Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text, attributed to the master Saroruha, provides a prescriptive guide for the construction and activation of the Hevajra maṇḍala. The work functions as a liturgical manual, directing the practitioner through a sequence of somatic and mental visualizations, mantra recitations, and ritual offerings. It begins with the internal generation of a seed syllable within the body and proceeds to the external sanctification of the environment, specifically transforming the ground into a crossed vajra. The text commits the reader to a rigorous process of summoning and binding wisdom deities into the maṇḍala, followed by the presentation of inner, outer, and suchness offerings. The ritual concludes with expressions of devotion, the accumulation of merit through rejoicing in the virtue of others, and a prayer for future rebirths as a practitioner of the Hevajra tradition. By integrating mantra and visualization, the text aims to align the practitioner's physical and mental state with the divine architecture of the Hevajra maṇḍala.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual guide for the Hevajra maṇḍala, the Hevajramaṇḍalavidhi belongs to the Non-dual Tantra collection. The work is attributed to the Indian author Saroruhavajra. Preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition as the dgyes pa rdo rje'i maN+Dal gyi cho ga, the text appears across five pages in volume ཉ of the Tengyur. The work enacts a precise liturgical sequence, beginning with the visualization of a white hūṃ seed syllable at the heart to purify misdeeds and the transformation of the ground into a crossed vajra through mantra. It further directs the practitioner to arrange flower heaps and employ specific mantras to summon, bind, and stabilize the nine wisdom deities within the maṇḍala, concluding with prostrations to the Vajra-Holder. A scholar or serious reader consults this edition today to examine the prescriptive methods of somatic and mental visualization and the ritualized summoning of deities as preserved in the Tibetan canon.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Ritual for the Hevajra Maṇḍala” (Toh 1221), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1221
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as a representative example of the Anuttarayoga Tantra tradition, specifically the Hevajra cycle. It illustrates the technical intersection of mantra, mudra, and visualization used to transform ordinary perception into a purified sacred space. For the modern reader, it provides primary evidence of the ritualized methods used to achieve non-dual realization in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Preliminary Visualization and Ground Sanctification
Instructions for visualizing the seed syllable hūṃ and the ritual transformation of the ground into a crossed vajra.
3-4
Summoning and Offerings
The use of mantras to summon and bind wisdom deities and the presentation of various categories of offerings.
5-7
Devotional Vows and Conclusion
Practices of rejoicing in merit, taking refuge in Hevajra, prayers for future rebirths, and the colophon attributing the work to Saroruha.
Themes
Ritual Space Transformation (1-2)
Mantra and Deity Control (3)
Offerings and Merit (4-5)
Samaya and Lineage Devotion (6)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Hevajramaṇḍalavidhi. In the language of Tibet: dgyes pa rdo rje’i maṇḍala’i cho ga (The Ritual of the Hevajra Maṇḍala). Homage to the glorious Heruka!
Visualize a hūṃ as white as the luster of the moon upon a sun maṇḍala at the heart of your karmically ripened body. From that, white light rays radiate, filling the body and purifying all misdeeds. Then, meditate on emptiness and, by uttering hūṃ, visualize yourself as the Action Heruka with one face and two arms. At his crown, visualize a white oṃ upon a moon maṇḍala. At the throat, visualize a red āḥ upon an eight-petaled lotus. At the heart, visualize a blue hūṃ upon a sun maṇḍala. Protect yourself by reciting: oṃ āḥ hūṃ rakṣa rakṣa hūṃ hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Recite oṃ āḥ hūṃ over nectar or the five products of a cow and so forth. While reciting oṃ vajrarekhe hūṃ, smear the maṇḍala. Then, having washed your hands and joined your palms, recite the benefits:
"Applying water and cow dung is generosity;
Smoothing the surface is discipline;
Removing ants and the like is acceptance;
Commencing the work is diligence;
Momentary one-pointedness is concentration;
Leveling the lines is insight.
By making a maṇḍala for the Sage, one will attain these six perfections.
One will be born as a distinguished god or human, with a splendor like the moon;
Freed from all diseases, one will become like the color of gold.
One will be born among the kṣatriya class, possessing wealth such as grain and gold."
"Therefore, perform the action upon the body in the supreme abode of the Sugata," it is said. Then, touch the ground with the left hand and recite: Oṃ vajra medinī vajrībhava vajra bandha hūṃ. By the mere recitation of this, visualize that the ground becomes a crossed vajra (viśvavajra).
Then, arrange heaps of flowers in the maṇḍala. In the center, recite Oṃ āḥ hūṃ namaḥ and cast a flower. In the east, recite Gaṃ gaurī namaḥ and cast a flower. In the south, recite Caṃ caṇḍālī namaḥ and cast a flower. In the west, recite Paṃ pukkāsī namaḥ and cast one. In the north, recite Ghaṃ ghasmarī namaḥ and cast one. In the northeast, recite Taṃ śavarī namaḥ and cast one. In the southeast, recite Saṃ śavari namaḥ and cast one. In the southwest, recite Laṃ caṇḍālī namaḥ and cast one. In the northwest, recite Ḍaṃ ḍombinī namaḥ and cast one. These constitute the maṇḍala of the flower heaps.
Then, light rays radiate from the hūṃ at one's own heart, entering the left nostrils of all the Buddhas of the ten directions. By merely striking the lotuses at their hearts, their minds are stirred, and all the Buddhas of the ten directions emanate as the maṇḍala of the nine deities of Hevajra. Visualize them arriving in the sky before you. With the intention of subduing all obstructing spirits (vighna) who have come clinging to the tips of those light rays, expel the obstructors with the four hūṃs.
Then: Oṃ vajra gaurī ākarṣaya jaḥ. Oṃ vajra caurī praveśaya hūṃ.
OṂ VAJRA VETĀLĪ BANDHA PAṂ. OṂ VAJRA GHASMARĪ VAŚAṂ KURU HOḤ. By reciting these, the nine wisdom deities are summoned, absorbed, bound, and brought under control into the maṇḍala of the flower heaps; they should then be stabilized with the hundred-syllable mantra. Then, one should prostrate:
Beholding beings oppressed by delusion, in order to pacify the delusion of beings, the Vajra-Holder manifested as Gaurī. Therefore, I praise and prostrate to Gaurī.
Beholding beings oppressed by hatred, in order to pacify the hatred of beings, the Vajra-Holder manifested as Caurī. Therefore, I praise and prostrate to Caurī.
Beholding beings oppressed by pride, in order to pacify the pride of beings, the Lord manifested in the form of Vetālī. Therefore, I praise and prostrate to Vetālī.
Beholding beings ensnared by desire, in order to pacify the desire of beings, the Lord manifested in the form of Ghasmarī. Therefore, I praise and bow to Ghasmarī.
To the non-dual form of Nairātmyā, I prostrate and bow, I prostrate and bow. To the Vajra-Ḍākinī, the mistress of the five wisdoms and the three bodies, I prostrate.
Then, again, one should make offerings to the Blessed One with: OṂ DEVA PICU VAJRA HŪṂ HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ. One should make offerings to the Blessed Lady with: OṂ A Ā I Ī U Ū RI RĪ LI LĪ E AI O AU AṂ AḤ. Again, one should offer with: OṂ AṢṬĀNANĀYA NAMAḤ. OṂ PIṄGŌRDHAKESAVARTMANĀYA NAMAḤ. OṂ CATURVIṂŚATINETRĀYA NAMAḤ. OṂ ṢOḌAŚABHŪJĀYA NAMAḤ. OṂ KṚṢṆAJIMŪTAVAPUṢE NAMAḤ. OṂ KAPĀLAMĀLĀNEKADHĀRIṆE NAMAḤ.
Oṃ ādhātukrūra-cittāya namaḥ | Oṃ ardhendu-daṃṣṭriṇe namaḥ | With these eight lines, one should make offerings. Then, one should perfectly worship with inner, outer, and suchness offerings. One should also worship with outer ritual offerings, and by sprinkling all the flowers and offering substances while reciting Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ, they are consecrated. With Oṃ sarva-saṃśodhani hūṃ phaṭ svāhā, one purifies them with scented water. With Oṃ vajra-nīrati hūṃ, one offers water for the feet. With Oṃ hṛ viśuddha sarva-dharmāḥ sarva-pāpaṃ niśchaya-saṃśodhaya sarva-vikalpa-apanaya hūṃ, one offers water for the feet. With Jaḥ hūṃ baṃ hoḥ khaṃ raṃ, one offers the arghaṃ water. Then, in sequence, one should offer flowers, incense, lamps, divine food, and music with: Oṃ vajra-dhūpe āḥ hūṃ; Oṃ vajra-puṣpe āḥ hūṃ; Oṃ vajra-āloke āḥ hūṃ; Oṃ vajra-gandhe āḥ hūṃ; Oṃ vajra-naivedye āḥ hūṃ; and Oṃ vajra-śabda āḥ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā. Furthermore, I offer myself to the glorious Hevajra maṇḍala and its retinue; I pray that you accept me with great compassion. Then, one should also praise with the Twenty Verses of Praise. Next, one should confess misdeeds: "Whatever actions I have committed, am committing, or have rejoiced in, accumulated through distorted conceptions throughout beginningless saṃsāra, I confess them all in the presence of the Blessed One and shall henceforth restrain myself."
I shall rejoice in all the roots of virtue of all sentient beings, such as the merit of all buddhas, bodhisattvas, and ordinary beings. Until I reach the seat of awakening, I take refuge in the Buddha Hevajra Vajra, who possesses great compassion and in whom the three realms are of a single flavor in great bliss; in the Dharma without exception, including the mantras, mudrās, and Mahāyāna teachings spoken by him, as well as the maṇḍalas and other such phenomena; and in the Saṅgha of irreversible bodhisattvas and the assembly of goddesses who abide in his wheel. I shall generate the mind set on unsurpassed, perfect, and complete awakening. For the sake of accomplishing the benefit and happiness of all sentient beings, and in order to establish them in the ultimate nirvāṇa of the awakening of a buddha, I shall generate the mind set on unsurpassed, perfect, and complete awakening. I take refuge in the Three Jewels. I confess all misdeeds. I rejoice in the virtue of beings. I hold the awakening of the buddhas in my mind. Having thus generated the mind, one should then rely upon this very path of the unsurpassed Mahāyāna. I offer my body to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas; may those who possess great compassion please accept it. Having thus offered the body, one should then make this aspiration: "Born into the family, may I not decline..."
May I be born again and again as one who possesses the samaya, who holds the Vajra of Joy, who is endowed with compassion, and who is devoted to the Guru. May I be born again and again as Vajrapāṇi, sounding the bell, reciting the profound Dharma, and partaking of the equal food of the consort’s essence. Having become the glorious Heruka, may I act for the benefit of all sentient beings. Having attained the supreme state of Heruka, may I establish and place all sentient beings without exception in this. Through this offering of praise, may I quickly be born into the supreme Vajra family. For the sake of sentient beings, may I become like Mañjughoṣa, endowed with qualities through authentic means. May I become like Vajrasattva, bestowing incomparable bliss upon all yoginīs. Adorned with the six mudrās, may I dwell in the charnel grounds and possess pure conduct. Following that, one should supplement the ritual with the hundred-syllable mantra and perform confession: OṂ VAJRA HERUKA SAMAYA MANUPĀLAYA HERUKA TVENOPATIṢṬHA DṚḌHO ME BHAVA SUTOṢYO ME BHAVA ANURAKTO ME BHAVA SUPOṢYO ME BHAVA SARVA SIDDHIṂ ME PRAYACCHA SARVA KARMĀṂ SUCA ME CITTAM ŚREYAḤ KURU HŪṂ HA HA HA HA HO BHAGAVĀN SARVA TATHĀGATA VAJRA MĀ ME MUÑCA VAJRĪ BHAVA MAHĀ SAMAYA SATVA ĀḤ HŪṂ PHAṬ. Having confessed with this, request the wisdom deity to depart with: OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ VAJRA MUḤ. Then, dissolve the samaya deity into one’s own heart, gather the flower heaps into the center, and remain reciting OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ.