Overall Teaching

Sarasvatī will protect a monk who preaches this Sūtra and one who bathes with special mantras and medicaments will have their obstacles removed. Kauṇḍinya praises Sarasvatī and she gives him a mantra to honour her.

Summary       

1.     Then Sarasvatī saluted the Buddha and said:

a.     Sarasvatī will contribute eloquence to the monk who preaches the Dharma, give him a dhāraṇī, make his speech well-spoken, and remind him of letters from this Sūtra he may forget so that it may not disappear and beings may maintain knowledge from it and gain success from its wisdom.

b.     Sarasvatī will remove all astrological obstacles and explain the act of bathing with spells and medicaments:

                                               i.     The learned bathe with the thirty medical substances, which are enumerated (pp 45-6). They should be pounded when Puṣya[1] is the asterism and the powder should be consecrated with the mantra: sukṛte kṛta kamalijanakarate, haṃkarāte, indrajāli, śakaddrepaśaddre, abartaksike, na kutraku, kapila kapilamati, śīlamati, sandhi dhudhumamabati, śiri śiri, satyasthite, svāhā![2]

                                             ii.     Make a maṇḍala with cow dung and strew flowers and place honey in a gold vessel and a silver vessel. (The following are likely instructions for visualisation or illustration in the maṇḍala:) Four men clad in armour should placed with four beautifully adorned maidens bearing pots. Scattering incense of bdellium, playing five kinds of instruments, adorn the goddess with umbrellas, flags, and banners, then place mirrors, arrows, and spears. Make one’s boundary-line and when beginning use the mantra: arake, nayane, hile mile, gile, khikhile, svāhā![3]

                                            iii.     After bathing behind an image of the Buddha, assure peace for the bathing with the mantra: sagaṭe, bigaṭe, bigaṭābati, svāhā![4]

                                            iv.     After praying that the asterisms of the four directions protect one’s life, and may the oppressions caused by them be removed along with fears, one utters the mantra: śame, biśame, svāhā! Sagaṭe bigaṭe, svāhā! Sukhatinate, svāhā! Sāgarasaṃbhūtāya, svāhā! Skandhamātrāya, svāhā! Nilakaṇṭhāya, svāhā! Aparājitabīryāya, svāhā! Himabatasambhūtāya, svāhā! Animilabaktrāya, svāhā! Namo bhagabate brahmaṇe, namaḥ sarasvatyai debyai. May my magic words succeed. Taṃ brahmānumanyatu, svāhā![5]

c.     After one bathes for the sake of a monk who preaches the Dharma, Sarasvatī will go there herself with a multitude of gods and remove any oppressions caused by the asterisms or planets, by evil dreams, or by various types of demons, so that those who recite the Sūtra may be protected and thereby attain supreme awakening.

2.     Then the Lord praised Sarasvatī for her benefit of many.

3.     Sarasvatī then honoured the Lord’s feet and sat to one side. Following which the brahmin Kauṇḍinya praised her as being worthy of worship and asked her to speak a fine speech to beings.

a.     In reply, she gave a mantra for praise of Sarasvatī (in full on page 48).[6]

b.     Kauṇḍinya again praised Sarasvatī for her great virtues, purity, lovely appearance, and so forth, and prays that she grants him every success and protect him.

c.     It is then stated that if one utters these complete syllables and full words of this chapter, one obtains all desires and gains noble success.

[1] The lunar month that roughly corresponds to January.

[2] Alternatively, Vaidya’s edition gives this mantra, which may be his attempted “correction” of the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit to regular Sanskrit: sukṛte karajātabhāge haṃsaraṇḍe indrajālamalilaka upasade avatāsike kutra kukalavimalamati śīlamati saṃdhibudhamati śiśiri satyasthita svāhā|| Also, note that where Emmerick translates “Hail” is the Sanskrit term svāhā, which is probably best left untranslated in the case of mantras.

[3] Or: ane nayane hili hili gili khile svāhā||

[4] Or: sugate vigate vigatāvati svāhā||

[5] Or: same viṣame svāhā| sugate svāhā| sāgarasaṃbhūtāya svāhā|| skandhamārutāya svāhā| nīlakaṇṭhāya svāhā| aparāhitavīryāya svāhā| himavatsaṃbhūtāya svāhā| animiṣacakrāya svāhā| namo bhagavatyai brāhmaṇyai namaḥ sarasvatyai devyai sidhyantu mantrapadāstaṃ brahma namasyantu svāhā|

[6] Alternatively: sure vire araje arajavati hi gule piṅgale piṅgale vatimukhe marīcisumati diśamati agrāmagrītalavitale ca vaḍivicarī mariṇipāṇaye lokajyeṣṭhake priyasiddhivrate bhīmamukhiśacivarī apratihate apratihatabuddhi namuci namuci mahādevi pratigṛhṇa namaskāra| sarvasattvānāṃ buddhirapratihatā bhavatu vidyā me siddhyatu śāsralokatantrapiṭakakāvyādiṣu| tadyathā| mahāprabhāve hili hili mili mili| vicaratu mama vicaratu me māyā sarvasattvānāṃ ca bhagavatyā devyāḥ sarasvatyā anubhāvena kadārake yuvati hili mili āvāhayāmi mahādevi buddhasatyena dharmasatyena saṃghasatyena indrasatyena varuṇasatyena ye loke satyavādinaḥ santi| tena teṣāṃ satyavacena āvāhayāmi mahādevi| hili hili mili vicarantu mama mantrino māyā sarvasattvānām| namo bhagavatyai sarasvatyai siddhyantu mantrapadāḥ svāhā||