The Dharani of the Buddha’s Essence

The Dharani of the Buddha’s Essence (Skt. Buddhahṛdayadhāraṇī; Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོའི་གཟུངས།, Wyl. sangs rgyas kyi snying po’i gzungs) is structured as a dialogue between Shakyamuni Buddha and a retinue of gods from the Shuddhavasa realm. The dialogue revolves around the Buddha’s parinirvana and the role that the gods of Shuddhavasa can play in continuing to guide beings in his absence until the next tathagata appears in the world. The Dharani of the Buddha’s Essence is then introduced as the specific instruction that the gods of Shuddhavasa should preserve and propagate after Shkyamuni has departed. The Buddha then provides a list of benefits that members of the sangha can accrue by reciting this dharani.

Text

The Tibetan translation of this text can be found in the Compendium of Dharanis Section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 855. It is also catalogued as Toh 515 in the Action Tantra section of the Tantra Collection,

• English translation: The Dharani of the Buddha’s Essence