Buddha-Spoken Vajra Gandha Bodhisattva Great Bright Accomplishment Rite Sutra (佛說金剛香菩薩大明成就儀軌經)

The Sutra of the Rituals for the Great Accomplishment of the Bodhisattva Vajra-Gandha, Volume One

Translated by Dharma Master Shihu, Tripitaka Dharma Master of the Western Regions, Court Gentleman for Ceremonial Service, Provisional Minister of the

At that time, the World-Honored One was in the Tuṣita Heaven, gathered together with countless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of Bodhisattvas. There were also countless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of gods, such as Śatagiri, Himavatana, Nikṣipavara, Mahākāla, Maheśvara, Vairocana, Nārāyaṇa, and others. Moreover, there were countless gods, nāgas, asuras, garuḍas, gandharvas, kinnaras, mahoragas, yakṣas, rākṣasas, and all the stars and constellations. Such a multitude all came together and assembled in the Buddha's assembly.

At that time, the Bodhisattva Vajrapani addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, now there are all kinds of rakshasas roaming the world, causing great terror. I beseech you, World-Honored One, out of compassion for the world, to dispel this fear by teaching the Great Mantra of the Bodhisattva Vajra-Gandha. May all rakshasas, along with the eight classes of gods, dragons, and spirits, and even all harmful celestial bodies and influences, upon encountering this great mantra, become confused, terrified, and scatter in fear, unable to harm any living beings. World-Honored One, not only will such beings be frightened upon seeing it, but even Indra will lose his power. All demonic obstacles that manifest in wrathful and evil forms will be destroyed, unable to inflict harm upon sentient beings."

At that time, the Bodhisattva Vajrapāni once more addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, now is precisely the time. Why? All the demonic hosts are present in this assembly. I earnestly beseech the World-Honored One to proclaim the great mantra of the Vajra-Gandha Bodhisattva."

Then the World-Honored One entered a samādhi called 'Universally Blazing Great Fierce Light.' Having entered this samādhi, he emitted from his eyes a great radiance of various colors. This light universally illuminated all worlds, and after shining forth, it swirled back and remained before the Buddha like a great mass of fire.

From within that light, he manifested a form of great fierceness, blazing with flames, standing before the Buddha, displaying a terrifying appearance that struck fear into all who beheld it. All the devas, nāgas, yakṣas, rākṣasas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, and all other bhūtas—their powers were entirely destroyed.

Furthermore, the Bodhisattva Vajrapāni addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, as I have requested, I pray that you will proclaim it, so that practitioners who recite it in the future may accomplish all their deeds, subdue all bhūtas, and obtain whatever they seek—even hidden treasures beneath the earth. World-Honored One, by the majestic power of this great mantra, all human and non-human beings can be subdued and summoned, made to fall asleep or to dance and sing, and compelled to serve according to one's will. Even if their bodies are broken to be consumed as food, they dare not disobey. World-Honored One, the power of this great mantra can even cause mountains, rocks, and other insentient things to tremble and show signs of being summoned—how much more so all the devas, nāgas, and the eight classes of beings, human and non-human! If any such beings defy it, their heads will be shattered."

At that moment, the wrathful manifestation appeared in an instant, radiating brilliance like the sun illuminating everything. Standing before Vajrapani, it proclaimed the great mantra of the Vajra Incense:

Homage to the wrathful Vajra-bearing Great Yaksha Lord! Homage to the Blessed Lady, the noble Vajra Gandhari! Her glorious radiance shines with a thousand suns, Her fierce splendor terrifies all who behold her. She is the destroyer of demons, the subduer of foes, The mother of all protective deities— Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the guardians of the ten directions— She commands them all, from the heavens to the underworlds.

Om! She who crushes all obstacles, who annihilates all evil, Who summons and binds all spirits with her mighty power. Her body blazes like fire, her gaze pierces like lightning, And her voice thunders like a thousand storm clouds.

I call upon the Victorious One, the great Vajra Gandhari, Who wields the diamond scepter with unwavering might. She is the fulfillment of all aspirations, the remover of all fears, And the protector of those who seek refuge with pure hearts.

Om Hrih Hih! Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah! Huh! Hrih Hum! Phat! Ram Ram Ram Ram! Svaha!

So ends the Great Vajra Gandhari Dharani, The mighty spell that conquers all darkness.

Then, manifesting a wrathful form, the Vajra Fragrance Bodhisattva proclaimed this great mantra and further taught the methods for accomplishing all practices through the Vajra Fragrance Bodhisattva's great mantra. "If one consecrates benzoin incense with this mantra and burns it, it can awaken all beings and dispel all afflictions caused by devas, nagas, yakshas, and even spirits and demons."

Furthermore, the practitioner should recite this mantra before the image of Mahādeva, while visualizing the deity in a wrathful form. Bathe the deity's image with the five pure waters, anoint the body of the image with sandalwood paste as fragrant unguent, and make offerings with various incenses and flowers. Then, with both hands placed upon the image, recite the great mantra. From the first watch of the night until dawn, let the recitation be continuous, without interruption. Mahādeva will certainly manifest in a transformed body, appearing in the form of a non-Buddhist ascetic, and come to stand silently before the reciter. Upon seeing this, the reciter should bow in reverence and say, "Holy one, you are welcome." The transformed image will reply, "Welcome, welcome." The reciter should then state their wishes and request them, and the deity will grant all that is sought. After granting the practitioner's wishes, the deity's image will vanish and disappear. Once the practitioner attains siddhi, all subsequent actions will be accomplished as desired. Whether performing rites for pacification, increase, attraction, subjugation, or summoning, success is assured.

For pacification rites, use cow dung that has not touched the ground to draw a square mandala. Once completed, take a silver bowl, first grind sandalwood into a fragrant paste, and smear it thoroughly inside and outside the bowl. Then fill it with pure water and place it within the mandala. Recite the great mantra 108 times to empower the bowl. The bowl will then awaken—it may rise from the altar, move, or tremble. Knowing that the method has succeeded, pour this water over a person's head or have them drink it, and all calamities will be pacified. If this water is sprinkled over cities, towns, or villages, the people within will be freed from disasters, and all sentient beings will gain benefit.

Furthermore, if you wish to perform a pacifying ritual for a king and his great army, you should use curd, white sesame seeds, white rice, and cow's milk, mixing them together for the homa offering. Recite the great mantra once, call the king's name once, and perform the homa offering once—repeat this a thousand times. Then all calamities and disasters for the king and his army will be pacified.

Another method: Paint or visualize the golden fragrance bodhisattva, whose body is white, appearing as if raining down sweet nectar upon all beings. Before this image, recite the great mantra three times daily, and also visualize the image itself. Once this vision appears before you, then silently repeat the syllable "Hum." All disasters will cease without exception. If an enemy comes to threaten or oppress you, make an offering of milk into the fire while reciting the great mantra a thousand times—the enemy will retreat on their own, and the calamity will subside. Alternatively, use benzoin resin, white sesame seeds, and butter together as an offering to the flames; this will quell all misfortunes.

Another practice for increasing wealth and merit: one should paint an image of the Great Rakshasi. She is depicted with a yellow body and sixteen arms, each hand holding various objects, adorned with all kinds of exquisite ornaments. Once the image is completed, make offerings with various fragrant flowers. Recite the great mantra without pause before this image until the Rakshasi herself appears. She can then summon all yakshas, rakshasas, and their retinues, fulfilling all the practitioner's wishes for wealth and grain. She can also reveal hidden treasures from the earth for use as one pleases.

Next, to depict the image of a Yaksha, the body should be painted white. Then, using white sandalwood paste, apply it as anointed fragrance on the statue's body, and offer white flowers. Before this image, recite the great mantra aloud while holding a white flower, and with each recitation, toss the flower to strike the statue's body. Do this three times a day for seven days, completing the mantra recitation eight thousand times in total. The Yaksha will then appear, becoming the reciter's servant, obeying all commands without defiance. Sometimes it will bring various treasures on its own, or reveal hidden treasures from the earth, enabling the reciter to attain great wealth and prosperity.

Further, to perform the rite of arousing affection, one should paint an image of Vajra Gandha Bodhisattva. His body is red in color, with twelve arms, each holding various implements, adorned with exquisite celestial garments. Once the image is completed, the practitioner performs visualization before it, envisioning the painted figure emitting a great red light that instantly illuminates the three realms. All celestial beings, demons, and all beings—human and non-human—are thereby moved to affectionate regard. Having accomplished this visualization, one may then proceed with the practice.

To seek affection from a specific person, the practitioner should first recite the great mantra a full thousand times. Then, using red sandalwood, fashion a figure of that person and place it before the image of Vajra Gandha Bodhisattva. Taking karavira flowers, the practitioner recites the mantra once, calls the person's name once, and casts a flower at the figure. Repeating this seven times, it is certain that affectionate regard will be obtained.

Another method: use auspicious wood to carve figures of a man and a woman, or figures of a boy and a girl. Call out their names and throw white mustard seeds at the figures. Continue for seven days and nights, and you will surely gain their affection and respect.

Another practice: mix white mustard seeds with white sandalwood, recite the Great Mantra eight hundred thousand times, then have all people wear it on their heads—this will bring the love and respect of everyone.

Another method: If you wish to drive your enemy insane with confusion, take a human bone and carve it into a ritual dagger eight fingers long. Burn it with benzoin resin and beef as incense, then bury it at the enemy's doorstep. Within three days, that person will lose their mind, leave home, and wander in madness. Alternatively, mix beef, dog meat, and cow urine into mud to form a figure of your enemy, and bury it in a charnel ground. Then that person, along with all their relatives, will be driven away to a distance of a thousand yojanas.

Another method: If one wishes to make an enemy leave their homeland, take a human bone and carve it into a vajra peg. Dye a thread with human blood and wind it around the peg. Strike it into the head of Maheshvara (Shiva). The practitioner should tread on Maheshvara with the left foot, performing this on the fourteenth or eighth day of the lunar cycle. Recite the great mantra without pause until the deity cries out in great agony. The enemy will then lose their mind, go mad with confusion, and together with their entire household, flee into the wilderness like a herd of beasts.

Another method for those who wish to utterly defeat their enemies: one should depict the Bodhisattva Vajra Fragrance (Jingang Xiang). His body is black, with a hundred arms, and he assumes a fierce, wrathful appearance. In his hands he holds banners, canopies, vajras, vajra mallets, lassos, tridents, swords, bows and arrows, battle-axes, axes, great axes, bone weapons, vajra hooks, dried corpses, human heads, skulls, and various other implements of war. He is adorned with a hundred thousand exquisite ornaments, and his body radiates a great light that outshines the sun and moon. He bears the aspect of one who defeats all enemies. All yakshas, rakshasas, and all great evil spirits are utterly crushed, terrified, and scattered by him.

If one wishes to break and destroy an enemy utterly, even to the point of death, the practitioner should first recite the great mantra eight thousand times. Then, using human bone, fashion a vajra peg (kīla) about two finger-widths long. With a wrathful mind, recite the great mantra eight thousand times over the peg without pause, day and night, to empower it. Next, mold a figure of the enemy from beef mixed with clay, about eight finger-widths tall. Use the peg to pierce the figure's crown, mouth, side, ear, navel, genitals, knees, or feet. Within seven days, the enemy's body is certain to be destroyed, just as the branch of an arali tree withers. With this method, even the greatest evils can be destroyed.

Another method for those who wish to utterly destroy their enemies: take cow urine, salt, and vinegar, and boil them together into a paste. Mix this with pure cow dung or auspicious grass, and fashion an effigy of the enemy. Then coat the effigy entirely with white mustard seeds and roast it over fire. This will cause the enemy to fall ill and certainly lead to their death.

"Another method: take khadira wood and make a peg eight fingers long. Recite the mantra over it eight hundred times, then speak the enemy's name and drive the peg into an effigy of him. In an instant, he will be bound and restrained on his own. Alternatively, make an effigy of the enemy from cremation ashes and use a human bone as a vajra peg to pierce its body. That person will then suffer a fever, and it may even lead to death."

Another method: take a piece of iron shaped like a stake, two finger-widths in length. Recite the mantra over it a hundred times, then bury it outside the gate of your enemy’s home. Within three days, that enemy will surely leave their household.

Alternatively, bury that same stake inside a temple of Maheśvara (the Great Lord). While burying it, speak the enemy’s name, and that person will be afflicted by the deity’s influence.

Or, speak the name while burying the stake in an empty house, and the enemy will be possessed by a spirit of desolation.

Another method: take the saliva from the mouth of a black snake and smear it inside an earthen vessel. Have the enemy eat from it, and they will die before long.

Another method: fashion a small bone stake from iron, about six finger-widths long. First, call out the name of your enemy, then recite the Great Mantra seven times to empower benzoin incense. Burn this incense to fumigate the bone stake, and bury it in your enemy's home. That person will then suffer great affliction. If you remove the bone stake, their suffering will be relieved.

Another method: take a wedge of Nimba wood, twelve finger-widths long, and strike the head, arms, and sides while calling the person's name. Also, use cow hair as incense, burn it while calling the name—this will free the one possessed by a mother ghost.

Another method: carve an effigy of your enemy from Arjaka wood, and write their name inside its belly. Use a human bone as a nail, and drive it into the head, arms, and sides—three places. The person will then suffer torment. If the nail is removed, they return to their normal state.

Another method: use cow dung to fashion an effigy of your enemy. Coat the entire figure with white mustard seeds while reciting the great mantra until the figure dries completely. Then bury it in a charnel ground, and above the burial spot, recite the great mantra eight hundred times to empower white mustard seeds, scattering them over the site. Whatever the practitioner seeks will be fulfilled.

Another method, same as before, is to make an image. Take the flesh of a human, an ox, and a dog, along with white mustard seeds, and smear it on the image. Place it in the home of your enemy, and they will be confused and never enter the house again.

If a practitioner wishes to summon a female spirit, they should go to a charnel ground. There, they mix poison, salt, and blood together, and recite the great mantra while making offerings into the fire. This should be done three times daily for seven days. When night falls, a female spirit will appear within the fire pit—beautiful in form, radiant with light, and standing before the practitioner.

The practitioner should then prepare white food offerings and sacred water. The spirit will say, "I am very hungry." The practitioner should reply, "I have already prepared offerings for you." Then, presenting the food and sacred water, they say, "By the Buddha's decree, partake as you wish." After receiving the offerings, the spirit tells the practitioner, "Whatever you seek, I will make it all come to pass." Having spoken, she vanishes without a trace.

Next, I will explain the method for subduing enemies. Take orpiment and fashion it into the likeness of your enemy. Cover the figure completely with ash from a corpse, and also apply this ash to a vajra sceptre. The practitioner then places his left foot upon the vajra and his right foot upon the figure, reciting the great mantra. In a short while, the enemy and their companions will lose their sanity, become frenzied, and abandon their dwelling place.

Now I will explain the method for repelling enemies. First, the practitioner should recite the great mantra one hundred times. Then, visualize the fundamental subtle syllable transforming into a camel. Next, see the syllable riding upon that camel, and imagine a person striking the enemy with a bone staff. Then, visualize yourself within the realm of wind, seated facing south, reciting the syllable "Pu" to send them away. Keep the recitation continuous until the enemy fades from sight and disappears. This visualization can also be used to dismiss even Vajrasattva himself—how much more so an enemy! If you mix white mustard seeds with benzoin resin and recite the mantra over them one hundred times to perform a fire offering, all enemies will quickly depart from their place.

Now, I will teach the attainment method. First, the practitioner should draw the image of the Vajra Fragrance Bodhisattva on cloth or on a skull. The figure is red in color. At its feet, an image of the enemy is drawn, with the Bodhisattva stepping on it. The practitioner then assumes an wrathful expression and continuously recites the great mantra. Using thorny wood, white mustard seeds, and salt as offerings in the fire ritual, the enemy will quickly lose their mind and fall into madness.

Another method: On blue silk, mix human blood with blue pigment and paint the likeness of an enemy. The practitioner, for seven or eight days, at midnight, offers raw food as a sacrifice. When a being comes to receive this offering, it will ask the practitioner: "What would you have me do?" The practitioner then names the enemy, and with a wrathful expression, speaks the enemy's name while reciting the great mantra and performing the fire ritual. After seven days, that enemy will be destroyed and meet their end.

Another ritual: take Nimba wood and carve it into an effigy of your enemy, then cut it into pieces. Use separate Nimba wood as firewood, and offer the effigy itself into the fire as a burnt offering. Recite the Great Mantra once for each piece you burn — in this way, the enemy's body will be destroyed.

Furthermore, in a charnel ground, one should gather flower garlands, burn benzoin incense, and recite the Great Mantra eight hundred times to empower those garlands. Then scatter them around the enemy's dwelling. That enemy, along with their household, will all fall ill with a three-day fever. Alternatively, bury the garlands at the enemy's doorstep, and that enemy will swiftly meet their end.

Alternatively, one may burn benzoin to fumigate beef, then use this meat as an offering in a fire ritual. Recite the great mantra once, call the enemy's name once, and cast it into the fire—repeat this for three nights, and the enemy will suffer from a four-day fever. To lift the curse, perform a fire offering with milk, and they will recover as before.

Another method: apply ashes from a cremation ground to draw the mandala. Then, using the same ashes, fashion an effigy of your enemy and place it in the center of the mandala. Using red flowers, strike the effigy—one strike for each recitation of the mantra. Continue for three days, then throw the effigy into fire. Your enemy's body will be destroyed.

The Sutra of the Buddha's Teaching on the Great Achievement Ritual of Vajra Fragrance Bodhisattva, Volume One