Shield Hand: Standing in Front to Ward Off Fierce Beasts

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

Original text

若為辟除一切虎狼豺豹諸 惡獸者。 當於旁牌手。《千手千眼觀世音菩薩廣大圓滿無礙大悲心陀羅尼經》 (Great Compassion Dharani Sutra of the Thousand-Handed, Thousand-Eyed Guanyin Bodhisattva; translated by Bhagavaddharma, Tang dynasty, T1060)

Plain-language explanation

This lesson's scripture is a single sentence: 「若為辟除一切虎狼豺豹諸惡獸者。當於旁牌手。」

First, the literal meaning. 旁牌 is a shield, something used to block and protect. The scripture says that when facing fierce beasts such as tigers, wolves, jackals and leopards, and wishing to ward them off, one should use this hand. The meaning here is to block and keep away, not to go out and attack.

Next, how another scripture writes it. In the 《千光眼觀自在菩薩祕密法經》, the fifteenth hand is written 「搒排手」. It says 「若欲辟除一切惡獸者，當修榜棑法」. In the image, the left hand holds a shield facing outward and the right hand makes a fist. This site's Compassion Map places this hand in the Buddha division, under the pacifying (息災) rites, with the wrathful form of Avalokiteśvara (現怒觀自在菩薩) as the principal deity. These are what the scriptures say. As for its meaning today, that belongs to later interpretation, and that scripture is describing ritual procedure, which this lesson does not go into.

In the scripture, 惡獸 (fierce beasts) means actual wild animals. In the world of the ancients, such threats were real in mountains, forests and open country. Some later readers have taken the beasts to mean fierceness in the human heart, such as rage, grasping, and thoughts that harm others. That is an interpretation from later generations, not the scripture's original meaning. When reading, keep the two levels apart.

This site's modern reading: the function of a shield is to stand in the middle so that harm cannot pass through. Applied to today, it can be read as “protecting others from being harmed”. This is this site's own arrangement so that ordinary readers can follow it, and it is marked as interpretation. It does not mean that holding this hand makes fierce beasts or danger withdraw by themselves. The scripture speaks of what situation this hand corresponds to; it does not give a guarantee to anyone.

The picture this hand gives is simple: first step forward and block, rather than strike back.

Summary: the sentence pattern of the Shield Hand is “to ward off such-and-such, use such-and-such hand”, one matter to one hand. The matter this hand corresponds to is fierce beasts.

Key terms

旁牌手

One of the Forty Hands. 旁牌 means a shield. The 《千光眼觀自在菩薩祕密法經》 writes it as 「搒排手」; another scripture writes it differently, but it refers to the same hand.

惡獸

The scripture originally refers to fierce animals such as tigers, wolves, jackals and leopards. Some later readers have taken it to mean fierce thoughts in the mind; that is an interpretation from later generations, not the original meaning.

辟除

It means to block off and keep away. The scripture uses “辟除” (ward off), and does not mean “destroy”. Be careful not to read it as actively attacking.

One line to remember

若為辟除一切虎狼豺豹諸惡獸者

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.