USNISA VIJAYA DHARANI

namo
bhagavate trailokya prativisistaya buddhaya
bhagavate tadyatha om vishodhaya vishodhaya
asama-sama samantavabhasa-spharana
gati gahana svabhava vishuddhe
abhisinchatu mam
sugata vara vachana
amirta abhisekai maha mantra-padai
ahara ahara ayuh sam-dharani
sodhaya sodhaya gagana vishuddhe
usnisa vijaya vishuddhe
sahashra-rasmi sam-chodite
sarva tathagata avalokani sat-paramita-paripurani
sarva tathagata mati dasha-bhumi prati-sthite
sarva tathagata hirdaya adhisthanadhisthita
maha-mudre
vujra kaya sam-hatana vishuddhe
sarvavarana apaya-durgati pari vishuddhe prati-nivartaya ayuh shuddhe
samaya adhisthite mani mani maha mani
tathata bhuta-koti parishuddhe
visphuta buddhi shuddhe
jaya jaya vijaya vijaya
smara smara sarva buddha adhisthita shuddhe
vajri vajragarbhe vajram bhavatu mama shariram
sarva sattvaam cha kaya pari vishuddhe
sarva gati parishuddhe sarva tathagata singcha me
samasvasayantu
sarva tathagata samasvasa adhisthite
budhiya budhiya vibudhiya vibudhiya
bodhaya bodhaya vibhodhaya vibodhaya
samanta parishuddhe
sarva tathagata hirdya adhisthanadhisthita
mahamudre svaha

The Buddha says in the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani Sutra: If someone could write
the Dharani and place it at the top of a tall stele, high mountain or lofty building,
or even keep it in a stupa, Lord of Heaven; if there are bhikshus or bhikshunis,
upasakas or upasikas, laymen or laywomen who have seen this Dharani atop the
above structures; or if the shadows of these structures should fall on beings who
come near to the structures, or particles of dust from the written Dharani are
blown onto their bodies, Lord of Heaven; if the accumulated evil karma of these
beings should cause them to fall into evil paths and so end up in the realms of
hell, animals, King Yama, the hungry ghosts, asuras and others then they will
not be tainted with uncleanness and defilement, Lord of Heaven. Instead, all
buddhas will bestow destinies upon these beings such that they will never regress
on the path to complete enlightenment.

THE DHARANI OF THE VICTORIOUS BUDDHA-CROWN

Adoration to the blessed One, in the triple world the most excellent One; to the
enlightened One. Adoration to the blessed One! Namely: Om!
Cleanse, cleanse, O One who is always impartial; the One who, being in possession of
all-pervading, all-illuminating light, is pure in-himself, cleansed of the darkness of the
five paths of existence!
Baptise us, O Sugata, with an immortal baptism which consists of the best words,
of the great true phrases!
Remove disasters, remove disasters, O One who holds an eternal life!
Cleanse us, O cleanse us, O One who is as pure as the sky, O One as pure as the
victorious head-crown!
O One who is inflamed with a thousand rays of light, overseeing the Tathagatas!
O One who is perfect in the six paramitas, who has passed all ten stages of Tathagataconsciousness!
O One who holds the great seal of what emanates from the heart of every Tathagata!
O One whose body is as adamantine and pure as diamond!
O One who is thoroughly cleansed of all return-compelling karma! Keep your
promise, O Jewel, O Jewel, O Great Jewel!
O Suchness, the absolute pinnacle of evolved purity of mind! Be victorious, be
victorious; be ever victorious; be ever victorious!
Bear in mind; bear in mind! O One who of all buddhas is the pure appointed source!
O vajra-holding diamond-womb, let my body be like diamond, O One who possesses
a pure body, O One who is absolutely pure from all the paths of existence!
Let me be consoled by all the Tathagatas, O One who is empowered with all the
consoling power of the Tathagatas!
Be enlightened, be enlightened, be ever enlightened, be ever enlightened! Have them
enlightened, have them enlightened, have them ever enlightened, have them ever
enlightened!
O One who is most pure in a thoroughgoing way!
O One who holds the great seal of what emanates from the heart of every Tathagata!
Hail!
Based on the translation by D. T. Suzuki with adaptations in accordance with the revised text established by Chua Boon Tuan
This edition of the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani made by Phillip Medhurst, England 2015
phillip.medhurst@googlemail.com

Sarvadurgatiparisodhana Usnisa Vijaya Dharani

The Sutra containing the Dharani (here set out in Siddham Sanskrit script) tells us that
in the fourth year of Yi Feng of the Tang dynasty (679 C.E.) a brahmin named
Buddhapala from Kashmir brought the text from India. The emperor had the Sutra
translated, then subsequently confiscated it. Buddhapala then translated the Sutra
again with a Chinese monk named Shun Zhen. The Indian holy man then took the
original Sanskrit text with him into Wu Tai Mountain to meet with Manjushri
Bodhisattva and was never seen again.
This edition of the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani made by Phillip Medhurst, England 2015. phillip.medhurst@googlemail.com

DHARANI OF THE VICTORIOUS BUDDHA-CROWN: CHINESE TRANSLITERATION

Chinese title (far right downwards): Foding Zunsheng Tuoluoni

Carved dharani-stele inscribed with the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani. 878 (Tang dynasty
618-907 C.E.). Outside the Manjushri Hall of the Fo Guang Monastery in Wu Tai
county, China. This anonymous modern rubbing is in the Princeton University Art
Museum. Ink on paper. 98.1 x 92.2 cms.
The Dharani gained wide circulation in China, from where it spread to the rest of East
Asia. The Sutra containing the Sanskrit Mantra was translated into Chinese no less
than eight times between 679 and 988 C.E. (the Dharani itself kept in the Sanskrit and
transliterated into Chinese characters phonetically, as is always the case with such
mantras). Vajrabhodi (worked 719-741), who with Hong Fa made a Chinese-Sanskrit
bilingual transliteration, has given us the most complete version of the Dharani.
Amoghavajra (worked 723-774) annotated the text, thereby giving us another reliable
point of reference. The emperor Dai of the Tang dynasty officially promulgated the
Dharani throughout China in 776; likewise the Japanese emperor Ching in 860. Thus
it was also widely circulated in Japan where, in the summer of 925, its recitation by
order of the emperor reportedly saved the country from a drought. It was frequently
adopted in the daily recitations of Zen sects, and in Tibet. Usnisa Vijaya Dharani
steles, bells and stupas may still be found throughout China, Japan and Tibet.

USNISA VIJAYA DHARANI

THE DHARANI OF THE VICTORIOUS BUDDHA-CROWN
The word for a mantra embedded in a classic Mahayana Buddhist sutra is Dharani,
which means literally that which supports. (The root dhr means to hold or to
convey.) Dharanis are strings of sounds that are deemed to be sacred and powerful as
in a magic spell, and as long as these are recited accurately their semantic value is
secondary if relevant at all. (Thus, a dharani might be used to open the mouth of a
hungry ghost to receive an offering of food.) This explains why the original Indic
language in which they were composed has been phonetically transliterated by
foreign redactors rather than translated into Tibetan and Chinese (and thence to
Japanese) in particular. Thus, in the new language of the sutra they appear to the
reader as blocks of pure sound without sense. To establish any semantic meaning in
English the original Indian text (probably, but not necessarily in Sanskrit) would have
to be restored from the transcribed syllables in the foreign language, since the
demise of Buddhism in India after its transmission northwards makes their recovery
otherwise impossible. In the absence of such an authoritative restoration any Chinese,
Japanese or Tibetan commentators translation is likely to be largely fanciful,
simply providing a starting-point for the favourite doctrines of their own particular
sect. Even an accurate restoration of the original Sanskrit text does not guarantee a
sensible translation: as in the case of any magic spell, words may be reduced to
gibberish by frequent unintelligent repetition.
In 1884 the German scholar Friedrich Max Mller, together with Bunyiu Nanjio and
others, proof-read manuscripts of the Dharani written on palm-leaves in the Horiuzi
Monastery, in The Records of Asharagio, in The Revised Text of Ziogon from the
Ling Yun Monastery, and in an inscription at Asakusa Monastery. The study was
published in: Anecdota Oxoniensis, Aryan series, Volume 1 Part III. In addition, the
Japanese Zen scholar D. T. Suzuki translated the Dharani into English (the basis of
the translation set out below). It was printed in his Manual of Zen Buddhism.
Another Japanese scholar, Takenaka Tomoyasu, also transcribed the Dharani into the
Romanised phonetic alphabet. (The Dharanis of the School of Lin Ji). In the 1980s
Chua Boon Tuan (President of the Rawang Buddhist Association in the state of
Selangor, Malaysia) revised and edited the Siddham Sanskrit version of Vajrabodhi
and transliterated it into a Romanised phonetic transcription (herewith slightly
modified for everyday English users). The text was revised and corrected with
reference to the versions of Subhakarsimha, Chi Song, and Friedrich Mller.
INTERLINEAR TRANSLATION
Namo bhagavate, trailokya prativisistaya,
Adoration to the blessed, in the triple world the most excellent,
buddhaya bhagavate! Tadyatha Om!
to the enlightened! Adoration to the blessed! Namely: Om!
Vishodhaya, vishodhaya asama-sama,
Cleanse, cleanse the always impartial,
samantavabhasa-spharana
being in possession of all-pervading, all-illuminating light,
gati gahana, svabhava vishuddhe abhisinchatu!
cleansed of the darkness of the five paths of existence, the pure in-himself!

Mam, Sugata, vara vachana amirta abhisekai maha,

Baptise us, Sugata, with an immortal baptism which consists of the best words,
mantra-padai! Ahara, ahara
the great true phrases! Remove disasters, remove disasters,
ayuh sam-dharani! Sodhaya, sodhaya,
holder of an eternal life! Cleanse us, cleanse us,
gagana visuddhe usnisa vijaya vishuddhe,
the as-pure-as-the-sky, as the victorious head-crown as pure,
sahashra-rasmi sam-chodite! Sarva tathagata avalokani,
the inflamed with a thousand rays of light! O One overseeing the thus-gone ones,
sat-paramita-paripurani!
the perfect in the six paramitas!
Sarva tathagata mati dasha-bhumi prati-sthite!
O One who has passed all ten stages of tathagata-consciousness!
Sarva tathagata hirdaya adhisthanadhisthita maha-mudre,
O One who from the heart of every tathagata the spiritual power emanating holds
maha-mudre, vujra kaya sam-hatana vishuddhe!
the great seal, whose body is as adamantine and pure as diamond!
Sarva varana apaya-durgati pari vishuddhe prati-nivartaya ayuh shuddhe!
O One who is thoroughly cleansed of all return-compelling karma!
Samaya adhisthite, mani, mani, maha mani! Tathata,
Keep your promise, jewel, jewel, great jewel! Suchness,
bhuta-koti parishuddhe visphuta buddhi shuddhe, jaya, jaya,
the absolute pinnacle of evolved purity of mind, be victorious, be victorious;
vijaya; vijaya! Smara; smara!
be ever victorious; be ever victorious! Bear in mind; bear in mind!
Sarva buddha adhisthita shuddhe!
O One who of all buddhas is the pure and appointed!
Vajri vajragarbhe, vajram bhavatu mama shariram!
Vajra-holding diamond-womb, let my body be like diamond!
Sarva sattvaam cha kaya
O One who possesses a pure body
pari vishuddhe sarva gati parishuddhe
who is absolutely pure from all the paths of existence
sarva tathagata singcha me samasvasayantu,
O One who consoles me by all the tathagatas,
sarva tathagata samasvasa adhisthite,
O One who is empowered with all the consoling power of the tathagatas,
budhiya, budhiya, vibudhiya, vibudhiya!
be enlightened, be enlightened, be ever enlightened, be ever enlightened!
Bodhaya, bodhaya, vibhodhaya,
Have them enlightened, have them enlightened, have them ever enlightened,
vibodhaya, samanta parishuddhe!
have them ever enlightened, the most pure in a thoroughgoing way!
Sarva tathagata hirdya adhisthanadhisthita
O One who from the heart of every tathagata the spiritual power emanating holds
maha-mudre, svaha!
the great seal, hail!
This edition of the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani made by Phillip Medhurst, England 2015. phillip.medhurst@googlemail.com