The Mahashri Sutra
April 15, 2009
The Mahashri Sutra
In the Indian Language (Sanskrit): Mahâshri Sûtra
In the Tibetan Language: Pal-chhen-mo’i Do
In the English Language: The Mahashri Sutra
HOMAGE TO ALL THE BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS!
Thus have I heard: at one time, the Transcendent and Accomplished Conqueror, the Blessed One, was abiding in Sukhavati. At that time, the bodhisattva mahasattva, the powerful lord Arya Avalokiteshvara turned towards the Blessed One, went to the place where the Blessed One was, prostrated at the noble feet of the Blessed One, touched his head to the ground, and, circumambulating the Blessed One three times, sat down to one side.
Then, beholding Mahashri, the Blessed One spoke these words to the powerful lord Arya Avalokiteshvara:
“If any fully-ordained monk, fully-ordained nun, novice monk, novice nun, or anyone else should come to know, to keep, to read, to write down, or to have others write down the Twelve Names of Mahashri, then, their poverty will be eliminated, and they will become wealthy. Moreover, all the assemblies of unified mandalas will also pray likewise for them in a similar fashion, all of them saying, ‘May it come to be!’.”
Then, the Blessed One bestowed the Twelve Names of Mahashri:
(In Tibetan)
PALDENMA
PALTRIMA
PAYMAY TRENGCHEN
NOR GYI DAKMO
KARMO
DRAKPACHHENMO
PAYMAYCHEN
JEYPAMO
ÖDCHHENMO
ZAYJINMA
RINPOCHHE RABJINMO
PALCHHENMO
(In English)
She Who is Endowed with Splendor
She Who is Enveloped in Splendor
Possessor of a Rosary of Lotuses
Lady-Lord of Riches
She Who is White
She Who is Greatly Renowned
Lotus Eye
She Who Makes Things Happen
She of Great Light
She Who Gives Food
She Who Wholeheartedly Gives Precious Gems
She Who is Greatly Resplendent
(The mantra)
SYADYATHEDANA JINIGRINI SARVA ARTHASADHANI
SHASHINA ALAGA SHIMANA
NASHAYA SIDDHANATU MANTRA PADEY SVAHA/
OM BIGUNI BARAMASUBHAGE SVAHA
If anyone should recite this three times, they will be victorious over all disharmonious circumstances. They will be endowed with excellent fortune. They will be endowed with not knowing the exhaustion of wealth.
Furthermore, everyone will give rise to an attitude which regards them as their own child, will be delighted by them, and will act in accordance with their commands.
If one should constantly read this unceasingly, then even if Brahma commits wrathful actions, one will be unharmed, and will come to serve under many buddhas!”
The Blessed One spoke these words, and the bodhisattva mahasattva, the powerful lord Arya Avalokiteshvara rejoiced; he vividly praised what had been spoken by the Bhagavan, the Transcendent and Accomplished Conqueror.
THE MAHASHRI SUTRA IS COMPLETE.
Translated by Eric Tsiknopoulos (Sherab Zangpo)
June 26, 2009 at 6:01 am
[...] Untuk versi mantra tibetan bisa dibaca di The Mahashri Sutra Echoes Bouncing Off Echoes [...]
October 6, 2009 at 10:25 pm
thanks for translating this important sutra.
i find that the mantra is probably corrupted by tibetan pronunciation so i tried putting it back into sanskrit SAYADAYATHEDANA DZINI GRINI SARVA-ARTHA SADHANI SHASHINA ALAKSHMI NASHAYA SIDDYANTU MANTRA PADE SVAHA, OM BHRIKUTI VARA ME SOUBHAGE SVAHA
I went to the Chapter on SRI from the Golden Light Sutra and extracted the SAYADAYATHEDANA. Dzini, grini, Shashina i am not sure at all. A-LAKSHMI = the opposite of lakshmi (wealth and prosperity), or also said to be the elder sister of lakshmi. So in this case, it seems to mean destroy poverty. Siddyantu mantra padaya svaha = taken from the ending of many dharanis in the chinese canon, which means “Grant siddhis with this mantra, hail!” with regards to the last line of mantra, i rendered it this way after seeing the same sutra as given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on his website. Goddess Bhrkuti is a form of TARA dispelling poverty. Soubhage = good fortune, PARA = seems to be VARA so the mantra can possibly be Om Bhrikuti vara me saubhage svaha, Om Goddess, grant me good fortune Hail!
look forward to a reply. thanks
the 108 names of the sri devi backtranslated from chinese canon to sanskrit done by a scholar from malaysia show:
Om vilokaya taraya mocaya sarva dukkhebhyah, sarva punya sambhara nama mukke kuru svaha. Om gir-ga sarva tirtha mukkhe svaha. Om savitri svaha. Sarva mangala dharini svaha. Catvena sarva nakshatra graha ganadhi murtitaye svaha. Brahmaya svaha. Visnuve svaha. Rudraya svaha. Visva mukhaya svaha. Om shrini shrini sarva karya sam-sadhani, sini sini, ni ni ni ni, a-lakshmi nashaya, a-vaha devi shri-vaishravanaya svaha. Suvarna dhana dhanya akarsani svaha. Sarva punya a-karsani svaha. Shri devata akarsani svaha. Sarva papa nashani svaha. Sarva alakshmi prashamani svaha. Sarva tathagata abhi-siktaye svaha. Sarva devata abhisiktaye svaha. Sarva devata pramukha shriye svaha. Ayur-varna-bala karaye svaha. Sarva pavitra mangala hastaye svaha. Simhavahiniye svaha. Padma sambhutaye svaha. Sarva kritya kakhorda vinashinye svaha.
November 10, 2009 at 3:52 am
Great work! I think the dzini should be jini in Sanskrit (there is no dz in Sanskrit, but Tibetans, who don’t have a j turn it into dz, however, there is no jini in the dictionary either). Would it be possible to put the names into Sanskrit? Some uneducated guesses:
1 Shri….5. Sita…6. Maha Kirti…7. Padma Aksha…9. Maha Prabha…12. Maha Shri
November 10, 2009 at 4:06 am
Great work! I think the dzini should be jini in Sanskrit (there is no dz in skt., but Tibetans, who don’t have a j turn it into dz, however, there is no jini in the skt. dictionary either). Would it be possible to put the 12 names into Sanskrit? Some uneducated guesses:
1 Shri 5. Sita 6. Maha Kirti 7. Padma Aksha 9. Maha Prabha 12. Maha Shri
While ‘resplendent’ is a much better term for shri than the usual ‘glorious’, its highest meaning is ‘having transcended the three worlds’, which is the ultimate glory or resplendence.
November 12, 2009 at 8:35 am
Yes, I’ve been meaning to change the mantra to a better rendering of Sanskrit, such as changing the “dz”s to “j”s.
Your suggestion of finding the Sanskrit names is excellent, and any help in this regard would be appreciated by anyone who has the knowledge. I could come up with some things myself as well, but it would be good to have a Sanskrit expert look it over.
As for “resplendent”, I don’t see the point you are trying to make. “Resplendent” is not a Tibetan word, so it doesn’t have the correlations you imply. I think you giving the highest meaning of shri/dpal in the Buddhist context, but I don’t see how this applies to dpal’s use in this context.
November 10, 2009 at 5:02 am
Questions :
(1) is any form of transmission absolutely necessary for this practice ?
(2) must the 12 Names of Mahashri be recited in Tibetan AND in English ? If not, in which language must they be recited ?
(3) Must the entire sutra be recited 3 times, or just the mantra ?
(4) Must this practice be performed for a certain period, or indefinitely ?
Thank you
November 12, 2009 at 8:30 am
1) No.
2) Either one or both. If you had to pick one I would recommend Tibetan since it’s basically a mantra, although not technically, it serves the same function. But that’s just me.
3) The mantra and the 12 Names is what the Buddha is referring to when he says “three times”. Perhaps I should clarify this in the translation, although it just says “this” in the Tibetan. Of course reciting the whole sutra three times would be even better.
4) If you have faith in the practice and think that it’s benefitting you, then on a daily or regular basis would be good. It doesn’t recommend a daily recitation in the text, but you can do it either for a certain period or forever.
November 11, 2009 at 7:00 pm
As for the first syllables of the mantra, the best I can come up with is
syad tathe dana. Syad is a variation of syat, ‘it may be, perhaps’, tathe may be a grammatical variant (or typo) of tatha ‘thus’ and dana ‘giving, generosity’. Syat is an ellipsis of tatha and thus often omitted, from what I can gather.
Sarva artha sadhani usually translated as ‘grant me all the aims’ (traditionally four: dharma – righteousness, arhta – wealth, kama – desire, moksha – liberation).
November 12, 2009 at 8:30 am
Thanks again for the Sanskrit info!
November 12, 2009 at 3:08 am
ji – victorious
ni – leader
gri – hold, grasp
ni – leader
shashin ‘containing a hare’ = the moon
November 12, 2009 at 8:25 am
Thank you for the Sanskrit help.
November 12, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Re: dpal/shri
My kind Tsawi Lama, whenever discussing this term, always emphasized its two-fold meaning. Yes, this being appears glorious/resplendent in a worldly sense, but one should always recollect its true glory: having transcended samsara. Especially in a case like this, of a wealth deity, to whom beings petition for worldly success, her ‘true wealth’ should not be forgotten, which I think is emphasized by the placing of Shri and Maha Shri at the beginning and end of her 12 names.
November 12, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Sorry to take up so much space, but I thought some interpretations on the words of the mantra might be helpful.
ji ni gri ni – (she who is) the victorious leader/guide, the leader/guide (who) holds (wealth)
shashin – moon. Associated with female deities, compassion, skillful means. The full moon is always used as a symbol of plenitude, abundance, fertility.
From a hymn praise to Tara by Suryagupta:
“Full Moon! Pleasant since bearing the hare of virtues!
With full-moon face ‘misdst constellations of servitors,
Free of bad planets, you clear obscurations’ poor vision,
Your rays of morality cool for those scorched by defilements.
(from Willson, M., In Praise of Tara)
So one could possibly render ’sarva artha sadhani shashin’ as ‘ grant me all the aims, (oh) Moon.
I am not a Sanskrit scholar, so make no claims to the veracity of the above, but it may be a useful starting point for further work.