Pañcarakṣā

Pañcarakṣā (T. gzungs chen grwa lnga གཟུངས་ཆེན་གྲྭ་ལྔ།), or Five Protectors, is a term used to describe both the scriptures and the deities of the “five protectress goddesses” popular in the Mahayana-Vajrayana tradition.

The five goddesses are: Mahāpratisarā, Mahāsāhasrapramardanī, Mahāmāyūrī, Mahāśītavatī, and Mahāmantrānusāriṇī. These five deities each have specific functions and are directed towards accomplishing worldly welfare and happiness, preventing and surviving natural disasters, curing snakebite, overcoming fear and averting pestilence and epidemics.

The Pañcarakṣā collection of the following texts (positions in the Tibetan Kangyur are shown):

• Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm (Toh 558)

  trans. Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm (Toh 558)

• The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen (Toh 559)

  trans. The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen (Toh 559)

• The Great Amulet (Toh 561)

  trans. The Great Amulet (Toh 561)

• Great Cool Grove (Toh 562)

  trans. Great Cool Grove (Toh 562)

• Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra (Toh 563)

  trans. Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra (Toh 563)

James Gentry states:

Together these scriptures have been apotheosized in the Mahāyāna tradition as five goddesses known collectively as the Pañcarakṣā, or the “Five Protectresses.” In the Tibetan tradition this collection is known by the moniker gzungs chen grwa lnga, “The Fivefold Great Dhāraṇī.”

Gentry also states:

... the Five Protectresses have been among the most popular texts used for pragmatic purposes throughout the Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhist world. While it seems certain that these texts each developed independently and were only later combined into a five-text corpus, their popularity is attested by their eventual spread to Nepal, Tibet, Central Asia, China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, and Indonesia (Hidas 2007: 189). In East Asia, the textual tradition associated with the Mahāmāyūrī in particular was instrumental in integrating Buddhist and indigenous notions of divine kingship. Moreover, the tradition of all five goddesses and their texts still occupies a place of central importance today in the Vajrayāna Buddhism practiced by the Newar population of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. Newar Buddhist communities of Kathmandu have even translated the texts of the Five Protectresses into the modern vernacular, based on which they continue to stage a number of annual rites for a broad range of pragmatic purposes. Newars often propitiate the Five Protectresses together by means of a five-section maṇḍala and other tantric elements that do not necessarily feature in the scriptures themselves. This tradition reflects a specifically tantric ritual treatment of the texts, which, judging by the presence of tantric sādhana practices associated with these five texts in the Tibetan Tengyur collections, had already developed by the time the Tibetan translations were executed. This helps account for why Tibetan redactors construed these five texts as belonging to the category of Kriyātantra, and not to the Dhāraṇī or Sūtra sections. Indeed, the Tibetan translation of the Mahāpratisarā reflects a recension of the Sanskrit text, which, Gergely Hidas suggests, “most likely served the better integration of this text into the Vajrayāna, changing the historical locus of the nidāna to a mythical Vajrayānic setting.”

The designation Five Protectresses denotes the set of five texts, the incantations presented therein, and the goddesses presiding over each. It is believed that all these texts, particularly their incantations, provide special protection against a wide range of illnesses and misfortunes for those who memorize, recollect, read, copy, teach, wear, or otherwise come into contact with them. Each text promises protection against specific misfortunes, with considerable overlap witnessed between the texts. Despite the pragmatic thrust of these scriptures, each text also contains numerous allusions to doctrinal notions. The range of effects described therein sometimes, though rarely, extends beyond the pragmatic sphere to include the purification of negative karma, deliverance from the lower realms, and even the attainment of buddhahood.

Todd Lewis also notes that these texts are recited for protection in the Newar Buddhist tradition.

Further reading

• The Five Protections: A Buddhist Approach to Healthcare
• Pancha Raksha, Himalayan Art