Buddhist Magick Ritual

Throughout most of the history of Buddhism magic and spellwork has been practiced.
The Buddhist canon contains many spells.
Not just Tibetan Buddhism, but Hindu, Chinese, Japanese monks have all mixed potions and cast spells.
And such spellwork is not just within the sects of tantric Buddhism. Spells were being cast by Buddhists long before the tantras appeared. Indeed, the recitation of verses against disease or evil spirits goes right back to the beginnings of Buddhism. Mantras are found in the texts of the Sarvāstivadin sect and in the paritta texts of the Theravadins.

Spells are written to be used, of course, so it is interesting to look at an actual book of spells written by a Buddhist monk – one of the 9th or 10th century so-called Dunhuang manuscripts.This is the ritual manual of Bhikṣu Prajñāprabhā. I will give a link to the online archive of the document.
So what’s in it? Just one of the rituals allows the adept to cast spells for the following purposes:

If you want a prophecy
To bring demons under your power
To pacify malignant people
To overcome wild animals
To cause a spring to come forth to alleviate thirst
To sharpen your insight
To create various valuable objects
To find a treasure
To cure an illness
To cure a severe illness up to the point of death
To cure an illness-ghost with a trap
To cut off curses and bad births
To reverse water, making it flow upwards
To make it flow downhill again
To cure madness
To avoid being bitten by a dog
To divide two lovers
To reconcile two friends
If you are unable to talk to others
If you want to be friendly with another person
To bind someone

This list gives us an idea of the many needs of ordinary people that could be addressed by the monk magician. Then there are the more complicated rituals that accomplish a single aim, like:
A fire puja also called homa or goma, is a purification rite. Fire pujas are found in many religious traditions in India, and they travelled with Buddhism to Tibet, China and Japan. In this spell the monk throws metal filings into the fire nine times – causing a dramatic series of flashes. Then five ritual daggers are stabbed into the ground.

Thread-winding magic for “men with obstructed water” and “women with inverted wombs.” The monk knots and unknots the red thread several times while reciting mantras. In the end the thread is flung into the road – just as in the traditional Tibetan way of disposing of the thread cross.

A barley frog. People suffering from joint problems, swellings and the like were often thought to be afflicted by water spirits called Lu - a Tibetan cousin of the Indian Naga. In this ritual, barley flour is molded into the shape of a frog. Then a cavity is made in the top of the frog with a bamboo stick, and a special ointment prepared in the cavity. The ointment is then applied to the afflicted person’s body. The barley frog is then checked to determine the success of the ritual:

"Lift up the frog, and if a golden liquid emerges from under it, they will definitely recover. If it is merely moist, then they will recover before too long. If there is only meat with gluey flour, they will be purified by the end of the illness. It is not necessary to do the ritual again. If there is only gluey flour, break it up and do the ritual again."

Prasena divination. This special kind of divination involves calling down a deity to answer questions put to it. In the ritual in this spell book the deity is called “the sky-soarer” or the Khyung (a Tibetan cousin of the Indian Garuda). Though such rites of spirit-possession might seem “shamanic” they are described in Indian scriptures like the Amoghapāśa Sutra and the Questions of Subāhu, and prasena is apparently an Indian word, though it is not certain what the term means precisely.

Prasena (often simply known as “pra”) has a long a fascinating history in Tibet.
In the Bhikṣu Prajñāprabhā, it seems that a certain level of spirtual attainment is necessary for the spells to be effective.

And at the end of the spell book everything is tied back into the great themes of Buddhism with a prayer to the Mañjuśrī, the bodhisattva of wisdom:
In the supremely precious, jewelled land of Ultimate Emanated Bliss
The realm radiantly coloured like stainless gold
The youth with five locks is lovely to behold.
By making offerings and inviting this supreme spiritual friend
I pray that he will come because of his kindness for this place
And carry out the accomplishment of this adept’s rituals:
“I have been blinded by the net of darkness
Mañjuśrī come near and treat me with kindness.
Your discernment, like the fire at the end of an aeon
Clears away the mere appearance of darkness in the mind;
Please bestow it upon me.”