Jāṅgulividyā

From Bodhicitta
Texts/Jāṅgulividyā

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जाङ्गुलिविद्या
Jāṅgulividyā
འཕགས་པ་དུག་སེལ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རིག་སྔགས།
'phags pa dug sel zhes bya ba'i rig sngags
The Spell of Jāṅgulī (84000)
Text


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Description

The Āryajāṅgulīmahāvidyā ('Phags pa dug sel gyi rig sngags, "The Noble Great Spell of Jāṅgulī") is a short text containing a vidyā, or spell, for neutralizing poisons, especially snake venom. Teaching the monks at Jetavana near Śrāvastī, the Buddha recounts how, in a former lifetime as a bodhisattva, he received this spell from the goddess Jāṅgulī. He then passes on the spell, a second mantra against snakes, and a closing formula commanding the poison to become harmless and leave the body. In the Derge Kangyur it is classed among the Action tantras (Toh 571), and it appears again in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (Toh 990). A Sanskrit version survives in the Sādhanamālā'.

Śāntideva quotes the Jāṅgulī’s antidote to poisons, its snake mantra, and its formula for dispelling poison in chapter 6 of the Śikṣāsamuccaya, within his discussion of protecting oneself. He does not name the text there: the quotations run on from his citation of the Trisamayavyūharāja, which can make it look as if they come from that tantra. They are found instead in the Jāṅgulī (Toh 990, F.197b–198a). (Source: 84000)

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