Mahayana dhāraṇī sutras

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Uṣṇīṣa Vijaya Dhāraṇī, written in Old Turkic using Uighur script, 13th-14th century.

Mahayana dhāraṇī sutras are a loose collection Mahayana sutras that focus specifically on dhāraṇī practice and associated rites. The dhāraṇīs in these texts are mostly written in some form of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.

Richard McBride states:

Dhāraṇī comprise a large portion of the Buddhist canon of scripture and [many] important Mahayana sutras conclude with or include sections on dhāraṇī, for example the Heart Sutra and the Lotus Sutra (Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra). Various types of dhāraṇī are mentioned in Buddhist literature, for example, mantra-dhāraṇī, by which a bodhisattva acquires charms to allay plagues, and mnemonic dhāraṇī, by which a bodhisattva’s memory and perception are enhanced to remember sutras or salient points of doctrine.[1]

While many classic Mahayana sutras (like the Lotus Sutra and Golden Light Sutra) contain dhāraṇī, the Dhāraṇī sutras are focused specifically on dhāraṇī practice and associated rites.

In general, dhāraṇīs are not limited to Mahayana sutras. For example, the Atanatiya Sutra of the Pali canon teaches a dhāraṇī.[2] Several early Buddhist schools had also maintained a collection of scriptures focused on dhāraṇī and magical practices, sometimes called "Dhāraṇī Piṭaka" or "Vidyādhara Piṭaka (Wizardry Collection)" which included various types of rituals and spells (vidyā).[3] For example, the Dharmaguptaka school's Tripiṭaka is said to have contained a Dhāraṇī Piṭaka.[4]

According to Catherine Dalton (2023), early collections of dhāraṇīs and associated ritual texts circulated throughout South Asia and Tibet‍—including at Dunhuang‍—as extracanonical dhāraṇī collections.[5]

Independent collections of dhāraṇīs are known as Dhāraṇī Saṃgraha ("Compendium of dhāraṇīs"). A Sanskrit text by this name includes over 500 dhāraṇīs. The Chinese canon also includes a collection titled Collected Dhāraṇī Sūtras (Tuoluoni jijing 陀羅尼集經), Taisho Tripitaka no. 901, translated by Atikūṭa in 654.[6] The Tibetan canons also include collections of dhāraṇīs. (For details of these collections, see Dhāraṇī Saṃgraha.)

Dhāraṇī literature became popular in East Asia in the first millennium CE,[7] with Chinese records suggesting their profusion by the early centuries of the common era. These migrated from China to Korea and Japan. The demand for printed dhāraṇī led to innovations in block printing.[8]

Today, the recitation of dhāraṇī remains a major part of Mahayana Buddhist practice, and they are also used as amulets and protective charms.

Notable dhāraṇī sutras

Notable dhāraṇī sutras include:

Notes

  1. ↑ McBride 2004, s.v. Dhāraṇī.
  2. ↑ Skilling, Mahasutras, Volume II, Parts I & II, 1997, Pali Text Society, Lancaster
  3. ↑ Gray, David B. (2023). The Buddhist Tantras: A Guide, pp. 21-24. New York: Oxford Academic.
  4. ↑ Baruah, Bibhuti. Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism. 2008. p. 52
  5. ↑ Catherine Dalton (2023), Untitled Dhāraṇī of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, 84000 Collection
  6. ↑ 陀羅尼集經, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (to sign in, see DDB sign-in)
  7. ↑ K. R. van Kooij (1978). Religion in Nepal. BRILL Academic. pp. 25–27. 
  8. ↑ Peter Francis Kornicki (2018). Languages, Scripts, and Chinese Texts in East Asia. Oxford University Press. pp. 112–117. 
  9. ↑ Shinohara, Koichi (2014). Spells, Images, and Mandalas: Tracing the Evolution of Esoteric Buddhist Rituals, p. 126. Columbia University Press.

Sources

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