Vijayacandrasya

A new find in West Bengal.

Gade and the Mickey Buddha

So if it worked one way, why not the other way around? Meet Gade...

Sakya resource center

The good people in Hamburg put up another very interesting and promising site: The Sakya Resource Center.

Māraṇa on live TV

Sanal Edamaruku, president of the Rationalist International, challenged a Tantric magician to kill him on live TV by supernatural means. This went on for some time...



And then some more (notice the invocation of Bagalāmukhī to up the game a notch):



Then the homa pit comes out. The uttarasādhakas seem a bit confused for they recite mantras to paralize the man's speech, tongue, and mind (oṃ hrīṃ hrīṃ klīṃ bagalāmukhe sarvaduṣṭānāṃ vācaṃ mukhaṃ pādaṃ stambhaya jihvāṃ kīlaya 2 buddhiṃ vināśaya 2 hlīṃ oṃ phaṭ svāhā):



This may come as a surprise to some, but Surendra Sharma failed miserably. The explanation, in my humble opinion, is tantalizingly simple: Sanal Edamaruku was obviously protected by even more powerful mantras! Besides, every fool knows that a māraṇahoma is to be done in a triangular kuṇḍa...

In praise of Yamāri and Cāmuṇḍī (addendum)

In a previous note I said that the author of the acrostic about Yamāri might be the first Dalai Lama. I have now had the opportunity to consult his collected works. The work can be found on pp. 304-306 in vol. 6. (and the verses on Cāmuṇḍā follow thereafter). The blockprint version also has verses for Ka, Kha, Ga, and Nga, hence this is an omission in the Mongolian manuscript. Thus:

hūṃ

kā la rū pa rab brjid drag po'i sku |
kha nas khrag 'dzag mi mgo'i 'phreng ba yi |
ga sha rab 'phyang mi bzang bdud dpung gi |
nga rgyal dregs pa 'joms pa khyod la bstod ||

It is a bit surprising that the Mongolian scribe left this out but there you are. Never trust a scribe. Especially when he left out the first verse of the second hymn as well. Thus:

bhyauḥ (bhyo)

ma skyes mi 'gag chos dbyings klong yangs nas |
ma hā kā li srin mo khros pa'i sku |
ma rungs 'dul phyir rtse gsum thod khrag 'dzin |
ma mo chen mo Tsā mu ṇḍi la bstod ||

NB: the 'sample preview' allowed freely by the TBRC covers both works.

In praise of Cāmuṇḍī

And here is the second part of the manuscript with the praise of Cāmuṇḍī, where all quarter-verses begin with 'ma'.

ma he'i gdong can gshin rje' dga' ma khyod ||
ma rungs dgra la kha gdangs mche ba gtsigs ||
ma lus btud (bdud) kyi srog gcod bshan ba mo ||
ma yengs bstan pa'i bsrung ma'i khyod la bstod ||

ma gcig 'dod pa'i khams la dpang bgyur ma (dbang 'gyur ma) ||
ma mo mkha' 'gro sde brgyad 'khor dang bcas ||
ma mo'i dal yams la sogs chos bphrul ('phrul) gyis ||
ma tul ('dul) gtul (gdul) dka' 'joms ba khyod la bstod ||

ma bcos (3r) rang bzhin dag pa'i chos kyi dbyings ||
ma rtogs bdud kyi chos 'phrul ci byung yang ||
ma chen khyod kyi ming nas bos pa'i tshe ||
ma g.yel myur du byon lam mthu rtsal skyang ||

ma rungs rnams la rab tu khros gyur kyang ||
ma ltar rtse bas bstan 'dzin skyong ba khyod ||
ma sring chung ma bran ma'i tshul bzung nas ||
ma bskul bar yang mthun ba'i las kun bsgrubs ||

ma nor lam mchog ston pa'i bla ma dang ||
ma rig mun sel rgyal pa'i bstan ba la ||
ma dang log bar bgrub pa'i gong dang bgegs ||
ma bsgrub ba rnams chos gyi dbyings su sgrol ||

(3v) ma lus 'gro ba'i don du rnal 'byor ngas ||
manydzu gho ṣa'i go 'phang dam pa de ||
ma thob de srid nag mo chen mo khyod ||
ma g.yel ma g.yel 'phrin las tshul bzhin sgrubs ||

ma mo chen mo bstod cing bskul bas bdag ||
ma rig 'khrul pas bskyed pa'i 'khor pa 'de ('di) ||
ma stongs bar du bstan pa 'dzin pa la ||
ma hā kā lis rtag tu grogs byed shog ||

ma mo chen mo tsa mu ṇti la bstod pa 'de ('di) ni || dge slong Rdo rje 'dzin pa Dge 'dun grub pa dpal bzang pos | dpal byang chub chen po'i dben nas (gnas) theg chen pho brang du spyar (sbyar) ba'o || bkra shis par gyur gchig (cig) | sarba mga laṃ (mangga laṃ) |||

In praise of Yamāri

While writing on the 'turtle manuscript' yesterday, I came across this old input of another manuscript from my humble collection. Maybe there is something in this turtle divination, since I thought I lost this file long ago. The ms. contains two praises, one for Yamāri and one for Cāmuṇḍī. The colophon attributes them to Dge 'dun grub, who is probably the first Dalai Lama. Since I am away from my TBRC access, I could not check this. The poem is in fact an acrostic which spells out the Tibetan alphabet from Ca to A (no idea why Ka-Nga is missing) plus two lines signing off with stating the purpose of writing the poem. If this is the first Dalai, then the inspiration probably came from his master, Tsong kha pa, who also wrote such poems, one of them a notoriously difficult piece where each line starts with A - lots of obscure words in the dialect of Amdo.

chos rgyal Gshin rje' rgya mtshos brgyan ba 'bul ma mo chen mo
Tsa mu ṇti la bstod ba zhes bya ba bzhugs so | | (1v)

ca cos che ldan rdo rje'i glu dbyangs dang ||
cha shas yongs su rdzogs pa'i gtor ma ni ||
ja chang phud dang dgra bgegs sgrab pa'i sha ||
nya sha khrag zhag rgya mtshos brgyan ba 'bul ||

Arias of the thunderbolt accompanied by clamor,
Bali-offerings spotless, with all their parts intact,
Choice tea and liquor, enemies' flesh in piles,
Donned in seas of fish, blood and fat - all this I offer.

ta thā ga ta'i bstan la gnod byed pa'i ||
tha chad dgra bgegs rtul du rlog pa dang ||
da nas bzung ste rnal 'byor bdag cag gi ||
na rga 'chi ba'i 'jigs pa 'joms la bstod ||

Enemies hurting the Tathāgata's teaching,
Foul rivals, impediments - brush them all away!
Grant us, praising yogins, from this day onwards
Health, youth, immortality, and escape from fear.

pa ba sangs ltar rab dkar mche pa gtsigs ||
pha rol 'joms pa'i spyan rtsa glog ltar 'khyug |
ba spu dus mtha'i me chen 'bar ba yis ||
ma lus bgegs dpung bsregs pa khyod la bstod || (2r)

[and so on, you get the idea]

tsa mu ṇti sogs ma mo kun gyi bdag ||
tsha zer rab tu rgyas pa'i gzi brjid can ||
dza zhes 'phrin las bsgrub la gos pa'i tshe ||
wa skyes lta bu'i bgegs 'joms khyod la bstod ||

zhwa ltar 'byung bo kun gyis spye (spyi) bos bsten ||
za byed ma he khros pa'i zhal bdangs shes ||
'a 'ur ngar ngar sgrog bas sa chen g.yo ||
ya las skyes pa'i thod dbyug 'dzin la bstod ||

rwa dang rmig pa rno ba'i ma he dang ||
la la rlu nag tshub ma zhon pa'i 'khor ||
sha ka li dang gshin rje' mas sogs ||
sa gsum 'byung po'i 'khor gyis bskor la bstod ||

ha ha drag tu bzhad ba'i dpal (2v) yon can ||
A rghaṃ la sogs mchod ba bzhes nas kyang ||
dpal ldan Gshin rje'i gshed kyi spyan snga ru ||
zhal bzhes dam bcas g.yel pa med par mdzod | |

Speaking of turtles

Turtles are the talk of town. Here is one more handbook from my collection which once helped the good people of Mongolia find their lost things with the help of the friendly local lama. Apparently Inner-Asians lost their things quite frequently and have been doing so at least since Tibetans came to Tunhuang. There are doubtless hundreds of such manuscripts in specialized libraries. And if you are a lama, it's good to know another lama with such a manuscript, since you never know when you might lose yours.