Protectors of the Prajnaparamita sutra

Discuss and learn about the traditional Mahayana scriptures, without assuming that any one school ‘owns’ the only correct interpretation.
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Volan
Posts: 63
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:27 am

Protectors of the Prajnaparamita sutra

Post by Volan »

From the Tibetan tradition we have the Sher nying averting ritual:
The Heart Sutra is often recited together with a supplemental section for dokpa, the practice of averting harm and negativity. The text of the dokpa section refers to an incident recounted in the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in Eight Thousand Lines and Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in Eighteen Thousand Lines, when the god Indra turned away Mara and his forces, who were approaching the Buddha, by contemplating and reciting the Prajnaparamita.
There is a chapter about that ritual in Lopez, Donald S. "Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Sūtra". Princeton University Press, 1996


Protectors of the Prajnaparamita sutra according to the Japanese tradition :
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/s ... orsofShaka
16 Good Gods
(Jūroku Zenjin, Juroku Zenjin 十六善神). Protectors of the Daihannyakyō Sutra 大般若経 (Great Widsom Sutra, Skt. Mahaprajna paramita sutra) and those devoted to it.


Daitorada 提頭羅宅; Jikokuten 持国天 (one of four Shitennō)
Birurokusha 毘盧勒叉; Zōchōten 増長天 (one of four Shitennō)
Saifukudokugai 摧伏毒害
Zōyaku 増益
Kanki 歓喜
Joissaishōnan 除一切障難
Batsujozaiku 抜除罪垢
Nōnin 能忍
Ueshiramanu 吠室羅摩拏; Tamonten 多聞天 (one of four Shitennō)
Birubakusha 毘盧博叉; Kōmokuten 広目天 (one of four Shitennō)
Riissaifui 離一切怖畏
Kugoissai 救護一切
Shōfukushoma 摂伏諸魔
Nōkushō 能救諸有
Shishiimō 師子威猛
Yūmōshinchi 勇猛心地

Bonten 梵天 and Taishakuten 帝釈天 are also sometimes added, making eighteen.
Sanskrit names:
1. Dhṛtarāṣṭra
2. Virūḍhaka
5. Nandikêśvara
9. Vaiśravaṇa
10. Virūpākṣa
17. Brahmā
18. Indra
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