སྤྱན་འདྲེན་རྒྱུད་གསུམ་པ།
The Threefold Invocation Ritual

Toh 846
Degé Kangyur, vol. 100 (gzungs ’dus, e), folios 1.b–3.b.
Translated by The Dharmachakra Translation Committee
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2020
Current version v 1.1.12 (2020)
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Summary
The Threefold Invocation Ritual invokes all the deities of the threefold world that have “entered the path of compassion” and are “held by the hook of the vidyāmantra” to gather, pay heed to the person reciting this text (or the person for whom it is recited), and bear witness to the proclamation of that person’s commitment to the Buddhist teachings. A profound aspiration to practice ten aspects of a bodhisattva’s activity is then followed by a dedication and a prayer for the teachings.
Acknowledgements
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. The translation was produced by Adam Krug and edited by Ryan Damron.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Introduction
The Compendium of Incantations (gzungs ’dus) opens with the present work, The Threefold Invocation Ritual. A very large majority of the 250 texts in this two-volume section appended to the Degé Kangyur are simply duplicates of texts in other sections, but this is one of the dozen or so that are unique to the compendium.1 Nevertheless, it is present in all Kangyurs of predominantly Tshalpa (tshal pa) lineage, being included in the Tantra sections of those that do not have a separate section of dhāraṇī. Kangyurs of the Thempangma lineage do not include this work at all.
The Tōhoku catalog (the standard reference for the Degé Kangyur) appears to have grouped two texts together under the catalog number Toh 846, despite the fact that the Degé Kangyur (as well as other Tshalpa Kangyurs) marks these as independent works with their own titles. Of the handful of witnesses for this text that have survived among the Pelliot Dunhuang manuscripts, preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, the manuscripts that Marcelle Lalou presented in her 1938 study, edition, and French translation confirm that these two sections of Toh 846 are in fact independent works, respectively entitled The Threefold Ritual (rgyud gsum pa) and An Invocation of the Great Deities and Nāgas (lha klu chen po rnams spyan dran pa).2 The confusion over whether or not these two texts should be catalogued as a single work might have derived from the fact that the initial title in the Kangyur versions is a combination of parts of the two titles of these older versions of the text. The version in all Tshalpa Kangyurs of the present text, The Threefold Invocation Ritual, also adds a passage of aspiration in prose from the Lokottaraparivarta, chapter 44 of the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra,3 and a concluding set of verses that are not included in the Dunhuang witnesses.
The Threefold Invocation Ritual does not appear in either the Denkarma or Phangthangma royal Tibetan catalogues of works translated in the early period. It also does not appear to have been translated into Chinese at any point. Its opening line does not contain an original Indic title, and it is possible that this text is Tibetan in origin. Most of the subject matter of the invocation, however, is unmistakably Indian. The text begins by calling upon the great kings and guardians of the cardinal and ordinal directions, zenith, and nadir. The text then calls upon the attendants of Śiva and the deity Jambhala and his four treasures (Padma, Mahāpadma, Śaṅkha, and Mahāśaṅkha), follows with a list of sixteen yakṣa generals, and concludes by calling upon a number of nāga kings, rākṣasīs, and goddesses. This pantheon of worldly deities is invoked in the first part of the text to bear witness to the person who is reciting the liturgy (or the person for whom the liturgy is being recited). A short aspiration prayer in prose follows that confirms that person’s commitment to the bodhisattva path in the presence of all who have gathered as witnesses. The aspiration (1.22) is an extract from the Lokottaraparivarta, and details ten essential practices a bodhisattva should undertake, setting out each practice as a contrasting but complementary pair of attitudes drawn respectively from relative and ultimate perspectives. This is followed by a short set of instructions on the power of the Buddhist teachings that employs the cosmogonic myth from the Purāṇas, the churning of the ocean of milk, encoding elements of the myth with a broader Buddhist significance.
The names of all the deities invoked in this text have been rendered in Sanskrit whenever possible. The Sanskrit names and classifications for these deities have been derived by triangulating between the Negi Tibetan–Sanskrit dictionary, Edgerton’s Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary, Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit-English dictionary, and the Sanskrit of the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī. The reader will notice that a number of familiar names from Sanskrit epic and Purāṇa literature appear among lists of yakṣa generals, nāga kings, rākṣasīs, and goddesses in this text. As is the case in other dhāraṇī texts, it is likely that their role as worldly deities in this work supercedes their characterizations in the Sanskrit epics and Purāṇas. This phenomenon is also observed in the Mahāmāyūrī, where the goddesses Mārīcī and Kālī, for instance, are listed as rākṣasīs. Similarly, several figures such as Daśagrīva, Vibhīṣaṇa, Meghanāda, Sugrīva, and Hanuman who are known from the Rāmāyaṇa appear here as yakṣa generals and nāga kings.
This translation is based on the version of The Threefold Invocation Ritual found at the opening of the Compendium of Incantations section in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the text as it appears in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur. The prose section that is derived from the Lokottaraparivarta was checked against the Tibetan translation of that text from the Ornaments of the Buddhas (phal chen) section of the Degé Kangyur, and also against Śikṣānanda’s Chinese.
The Translation
Approach,9 children of the Victors! Knowing that10 we and all beings are already beyond suffering and thus not fearing that sentient beings will fail to transcend it, may we still insatiably cultivate the accumulations of merit and wisdom. May we know that things are intrinsically conditioned, yet not dismiss their characteristics. May we not reject the form body of a buddha, yet attain freedom from all attachment. May we be free from attachment to all phenomena, yet seek the wisdom that knows everything. May we completely purify all phenomena as buddha realms without depending on others, yet understand the space-like characteristic of buddha realms. May we never weary of bringing beings to maturity, yet never abandon the characteristics of lacking self-identity. May we magically display supernatural powers, yet never waver from the sphere of reality. May we not stop setting our mind on enlightenment, yet may omniscient wisdom arise in us. May we satisfy all beings by turning the wheel of the Dharma, yet not pass beyond the inexpressible nature of reality. May we [F.3.a] demonstrate the magical emanations and blessings of a tathāgata, without nevertheless discarding the body of a bodhisattva, and yet in all the perceptions of beings may we appear and then display the great parinirvāṇa. Children of the Victors, uphold these aspects of the teachings and practice these obverse and direct ways of engaging in practice.11 These ten teachings are the most excellent activity of a buddha. Children of the Victor, these are the awakened activity of a bodhisattva. The spontaneous activity of the bodhisattvas is independent of others and is the perfect attainment of unsurpassed awakening.12
This concludes “The Threefold [Invocation] Ritual.”14
Notes
Bibliography
Source Texts
’phags pa sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo (Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra). Toh 44, vol. 35–38 (phal chen, ka–a), folios 1.a–396.a.
spyan ’dren rgyud gsum pa. Toh 846, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs ’dus, e), folios 1.b–3.b.
spyan ’dren rgyud gsum pa. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–2009, vol. 97, pp. 3–9.
Works Cited
Bendall, C. “The Mahāmegha Sūtra,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1880), 286–311.
Edgerton, Franklin. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2004.
Kapstein, Matthew. The Tibetans. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
Lalou, Marcelle. “Notes de mythologie bouddhique.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 3 no. 2 (July 1938): 128–36.
Monier-Williams, Monier. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2005.
“Mahamayurividyarajni (Mmvr).” Input by Klaus Wille based on Takubo, Shūyo, ed. Ārya-Mahā-Māyūrī-Vidyā-Rājñī. Tokyo: Sankibo, 1972. Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages (GRETIL). Accessed May 23, 2018. http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/4_rellit/buddh/mmayuvru.htm.
Negi, J.S. Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary (bod skad dang legs sbyar gyi tshig mdzod chen mo). 16 vols. Sarnath: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, 1993.
Glossary
Agni
- me lha
- མེ་ལྷ།
- Agni
One of the eight guardians of the directions, Agni guards the southeast quarter.
Anavatapta
- ma dros
- མ་དྲོས།
- Anavatapta
Name of a nāga king.
Āṭavaka
- ’brog gnas
- འབྲོག་གནས།
- Āṭavaka
Name of a yakṣa general.
Brahmā
- tshangs pa
- ཚངས་པ།
- Brahmā
As one of the three primary deities of the Hindu pantheon, in the Purāṇic cosmogony Brahmā is said to issue the four Vedas (Ṛg, Yajus, Sāma, and Athārva) from his four mouths, from which the entirety of creation unfolds. In Buddhist traditions, Brahmā is said to be a worldly deity who exists at the zenith of cyclic existence. He is thus added to the list of the eight guardians of the directions as the guardian of the zenith. In most narratives of the life of the Buddha, Brahmā is said to appear together with Śakra to request that the Buddha Śākyamuni teach the Dharma.
Daśagrīva
- mgrin bcu
- མགྲིན་བཅུ།
- Daśagrīva
Name of a nāga king; also a name for Rāvaṇa, the primary adversary of Rāma in the Rāmāyaṇa.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra
- yul ’khor srung
- ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྲུང་།
- Dhṛtarāṣṭra
One of the great kings of the four cardinal directions, Dhṛtarāṣṭra guards the eastern quarter of the heavens.
Ekajaṭī
- ral pa cig
- རལ་པ་ཅིག
- Ekajaṭī
A goddess.
Elephants of the quarters
- phyogs kyi glang po
- ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་གླང་པོ།
- diggaja
The eight elephants corresponding to the eight cardinal and ordinal directions and the eight world protectors.
Gaganaghoṣa
- nam mkha’i dbyangs
- ནམ་མཁའི་དབྱངས།
- Gaganaghoṣa
Name of a nāga king. Also known as Gaganasvara.
Gaṇapati
- tshogs bdag
- ཚོགས་བདག
- Gaṇapati
Gaṇapati, or Ganeśa, is the lord of the gaṇas, a class of demigods usually associated with the god Śiva. In the Purāṇic traditions Gaṇapati is portrayed as the elephant-headed son of Śiva and Pārvatī.
Gangā
- gang gA
- གང་གཱ།
- Gangā
A river goddess.
Garuḍa
- gser ’dab
- གསེར་འདབ།
- garuḍa
A class of bird deities.
Gaurī
- dkar sham
- དཀར་ཤམ།
- Gaurī
A goddess; a rākṣasī in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Ghaṇṭākarṇa
- dril rna
- དྲིལ་རྣ།
- Ghaṇṭākarṇa
The name of a worldly deity who is identified variously as an attendant of Skanda, an attendant of Śiva, a piśāca attendant of Kubera, and a rākṣasa.
Graha
- gza’
- གཟའ།
- graha
Deities associated with the planets.
Guardian of Speech
- brjod skyob
- བརྗོད་སྐྱོབ།
- —
A goddess.
Haimavata
- gangs la gnas
- གངས་ལ་གནས།
- Haimavata
Name of a yakṣa general in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Hanuman
- ha nu man ta
- ཧ་ནུ་མན་ཏ།
- Hanuman
Name of a nāga king; a monkey god; Rāma’s companion and devotee in the Rāmāyaṇa.
Hārītī
- sras ’phan
- སྲས་འཕན།
- Hārītī
A yakṣiṇī; a rākṣasī in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Hosts of grahas
- gdon la ’jebs
- གདོན་ལ་འཇེབས།
- —
The translation of this term remains tentative but is read here as a potential translation of the Sanskrit compound *grahaprācurya in which the Tibetan has employed an incorrect grammatical particle. An alternate translation that favors the meaning that the term ’jebs pa bears in Tibetan and the Tibetan reading of the compound indicates that this could be either a collective noun or a proper name that translates as “Pleasing to the Grahas.”
Indra
- dbang po
- དབང་པོ།
- Indra
One of the eight guardians of the directions, Indra guards the eastern quarter.
Īśāna
- dbang bdag
- དབང་བདག
- Īśāna
One of the eight guardians of the directions, Īśāna guards the northeast quarter.
Jambhala
- gnod ’dzin
- གནོད་འཛིན།
- Jambhala
A yakṣa king associated with wealth and often identified with Kubera/Vaiśravaṇa.
Kālī
- nag mo
- ནག་མོ།
- Kālī
A goddess; a rākṣasī in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559); one of Durgā’s attendants.
Kinnara
- mi ’am ci
- མི་འམ་ཅི།
- kinnara
A class of semi-divine beings that are half-human, half-animal. Typically they have animal heads atop human bodies. The term literally means “Is that human?”
Kubera
- lus ngan po
- ལུས་ངན་པོ།
- Kubera
One of the great kings of the four directions, Kubera guards the northern quarter of the heavens. Also known as Vaiśravaṇa.
Kumbhakarṇa
- bum rna
- བུམ་རྣ།
- Kumbhakarṇa
Name of a yakṣa general.
Kumbhāṇḍa
- grul bum
- གྲུལ་བུམ།
- kumbhāṇḍa
Vampire demon; a type of yakṣa.
Mahābala
- stobs po che
- སྟོབས་པོ་ཆེ།
- Mahābala
Listed as the great yakṣa general of Rājagṛha in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Mahākāla
- nag po chen po
- ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ།
- Mahākāla
Mahākāla (“the great black one”) is both a name for one of the god Śiva’s wrathful manifestations and an important Buddhist protector deity. The Mahābhārata and Harivaṁśa list Mahākāla as one of Śiva’s attendants.
Mahākarṇa
- rna bo che
- རྣ་བོ་ཆེ།
- Mahākarṇa
Name of a yakṣa general.
Mahāpadma
- pad+ma chen po
- པདྨ་ཆེན་པོ།
- Mahāpadma
“The great lotus.” One of the four great treasures and the being who presides over it.
Mahāśaṅkha
- dung chen
- དུང་ཆེན།
- Mahāśaṅkha
“The great conch shell.” One of the four great treasures and the being who presides over it.
Manasvin
- gzi can
- གཟི་ཅན།
- Manasvin
Name of a nāga king.
Maṇibhadra
- nor bu bzang
- ནོར་བུ་བཟང་།
- Maṇibhadra
Name of a yakṣa general; brother of Pūrṇabhadra in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Mārīcī
- ’od zer can
- འོད་ཟེར་ཅན།
- Mārīcī
A goddess; a rākṣasī in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Meghanāda
- ’brug sgra
- འབྲུག་སྒྲ།
- Meghanāda
Name of a nāga king; name of Rāvaṇa’s son in the Rāmāyaṇa.
Mighty helmet
- dbu rmog btsan pa
- དབུ་རྨོག་བཙན་པ།
- —
A martial metaphor for the territory that falls under the rule of a particular king.
See also n.13.
Nairṛta
- bden bral
- བདེན་བྲལ།
- Nairṛta
One of the eight guardians of the directions, Nairṛta guards the southwest quarter. Also known as Nirṛti.
Nakṣatra
- skar
- སྐར།
- nakṣatra
Deities associated with the stars.
Nanda
- dga’ bo
- དགའ་བོ།
- Nanda
Name of a nāga king.
Nandi
- na n+ti
- ན་ནྟི།
- Nandi
Nandi is the bull attendant of Śiva and the guardian of Śiva’s realm in Kailāsa. He is commonly depicted at Śaiva temples as a bull positioned outside of the main gate of the temple gazing in upon Śiva’s liṅga with utter devotion.
Padma
- pad+ma
- པདྨ།
- Padma
“The lotus.” One of the four great treasures and the being who presides over it.
Pāñcālagaṇḍa
- lnga len tshigs
- ལྔ་ལེན་ཚིགས།
- Pāñcālagaṇḍa
Name of a yakṣa general in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Pāñcālaka
- lnga ser
- ལྔ་སེར།
- Pāñcālaka
Name of a nāga king.
Pāñcika
- lngas rtsen
- ལྔས་རྩེན།
- Pāñcika
Name of a yakṣa general in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Pārvatī
- ri
- རི།
- Pārvatī
A goddess; wife of Śiva in the Purāṇic traditions.
Pṛthivīdevatā
- sa yi lha
- ས་ཡི་ལྷ།
- Pṛthivīdevatā
The name of the earth deity.
Pūrṇa
- gang po
- གང་པོ།
- Pūrṇa
Name of a yakṣa general.
Pūrṇabhadra
- gang pa bzang po
- གང་པ་བཟང་པོ།
- Pūrṇabhadra
Name of a yakṣa general; brother of Maṇibhadra in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Reign
- chu srid
- ཆུ་སྲིད།
- —
Rule, kingdom, government, lit. “water domain.” See Kapstein 2006, p. 4.
Sāgara
- rgya mtsho
- རྒྱ་མཚོ།
- Sāgara
Name of a nāga king.
Śakra
- brgya byin
- བརྒྱ་བྱིན།
- Śakra
Sometimes functioning as an alternate name for Indra, Śakra is considered to be the ruler of the god realm and the leader of the army of devas.
Sañjaya
- yang dag rgyal ba
- ཡང་དག་རྒྱལ་བ།
- Sañjaya
Name of a yakṣa general.
Sañjñeya
- yang dag shes
- ཡང་དག་ཤེས།
- Sañjñeya
Name of a yakṣa general.
Śaṅkha
- dung
- དུང་།
- Śaṅkha
“The conch shell.” One of the four great treasures and the being who presides over it.
Śaṅkhinī
- dung can
- དུང་ཅན།
- Śaṅkhinī
A rākṣasī in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Sarasvatī
- dbyangs can
- དབྱངས་ཅན།
- Sarasvatī
A river goddess.
Sātāgiri
- bde ri
- བདེ་རི།
- Sātāgiri
Name of a yakṣa general in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Śrīmati
- dpal gyi lha mo
- དཔལ་གྱི་ལྷ་མོ།
- Śrīmati
A goddess; a yakṣiṇī in the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī (Toh 559).
Sugrīva
- mgrin bzang
- མགྲིན་བཟང་།
- Sugrīva
Name of a yakṣa general; in the Rāmāyaṇa, Sugrīva is the monkey king who lends his army to Rāma to defeat Rāvaṇa.
Supūrṇa
- shin tu gang
- ཤིན་ཏུ་གང་།
- Supūrṇa
Name of a yakṣa general.
Svaraghoṣā
- sgra dbyangs
- སྒྲ་དབྱངས།
- Svaraghoṣā
A goddess.
Tiraka
- ti ra ka
- ཏི་ར་ཀ
- Tiraka
Name of a yakṣa.
Trikarṇa
- rna gsum
- རྣ་གསུམ།
- Trikarṇa
Name of a yakṣa general.
Triśirṣaka
- stong gsum
- སྟོང་གསུམ།
- Triśirṣaka
Name of a nāga king.
Upananda
- bsnyen dga’ bo
- བསྙེན་དགའ་བོ།
- Upananda
Name of a nāga king.
Uraga
- lto ’phye
- ལྟོ་འཕྱེ།
- uraga
A serpent deity that inhabits specific localities. Also known as a kākorda.
Vāgīśvarī
- tshig dbang lha mo
- ཚིག་དབང་ལྷ་མོ།
- Vāgīśvarī
A goddess.
Vaiśravaṇa
- rnam thos bu
- རྣམ་ཐོས་བུ།
- Vaiśravaṇa
One of the eight guardians of the directions, Vaiśravaṇa guards the northern quarter. Also known as Kubera.
Varuṇa
- chu lha
- ཆུ་ལྷ།
- Varuṇa
One of the eight guardians of the directions, Varuṇa guards the northeast quarter.
Vāsuki
- nor rgyas
- ནོར་རྒྱས།
- Vāsuki
Name of a nāga king.
Vatsavatī
- be’u ’dra
- བེའུ་འདྲ།
- Vatsavatī
A goddess.
Vāyu
- rlung gi lha
- རླུང་གི་ལྷ།
- Vāyu
One of the eight guardians of the directions, Vāyu guards the northwest quarter.
Vibhīṣaṇa
- rnam ’jigs
- རྣམ་འཇིགས།
- Vibhīṣaṇa
Name of a nāga king; name of a yakṣa; name of Rāvaṇa’s brother in the Rāmāyaṇa.
Vidyāmantra
- rig pa
- རིག་པ།
- vidyāmantra
A type of incantation or spell used to accomplish a ritual goal. This can be associated with either ordinary attainments or those whose goal is awakening.
Virūḍhaka
- ’phags skyes
- འཕགས་སྐྱེས།
- Virūḍhaka
One of the great kings of the four cardinal directions, Virūḍhaka guards the southern quarter of the heavens.
Virūpākṣa
- mig mi bzang
- མིག་མི་བཟང་།
- Virūpākṣa
One of the great kings of the four carinal directions, Virūpākṣa guards the western quarter of the heavens.
Viṣṇu
- khyab ’jug
- ཁྱབ་འཇུག
- Viṣṇu
In the schema of the eight guardians of the directions, Viṣṇu guards the nadir.
Vowels and consonants
- yi ge gnyis
- ཡི་གེ་གཉིས།
- svaravyañjana
A dvandva compound signifying (in this text) linguistic expression in general and the basic components of the Sanskrit alphabet in particular.
Yama
- gshin rje
- གཤིན་རྗེ།
- Yama
One of the eight guardians of the directions, Yama guards the southern quarter.
Yamunā
- ya mu na
- ཡ་མུ་ན།
- Yamunā
A river goddess.