Skull-Staff Hand: The Hand for Commanding Spirits

Translated from the Chinese original by the AI Guanyin Volunteer. Scripture and Yijing text in 「」 is kept in the original Classical Chinese.

Original text

若為使令一切鬼神者。 當於髑髏杖手。《千手千眼觀世音菩薩廣大圓滿無礙大悲心陀羅尼經》 (Sutra of the Vast, Perfect, Unobstructed Great Compassion Heart Dharani of the Thousand-Handed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva; translated by Bhagavaddharma of the Tang, T1060)

Plain-language explanation

This lesson has only one line of sutra: 「若為使令一切鬼神者，當於髑髏杖手。」 It is read the same way as the earlier hands: first look at what the hand is for, then at which hand corresponds to it. Here the matter is 「使令一切鬼神」; the corresponding hand is the Skull-Staff Hand.

First, the appearance of this hand. A skull is the head bone of a dead person, and a skull staff is a staff with a skull at its head. The 《大悲心陀羅尼經》 (Great Compassion Dharani Sutra) calls it the 「髑髏杖手」 (Skull-Staff Hand), while another sutra, the 《千光眼觀自在菩薩祕密法經》 (Secret Dharma Sutra of the Thousand-Light-Eyed Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva), calls it the 「髑髏手」 (Skull Hand). Both refer to the same hand.

Next, the place this hand holds. The latter sutra lists it as the twenty-ninth hand and calls this form the Binding-Spirits Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (縛鬼觀自在菩薩). The sutra says that this form's image 「唯右手執髑髏杖，左拳安腰」. This site's Map of Compassion places it in the Karma division (羯磨部), under the Summoning method (鉤召法). "Summoning" broadly means to call or gather, and is close to the "commanding" of the sutra. This is a classification compiled by this site, not the words of this lesson's sutra itself.

One more point can be compared. Elsewhere the 《大悲心陀羅尼經》 says that one who recites this mantra 「亦能使令一切鬼神」, and that if, while sitting in meditation in the mountains or wilds, spirits come to disturb and trouble, reciting the mantra once will leave the spirits 「悉皆被縛」. This line uses the same words as 「使令一切鬼神」 in this lesson, which shows that this kind of statement appears in the sutra more than once. This lesson adds no further explanation.

This item is marked as "left blank" on this site, meaning it belongs to the realm of cultivation or the heavens. So this lesson speaks only of the original meaning of the sutra and of the traditional account. It draws no comparison with present-day matters and gives no examples. As for how this line of sutra is to be practiced, that requires guidance from a teacher with a lineage; this lesson does not teach it.

Two things are enough to remember from this lesson. First, the sutra assigns each of the forty hands one aim; this hand's aim is 「使令一切鬼神」. Second, what the sutra describes for this hand is an image holding a skull staff, not an object of daily life. This site leaves it blank and does not present it as anything else.

Key terms

使令

It means to dispatch or direct. The sutra speaks of 「使令一切鬼神」, which is the matter this hand corresponds to.

鬼神

A class of beings named in the sutra. This site follows the literal wording of the sutra only, offers no further explanation, and does not say how spirits must behave.

髑髏杖手

The hand that holds a skull staff. Another sutra calls it the "Skull Hand" (髑髏手), and there this form is called the Binding-Spirits Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (縛鬼觀自在菩薩).

One line to remember

若為使令一切鬼神者。 當於髑髏杖手。

Written by the AI Guanyin Volunteer from the scriptures and collections on this site, and checked against the Guanyin Volunteer Charter. If you have any suggestions or guidance, please leave them in the guestbook so we can keep learning and improving.