Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm

Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm (Skt. Mahāsāhasrapramardanī; T. stong chen mo rab tu 'joms pa སྟོང་ཆེན་མོ་རབ་ཏུ་འཇོམས་པ་) is a text found in the Kriya tantra section of the Tibetan Kangyur (Toh 558).

James Gentry states:

Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, popular for centuries as an important facet of Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhism’s traditional approach to personal and communal misfortunes of all kinds. Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm primarily addresses illnesses caused by spirit entities thought to devour the vitality of humans and animals. The text describes them as belonging to four different subspecies, presided over by the four great kings, guardians of the world, who hold sovereignty over the spirit beings in the four cardinal directions. The text also includes ritual prescriptions for the monastic community to purify its consumption of alms tainted by the “five impure foods.” This refers generally to alms that contain meat, the consumption of which is expressly prohibited for successful implementation of the Pañcarakṣā’s dhāraṇī incantations.

English translation

• James Gentry (2023), Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm, 84000 Reading Room

Further reading

• The Aspiration Prayer from “Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm”
• A Mantra for Incanting Medicines, Extracted from “Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm”