cut off somebody from his evil karma), or even to erase, is an essential quality of a Protector of the Doctrine who is invoked by the yogi to accomplish his rite. So the

composition of the properly hymnal part consists of an iconographic depiction of the main figure, the brief characteristics of his protective activity, ending with an invocation (accomplish the rite) and a brief description of his retinue, which is strangely split into two parts.

The second part of the text, a prayer, consists of 21 lines that start with an invocation to Mahākāla to follow his own vow and protect the Doctrine. Then the most peculiar part of the text follows where

wrathful activities of Mahākāla are compared with the severe forces of nature such as thunderstorm, hailstorm, and blizzard.

Do not dally, do not dally, take the kila,

Drain the sea of blazing fire of sins

[With the sounds] UR UR CHEM CHEM, gather the clouds

And with every terrible thunder

Shine the intolerable light of lightning again and again,

From thunders above to blizzards below,

Strike down vajra all-embracing hail, Pour rain of blood [from] the forehead,

Reduce to dust the violators of the vows!

The stylistics of this part seem to be inspired with original Tibetan lore of the magical and spiritual tradition that is so brilliantly reflected in the songs of Tibetan yogis such as Mi la ras pa. At the same time, the use of sound symbolism such as UR UR CHEM CHEM for the sound of great fire, etc. is a common

feature of Indian Tantric hymns, too. In the first part of the hymn, there also are two cases of sound symbolism, reflecting the sounds with which Mahākāla frightens the violators of vows and

enemies of the Doctrine. The text ends with a passage that repeats the invocations to Mahākāla to serve the Buddhist Doctrine and accomplish the rite according to his own vow. There is no dedication of merits.

It is worth mentioning that except for the title bearing the term bstod pa, hymn, the text does not have any lexical marker of this genre such as phyag ’tshal lo (homage), ’dud ([I] bow down), phyag ’tshal bstod (homage and praise), etc. It is no way an unique case with the Indo-Tibetan hymnal literature. Tantric hymns can consist of two major parts such as an iconographic description, even without the expression of worship or devotion at the end of it, and a prayer.

Initially, Buddhist hymns in Sanskrit consisted of stanzas of praise containing names and epithets of the Buddha or other divine figures without special parts for direct prayers. Consequently, the texts of this

genre started to include prayers getting transformed into a synthetic cultic kind of literature even though hymns and prayers remained functionally different aspects of Buddhist rituals. It is interesting

enough that the Tibetan Buddhist canon has very few prayers as separate texts though in the sūtras typological distinction between hymnal stanzas (bstod pa) and short prayers (gsol ba) addressed to the Buddha is always clear.

The function of the hymn is to please Mahākāla and invoke him to accomplish the rite that may mean the fierce action against the inner or outer hindrances preventing the yogi from getting a desired result. The

mentioning of severe aspects of his figure only may indicate that the hymn was composed specifically for subjugating or fierce rites. It is even more probable if we take into consideration that most of other texts of the scroll describe ʻblackʼ magic rituals such as those directed to kill or harm the enemy.

Thus, the text by Dpal rga lo is an interesting piece of Tibetan religious poetry from the early stage of its history. It is one of the first hymnal texts composed by a Tibetan author. We can see how he followed the

patterns of Indian literary canons using traditional composition and rather plain stylistics in describing the appearance and abilities of the deity.

At the same time, a passage of severe imagination imports a specifically Tibetan poetic sense of divine power represented in terms of formidable natural phenomena. It seems that later Tibetan religious mainstream poetry lost this touch of originality being preoccupied with developing refined stylistics borrowed from Indian poetics.

While the three texts considered above do not use lexical markers of the genre the scroll presents some examples of more standard hymns, e.g. a hymn to Visnu Narasiṅ ha (a fragment of No. 15) consists of several stanzas

̇ ̇ each of them ending with either phyag ’tshal bstod or just bstod, e.g.

To the one who has rampant orange hair,

Three eyes and grinning mouth,

The white body and bone ornaments,

Who is seated on the throne of the sun, moon, lotus and corpse,

To you, Visnu, the great god, - [I pay] homage and raise the praise!

No. 22 has a series of seven stanzas of praise to the eight Nāga Kings (the eighth one is missed) each of them ending with phyag ’tshal bstod, too. This is a good example of a hymn to a group of objects worshipped. The first stanza runs as follows To the great Nāga King Vāsuki,

Whose white body has no single spot,

Who rules over the nāgas of the East,

The serpent-headed one, - [I pay] homage and raise the praise!

The ornate style of classical Sanskrit poetry borrowed by the Tibetans is reflected in several passages of the same text, although not in a particularly elaborate way -

…In the land of the crooked lakes of the nāgas

In the land of the crooked dark blue [of waters] There are shores of four substances such as

Sand in the east, gold in the south,

Copper in the west, iron in the north;

In the land of such [a beauty]

Golden lotuses with eight petals [grow];

In the middle of such an abode

[There is] the throne of four precious substances;

Onto such a throne,

Please, Master of Mantras, descend!

A narrative fragment rendering the main myth of Visnu Narasiṅ ha is a rare piece of prose literature among the Tantric texts. Though rather simple in style, it combines narration, poetry and

iconography of the deity -…Having failed to compose [a salutation], [a youth] wondered everywhere in great sadness and met Visnu Narasiṅ ha. “Who are you and where are you going?” - [[[Vishnu]]] scared him suddenly. “I am a son of the asura Hiranyakaśipu named Thupgyel Nakpo 34. My father told me - ‘If you ̇ don’t homage and praise me variously I will kill you and eat’. I failed to compose verses of unexhausted praise to the father and am wondering now being assured that I am going to be killed”. Visnu Narasiṅha said: “If I kil ̇ ̇ your father can it displease you?”. Thupgyel replied: “Nobody can kill him. The thing is that he has eight kinds of attributes and eight siddhis”. When answered by [[[Wikipedia:Visnu|Visnu]]] “What are they like? ” - [he said:] “The eight ̇ ̇ attributes are never shown. The eight siddhis are as follows: [he] can be killed during the day, can’t be killed at night, [can’t be killed inside the doors], can’t be killed outside the doors, a human can’t kill [him], a nonhuman can’t kill [him], [he] can’t be killed with a weapon, can’t be killed with something that is not a weapon“. Visnu uttered: “I know a way [to ̇ ̇

34 Thub rgyal nag po; it can hardly be equivalent to the Indian name of Hiranyakaśipuʼs son, Prahlāda.

avoid them all]“, - and taught him the words of a salutation such as

The gods, the gods abide in the purity of the heaven,

The sages abide in the mountains, in the mountains,

The nāgas live in the streams, in the streams,

All, all abodes are Visnu. ̇ ̇ [The youth came to his father] and paid homage and praised not him but he praised Vishnu. “Well then, is here an abode of Visnu, either?” - [the ̇ ̇ father] asked shutting the precious door frame with an iron door. “Of course, here too” - [the son] replied and in the frame the Protector [Narasiṅ ha] appeared having a white human body and the lion’s head, three eyes, rampant orange mane ablaze, one face, four hands, holding with the first right hand an iron stick, with the left one grasping the demon’s neck, with the lower two hands holding a garland of corpses at his waist, devouring the bowels, adorned with the bone ornaments, trampling on a

corpse. “Of course, here too” - [he] said and killed [Hiranyakaśipu], took his ̇ eight attributes and obtained his eight siddhis and passed them all to the son Thupgyel Nakpo. The story is followed with a final passage which can be interpreted as a colophon. It states that Thupgyel Nakpo (obviously the character of the text) composed a sādhana of Visnu Narasiṅ ha (it is not clear if the text is ̇ ̇ supposed to be this sādhana, if so it may be due to the presence of the iconographic description) and then claims that some Buddhist authors composed texts on Visnu Narasiṅ ha and this is the only reason for the ̇ ̇ clearly Hindu story to be included into the Buddhist context.

6. The cult aspect

Rituals constitute the core of Tibetan religious culture, as was brilliantly shown in the classical monograph by S. Beyer Magic and Ritual in Tibet. The Cult of Tārā . Monks start mastering the science of rituals

from their childhood, first learning sacred texts by heart, then training in the visualization of various deities so that they can finally imagine them in the fullness of their iconography along with their retinue, sometimes rather numerous, and other details of their mandala. The most highly qualified ̇ ̇ monks can see this picture at one moment. Visualization serves as an important instrument for attaining the various goals of Buddhism, from the very concrete aims of particular rituals such as curing of diseases or

obtaining wealth up to the final realization of Enlightenment, in which a yogi visualizes himself as his personal deity, yidam, substituting his own consciousness with the divine mind, the so-called ʻprideʼ.

Very roughly, the structure of any ritual consists of the following main stages -

1) preparatory practices,

2) visualization of a deity;

3) making offerings, making hymns and prayers and invocations to perform divine actions by means of mantras;

4) torma offering and final purifying and benevolent practices.

Preparatory practices reflect some fundamental ideological principles which all the monks learn and engage in from their first steps in monastic life. Great compassion to the uncountable sentient beings of

the universe serves, in Mahāyāna Buddhism, as the method for attaining their ultimate goal, complete Enlightenment. Starting their Tantric practices, the monks [[take

refuge]] in the Three Jewels, arouse bodhicitta, the consciousness striving for the Enlightenment for the sake of all beings, they realize the emptiness of both themselves and all the phenomena, and meditate on the four immeasurable, which are love, compassion, joy and equanimity. This is the obligatory basis for

making any rite successful. As Beyer states, any society that regards magic as a real and potent force would certainly desire its magicians to possess the attitudes of renunciation and benevolence outlined above.

Tibetan culture has erected a system wherein the very exercises that allow the acquisition of magical powers guarantee their proper use35. Since the preparatory practices are implied for any ritual they are

either briefly mentioned or missed completely in the ritualistic texts. It is also true to the scroll Дх-178 though one text does contain some details, viz. part ga of No. 6 (see the Appendix)..

Visualization consists of four main stages - first the yogis produce a symbolic image of their deity, then they ʻvitalizeʼ its body, speech and mind by locating the syllables OM ĀH HŪM at the head, neck and heart, then invite the real deity, jñānasattva, from the Pure Land and place them into the symbolic deity with the mantra JAH HŪM BAM HOH (each of the four ̇ ̇ ̇ ̇ syllables corresponds with invitation, immersing, absorption and transmission acts respectively), and finally ʻsealʼ the deity in a virtually created vessel. The visualization is outlined in The Sādhana of Mahākāla by Nāgārjuna

(No. 1) as follows -

One has to produce one’s yidam this way -

Having seen in front of oneself

The black syllable HŪM placed on the lotus and sun, ̇

[One sees] the shining [eradiating] from it,

Taming any evil

And ascertaining happiness for all the migrators,

After which dissolving [again in] HŪM,

̇ And this syllable HŪM gets transformed immediately ̇

Into Mahākāla whose name is Raven…

Then, with the light coming from a seed

At one’s own heart

[One has to] invite the jñānasattva,

One has to invite, immerse, absorb and delight36 [him]

With the offering of JAH HŪM BAM HOH. ̇ ̇ ̇ ̇

35 Beyer S. Magic and Ritual in Tibet. The Cult of Tārā. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2001. P. 29.

36 = to transmit here.

The role of offerings, hymns and prayers in ritual practices is extensively explored by Beyer, so I will not write on this here. It suffices to mention that the hymns are an essential means to establish contact with a deity, as is explicitly stated in No. 10 of our scroll, which claims that for the invocation of Mahākāla

one has to use the abovementioned hymn by Dpal rga lo, part ka of No. 6. In case of fierce rites which are widely represented in our scroll special mantras and offerings are used. Thus,

ritual cakes, called in Tibetan torma, are made of certain specific substances including blood, flesh (even human flesh), urine, etc. They are considered to be pure from the standpoint of

Ultimate Reality to which the yidams belong. Mantras used for these rites contain some wrathful imperatives such as MARA MARA, kill-kill!, or BANDHA BANDHA, bind-bind!, etc.

Moreover, the fierce rites use skulls37 and effigies, or linga figures. The latter ones represent the enemies against whom the rites are performed38. They may be both drawn images and figures made of clay or other materials. Thus, No. 4 instructs - If it is needed that Mahākāla would perform a fierce action, draw the [enemy’s] figure on paper, write the

mantra OM MAHĀKĀLA such-and-such MĀRAYA HŪM PHAT 39 in his heart, insert [the paper] into the torma, after which perform the invitation

37 On this subject - Gray D. Skull Imagery and Skull Magic in the Yoginī Tantras, in - Pacific World, 3 (8). Pp. 21-39.

38 The origins of linga figures in Tibetan Buddhism are studied in - Cuevas B. J. Illustrations of Human Effigies in Tibetan Ritual Texts: With Remarks on Specific Anatomical Figures and Their Possible Iconographic Source, in - Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Third series, Vol. 21, Pt. 1, January 2011. Pp. 73-97.

39 OM! Mahākāla, kill such-and-such! HŪM PHAT! ̇ ̇ ̇ A special study of the mantras used in fierce rites is carried out in - Verhagen P. C. Expressions of violence in Buddhist Tantric mantras, in - Violence denied: violence, non-violence and the rationalization of violence in South Asian cultural history. Ed. by J. E. M. Houben and K. R. Van Kooij. Pp. 275-286.

and immersing [of the Protector]. Then one has to recite the mantra of the invited [[[deity]]] and offer the torma. This fragment describes rather a simple way to produce the linga. Some other texts suggest more

complicated methods using skulls, blood, poisons, etc., in which the effigy is often oppressed physically: it can be cut into pieces and then burnt and the ash scattered in the direction of the enemyʼs place.

The fire offering is a special ritual performed for the same aims. It is described in Nos. 11 and 21. According to the second one, the fire is lit with use of special sticks made of sandalwood or juniper. The

substances to be burnt include butter, white sesame, wooden sticks, milk, curds, rice, kuśa grass, a pen from the charnel ground, barley, wheat, rough barley, peas, boiled rice,

medicines; they are burnt in the fire along with special mantras uttered and the god of fire is pleased with a hymn; the text ends up with a mantra invoking the deity to kill the enemy40.

It would be a mistake to consider the texts describing fierce rites found in many scriptural collections including the Tibetan Buddhist canon, as indicating some hidden aggression of Buddhism. First, these texts

belong to the group of secret instructions, which resumes their unavailability to the unauthorized. Second, it is claimed that mechanic performance of a rite, without suitable preparation of the mind, is ineffective. Third, the

conception of the enemy may be interpreted in at least three different ways, such as a Mara causing afflictions, i.e. oneʼs own inner obstacles, an evil demon harming the Buddhist Teaching, and corporeal people who threaten the Dharma, or even its citadel of Tibet.

40 The fire offering is scrutinized by S. Beyer - Beyer S. Magic and Ritual in Tibet. Pp. 264-274. Its comparative study in Tibetan and Japanese traditions is found in Payne R. K. A Comparison of

the Tibetan and Shingon Homas, in - Pacific World. Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Third Series Number 11. Fall 2009.

(Special Issue Celebrating the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Institute of Buddhist Studies 1949-2009.) Pp. 417-450.

According to the Buddhist belief, harmful beings, both spirits and humans, especially violators of vows, collect bad karma with their evil actions so their killing can be interpreted as a benevolent deed, even ʻliberatingʼ them from their next migration to the lower realms.

This idea is manifestly expressed in the lines of No. 10 During the fierce rite, the practitioner

Must think about defending the Doctrine,

Must think about liberating the violators of vows.

It means that any fierce action must be performed with the totally pure intentions. Anyway, its aim cannot be fulfilled, according to the Buddhist view, if the practitioner is stimulated with egoistic passions which can only put them in a dangerous state themselves .

Thus, the scroll Дх-178 belonging to the early stage of development of the Tibetan Buddhist canon and dated, probably, from the late 12th through 13th century is an unique edition of various ritualistic texts of Tibetan Buddhism such as hymns, prayers, sādhanas, descriptions of rites, including those not to be found in the

canon and, perhaps, represented in this manuscript only. I hope my attempt of its comprehensive study, though far from being perfect, will contribute to the understanding of the period when Tibetan Buddhism and

its literature were in the state of constant and dynamic development. It is thanks to the scroll that we can revive at least one of the forgotten aspects of this process, viz. the spread of the cult of Visnu Narasiṅ ha in Tibet. The facsimile edition of the manuscript and its ̇ ̇ thorough transliteration are to follow soon along with the entire translation of the texts into Russian. Several texts of the scroll in my edition and

tentative English translation are included into the Appendix to this paper and in some previous papers specified above.

APPENDIX.

Texts and Translations

1. Text No. 6 (two parts)

KA. The Hymn to Mahākāla by Dpal rga lo

 
Dur khrod chen po bsil ba yi ʼtshal zhes bya ba na袞dpal chen po rga lo bzhugs paʼi tshe袞{rdo rje} nag po chen po zhal mngon sum du gzigs nas袞de nyid kyi tshe bstod paʼi brgyal po ʼdis bstod do袞

1 hum dur khrod chen po bsil baʼi
̇
mtshal袞[袞] ʼjigs su rung baʼi bskal pa
yi 袞[袞]
me ltar ʼbar baʼi klong dkyil na袞[袞] ma ha ka la bya rog gdong袞[袞] hum la byung baʼi nag po
̇
che袞[袞] thung la sbrom baʼi gsus po che袞[袞] ha ha zhes sgrogs ʼjigs par byed袞[袞] dug sbrul gdug pas sku la brgyan袞[袞]

gtum po spyan gsum ʼbar ba
ste袞[袞]
10 phyag g.yas ʼbar baʼi gri gug phyar袞[袞]
When the great Dpal rga lo abided at the great charnel ground Sītavana, he saw manifestly Vajra Mahākāla and at the same moment praised him with this king of hymns:
HŪM! At the charnel ground Sītavana,
̇

[Covered with] terrible fire like [that]

Of the end of the kalpa, you stay at its center,

[Oh] Raven Faced Mahākāla, Appearing at HŪM, black and big,
̇

Short and with a huge bulging belly,

Frightening with the HA HA sounds,

[Having] the body decorated with a poisonous snake,
Ferocious, three-eyed, blazing,

Hoisting a blazing chopper with the
right hand,

dam nyams don snying tshal par ʼges 袞袞
g.yon nas khrag bkang thob pa ʼdzin袞[袞]


{rdo rje} srin po khrag la ʼthung 袞袞 ral pa ser po gyen du ʼbar 袞袞 mi ʼgo rlon paʼi ʼphreng ba can 袞袞 rdo rje gnod sbyin dgraʼ la phob 袞袞 kha gdang khrag gi rgyun ʼdzag cing 袞袞 rno la ʼkhros paʼi mche ba gtsigs 袞袞
rtag du sha dang khrag la dgyes 袞袞

20 dgraʼ yi srog rtsa ʼdren par byed 袞袞 stag gi pags paʼi sham thabs can袞[袞]
nyi ma ʼbum gyi gzi brjid can袞[袞]

zhal nas dam nyams ma ra ya袞[袞] hum hum phat kyi sgra sgrogs
̇ ̇ ̇

pa 袞[袞] klu gdon nag paʼi ʼkhor gyis bskor 袞袞 rkang pas sa la brdabs pa ni 袞袞 thams cad sgrol zhing rdul du Breaking the hearts of violators of vows,
At left holding a skull full of blood.
[Oh] blood drinking Vajra Rāksasa,
̇

With yellow, upwards blazing plaits of
hair,
[You] have the garland of bleeding human heads;
[Oh] Vajra Yaksa, overthrowing the enemies,
With blood dripping from the mouth,

Grinning with sharp wrathful tusks,
Always rejoicing at flesh and blood,
Cutting off the enemiesʼ lives,

Having a shirt of tigerʼs skin,
Bright [like] one hundred thousand suns,
From [your] mouth, for the violators of vows,

MĀRAYA HŪM HŪM PHAT sounds break forth.

Surrounded by the retinue of black nāga demons, [You] trample upon the earth,


Liberate everyone [or] reduce to dust, lhogs 袞袞 khyod kyis sprul pas bar snang khebs 袞袞 bya rog gdong can ʼphrin las mdzod 袞袞

30 so rnon lag pa dmar ba dang 袞袞
mchu ni khrag gis bskus pa ste袞 lus phyed dag ni zos pa dang 袞袞 mkhal ma snying dang nang grol gyis 袞袞 snying pa shin du bkang nas ni袞[袞] za bzhin du ni rgyug pa yi 袞袞 sha za ʼbum gyi ʼkhor gyis bskor 袞袞 myi gyis myi ʼdul gang yang med袞[袞] bstan pa srung ba zhal gyis bzhes 袞袞 bstan pa sdang ba phung bar mdzod 袞袞

40 stobs chen thugs dam dus la bab 袞袞 ma g.yel ma g.yel phur bu thob 袞袞 kha na mye ʼbar rgya mtsho skems 袞袞 ʼur ʼur chem chem sprin nag
ʼkhrigs 袞袞 ma rungs ʼbrug sgra de re re 袞袞 myi bzad glog ʼod kam kam Fill up the entire space with your emanations.


Raven Faced, accomplish the rite!
[With those who have] sharp teeth, red hands,
Lips soaked with blood,

Who have eaten half the body [each], Filled themselves up
With kidneys, hearts and bowels,

Who run while eating -
[You are] surrounded with a hundred thousand piśācas.

There is nothing you cannot make, none you cannot tame,
[So] nurse the protectors of the
Doctrine, Strike the enemies of the Doctrine.

Mighty One, the time has come to accomplish the vow.
Do not dally, do not dally, take the kila,

Drain the sea of blazing fire of sins
[With the sounds] UR UR CHEM
CHEM, gather the clouds
And with every terrible thunder

Shine the intolerable light of lightning ʼbar 袞袞 gnam lcags thog gi bu yug
ʼtshun袞[袞]

{rdo rje} mye re ser ba ʼbebs 袞袞 dpral ba khrung char phob 袞袞 dam nyams thal ba rdul du
lhogs 袞袞 50 bla ma la sdang bas sngags smod 袞袞 dam nyams sha zo khrag la thung 袞袞 sangs rgyas bstan pa las ma log 袞袞 nag po chen po las la byon 袞袞 rang gis las byas rang la smyin 袞袞 ma ha ka la ʼphrin las mdzod 袞袞 sngon gyi thugs dam dgongs mdzod la 袞袞

57 bcol baʼi ʼphrin las grub par mdzod 袞袞
dpal chen po rga los la 袞袞 nag po chen po bya rog gi mying can la bstod pa袞dur khrod chen po bsil baʼi mtshal duʼ mdzad paʼ袞 rdzogs s + ho袞袞

again and again,

From thunders above to blizzards below,
Strike down vajra all-embracing hail,

Pour rain of blood [from] the forehead, Reduce to dust the violators of the vows!
From those who angrily curse and condemn the Teacher, From violators of the vows - eat flesh and drink blood! Do not turn away from the Teaching of the Buddha,

Mahākāla, come to the rites! [I] myself have made the rite, myself have ripened.

Mahākāla, accomplish the rites!

Think about your previous vows,
Accomplish the rites [I] invoke [you]!

GA. The Instruction on the Self-Sufficient Practice of Mahākāla by Dpal rga lo
The Hymn to the Raven Faced Mahākāla composed by the great Dpal rga lo at the great charnel ground Sītavana is complete.
 
袞袞phat nag po chen bya rog gi gdong
̇
can la phyag ʼtshal lo袞袞rang gi snying hum nag po las ʼod ʼphros pas袞bla ma
̇
PHAT! Homage to the Raven Faced
̇
Mahākāla!

Having eradiated light from the black
 
dang nag po chen po dang sangs rgyas dang byang chub sems dpaʼ thams cad spyan drangs la袞mchod de phyag ʼtshal nas袞 sdig pa thams cad ʼjigs pas bshags bgyid cing袞袞 ʼgro baʼi dgeʼ la dgaʼ bas yi rang ʼo袞袞 dkon mchog gsum po la yang skyabs su mchiʼ袞袞 rdzogs paʼi byang chub du yang sems bskyed do袞袞 zhes brjod paʼo袞tshad myed pa bzhi bsgom ba ʼo袞sems [can] thams cad sangs rgyas kyi bde ba dang ldan bar byaʼo snyam ba ni byams paʼo袞sdug bsngal dang bral bar byaʼo snyam ba ni snying rjeʼo袞bde ba dang ldan bar byaʼo snyam pa ni dgaʼ baʼo袞ʼjig rten gyi chos brgyad sangs paʼo snyam pa ni btangs snyoms so袞 de nas om sva bha ba shu nyo sa rva
̇

dha rma sva bha ba shu nyo ham袞zhes
̇
pa bdag dang dngos po thams cad stong par bsam mo袞袞deʼi ngang las sna tshogs pad ma nyi maʼi steng du袞hum
̇
nag po la byung baʼi dpal nag po chen po zhal cig phyag gnyis pa袞袞sku mdog nag po spyan sum paʼ袞ʼbar ba chen po g.yas dang g.yon paʼi phyag na gre gug HŪM of oneʼs heart, one invites the
̇
Teacher, Mahākāla, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, makes the offerings and pays homage, and recites the following words -

I repent all my terrible crimes,
And rejoice happily with the migrators’ virtues.
I take refuge in the Three Jewels
And produce the consciousness striving for the complete Enlightenment64.

[Then] one meditates on the four immeasurables such as love [[[embodied]] in] the thought - [I will] bestow all the sentient beings with the mBuddha’s bless; compassion [[[embodied]] in] the thought - [I will]

liberate [them] from sufferings; joy [[[embodied]] in] the thought - [I will] make [them] happy; equanimity [[[embodied]] in] the thought - [I will] purify the eight worldly dharmas.
Then, reciting [the mantra] OM SVABHAVA ŚŪNYO SARVA-̇ DHARMA-SVABHAVA ŚŪNYO ʼHAM65, one meditates upon oneself
̇
and all the phenomena as being empty. Out of this nature one produces the black HŪM rested on the sun disc and
̇
 
64 The stanza is found also in The Sādhana of Śrī Mahākāla by Pindapātika
̇ ̇
included into Bstan ʼgyur [Dpal mgon po nag po bsgrub pa’i thabs / Śrīmahākālasādhana: the Derge edition, No.1764, rgyud, sha, f. 255b].
65 OM! All phenomena are empty by the nature, I am empty. In the edition of the
̇
scroll the syllables shu do are used twice hinting at Sanskrit śudho (pure), if this is true then the translation would be OM! All phenomena are pure by the nature, I am
̇
pure. But this is rather dubious, I preferred the more standard formula of the mantra.

― 63 ―

variegated lotus, and out of it appears Śrī Mahākāla with one face, two hands, dang ka pa la ʼdzin pa袞袞ʼgo boʼi phreng ba sku la brgyan paʼ袞dbu skra ser po gyen du ʼbar ba袞ʼjigs paʼi mche bas ʼjigs par byed pa袞sku thams cad

sbrul gyis brgyan pa袞yan lag thung ba袞sbrom zhing ge ba袞zhal nas khrag gi rgyun ʼdzag pa skad cig gis bskyed do袞袞deʼi snying kar ye shes sems dpaʼ mtshon gang bsam袞deʼi snying kar gre gug gi chang zungs la nyi ma yi steng du hum
̇
袞de las ʼod phros paʼ rje btsun dang sangs rgyas rnams spyan drangs la ste 袞de sngags bzlas pa ni袞om badzra ma
̇
ha ka la ya hum hum phat袞
̇ ̇ ̇
dug dang khrag dang sgog skya dang yungs kar rnams kyis gdug spos chen po phul nas袞sran ma la bsogs paʼi chang dang袞me tog lasogs paʼi mchan 袞me tog dang byug pa dang袞sha lnga bdud rtsi lnga rnams kyi gtor ma sngags ʼdis nag po chen po la dbul bar bya ʼo袞袞 tad ya tha袞om ma ha ka la ya袞sha sa
̇
na袞a pa ka ri e ta袞a pas tsi ma ha ka la ya yam袞i dam rad na tra ya袞a pa
̇
ka re na袞ya tig pra tig jnya袞sma ri si dha袞i dam du shta sa tva袞kha kha
̇
̇
kha hyi kha hyi袞ma ra ma ra袞ʼghre rna ʼghre rna袞bhan dha bhan dha袞ha black body and three eyes, holding a chopper and skull bowl in his right and left hands; adorned with a garland of heads; having the yellow

rampant hair; frightening with the terrible fangs; adorned with a snake hanging over his body; having the short arms and legs, bulging belly; with a stream of blood dripping from his mouth. One visualizes the finger-sized jñānasattva66 in his heart and in the latterʼs heart - HŪM,
̇
rested upon the blade of a chopper and the sun disc, out of which the light is eradiated inviting the venerable one and [all] the Buddhas. At the same time the mantra is recited such as OM
̇
VAJRA-MAHĀKĀLĀYA HŪM HŪM PHAT
̇
Having offered sublime incenses of poison, blood, white garlic and white mustard, one has to offer Mahākāla the torma cakes made of bean wine, etc., flower pulp, etc., flowers and ointments, five kinds of flesh, five kinds of amrita while reciting the following mantra -
TAD YATHĀ, OM MAHĀKĀLĀYA ŚĀSANOPAKĀRINE,̇ ESA PAŚCI-
̇
MAKĀLO, ʼYAM IDAM
̇
RATNATRAYĀYAPAKĀRINAM,
̇
YADI PRATIJÑAM SMARASI
̇
TADĀ IDAM DUSTA-SATTVAM
̇ ̇ ̇ ̇
 
66 Jñānasattva is an actual deity invited from their own Pure Land and placed into their symbolic body visualized by a yogi beforehand.

67 OM to Vajra Mahākāla! HŪM HŪM PHAT!
̇ ̇ ̇ ̇
68 Amrta is, according to Indian mythology, the divine drink giving immortality to
̇
the gods; in Buddhism it was reinterpreted as an elixir, pure substance to which, in Tantric context, some conventionally impure things can refer, too; thus, the five kinds of amta are excrements, urine, blood, human flesh and sperm.
̇
― 62 ―
KHA KHA KHAHI! MARA MARA! na ha na袞da ha da ha袞pa tsa pa tsa di na me ke na袞袞 sa rva du shta ma ra ya
̇
hum hum phat袞zhes paʼi sngags kyis
̇ ̇ ̇
dbul bar bya ʼo袞袞nag po chen po rang rkyar bsgrub paʼi man ngag袞袞rnal ʼbyor gyi dbang phyug chen dpal rga los mdzad paʼo袞袞


2. Text No. 15 (two fragments)


[The torma offering] na mo ʼgu ru袞 khyab ʼjug myiʼi seng ʼge la gtor ma gtong ba ni袞袞snod rin po che gas chag med pa gcig gi nang du袞zan dang sha dang chang dang khrur ba lasogs pa ba bshams la袞ōm ā hum gsum gis bdud
̇ ̇
rtsir byin kyis brlabs la袞rtsaʼi sngags GRHNA GRHNA! BANDHA BAN-
̇ ̇ ̇ ̇
DHA! HANA HANA! DAHA DAHA! PACA PACA! DINAM EKENA SAR-
̇
VA-DUSTAM MĀRAYA HŪM

69̇ ̇- with this mantra the offerinġ
̇
PHAT! is performed.
[This was] the instruction on the selfsufficient practice of Mahākāla composed by the great Lord of Yogis,
Glorious Dpal rga lo.

Namo guru (Homage to the Teacher)! The torma offering to Visnu Narasiṅ ha.
̇ ̇
One has to put gruel, meat, brew, cakes, etc., into a precious vessel without any cracks, transform them with the blessing of OM ĀH HŪM into amrta
̇ ̇ ̇ ̇
 
69 The text of the mantra in the scroll is corrupted - dad ya tha袞om ma ha ka la ya
̇
袞sha sa na袞a pa ka ri e ta袞a pas tsi ma ha ka la ya yam袞i dam rad na da ya袞a pa
̇
ka re na袞ya tig pra tig jnya袞sma ra si dhi袞e mam du shta sa ta袞kha kha kha hyi
̇ ̇
kha hyi袞ma ra ma ra袞’ghre rna ’ghre rna袞bhan dha bhan dha袞ha na ha na袞da
ha da ha袞pa tsa pa tsa袞’dir na me ke ni袞sa rva du shta ma ra ya hum hum phat.
̇ ̇ ̇
̇
Many parts of the mantra are supplied with glossas which translate Indian syllables into Tibetan and the commentator made them according to the corrupted text, e.g. the expression sma ri si dha (instead of the correct smarasi tadā) is translated as bzhes la dngos grub. My edition is based on the canonical text of

The Tantra of Mahākāla [Dpal nag po chen po’i rgyud / Śrīmahākālatantra: Derge edition, No.667,
rgyud, ba, f. 190b]. The English translation is as follows - Thus: OM to Mahākāla, the
̇

Protector of the Doctrine! This is the last hour for those harmful to the Three Jewels. If you remember your vow, eat, eat, eat away, eat away this malevolent being! Kill, kill! Grasp, grasp! Bind, bind! Destroy, destroy! Burn, burn! Roast, roast! During one day, make all the evil die! HŪM HŪM PHAT! I thank my colleague, Dr V. Ivanov
̇ ̇ ̇
(the IOM RAS) for his help in edition and translation of the mantra.

and make the offering reciting the root la ʼdi btags la ʼbul lo袞袞ōm i dam ʼbha li
̇
te ʼgri hna袞袞kha kha kha hi kha hi袞 ʼbha li te svā ha袞zhes lan gsum ʼam lan bdun ʼam bzlas ʼbul lo袞gtor mas mchod de bstod pa ni ʼdi ltar byaʼo袞 hum ʼkhaʼ dang sa kun72 khyab baʼi ʼjug
̇
pa ʼbus袞袞 rjes su bjin cing tshar gcad skun mdzad pa袞袞 ʼthogs myed mthu ldan ʼjig rten kun skyob pa袞袞 lha chen khyab ʼjug sku la phyag ʼtshal bstod袞袞 miʼi lus la se[ng] ʼgeʼi mgo bo can袞袞 sku mdog dkar po ʼkhros nas dmar袞袞 myi dang myi ma yin gi mthu ʼjun

paʼ袞袞73 myi yi se[ng] ʼge gzhig bsgrub ʼjigs la bstod袞袞

g.yo paʼi75 thil kyis sa skun gnon mdzad zhabs袞袞

g.yas skum g.yon rkyang mdor bstabs bzhugs pa yis袞袞

ma ru pa76 srin po steng na gang ya [ng] gnon袞袞 ʼjig rten ʼgon po khyab ʼjug khyod la mantra such as OM IDAM BALIM
70 GRHNA KHȦ KHȦ KHAHI TE ̇ ̇ 71 three or seven BHALIM TE SVĀHĀ!
̇
times. Having performed the torma offering, one has to offer the following hymn -
HŪM! To the one who penetrates all
̇
the sky and the earth, Performing support and extinction in various ways,
The mighty one who has no obstacles and gives refuge to the entire world, To the great god Visnu - [I pay]
̇ ̇ homage and offer praise!

The one who has the human body and the lionʼs head,
And the white body, red with wrath74, Who tames the power of humans and
non-humans,

The destroying and frightening ManLion, be praised!
The one who oppresses the earth, shakes [it] with the soles of [his] feet, Who stands in the dancing posture with the right [leg] bent, the left [leg] extended,

Who tramples on the Rāksasa Marupa, -
̇
You, Visnu, the protector of the world,
 
70 The original text has an obviously erroneous form ’bha li ta.
71 OM! Take this torma! Eat this torma! SVĀHĀ!
̇
72 Orig. skun.

73 The original text has some excessive syllables and is probably corrupted - myi dang myi yin gcig gis tshul ’thu?ol ’jun pa’.
74 Some syllables are probably missing; I suppose the meaning is that the body of Narasiṅ ha is stained with the rāksasaʼs blood.
̇
75 Orig. g.ya’ 1.
76 Orig. ma ru sa.
― 60 ―
̇ ̇
bstod袞袞 phyag bzhi g.yas kyi dang po lcags kyi beng袞袞
g.yon kyi dang po du ma ga ya ʼdzin袞袞
g.yon kyis myi gtong g.yas gyis shed kyis ʼjoms袞袞 ma rungs ʼjoms la phyag ʼtshal khyab ʼjug laʼo袞袞
g.yas dang g.yon gi ʼog ma ha na ga袞袞 phyed du bzung ste gsum pa rgyal mdzad de袞袞 ma rungs gsod la phyag ʼtshal khyab

ʼjug laʼo袞袞 dam nyams sgra sgrogs gsum pa rgyal mdzad de袞袞 rgyu ma rlogs pos khyod kyi zhal du gsol袞袞 dgra bgregs gdug pa thams cad rtsa nas gcod袞袞 bstan pa bsrung la phyag ʼtshal lo袞袞 dbuʼ skra dmar ser ʼbar ba gyen du

rjes袞袞

be praised!
To the four-handed one, holding an iron club with the first right [hand], And dharmacakra77 with the first left
[one],

Not releasing with the left [one], defeating powerfully with the right
[one],

To Visnu, the defeater of the evil, - [I
̇ ̇
pay] homage!

To the one who grasps the mahānāga with the lower left and right [hands] At the waist and crushes [him]
thrice ,

To Visnu, the slayer of the evil one, - I pay homage!
To the one who beats thrice the violators of the vows,
Who enjoys the bowels taken out [of the enemyʼs body], Who uproots all the enemies, poisonous demons,

To you, the Protector of the Doctrine, [I pay] homage! To the one who has rampant orange
 
77 Orig. du ma ga ya, that is probably the corrupted Tibetan rendering of some Sanskrit term; since Narasiṅ ha usually holds a club (gadha) and a wheel (cakra) in his upper hands I suggested dharmacakra as a tentative version.
hair,

spyan gsum stang myig zhal gdangs mche ba gtsigs袞袞 sku mdog dkar po rus paʼi cha byad can袞袞 nyi zla pad ma ro ʼi gdan la bzhugs袞袞 lha chen khyab ʼjug khyod la phyag
ʼtshal bstod袞袞 drag shul mthuʼ stobs can la phyag

ʼtshal bstod袞袞 myiʼi seng ʼge khyod la phyag ʼtshal bstod袞袞 na ra seng ʼgaʼi sku la phyag ʼtshal bstod袞袞 bgregs tshogs ma rungs ʼdul la phyag ʼtshal bstod袞袞

gnod byed dbang du sdud la phyag ʼtshal bstod袞袞 gnod byed rtum du rlugs la phyag ʼtshal bstod袞袞 rnal ʼbyor bdag la byin kyis brlab du gsol袞袞 dam rdzas bdud rtsi ʼi gtor ma ʼdi gsol la袞袞 thugs dam rgyud mthun bod paʼi ʼphrin las mdzad袞袞 zhes ʼphrin las bcol袞袞
…
[The protection agaist a hail-storm]

yang na ra sing ʼghaʼi sgo nas ser bsrung bar ʼdod na ʼdi ltar byaʼo袞rdzas brgyad pa dong yungs kar la sngags ʼbum tsho gcig bzlas la袞de snod du blugs la ser ba bsrung baʼi tshe na袞 rang khyab ʼjug gi nga rgyal gyis ser baʼi phyogs su kha ltas ste袞myi bsad Three eyes and grinning mouth,

The white body and bone ornaments,
Who is seated on the throne of the sun, moon, lotus and corpse, To you, Visnu, the great god, - [I pay]
̇ ̇
homage and raise the praise!
Homage and praise to the terrible and mighty one! Homage and praise to you, the Man-
Lion!

Homage and praise to the body of
Narasiṅ ha!

Homage and praise to the tamer of the horde of malevolent demons! Homage and praise to the oppressor of the harmful beings!

Homage and praise to the one who grinds the malevolent beings into dust! Please, bless me the yogi!
Taste this torma, the amta of pure
̇
substances,
And perform the divine actions in accordance with the holy intentions! these are the words of Visnu Narasiṅ haʼs invocation to perform the divine actions.
…

Also, if protection against a hail-storm by means of Narasiṅ ha is needed, the following actions are to be done. [Take] the eight substances and white mustard and recite 100,000 mantras over [them], put [them] into

a jar and when the protection is needed visualize paʼi lcags la[s] gri grug byas pa gcig lag de[s] thogs la sprin thams cad gdal par bsam mo袞slar nga ʼi nad du ʼdud pa myed paʼi mye la rdzas brgyad po yang bsreg par

bsam byaʼo袞 gtor ma dang rdzas bsreg poʼ thal ba dang mye kun ser baʼi phyogs su gtang ngo袞rang khyab ʼjug gi nga rgyal du byaʼ la袞sngags bzlas shing thun bsdig go袞ʼdis lha srin ste brgyad da[ng] lha klu mthu bo che rnams lasogs paʼi ser ba ci lta bu yang zlogs par ʼgyur ro袞
ʼdi ni bla ma ce ro tsa nas rang myur du gsungs so袞袞ati


3. Text No. 22 (four fragments)


[The invitation of Vajrapāni]
̇
…ʼog min lcang lo can gi pho brang na 袞袞 bcom ldan phyag na rdo [r]je ni 袞袞 sku mchog ʼjigs pa myi bzad paʼ 袞袞 dbu skra kham gyen du greng 袞袞 phyag brgyad mche gtsigs ʼjigs pa che 袞袞
 
yourself having the pride of own [[[deity]]] Visnu, turn to the direction of
̇ ̇
the hail-storm, take a chopper made of iron used to kill people and cut all the clouds. Then visualize [yourself] burning the eight magic substances on the fire which is intolerable to your diseases.


The ash of burnt torma and offerings and the entire fire should be thrown towards the hail-storm. One has to accomplish the pride of own deity Visnu, recite mantras and apply the
̇ ̇
magic substances. This way any hailstorm caused by the eight gods and rāksasas, mighty gods, nāgas, etc., will, be averted.

This was quickly uttered by the Teacher Vairocana. ATI!
̇
…
… In the palace at the Plaited Pure Land, in Akanistha 81,
̇̇
[There abides] Bhagavan Vajrapāni,
̇
With the supreme body, terrible and intolerable,
With the rampant hair,

Eight hands , terrible grinning fangs, thing nag ʼbar baʼi sku mchog can 袞袞
spyan dmyig bzlog pas ʼjigs pa che 袞袞 ʼkhor nyer ʼbar ba drag gtum che 袞袞 lus la kluʼi brgyan gis brgyan 袞袞 ʼgo la rgyal rigs sbrul kar bkra 袞袞 ske la bram ze [[[sbrul]]] ser bkra 袞袞 dpung pa rjeʼu rigs sbrul dmar bkra 袞袞 sked pa rmangs rigs sbrul sngo bkra 袞袞 rkang pa rdol rigs sbrul nag bkra 袞袞 zhabs gnyis dgyad pas klu rnams gnon 袞袞 ʼkhor du ʼkhro rgyal ʼbum gis bskor 袞袞

phyag g.yas gser gi rdo rje phyar 袞[袞] phyag g.yon dril bu dkur brten pa 袞袞 klu rnams ʼdul baʼi ʼthuʼo che 袞袞 ʼdir byon ʼdir bzhugs ʼphrin las mdzod 袞袞

With the supreme body, shining and dark blue,
Terrifying with his repelling look, [Surrounded] with the shining fierce
retinue,

Having the body adorned with the nāga decorations:
The head is beautiful with the Ksatriya
̇
white snake, The neck is beautiful with the Brāhmana yellow snake,
The shoulder is beautiful with the Vaiśya red snake

The waist is beautiful with the Śūdra blue snake,
The feet are beautiful with the Candāla
̇ ̇
black snake; Oppressing powerfully the nāgas with the two feet ,
Surrounded with the retinue of one hundred thousand wrathful kings,

Holding a golden vajra in his right hand, Resting a bell on his hip with the left hand;
Sngags bdag spyan drang ba ni / The invitation of the Master of Mantras
nyi ma byang phyogs pha gi na袞袞 There, in the northern region of the
sunset,

rol mtsho bdun gi nang shed na袞袞 In the land of the seven Blissful lakes, ma dros paʼi gnas mchog na袞袞 In the supreme abode of Mānasa-
rovar ,

The mighty one, taming the nāgas, Come here, reside here, perform the divine rites!
klu mtshoʼ ʼkhril paʼi nang shed na袞袞 sngon nag ʼkhril paʼi nang shed na袞袞 gzhal yas rim pa sna bzhi las袞袞 shar phyogs rdul la lho phyogs gser袞袞 nub phyogs zangs la byang phyogs
lcags袞袞 de lta buʼi nang shed na袞袞 gser gi dpad ma ʼdab brgyad la袞袞

de lta buʼi gnas kyi dbus袞袞 rin chen sna bzhi seng ge khri袞袞
de lta bu yi gdan stengs na袞袞 sngags kyi bdag po gshegs su gsol袞袞 sngon kyi skal pa dang po la袞袞 bcom ldan shag kya thub pa dang袞袞 srung pa phyag na rdo rje spyan lam du袞袞 ci lta khas blangs dam bcas pa袞袞 sngags kyi bdag po dbang yang skur袞袞 klu gdug chen po dbang yang skur袞袞 srid sum dbang sdud dbang yang skur袞袞 ʼjig rten ʼthu chen dbang yang skur 袞 lnga brgyaʼ dus kyi snyigs ma la袞袞 rnal ʼbyor kun kyis srungs mar

bskos袞袞 khol pa bya bar dam tshigs mnos袞袞 bran po bya bar dam tshigs mnos袞袞 las khan bya bar dam tshigs mnos袞袞 ʼbangs kyi tshul du dam tshigs phog袞袞 khyeʼu chung gzhon nu da tshur In the land of the crooked lakes of the nāgas,

In the land of the crooked dark blue [of waters]
There are shores of four substances such as
Sand in the east, gold in the south,
Copper in the west, iron in the north;
In the land of such [a beauty

Golden lotuses with eight petals
[grow];

In the middle of such an abode [There is] the throne of four precious substances;

Onto such a throne,

Please, Master of Mantras, descend!
In the first of the previous kalpas, In presence of Bhagavan Śākyamuni And the Protector Vajrapāni
̇
What was promised - that vow [you] have kept, [You were] empowered as the Master of Mantras,
Empowered as the great nāga, Empowered as the ruler of the three realms,
Empowered as the mighty one in the world.

During the five hundred years of the dark age
Serve with all the yogas,

Keep the samaya to act as a servant, Keep the samaya to act as an attendant,
Keep the samaya to act as a helper, Keep the samaya to be like a slave!

Boy, youth, act here and now! spyon袞袞 sbrul ʼgo bdun pa da tshur spyon袞袞 zur pud lnga pa [da] tshur spyon袞袞
sku mdog gtso ma gser dang

mtshungs袞袞 lcang lo lnga paʼi dbu rgyan can袞袞
phyag g.yas gser gi rdo [r]je bsnams袞袞 ʼdir gshegs rgyal baʼi bkaʼ la nyon袞袞 ʼdir gshegs dam tshigs sngags la nyon袞袞 ʼdir spyon ʼdir bzhugs phrin las mdzod袞袞 de ring klu mchod rigs kyi mdos袞袞 klu mchod mdos kyi las mdzod cig袞袞
…
[You], with seven serpent heads, act here and now! [You], with five hair-knots, act here and now!
[You], with the body of refined gold color, act here and now! [You] whose head is adorned with five
plaits,

Who holds a golden vajra in the right hand,
Come here, obey the order of the
Victorious one!

Come here, obey the mantra of the samaya!
Arrive here, reside here, perform the divine rites!
Now - the thread-cross of the class of the offerings to the nāgas, The rite of the thread-cross with the offerings to the nāgas shall be performed!

Dam bsgrag pa ni / The reminding about the vow

 
sngags kyi bdag po tshur nyon cig 袞 dang po bkaʼ byung ston paʼi bkaʼ袞袞 da ltar bkaʼ byung rigs ʼdzin bkaʼ袞袞 rig pa ʼdzin paʼi bkaʼ bcag na袞袞

nga ni phyag na rdo rje yin袞袞 nga ni klu yi nyen po yin袞袞 klu rnams zas su zaʼ ba yin袞袞 klu lnga lus la brgyan pa yin袞袞 klu ʼbum snyan de ʼdings pa yin袞袞 The Master of Mantras, listen to this!
If the initial order, the command of the Teacher ,

And the current order, the command of the knowledge holder -
If the order of the knowledge holder will be violated, [take care -]
I am Vajrapāni,
̇
I am the enemy of the nāgas,
[I] eat the nāgas,

[My] body is adorned with the five nāgas,
One hundred thousand nāgas worship
rgyu bsbyor yon kyi bdag po la袞袞 gdol can kluʼi gdug rtsvub phyung袞袞 ba su rigs kyi gdug rtsvub phyung袞袞
sa bdag klu nyan gdug rtsvub

phyung袞袞 sa bdag srin po gdug rtsvub phyung袞袞 gdug rtsvub thams cad phyir phyung la袞袞 sngags kyi [[[bdag po]]] tshur nyon cig袞袞 do nub myi90ʼdi myi gtong zhing袞袞 do nub nad ʼdi myi gtong na袞袞 khyod la shi sa bstan pa yin袞袞 dam tshigs sngags kyi byin brlabs dang袞袞 khro bo yag sha mye dbal gis袞袞 khyod kyi snying nas tshig ʼgyur cig 袞 mdze nad sna tshogs khyod [la]

ʼong袞袞 dmyig du bye mtshan ʼbar ba ʼong袞袞
ʼon pa dang ni long bar byed袞袞 bla myed ʼbras bu thob myi ʼgyur袞袞 de phyir dam las ma ʼdaʼ bar袞袞
spu sdug rma bya mdangs kyi
[[[mthu]]] 袞袞 klu rgyal slog myed mthu stobs [me].
For the sake of the benefactor giver of the offerings, Avert the horrible poisonous Candāla
̇ ̇
snake!
Avert the horrible poisonous snakes of the Vasu family!
Avert the horrible poisonous nāgassabdaks89!
Avert the horrible poisonous rāksasa-
̇ sabdaks!
Avert all the horrible poisonous
[[[beings]]]!
The Master of Mantras, listen to this! If the infection does not release this person tonight,
If the disease does not come down
tonight,
You will be shown the place of death. The blessed [power] of the mantra of samaya
And the flames of the fire of wrathful yaksas
̇
Shall burn you down!
Various kinds of lepra shall obtain you,
Your eyes shall be filled with burning hot sand,
[You] shall turn deaf and blind,
Shall not obtain the supreme result.
Therefore, without turning away from [your] vow, Avert the powerful shining of the
beautiful pea-cock,
 
89 Sa bdag - earth lords, a kind of demonic beings.

90 No ya btags in the original text.
The inevitable magic power of the nāga dang袞袞 reg paʼi dug rnams phyir phyung cig 袞 ltas paʼi du [g] rnams phyir phyung cig 袞 sbyor baʼi dug rnams phyir phyung cig 袞 yid kyi dug rnams phyir phyung cig 袞 gdug pas dug lnga bskyed pa ste袞袞 dug lnga nad rnams slong bar byed袞袞 nad rnams thams cad ʼdud95 mdzad pa袞袞 sngags bdag khyod la phyag ʼtshal bstod袞袞
…
[The praise of the eight Nāga Kings]

klu rgyal chen po nor rgyas bu袞袞 sku mdog kar po skyon ma gos袞袞 shar phyogs klu rnams ʼdul mdzad pa袞袞 sbrul ʼgo can la phyag ʼtshal bstod袞袞 kings93,

And the poisons of touch,
Avert the poisons of looking,
Avert the poisons of union,
Avert the poisons of mind!

To the one who produces the five
poisons94 due to being poisonous, Arouses the diseases from the five poisons,
Commands over all the diseases,

To you, the Master of Mantras, I pay homage and raise the praise!
…
To the great Nāga King Vāsuki,
Whose white body has no single spot,
Who rules over the nāgas of the East,
 
is written makes me suppose that the scribe was going to add some subscribed letter but did not do it for some reason; my choice of la btags follows the context, the other possible variant, with ra btags, i.e. srog, seems to be less reasonable.

93 This line and the previous one seem to be on a wrong position here - they are dubbed in the later fragment of the text, which corresponds with this one, in rather a different way: the peacockʼs shine and the nāga kings are invoked to avert the diseases while here they are to be averted themselves.

94 The fifth poison, that of exhaling (kha rlangs dug), is missed in the list given above but mentioned in the later part of the text. The subject of the five poisons, with

alternative terms for some of them, is treated by A. Wayman [[[Wayman]] A. Researches on Poison, Garuda-birds and Nāga-serpents based on the Sgrub thabs kun
̇
btus, in - Journal of the Tibet Society, 1987. P. 63-80].
95 Orig. ’dod.

The serpent-headed one, - [I pay] homage and raise the praise!
klu rgyal chen po ʼjog po ni袞袞 sku mdog gser po sbrul ʼgo can袞袞
byang phyogs rnams ʼdul mdzad pa袞袞 sbrul zhags bsnams la袞袞

klu chen rgyal po stobs rgu ni袞袞 sku dmar po sbrul ʼgo can袞袞 nub phyogs klu rnams ʼdul mdzad pa袞袞 mthu chen khyod la phyag ʼtshal bstod袞袞

klu rgyal chen po pad maʼi rgyal袞袞 sku mdog sngon po skyon ma gos袞袞 lho phyogs klu rnams ʼdul mdzad pa袞袞 yon tan be con phyag na snams袞袞
klu rgyal chen po pad ma che袞袞 sku mdog kar ser sbrul ʼgo ca[n]袞袞 byang shar klu rnams ʼdul mdzad pa袞袞

skyon ma gos la phyag ʼtshal
[b]stod袞袞

klu chen rgyal po dung skyong ni袞袞 sku mdog kar sngo sbrul ʼgo can袞袞 shar lho klu rnams ʼdul mdzad pa袞袞
dug rnams ʼdul la phyag ʼtshal
[b]stod袞袞

klu chen rgyal po rigs ldan ni袞袞 sku mdog ser dmar sbrul ʼgo can袞袞 nub byang klu rnams ʼdul mdzad pa袞袞 To the great Nāga King Taksaka,
̇
Whose body is golden, the serpentheaded one,
Who rules over the nāgas of the North, The holder of a snake lasso, - [I pay] homage and raise the praise!

To the great Nāga King Balavān, Whose body is red, the serpent-headed one,
Who rules over the nāgas of the West,
To you, the mighty one, - [I pay] homage and raise the praise!

To the great Nāga King Padma,
Whose blue body has no single spot,
Who rules over the nāgas of the South, The holder of a club of merits, - [I pay homage and raise the praise]!

To the great Nāga King Mahāpadma, Whose body is light yellow, the serpentheaded one,
Who rules over the nāgas of the North-East,

The stainless one, - [I pay] homage and raise the praise!

To the great Nāga King Śaṅ khapāla, Whose body is light green, the serpent headed one,
Who rules over the nāgas of the South-East,

The tamer of poisons, - [I pay] homage and raise the praise!

To the great Nāga King Kulika, Whose body is orange, the serpentheaded one,
Who rules over the nāgas of the North-West,
 
― 51 ― nad rnams ʼdul la phyag ʼtshal bstod袞袞 The tamer of diseases, - [I pay] homage
and raise the praise!
… …

List of literature

Additional Tibetan texts


Dpal mgon po nag po bsgrub pa’i thabs / Śrīmahākālasādhana (The Sādhana of Śrī Mahākāla), by Pindapātika; in Bstan ’gyur - Beijing ed.,
̇ ̇
P.2633, rgyud ʼgrel, la, ff. 281a2-282b2; Derge ed., D.1764, rgyud, sha, ff.
255a7-256b4.

Dpal nag po chen po’i bsgrub pa’i thabs / Śrīmahākālasādhana (The Sādhana of Śrī Mahākāla), by Ārya Nāgārjuna; in Bstan ’gyur - Beijing ed.,

P.2628, rgyud ʼgrel, la, ff. 275b3-276a8; Derge ed., D.1759, rgyud, sha, ff.
250b4-251a7; in the Phag mo gru pa edition - Vol. 2, pp. 763-767.

Dpal nag po chen po’i bstod pa rkang pa brgyad pa zhes bya ba /
Śrīmahākālastotra-padāstaka-nāma (The Hymn to Śrī Mahākāla in Eight
̇̇
Stanzas), by Ārya Nāgārjuna; in Bstan ’gyur - Beijing ed., P.2644, 2645, rgyud ʼgrel, la, ff. 298a4-299a6, 299a6-300b1; Derge ed., D.1778, 1779, rgyud, sha, ff.
272a7-273a6, 273a6-274a6.

Bya rog ma bstan sruṅ bcas kyi chos skor. Collected Tantras and Related Texts Concerned with the Propitiation of Mahakala and His Retinue. Arranged according to the traditions transmitted by Phag-mo-grupa. Reproduced from the manuscript collection formerly preserved in the Khams-sprul Bla-braṅ at Khams-pa-sgar Phun-tshogs-chos-ʼkhor-gliṅ by the 8th Khams-sprul Don-brgyud-ñi-ma. Vol. 1-7. India: Sungrab nyamso gyunphel parkhang, Tibetan Craft Community, 1973-1979.

Rje btsun dpal rje nag po chen po la bstod pa / Śrībhattārakamahākālas-
̇̇
totra (The Hymn to the Venerable Śrī Mahākāla), by Buddhakīrti; in Bstan ’gyur - Beijing ed., P.2642, rgyud ʼgrel, la, ff. 295b8-297a6; Derge ed., D.1776, rgyud, sha, ff. 270b2-271b4.
Seng ge dang bya khyung dang khyab ’jug la bzhugs pa’i sgrub thabs /

Harihariharivāhanasādhana. Peking ed.: P. 3983, rgyud ʼgrel, thu, ff.
223b3-223b8; Derge ed.: No. 3162, rgyud, phu, ff. 181a7-181b4; Narthang ed.: rgyud, thu, ff. 211b6-212a4.
Seng ge dang bya khyung dang khyab ’jug la bzhugs pa’i sgrub thabs / Harihariharivāhanasādhana. Peking ed.: No. 3984, rgyud ʼgrel, thu, ff.

223b8-224b8; Derge ed.: No. 3163, rgyud, phu, ff. 181b4-182b2; Narthang ed.: rgyud, thu, ff. 212a4-213a4.
Researches and translations
Beyer S. Magic and Ritual in Tibet. The Cult of Tārā. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2001.

Cuevas B. J. Illustrations of Human Effigies in Tibetan Ritual Texts: With Remarks on Specific Anatomical Figures and Their Possible
Iconographic Source, in - Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Third series,
Vol. 21, Pt. 1, January 2011. Pp. 73-97.

Davidson R. Reflections on the Mahesvara Subjugation Myth (Indic materials, Sa-skya-pa apologetics, and the birth of Heruka), in - Journal of the
International Association of Buddhist Studies, 14, 2, 1991. Pp. 197-235. Goudrian T., Hooykaas C. Stuti and Stava (Bauddha, Śaiva and
Vaisnava) of Balinese Brahman Priests. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke
̇ ̇
Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, afd. Letterkunde. Amsterdam, London: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1971.

Gray D. Skull Imagery and Skull Magic in the Yoginī Tantras, in -
Pacific World, 3 (8). Pp. 21-39.
Helman-Ważny A. Fibre analysis of paper in Tibetan manuscript Dx


178 (e-document).
Isaacson H. Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D.
1200), in - Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Band II, Hamburg,
1998. Pp. 23-49. (Internal publication of Hamburg University.) Menshikov L.N. Opisanie kitaiskoy chasti collektsii iz Khara-Khoto
(fond P.K. Kozlova). Moscow, Nauka Publishers, 1984. Pp. 61-62.
Narasiṅ ha Purāna (Text with English Translation). Edited &
̇
Translated by Joshi K.L. Shastri & Dr. Bindiya Trivedi. India, Parimal Publishers 2003.
de Nebesky-Wojkowitz R. Oracles and Demons of Tibet. The Cult and Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities. Delhi, 1998. (Classics Indian Publications.)

Payne R. K. A Comparison of the Tibetan and Shingon Homas, in -
Pacific World. Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Third Series
Number 11. Fall 2009. (Special Issue Celebrating the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Institute of Buddhist Studies 1949-2009.) Pp. 417-450.

Sanderson A. Vajrayāna: Origin and Function, in - Buddhism into the
Year 2000. International Conference Proceedings, Bangkok and Los Angeles: Dhammakāya Foundation, 1995. Pp. 89-102.

Skorupsky T. The Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra. Elimination of
All Evil Destinies. Sanskrit and Tibetan texts with introduction, English translation and notes. India: Motilal Banarsidass, 1983.

Sontheimer G.-D. Folk Deities in the Vijayanagara Empire: Narasimha
̇
and Mallanna/Mailār, in - Sontheimer G.-D. Essays on Religion, Literature
̇ ̇
and Law. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Mahonar,
2004. Pp. 327-351.

Sperling E. Rtsa-mi Lo-tsā-ba Sangs-rgyas grags and the Tangut Background to Early Mongol-Tibetan Relations, in - Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 6th Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies. Fagernes 1992 Volume 2, edited by Per Kvarene. Oslo: Institute for


Comparative Research in Human Culture, 1994. Pp. 801-824.
Stablein W.G. The Mahākālatantra: A Theory of Ritual Blessings and
Tantric Medicine. Columbia University, Ph. D., 1976.

Verhagen P. C. Expressions of violence in Buddhist Tantric mantras, in - Violence denied: violence, non-violence and the rationalization of violence in South Asian cultural history. Ed. by J. E. M. Houben and K. R. Van Kooij.
Pp. 275-286.

Vitali R. In the Presence of the “Diamond Throne”: Tibetans at rDo rje gdan (Last Quarter of the 12th Century to Year 1300) // The Tibet Journal, 34(3) - 35(2), 2009-2010 (2010). Pp. 161-208.
Wayman A. Researches on Poison, Garuda-birds and Nāga-serpents
̇
based on the Sgrub thabs kun btus, in - Journal of the Tibet Society, 1987.
Pp. 63-80.

Zorin A. The Collection of Dunhuang Tibetan Texts Kept at the IOM RAS, in - Dunhuang Studies: Prospects and Problems for the Coming Second Century of Research. Ed. by I. Popova and Liu Yi. St. Petersburg,
Slavia Publishers 2012. Pp. 365-367.

Zorin A. Hindu-Buddhist Syncretism in the Trans-Himalaya and Southeast Asia: An Attempt of Comparative Study of Religious Literature of
Tibet and Bali (forthcoming).

Zorin A. On an Unique Tibetan Manuscript Mistakenly Included into the Dunhuang Collection, in - Talking about Dunhuang on the Riverside of the Neva. Ed. by TAKATA Tokio. Institute for Research in Humanities,
Kyoto University, 2012. Pp. 39-51.

Zorin A. Texts on Tantric Fierce Rites from an Ancient Tibetan Scroll Kept at the IOM RAS, in - Buddhism and Society. Papers for the International Conference on Buddhism and Society, 13-15 January 2013. Sarnath,
Varanasi: Central University of Tibetan Studies, 2013. Pp. 118-132.

Zorin A. U istokov tibetskoy poezii. Buddiyskie gimny v tibetskoy literature VIII-XIV vv. St Petersburg, Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie

Publishers 2010.

Electronic catalogues
Dalton J., van Schaik S. Catalogue of the Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang in the Stein Collection. Second electronic edition. IDP, 2007: http://idp.bl.uk/database/oo_cat.a4d?shortref=Dalton_vanSchaik_2005

[31.01.2013].
Himalayan Art Resources: http://www.himalayanart.org/image.cfm/
517.html [10.12.2012].
Researcher,

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts Russian Academy of Sciences
Research Fellow, International Institute for Buddhist Studies