The Disciple's Entry, and Initiation
Part 3 closes the sūtra's second chapter — its longest — with the doctrine underlying every mantra ever spoken (a teaching built letter by letter through the entire Sanskrit alphabet), the offerings and fire rite that consecrate the maṇḍala, and, at last, the initiation itself: a probe that removes "the film of ignorance," a mirror showing a face without any fixed mark, a dharma-wheel and conch placed in the new initiate's hands, and a vow to never again be stingy with the teaching.
The Buddha's Own Awakening, Restated
爾時毘盧遮那世尊與一切諸佛同共集會，各各宣說一切聲聞、緣覺、菩薩三昧道。時佛入於一切如來一體速疾力三昧，於是世尊復告執金剛菩薩言：
「我昔坐道場， 降伏於四魔，以大勤勇聲， 除眾生怖畏，是時梵天等， 心喜共稱說，由此諸世間， 號名大勤勇。我覺本不生， 出過語言道，諸過得解脫， 遠離於因緣，知空等虛空， 如實相智生，已離一切暗， 第一實無垢。諸趣唯想名， 佛相亦復然，此第一實際， 以加持力故，為度於世間， 而以文字說。」
爾時執金剛具德者得未曾有開敷眼，頂禮一切智而說偈言：
「諸佛甚希有， 權智不思議，離一切戲論， 諸佛自然智，而為世間說， 滿足眾希願，真言相如是， 常依於二諦。若有諸眾生， 知此法教者，世人應供養， 猶如敬制底。」
At that time the World-Honored One Mahāvairocana gathered together as one with every buddha, each proclaiming the samādhi-path of every śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva. The Buddha then entered the samādhi of every Tathāgata's single, swiftly-acting power, and spoke again to Vajrapāṇi:
"Long ago I sat at the seat of awakening, and subdued the four Māras; with the sound of great valiant courage, I removed the fear of every being. At that time Brahmā and the rest, their hearts filled with joy, together proclaimed my name — and it is for this that the whole world calls me the Greatly Valiant One. I awakened to what is fundamentally unborn, passing beyond the path of language; freed from every fault, far removed from causes and conditions, knowing emptiness as equal to space, the wisdom of reality as it actually is arose in me; every darkness now left behind, I am the first, the truly stainless one. Every destiny is only a name born of thought, and the marks of a buddha are no different — yet this, the very first reality, through the power of empowerment, I speak in written words, so as to liberate the world."
At that time the virtuous Vajrapāṇi, his eyes opened as never before, bowed his head to all-wisdom, and spoke this verse: "How rare are the buddhas! Their skillful wisdom is inconceivable — free of every kind of idle discourse, the buddhas' own self-arisen wisdom is nonetheless taught for the sake of the world, fulfilling every hope and wish. Such is the mark of mantra: it ever rests upon the two truths. Should there be beings who come to know this teaching, the people of the world should make offering to them, revering them just as they would a stūpa."
Five Kinds of Samādhi
時執金剛說此偈已，諦觀毘盧遮那目不暫瞬，默然而住。於是世尊復告執金剛祕密主言：「復次祕密主！一生補處菩薩住佛地三昧道，離於造作，知世間相住於業地，堅住佛地。復次祕密主！八地自在菩薩三昧道，不得一切諸法，離於有生，知一切幻化，是故世稱觀自在者。復次祕密主！聲聞眾住有緣地識生，滅除二邊，極觀察智，得不隨順修行因，是名聲聞三昧道。祕密主！緣覺觀察因果，住無言說法，不轉無言說，於一切法證極滅語言三昧，是名緣覺三昧道。祕密主！世間因果及業，若生若滅，繫屬他主，空三昧生，是名世間三昧道。」
Having spoken this verse, Vajrapāṇi gazed steadily upon Mahāvairocana without blinking, and stood in silence. The World-Honored One then said again to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of Secrets: "Furthermore, Lord of Secrets, the samādhi-path of a one-birth-bound bodhisattva dwells in the ground of buddhahood itself — free of any fabrication, knowing the marks of the world while dwelling in the very ground of karmic action, firmly established in the buddha-ground. Furthermore, Lord of Secrets, the samādhi-path of an eighth-ground, self-mastering bodhisattva apprehends no dharma at all, is free of any arising into being, and knows all things as illusory transformation — this is why the world calls such a one 'the Lord Who Observes.' Furthermore, Lord of Secrets, the assembly of śrāvakas dwells in the ground where conditioned consciousness arises, eliminates the two extremes, brings analytical wisdom to its utmost, and attains a cause no longer bound to further cultivation — this is called the samādhi-path of the śrāvaka. Lord of Secrets, the pratyekabuddha contemplates cause and effect, dwells in a dharma beyond words, does not turn that wordlessness into words, and bears witness, regarding every dharma, to a samādhi in which language is brought to its utmost cessation — this is called the samādhi-path of the pratyekabuddha. Lord of Secrets, worldly cause and effect and karma, whether arising or ceasing, remain bound to another master; the samādhi of emptiness arising there is called the worldly samādhi-path."
This fivefold ranking — a one-birth-bound bodhisattva, an eighth-ground bodhisattva named here by Avalokiteśvara's own epithet, the śrāvaka, the pratyekabuddha, and the ordinary worldly mind — maps directly onto the maṇḍala's own architecture from Part 2: the innermost eight-petal court where a one-birth-bound bodhisattva stands nearest Mahāvairocana, the lotus court where Avalokiteśvara presides over the eighth-ground path explicitly named for him here, and the outer courts where the Vedic gods of "the eighth mind" catalogued back in Part 1 stand in for the worldly samādhi-path named last. Read together with the three-incalculable-kalpas framework of Part 1, this passage restates the same single path once more, this time sorted not by depth of mental purification but by which of five traditionally rival vehicles — bodhisattva, śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, or ordinary worldling — a given practitioner happens to already be walking when the mantra vehicle reaches them.
The Forty-Two Gateways of the Alphabet
Vajrapāṇi asks the Buddha to explain the mark of mantra itself. What follows is one of the most influential passages in the entire esoteric canon: a teaching that treats each letter of the classical Sanskrit (Siddhaṃ) syllabary as its own gateway into emptiness — the doctrinal foundation for the whole later practice, still central to Japanese Shingon training today, of contemplating a single seed-syllable as a complete teaching in itself.
「復次祕密主！此真言相非一切諸佛所作，不令他作亦不隨喜。何以故？以是諸法法如是故。若諸如來出現、若諸如來不出，諸法法爾如是住。謂諸真言，真言法爾故。祕密主！成等正覺一切知者、一切見者出興于世，而自此法說種種道，隨種種樂欲、種種諸眾生心，以種種句、種種文、種種隨方語言、種種諸趣音聲而以加持說真言道。祕密主！云何如來真言道？謂加持此書寫文字。祕密主！如來無量百千俱胝那庾多劫，積集修行真實諦語，四聖諦、四念處、四神足、十如來力、六波羅蜜、七菩提寶、四梵住、十八佛不共法。祕密主！以要言之，諸如來一切智智。一切如來自福智力、自願智力、一切法界加持力，隨順眾生，如其種類開示真言教法。云何真言教法？謂阿字門，一切諸法本不生故。迦字門，一切諸法離作業故。佉字門，一切諸法等虛空不可得故。哦字門，一切諸法一切行不可得故。伽字門，一切諸法一合不可得故。遮字門，一切諸法離一切遷變故。車字門，一切諸法影像不可得故。若字門，一切諸法生不可得故。社字門，一切諸法戰敵不可得故。吒字門，一切諸法慢不可得故。咤字門，一切諸法長養不可得故。拏字門，一切諸法怨對不可得故。荼字門，一切諸法執持不可得故。多字門，一切諸法如如不可得故。他字門，一切諸法住處不可得故。娜字門，一切諸法施不可得故。馱字門，一切諸法法界不可得故。波字門，一切諸法第一義諦不可得故。頗字門，一切諸法不堅如聚沫故。麼字門，一切諸法縛不可得故。婆字門，一切諸法一切有不可得故。野字門，一切諸法一切乘不可得故。囉字門，一切諸法離一切諸塵染故。邏字門，一切諸法一切相不可得故。縛字門，一切諸法語言道斷故。奢字門，一切諸法本性寂故。沙字門，一切諸法性鈍故。娑字門，一切諸法一切諦不可得故。訶字門，一切諸法因不可得故。祕密主！仰若拏那麼，於一切三昧自在速能成辨諸事，所為義利皆悉成就。」爾時世尊而說偈言：「真言三昧門， 圓滿一切願，所謂諸如來， 不可思議果。具足眾勝願， 真言決定義，超越於三世， 無垢同虛空，住不思議心， 起作諸事業，到修行地者， 授不思議果，是第一真實， 諸佛所開示，若知此法教， 當得諸悉地。最勝真實聲， 真言真言相，行者諦思惟， 當得不壞句。」
"Furthermore, Lord of Secrets, the mark of mantra is not something any buddha has made, nor caused another to make, nor merely approved of. Why is this so? Because it is the very nature of these dharmas to be just as they are. Whether the Tathāgatas appear in the world or do not appear, the dharmas abide, by their own nature, exactly so — meaning that mantras themselves are, by their own nature, exactly so. Lord of Secrets, when one who has become perfectly awakened, who knows all and sees all, arises in the world, they teach this very Dharma by way of every kind of path, according to every kind of aspiration and desire, and every kind of mind among beings, using every kind of phrase, every kind of script, every kind of regional language, and every kind of sound proper to every destiny, empowering and teaching in this way the path of mantra. Lord of Secrets, what is the Tathāgata's own path of mantra? It is the empowerment of these very written letters. Lord of Secrets, over measureless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas, the Tathāgata has accumulated and practiced true and truthful speech — the four noble truths, the four foundations of mindfulness, the four bases of miraculous power, the ten powers of the Tathāgata, the six pāramitās, the seven treasures of awakening, the four abodes of Brahmā, and the eighteen dharmas exclusive to a buddha. Lord of Secrets, to state the essential point: it is the Tathāgatas' own wisdom of all-wisdom. Through the power of their own merit and wisdom, the power of their own vows and wisdom, and the power of empowerment over the whole dharma-realm, they disclose the teaching of mantra to beings, according to each being's own kind. What is the teaching of mantra?
"The gateway of A: because every dharma is fundamentally unborn. The gateway of KA: because every dharma is free of action. The gateway of KHA: because every dharma, equal to space, cannot be apprehended. The gateway of GA: because the conduct of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of GHA: because the unity of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of CA: because every dharma is free of every change. The gateway of CHA: because the reflection of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of JA: because the birth of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of JHA: because the strife of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of ṬA: because the pride of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of ṬHA: because the nurture of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of ḌA: because the enmity of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of ḌHA: because the grasping of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of TA: because the suchness of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of THA: because the abode of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of DA: because the giving of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of DHA: because the dharma-realm of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of PA: because the ultimate truth of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of PHA: because every dharma is not firm, like a mass of foam. The gateway of MA: because the bondage of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of BA: because the existence of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of YA: because every vehicle of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of RA: because every dharma is free of every defiling dust. The gateway of LA: because every mark of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of VA: because the path of language is cut off for every dharma. The gateway of ŚA: because the fundamental nature of every dharma is quiescent. The gateway of ṢA: because the nature of every dharma is dull. The gateway of SA: because every truth of every dharma cannot be apprehended. The gateway of HA: because the cause of every dharma cannot be apprehended. Lord of Secrets, through ṄA, ÑA, ṆA, NA, and MA, one gains mastery over every samādhi, swiftly accomplishing every task, and bringing every aim to fulfillment."
At that time the World-Honored One spoke this verse: "The gateway of mantra samādhi fulfills every wish — namely, the inconceivable fruit of every Tathāgata. Complete with every excellent vow, the settled meaning of mantra passes beyond the three times, stainless, equal to space; abiding in an inconceivable mind, one carries out every deed; and to one who has reached the ground of true practice, an inconceivable fruit is bestowed. This is the very first reality, disclosed by every buddha; whoever knows this teaching will attain every siddhi. The most supreme, truest sound — the mark of mantra upon mantra — a practitioner who reflects on it with full sincerity will attain the imperishable word."
Yixing's commentary treats the letter A, first of the list, as more than one gateway among forty-two equals: since every other Siddhaṃ syllable is phonetically built from A combined with a further consonant or vowel sound, and since Sanskrit grammar itself calls A the "unproduced" root sound every other letter presupposes, he reads A as the literal seed (種子, bīja) from which the entire alphabet — and so, on this text's own logic, the entire teaching of emptiness — unfolds. His gloss elsewhere in this fascicle on the closely related opening syllables of the ground-consecration mantra makes the same point at length: A is boundless as space is boundless, unstained and unmoving as space is unstained and unmoving, containing every possible form the way space contains every possible object without being altered by any of them. What is distinctive about this list as a whole, on his reading, is its method rather than its individual entries: each gateway does not describe emptiness abstractly but locates it inside one specific concept a syllable's own sound already evokes — giving (DA), the four noble truths (SA, glossed here as "truth"), attachment's bondage (MA), even a dharma's own dwelling-place (THA) — so that a practitioner reciting a mantra is, syllable by syllable, walking directly through this entire catalogue of emptiness without needing to hold the doctrine in mind discursively at all. The five final nasal sounds (ṄA, ÑA, ṆA, NA, MA) that close the list are read as a special case: rather than each naming its own gate, together they confer mastery over every samādhi at once, since a nasal, in the phonetics this tradition inherited, is a sound with no fixed place of articulation of its own — the letter that is everywhere and nowhere at once, fittingly closing a list whose entire point is that nothing here was ever "in" any one place to begin with.
Offerings, and the Fire Rite
爾時執金剛祕密主白佛言：「希有世尊！佛說不思議真言相道法，不共一切聲聞緣覺，亦非普為一切眾生。若信此真言道者，諸功德法皆當滿足。唯願世尊次說漫荼羅所須次第。」如是說已，世尊復告金剛手而說偈言：
「持真言行者， 供養諸聖尊，當奉悅意花， 潔白黃朱色，鉢頭摩青蓮、 龍花奔那伽、計薩囉末利、 得蘗藍瞻蔔、無憂底羅劍、 鉢吒羅娑羅，是等鮮妙華， 吉祥眾所樂，採集以為鬘， 敬心而供養。栴檀及青木、 苜蓿香欝金，及餘妙塗香， 盡持以奉獻。沈水及松香、 嚩藍與龍腦，白檀膠香等， 失利婆塞迦，及餘焚香類， 芬馥世稱美，應當隨法教， 而奉於聖尊。復次大眾生， 依教獻諸食，奉乳糜酪飯， 歡喜漫荼迦，百葉甘美餅， 淨妙粆糖餅，種種諸餚饍， 及珍妙眾果，蹇荼與石蜜， 糖蜜生熟酥，種種諸漿飲， 乳酪淨牛味。又奉諸燈燭， 異類新淨器，盛滿妙香油， 布列為照明。四方繒幡蓋， 種種色相間，門標異形類， 并懸以鈴鐸，或以心供養， 一切皆作之。
「持真言行者， 存意勿遺忘，次具迦羅奢， 或六或十八，備足諸寶藥， 盛滿眾香水。枝條上垂布， 間插華果實，塗香等嚴飾， 結護而作淨，繫頸以妙衣， 瓶數或增廣。上首諸尊等， 各各奉兼服，諸餘大有情， 一一皆獻之。如是修供養， 次引應度者，灑之以淨水， 授與塗香華，令發菩提心， 憶念諸如來，一切皆當得， 生於淨佛家。結法界生印， 及與法輪印，金剛有情等， 而用作加護。次應當自結， 諸佛三昧耶，三轉加淨衣， 如真言法教，而用覆其首， 深起悲念心，三誦三昧耶， 頂戴以囉字，嚴以大空點， 周匝開焰鬘。字門生白光， 流出如滿月，現對諸救世， 而散於淨華，隨其所至處， 行人而尊奉。漫荼羅初門， 大龍廂衛處，於二門中間， 安立於學人，住彼隨法教， 而作眾事業，如是令弟子， 遠離於諸過，作寂然護摩。護摩依法住， 初自中胎藏，至第二之外， 於漫茶羅中，作無疑慮心， 如其自肘量，陷作光明壇， 四節為周界，中表金剛印， 師位之右方，護摩具支分， 學人住其左，蹲踞增敬心。自敷吉祥草， 藉地以安坐，或布眾綵色， 彤輝極嚴麗，一切繢事成， 是略護摩處，周匝布祥茅， 端坐互相加，右旋皆廣厚， 遍灑以香水，思惟火光尊， 哀愍一切故，應當持滿器， 而以供養之。」
「爾時善住者，當說是真語：」
「『南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 惡揭娜曳(二) 莎訶(三)』」
「復以三昧手， 次持諸弟子，慧手大空指， 略奉持護摩。每獻輒誠誦， 各別至三七，當住慈愍心， 依法真實言：」
「『南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 阿摩訶扇底蘗多(二) 扇底羯囉(三) 鉢囉睒摩達磨儞若多(四) 阿婆嚩薩嚩婆嚩(五) 達麼娑麼多鉢囉鉢多(六) 莎訶(七)』」
「行者護摩竟， 應教令儭施，金銀眾珍寶， 象馬及車乘，牛羊上衣服， 或復餘資財。弟子當至誠， 恭敬起慇重，深心自忻慶， 而奉於所尊。以修行淨捨， 令彼歡喜故，已為作加護， 應召而告言：『今此勝福田， 一切佛所說，為欲廣饒益， 一切諸有情。奉施一切僧， 當獲於大果，無盡大資財， 世說常隨生。以供養僧者， 施具德之人，是故世尊說， 應當發歡喜，隨力辦餚膳， 而施現前僧。』」
At that time Vajrapāṇi said to the Buddha: "How rare, World-Honored One, that the Buddha should teach this inconceivable way of mantra's mark, shared with no śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha, nor given generally to every being — yet whoever has faith in this path of mantra will bring every quality of merit to fulfillment. I beg only that the World-Honored One next teach the sequence required for the maṇḍala." Having said this, the World-Honored One spoke again to Vajrapāṇi in verse:
"The mantra practitioner, in making offering to every holy one, should present flowers pleasing to the mind — pure white, yellow, and vermilion in color: padma and blue lotus, nāgapuṣpa and punnāga, jasmine and champaka, aśoka, tilaka, and pāṭalā — flowers such as these, fresh and fine, auspicious and beloved by all, gathered and woven into garlands, offered with a reverent heart. Sandalwood and dark aloeswood, turmeric and other fine incense, and every other kind of scented paste — all these should be taken up and offered. Agarwood and pine resin, spikenard and camphor, white sandalwood resin and storax, and every other kind of incense to be burned, fragrant and praised throughout the world — these should be offered to every holy one, in accordance with the teaching. Furthermore, great beings, following the teaching, should offer every kind of food: milk-porridge, curd-rice, sweet cakes of delight, hundred-layered honeyed pastries, and pure, fine sugared cakes, and every kind of delicacy besides, and every kind of rare and wondrous fruit, rock-sugar and treacle, molasses, fresh and clarified butter, every kind of beverage, curds and the pure taste of milk. One should further offer lamps and candles, in every kind of clean new vessel, filled with fine scented oil, arrayed to give their light. Silken banners and canopies of every direction, interwoven with every color, gate-markers of every form, hung about with bells — whatever offering the heart can conceive, all of it should be made.
"The mantra practitioner should keep this in mind, and never forget it: next prepare water-vessels, whether six or eighteen in number, filled completely with every kind of jeweled substance and medicine, and filled full with every kind of scented water. Branches should hang draped over their rims, interspersed with flowers and fruit, adorned further with scented paste, bound and purified with protective knots, their necks tied about with fine cloth — the number of vessels may be increased further still. Each of the foremost holy ones should be offered a vessel together with a robe; every remaining great being should likewise each be given their own offering. Having made offering in this way, one should next lead in those fit to be liberated, sprinkling them with pure water, giving them scented paste and flowers, causing them to arouse bodhicitta and hold every Tathāgata in mind — every one of them will thereby be born into the pure family of the buddhas. Form the seal of the arising of the dharma-realm, and the seal of the dharma-wheel, and use the vajra-being seal and the rest, to bring about protection. One should next form, upon oneself, the samaya-seal of every buddha, and, having turned it three times, put on a pure robe, in accordance with the mantra teaching, and use it to cover the head, arousing a deep mind of compassionate mindfulness; reciting the samaya three times, crown the head with the letter RA, adorn it with the point of great emptiness, and let a garland of flame open out all around. From this letter-gate a white light is born, streaming forth like the full moon, appearing before every savior of the world, and scattering pure flowers — wherever they come to rest, there the practitioner should hold that place in reverence. At the maṇḍala's first gate, at the place flanked by the great nāga guardians, between the two gates, the initiate should be established, and, dwelling there in accordance with the teaching, should carry out every task — in this way the disciple is made to leave every fault behind, and the tranquil fire offering is performed. The fire offering rests on its own proper method: beginning from the central matrix out to the second court's own outer edge, within the maṇḍala, with a mind free of doubt or hesitation, one measures out, by the length of one's own forearm, a hearth of radiant light, its four sides marking its boundary, a vajra-seal displayed at its center. To the master's right is arranged every requisite of the fire offering; the initiate sits to his left, crouching low with a heart of increased reverence. One spreads kuśa grass and sits upon it on the bare ground, or else lays out cloth of every bright color, its brilliance most finely adorned — once every painted element is complete, this in brief is the place of the fire offering. Kuśa grass is spread all around, laid crosswise in pairs as one sits upright, turning to the right, thick and abundant throughout, and sprinkled everywhere with scented water; contemplating the radiant fire deity, and, out of compassion for all, one should hold a vessel filled to the brim, and make offering with it."
"At that time, the one well-established should speak this true word:"
Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ agnaye svāhā
"Holding the samādhi-hand, one then takes hold of each disciple in turn; with the wisdom-hand's thumb of great emptiness, one briefly makes the fire offering. With each offering made, one recites sincerely, each time up to twenty-one repetitions, abiding in a mind of loving compassion, speaking this true word in accordance with the teaching:"
Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ a-mahā-śāntim-gate śāntikara praśama-dharma-nirjāte abhāva-svabhāva-dharma-samatā-prāpte svāhā
"Once the practitioner has completed the fire offering, the disciple should be taught to make an offering of thanksgiving — gold and silver and every kind of jewel, elephants, horses, and carriages, cattle, sheep, and fine garments, or whatever other wealth they possess. The disciple should, with utmost sincerity, reverence, and earnestness, and a heart of deep and genuine joy, offer these to the one they revere. Through this practice of pure generosity, causing them to rejoice, and having already given them protection, one should summon them and say: 'This is now a supreme field of merit, as every buddha has taught, for the sake of bringing broad benefit to every being. Whoever makes offering to the whole saṅgha will obtain a great fruit — inexhaustible, great wealth, the world says, follows constantly after it. In making offering to the saṅgha, one gives to those endowed with virtue; therefore the World-Honored One teaches that one should give rise to joy, and, according to one's means, prepare a feast, and offer it to the saṅgha now present.'"
As with the mantra transliterations elsewhere on this site, the mantras above are left in phonetic reconstruction rather than translated for meaning, following this site's standing convention for dhāraṇī and short ritual mantras alike (see the reading note on this convention on the Great Compassion Dhāraṇī Sūtra page). Several of the specific flower and confection names in the source resist confident botanical or culinary identification eight centuries and several thousand miles removed from the world that first named them; where a term's identity is reasonably well established in modern scholarship (padma, nāgapuṣpa, campaka, aśoka), it is rendered by that identification, and elsewhere by its general category. Yixing's own gloss on the fire deity invoked here draws a direct line to the Vedic god Agni already catalogued among the "eighth mind" deities of Part 1 and seated in the maṇḍala's second court in Part 2 — the same figure, absorbed rather than displaced, now serving as the literal fire through which offerings are made.
The Second Maṇḍala, and Initiation
爾時毘盧遮那世尊復告執金剛祕密主而說偈言：
「汝摩訶薩埵， 一心應諦聽；當廣說灌頂， 古佛所開示。師作第二壇， 對中漫荼羅，圖畫於外界， 相距二肘量，四方正均等， 內向開一門，安四執金剛， 居其四維外，謂住無戲論， 及虛空無垢。無垢眼金剛， 被雜色衣等，內心大蓮華， 八葉及鬚蘂，於四方葉中， 四伴侶菩薩，由彼大有情， 往昔願力故。云何名為四？ 謂總持自在，念持利益心， 悲者菩薩等。所餘諸四葉， 作四奉教者，雜色衣滿願， 無礙及解脫。中央示法界， 不可思議色，四寶所成瓶， 盛滿眾藥寶。普賢慈氏尊， 及與除蓋障，除一切惡趣， 而以作加持。彼於灌頂時， 當置妙蓮上，獻以塗香華， 燈明及閼伽，上蔭幢幡蓋， 奉攝意音樂，吉慶伽陀等， 廣多美妙言。如是而供養， 令得歡喜已，親對諸如來， 而自灌其頂。復當供養彼， 妙善諸香華，次應執金篦， 在於彼前住，慰喻令歡喜， 說如是伽他：『佛子佛為汝， 決除無智膜，猶如世醫王， 善用以金籌。』持真言行者， 復當執明鏡，為顯無相法， 說是妙伽他：『諸法無形像， 清澄無垢濁，無執離言說， 但從因業起。如是知此法， 自性無染污，為世無比利， 汝從佛心生。』次當授法輪， 置以二足間，慧手傳法螺， 復說如是偈：『汝自於今日， 轉於救世輪，其聲普周遍， 吹無上法螺。勿生於異慧， 當離疑悔心，開示於世間， 勝行真言道。常作如是願， 宣唱佛恩德，一切持金剛， 皆當護念汝。』次當於弟子， 而起悲念心，行者應入中， 示三昧耶偈：『佛子汝從今， 不惜身命故，常不應捨法、 捨離菩提心、慳悋一切法、 不利眾生行。佛說三昧耶， 汝善住戒者，如護自身命， 護戒亦如是。應至誠恭敬， 稽首聖尊足，所作隨教行， 勿生疑慮心。』」
At that time the World-Honored One Mahāvairocana said again to Vajrapāṇi in verse:
"You, great being, should listen closely with a single mind — I shall now fully explain the rite of initiation, as disclosed by the buddhas of old. The master should fashion a second altar, set opposite the central maṇḍala, its outer boundary painted at a distance of two forearm-lengths, square and evenly measured on every side, with a single gate opening inward. Place the four vajra-holders at its four corners — namely, the one who abides free of idle discourse, and the one stainless as space, and the stainless-eyed vajra-holder, and the one clothed in many colors. At its very center, a great lotus, eight petals with filament and pistil; within the petals of the four directions, four companion bodhisattvas, present there through that great being's own ancient vow. What are these four called? Dhāraṇī-Mastery, and Mindful Benefit, and the Compassionate One, and the rest. In the remaining four petals, place four servants of the teaching — clothed in many colors: the Fulfiller of Wishes, the Unobstructed One, and the Liberator. At the very center, display the dharma-realm itself, its inconceivable color, a vase made of the four jewels, filled full with every kind of medicine and jewel. Samantabhadra, Maitreya, Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin, and the Remover of Every Evil Destiny should be used to empower it. At the time of initiation, this vase should be placed upon a wondrous lotus, offered scented paste and flowers, lamplight and argha water, shaded above with banners and canopies, and offered music that gathers in the mind, auspicious verses, and every kind of eloquent, beautiful word. Having made offering in this way, and brought about joy, the disciple, standing directly before every Tathāgata, then pours the consecration water upon their own head. One should further make offering to them with every kind of fine incense and flower, and next take up a golden probe, and, standing before them, comfort and reassure them, speaking a verse such as this: 'Child of the Buddha, the Buddha now removes for you the film of ignorance, just as a physician of this world skillfully uses a golden probe.' The mantra practitioner should further take up a bright mirror, and, to reveal the markless Dharma, speak this wondrous verse: 'Every dharma is without form or image, clear and pure, free of every stain, ungraspable, beyond all words — arising only from cause and karmic action. To know the Dharma in just this way, its own nature free of every defilement, is of unmatched benefit to the world — you are now born of the Buddha's own mind.' One should next confer the dharma-wheel, placing it between the disciple's two feet, and, with the wisdom-hand, hand over the dharma-conch, speaking again a verse such as this: 'From this very day, you shall turn the wheel that saves the world; may its sound reach everywhere, as you blow the peerless conch of the Dharma. Give rise to no divergent view, and leave every doubt and regret behind; disclose to the world the supreme conduct, the path of mantra. Ever make this same vow, proclaiming the Buddha's kindness and virtue — every vajra-holder will then hold you always in their protective mind.' One should next arouse a mind of compassionate mindfulness toward the disciple; the master should then enter their midst, and disclose the samaya verse: 'Child of the Buddha, from this day on, not sparing even your own body or life, you should never abandon the Dharma, never forsake bodhicitta, never be stingy with any dharma, and never act without benefiting beings. This is the samaya the Buddha has taught; you who now well abide in this precept should guard it exactly as you would guard your own life. You should, with utmost sincerity and reverence, bow your head to the holy one's feet, and carry out whatever is taught, without giving rise to any doubt or hesitation.'"
The golden probe (金篦, salākā) invoked here is a real, if by this period largely obsolete, item of Indian ophthalmic practice — a slender instrument once used to pierce and clear a cataract — and the sūtra deploys it as a working metaphor rather than a decorative one: what the probe is to a literal cataract, initiation is to what this whole sūtra has been calling ignorance's own "film" over the mind since Part 1's search for a mind that cannot be found in any of twelve locations. The mirror that follows makes the identical point through a different instrument: a face reflected in a mirror is genuinely seen, yet nothing about the reflection is a fixed, independently existing "thing" added to the glass — precisely the relation between conventional appearance and emptiness this entire sūtra has been establishing since its first chapter, now handed to the initiate as a literal object to hold. The dharma-wheel and conch that follow shift the initiation's register from insight to responsibility: having received the teaching, the disciple is now charged with transmitting it outward — "turn the wheel," "blow the conch" — and the samaya vow that closes the rite makes that responsibility explicit and binding, its central clause ("never be stingy with any dharma") answering directly to the stinginess Part 2 already named as one of the two failures a master themselves must guard against in choosing whom to teach.
The Merit of Entering the Maṇḍala
爾時金剛手白佛言：「世尊！若有諸善男子善女人入此大悲藏生大漫荼羅王三昧耶者，彼獲幾所福德聚？」如是說已，佛告金剛手言：「祕密主！從初發心乃至成如來所有福德聚，是善男子善女人福德聚與彼正等。祕密主！以此法門當如是知，彼善男子善女人從如來口生、佛心之子，若是善男子善女人所在方所，即為有佛施作佛事。是故祕密主！若樂欲供養佛者，當供養此善男子善女人；若樂欲見佛，即當觀彼。」時金剛手等上首執金剛及普賢等上首諸菩薩同聲說言：「世尊！我等從今以後，應當恭敬供養是善男子善女人。何以故？世尊！彼善男子善女人同見佛世尊故。」
At that time Vajrapāṇi said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One, should there be good sons or daughters who enter this samaya of the great king of maṇḍalas born of great compassion — how great a mass of merit will they obtain?" Having said this, the Buddha said to Vajrapāṇi: "Lord of Secrets, the whole mass of merit accumulated from the first arousing of the mind up to the very attainment of buddhahood — the mass of merit of such a good son or daughter is exactly equal to that. Lord of Secrets, know this Dharma-gate in just this way: such a good son or daughter is born from the Tathāgata's own mouth, a child of the Buddha's own mind; wherever such a good son or daughter may be, there a buddha is present, carrying out a buddha's own work. Therefore, Lord of Secrets, whoever wishes to make offering to the Buddha should make offering to this good son or daughter; whoever wishes to see the Buddha should look upon them." At that time Vajrapāṇi and the other foremost vajra-holders, together with Samantabhadra and the other foremost bodhisattvas, said with one voice: "World-Honored One, from this day on, we shall reverently make offering to this good son or daughter. Why is this so? World-Honored One, because such a good son or daughter has seen the World-Honored Buddha, exactly as we ourselves have."
The Great Protective Vidyā, and a Cluster of Ritual Mantras
爾時毘盧遮那世尊復觀一切眾會，告執金剛祕密主等諸持金剛者及大眾言：「善男子！有如來出世，無量廣長語輪相，如巧色摩尼能滿一切願、積集無量福德、住不可害行，三世無比力真言句。」如是言已，金剛手祕密主等諸執金剛及大會眾同聲說言：「世尊！今正是時。善逝！今正是時。」爾時毘盧遮那世尊住於滿一切願出廣長舌相遍覆一切佛剎清淨法幢高峯觀三昧。時佛從定起，爾時發遍一切如來法界哀愍無餘眾生界聲，說此大力大護明妃曰：
「南麼薩婆怛他蘖帝弊(一) 薩婆佩野微蘖帝弊(二) 微濕嚩目契弊(三) 薩婆他唅(四) 羅吃沙摩訶沬麗(五) 薩婆怛他蘖多(六) 奔昵也儞闍帝(七) [合*牛][合*牛](八) 怛囉磔怛囉磔(九) 阿鉢囉底訶諦(十) 莎訶(十一)」
時一切如來及佛子眾說此明已，即時普遍佛剎六種震動，一切菩薩得未曾有開敷眼，於諸佛前以悅意言音而說偈言：
「諸佛甚奇特， 說此大力護，一切佛護持， 城池皆固密。由彼護心住， 所有為障者，毘那夜迦等， 惡形諸羅剎，一切皆退散， 念真言力故。」
時薄伽梵廣大法界加持，即於是時住法界胎藏三昧。從此定起，說入佛三昧耶持明曰：
At that time the World-Honored One Mahāvairocana, surveying the whole assembly once more, said to Vajrapāṇi and the other vajra-holders, and the whole great assembly: "Good sons, there is a mantra-phrase that comes forth when a Tathāgata appears in the world — the mark of the measureless, vast and long tongue, like a skillfully wrought maṇi-jewel able to fulfill every wish, accumulating measureless merit, abiding in conduct that cannot be harmed, a power beyond compare across the three times." Having said this, Vajrapāṇi and the other vajra-holders, and the whole great assembly, said with one voice: "World-Honored One, now is exactly the time. Well-Gone One, now is exactly the time." At that time the World-Honored One Mahāvairocana entered a samādhi that manifests the mark of the vast and long tongue fulfilling every wish, beholding a lofty peak of the pure dharma-banner that covers every buddha-field. Then, rising from that samādhi, and giving voice to a sound of compassion for the boundless dharma-realm of every being, pervading the dharma-realm of every Tathāgata, he spoke this great and mighty protective vidyā:
(mantra retained in transliteration; not translated for meaning, per this site's standing convention — see the note below)
When every Tathāgata and every child of the Buddha had spoken this vidyā, the buddha-fields everywhere at once shook in six ways, and every bodhisattva gained an eye opened as never before, and spoke this verse before the buddhas in a joyful voice: "How extraordinary are the buddhas, to speak this great protection! Every buddha now holds and protects it, and every city and moat is made firm and secure. Because this protective mind now abides, every obstructing spirit — the vināyakas and the rest, every hideous rākṣasa — will all retreat and scatter, on the strength of this mantra held in mind."
Then the Bhagavān, empowering the vast dharma-realm, entered at that moment the samādhi of the dharma-realm's own matrix. Rising from that samādhi, he spoke the vidyā of entry into the samaya of the buddhas:
The "great and mighty protective vidyā" (大力大護明妃) above is known to the wider esoteric tradition as the Mahābala dhāraṇī, and circulated independently of this sūtra as well — a protective formula invoked against obstructing spirits (vināyakas) and hostile forces, and cited across a range of later esoteric ritual texts. Given its length and the range of Sanskrit reconstructions proposed for it in modern scholarship, none universally agreed upon in every syllable, this page follows this site's standing practice for dhāraṇī: the transliteration is presented as the Chinese tradition itself has always transmitted it, sound to be recited rather than text to be parsed for discursive meaning, rather than risk asserting a precision the evidence does not fully support.
入佛三昧耶明：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 阿三迷(二) 咀[口*履]三迷(三) 三麼曳(四) 莎訶(五)」
法界生真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 達摩馱睹(二) 薩嚩婆嚩句痕(三)」
金剛薩埵加持真言：「南麼三曼多伐折囉赧(一) 伐折囉咀麼句痕(二)」
金剛鎧真言：「南麼三曼多伐折囉赧(一) 伐折羅迦嚩遮[合*牛](二)」
如來眼觀真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 怛他揭多斫吃芻(二) 尾也嚩路迦也(三) 莎訶(四)」
塗香真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 微輸馱健杜納婆嚩(二) 莎訶(三)」
華真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 摩訶妹咀[口*履]也(二) 毘庾蘖帝(三) 莎訶(四)」
燒香真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 達摩馱睹弩蘖帝(二) 莎訶(三)」
飲食真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 阿囉囉(二) 迦羅羅(三) 沫隣捺娜弭(四) 沫隣捺泥(五) 摩訶沫[喱-里+復](六) 莎訶(七)」
燈真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 怛他揭多喇旨(二) 薩叵囉儜嚩婆娑娜(三) 伽伽猱陀哩耶(四) 莎訶(五)」
閼伽真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 伽伽娜三摩三摩(二) 莎訶(三)」
如來頂相真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 伽伽娜難多薩發囉儜(二) 微輸馱達摩儞闍多(三) 莎訶(四)」
如來甲真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 伐折囉入嚩羅(二) 微薩普囉[合*牛](三)」
如來圓光真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 入嚩羅摩履儞(二) 怛他蘖多㗚旨(三) 莎訶(四)」
如來舌相真言：「南麼三曼多勃馱喃(一) 摩訶摩訶(二) 怛他蘖多爾訶嚩(三) 薩底也達磨鉢囉底瑟恥多(四) 莎訶(五)」
Vidyā of entry into the samaya of the buddhas: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ asame trisame samaye svāhā
Mantra of the arising of the dharma-realm: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ dharma-dhātu-svabhāvako haṃ
Empowerment mantra of Vajrasattva: Namaḥ samanta-vajrāṇāṃ vajrātmakoham
Mantra of the vajra armor: Namaḥ samanta-vajrāṇāṃ vajra-kavaca-haṃ
Mantra of beholding with the Tathāgata's own eye: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ tathāgata-cakṣur vilokaya svāhā
Mantra of scented paste: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ viśuddha-gandhodbhava svāhā
Mantra of flowers: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ mahā-maitry-abhyudgate svāhā
Mantra of burnt incense: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ dharma-dhātv-anugate svāhā
Mantra of food offering: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ arara karara balim-adami balin-dade mahā-baliḥ svāhā
Mantra of the lamp: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ tathāgatārci sphuraṇāvabhāsana gagan-audāryāya svāhā
Mantra of argha water: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ gagana-samāsama svāhā
Mantra of the Tathāgata's uṣṇīṣa: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ gagan-ananta-sphara-ṇa viśuddha-dharma-nirjāte svāhā
Mantra of the Tathāgata's armor: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ vajr-āvaraṇa visphuraṃ
Mantra of the Tathāgata's halo: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ jvalāmalini tathāgatārciḥ svāhā
Mantra of the Tathāgata's tongue-mark: Namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ mahā-mahā tathāgata-jihva satya-dharma-pratiṣṭhita svāhā
These fifteen short mantras are the working vocabulary a practitioner draws on constantly through every stage of the ritual this chapter has just described — one seed-formula for each substance offered (scented paste, flowers, incense, food, a lamp, argha water) and each aspect of the Buddha's own empowered form invoked in visualization (the Tathāgata's eye, uṣṇīṣa, armor, halo, tongue-mark). Nearly all share the same opening formula, namaḥ samanta-buddhānāṃ, "homage to the buddhas universally" — the same phrase that opens the two longer consecration mantras in Part 2 — so that each short mantra reads as one further specific application of a single underlying gesture of homage, rather than an unrelated formula in its own right. As with the mantras earlier on this page, these are given in reconstructed Sanskrit with reasonable confidence, following the pattern well attested across this genre of ritual formula in the wider esoteric corpus; per this site's standing practice, they are offered as sound to be recited rather than fully parsed for discursive meaning.
How to Tell What Kind of Mantra You Are Holding
Chapter two closes with a short grammar. Mantras are classified not by what they say but by the syllables that open and close them — so a practitioner meeting an unfamiliar formula can tell from its shape whether it belongs to a buddha, to a wrathful messenger, or to someone practicing stillness.
爾時世尊而說偈言：「祕密主當知， 此等三昧道，若住佛世尊， 菩薩救世者，緣覺聲聞說， 摧害於諸過；若諸天世間， 真言法教道，如是勤勇者， 為利眾生故。」……爾時世尊復說頌曰：「等正覺真言， 言名成立相，如因陀羅宗， 諸義利成就。有增加法句， 本名行相應，若唵字[合*牛]字， 及與潑磔迦，或頡唎嫓等， 是佛頂名號。若揭㗚佷拏， 佉陀耶畔闍，訶娜摩囉也， 鉢吒也等類，是奉教使者， 諸忿怒真言。若有納麼字， 及莎縛訶等，是修三摩地， 寂行者標相。若有扇多字， 微戍陀字等，當知能滿足， 一切所希願。此正覺佛子， 救世者真言，若聲聞所說， 一一句安布，是中辟支佛， 復有少差別，謂三昧分異， 淨除於業生。」
Then the World-Honored One spoke this verse: “Lord of Secrets, know that these are the ways of samaya. Whether abiding in the Buddha, the World-Honored One; in the bodhisattvas who save the world; in what the solitary awakened and the hearers declare, which crushes and destroys every fault; or in the gods and the world — the way of the teaching of mantra is such, and the diligent and brave practice it for the benefit of living beings.” …Then the World-Honored One spoke again in verse: “The mantras of the Perfectly Awakened have the aspect of established words and names; as in the school of Indra, every good and benefit is accomplished by them. There are supplementary phrases, answering in practice to the root name. If there are the syllables Oṃ and HŪṆ, and PHAṬ, or Hṛḥ, and the like — these are the names of the Buddha’s Uṣṇīṣa. If there are GHṛḥṇA, KHĀDAYA, BHA¿JA, HANA, MĀRAYA, PAṬAYA and that class of thing — these are the mantras of the wrathful messengers who carry out commands. If there is the syllable NAMAḤ, or SVĀHĀ and the like, these are the emblem of one cultivating samādhi, a practitioner of stillness. If there are the syllables ŚĀNTA or VIŚUDDHA and the like, know that they can fulfill every hope there is. These are the mantras of the Perfectly Awakened, of the buddhas’ children, of the saviors of the world. And as for what the hearers declare, each phrase is laid out in the same way; and for the solitary awakened among them there is a small difference — a difference in the portion of samādhi — which purifies what is born of action.”
Reading note — Ru-Yi Meditation Center
This is the same kind of rule as the four rites in the appendix — classification by the frame rather than the content — and here it is doing something a reader can immediately use. KHĀDAYA is “devour,” HANA “strike,” MĀRAYA “kill,” PAṬAYA “split”: the imperatives of a wrathful formula are not disguised. NAMAḤ and SVĀHĀ frame an offering. Oṃ and HŪṆ mark the Uṣṇīṣa. The sūtra is teaching its reader to read the register of a formula before knowing its meaning.
Part 2/3 Complete
This closes the sūtra's second chapter, 入漫荼羅具緣真言品第二, in full: a master's ten qualities, a disciple's courtship, a site's consecration, the philosophical defense of ritual itself, the full iconography of the Womb Maṇḍala's three courts, the forty-two letter-gates underlying every mantra ever spoken, the offerings and fire rite, and the initiation that hands a new disciple a probe, a mirror, a wheel, and a conch — together with a cluster of the mantras a practitioner will use throughout everything that follows. Part 4 turns to three shorter chapters: 息障品第三, on the obstacles a practitioner meets and how to remove them; 普通真言藏品第四, a general treasury of mantras; and the opening of 世間成就品第五, on worldly attainment.
Continue to Part 4 — Obstacles, and a Treasury of Mantras →