Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text, titled the Ritual of the Gaṇacakra, provides a prescriptive framework for conducting a tantric feast offering. The text outlines the necessary qualifications for the assembly master, emphasizing a combination of tantric mastery, yogic diligence, and the abandonment of conceptualization. It guides the practitioner through the visualization and transformation of offerings into divine nectar (amṛta) and the use of specific mantras to purify these substances. The ritual incorporates elements of communal bliss and the vocalization of celebratory phrases to eliminate afflictions. Furthermore, it addresses the role of consorts and the interaction between the yogi and the Principal Deity to maintain samaya. The work commits the reader to a precise set of liturgical actions—including visualization, mantra recitation, and the presentation of a maṇḍala—designed to facilitate the spiritual benefit of both the practitioner and all sentient beings through the invocation of Vajradhara and other deities.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual guide for the gaṇacakra, the Gaṇacakravidhi is attributed to the Indian author Ḍombi Heruka. It entered the Tibetan tradition through the work of the translators Jñānākara and lo tsa ba mar pa blo gros, and is preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཉ) within the Non-dual Tantra collection. Written in classical Tibetan as the tshogs kyi 'khor lo'i cho ga, the work extends over five pages in its source edition. The text enacts a prescriptive framework for a tantric feast offering, beginning with an invocation to Vajraḍākinī and a description of the qualifications required for the assembly master, such as the mastery of tantras and the abandonment of conceptualization. It provides specific instructions for the visualization and transformation of offerings into divine nectar (amṛta) and the recitation of mantras to achieve natural purity. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine the precise liturgical actions—including the role of the master, the use of the vajra to summon wisdom nectar, and the merging of elements into a single taste—that characterize the ritual practice of the gaṇacakra.
The text is significant as it illustrates the intersection of ritual purity, visualization, and communal practice within the Gaṇacakra tradition. It demonstrates how material offerings are conceptually transformed into wisdom nectar to achieve non-dual realization. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of the technical requirements and ethical-ritual boundaries governing tantric assemblies.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and Qualifications
Includes the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, an homage to Vajraḍākinī, and the required attributes of the assembly master.
3
Preparation of Offerings
Instructions on visualizing and summoning the wisdom nectar through mantras and light rays.
4
Communal Celebration
The use of celebratory exclamations and mantras to burn away afflictions through shared bliss.
5
Consort and Samaya
Guidelines regarding the role of beautiful maidens and the maintenance of samaya through the Principal Deity.
6
Closing Dedication
The final offering of the maṇḍala and flowers to Vajradhara for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Themes
Transformation of Substance (3)
Ritual Purity and Samaya (2, 5)
Non-dual Bliss (4, 5)
Universal Compassion (2, 6)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Gaṇacakra-vidhi-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Tshogs kyi ’khor lo’i cho ga zhes bya ba (The Ritual of the Gaṇacakra). Homage to the glorious Vajraḍākinī!
Sporting in the union of the stainless, expansive color of the sky, she who protects the world well by trampling the four Māras with her feet—to that excellent and terrifying chief of ḍākinīs, I prostrate. In order to thoroughly accumulate the merit of wandering beings, I shall explain the condensed ritual of the play of method and insight, the great gaṇacakra praised as the supreme among all tantras, which burns away the afflictions.
First, those who desire the gaṇacakra should follow with awareness and, with a faith of complete clarity, take hold of the guru and the chosen deity. In that regard, the cause for attaining Buddhahood is the accumulation of merit and wisdom; from the gaṇacakra, the supreme accomplishment arises. Therefore, one should always accumulate the gaṇacakra. Although there are many types of wisdom and merit, the unsurpassed application of the five sensory qualities through the maṇḍala of one’s own deity is supreme. Therefore, its ritual is highly praised on the eighth and fourteenth days of the waxing moon, and on the fifteenth. Likewise, on the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days of the waning moon, the wise should turn the wheel.
In a charnel ground, or at a solitary tree, in a grove or a pleasure garden, or likewise in one’s own home or other secluded dwellings, one should smear the ground with the five products of a cow and scatter various fragrant flowers. In that regard, first, those who desire the gaṇacakra...
To the monk who is the master of the assembly, who has mastered many tantras, who is diligent in yoga and has abandoned conceptualization, who knows the ten suchnesses and possesses great compassion, who maintains the samaya and has few desires—one should request the formal hearing of the teachings from such a master, beginning with the generation of the bodhicitta. Furthermore, one should pray to the deities who possess the samaya, who are devoted to the guru, who have little conceptualization, and who are free from resentment and possess self-faith. In order to please the guests, one should prepare the gaṇacakra to the extent of one's wealth, using worldly riches such as meat, alcohol, cooked rice, cakes, and likewise various foods, snacks, drinks, and things to be licked or tasted. Likewise, one should arrange incense, ointments, perfumes, excellent flower garlands, lamps, and various types of incense. Then, the master should sit properly upon an excellent seat in the center. Likewise, upon excellent seats, the circle of yogins should be arranged to the right and the yoginīs to the left. Then, the master himself, with the vajra and the drop (bindu), should consecrate the three places of body, speech, and mind for everyone. Likewise, one should adorn the head and the necklace with excellent flower garlands. Then, with the excellent water of nectar (amṛta), one should mix it with all the food. Regarding the ritual actions of the principal [deity], one should visualize the vessels as skull-cups arising from the syllable A. Then, having visualized the five nectars, one should again meditate on a vajra arising from the syllable HŪṂ. Below that, having ignited the karmic wind and fire, the vajra falls into the skull-cup.
One should visualize that as the divine nectar (amṛta). Once the nectar has appeared, recite the mantra. Alternatively, from the vajra, light rays radiate and summon the wisdom nectar. By merging the three into a single taste with wisdom, it is called "Vajra Nectar." Recite the mantra of natural purity. These are held to be the first portion of the gaṇacakra.
Then, the yoginīs should visualize from the syllable raṃ in the water-vessel a blazing interior of clear light (ābhāsvara). In its center, from paṃ, is an eight-petaled lotus; upon that, visualize the wheel of deities. Visualize the mouth as a sacrificial fire pit (homa-kunda). With the two hands, from hūṃ, correctly meditate on the two vajra ladles. Visualize each as their respective deity. By way of vajra recitation, recite the secret mantra with a non-conceptual mind. This definitive inner yoga is called the "Wheel of Mind." This is held to be the second portion of the gaṇacakra.
Then, the Lord of the Assembly (gaṇapati) should prepare a maṇḍala before each person. Following that, place the completely pure collection of offerings before everyone. Holding flowers and standing before them, generate the mind of awakening (bodhicitta) and say: "Vajradhara and the rest, please attend to me! I offer this sublime assembly with a mind of faith; please accept it as you please." Having made such a request, scatter the flowers. Then, the principal [deity] says to the deities: "Ema! O great wisdoms!"
The blazing great assembly burns away the afflictions. Having attained such bliss, everyone should exclaim, "Aho sukha!" Then, after a moment, they should all recite these mantras with one voice:
AHO SUKHA BHAKṢAṆĀM | AHO SUKHA PRĀYAṆĀM | MAHĀMUDRĀSIDDHINĀ PRAPATHA TAN NIRTE NA | HŪṂ HA HA HO |
Then, from the initial yoga, accompanied by the sound of HŪṂ and endowed with the five mudrās, one should take the nectar with the ladle and offer it into the blazing fire. Having filled a single-fragmented skull cup with nectar, the yoginī should serve it to the principal deity with the lotus mudrā. In that manner, passing it from one to another is the wheel of mudrās; this is held to be the third part of the gaṇacakra.
Then the principal deity, in meditative equipoise, should accomplish the profound Dharma. With that vajra, one should invoke bliss. Through the assemblies of great bliss, for the sake of the patron’s accumulation of merit, one should proclaim the profound Dharma. Thus, the assembly of method and wisdom, spoken in proper sequence by the dharmabhāṇaka, is the wheel of the speech of the sublime Dharma.
Then, having been exhorted by the principal deity, through the play free from conceptualization, if the method is the song of wisdom, or otherwise the reverse, these are the wheels of body and speech. Everyone should turn the wheel in their proper sequence. Then, in the mutual order, the patron, for the sake of making offerings, [should offer] his own wife or...
To such women as these, beautiful maidens, the yogi who desires merit or seeks to offer them should make a request to the Principal Deity. Then, so that all the deities may abide in the samaya, the Principal Deity, through the yoga of great bliss, embraces the consort within the curtain. Having entered into union upon a comfortable seat, for as long as they remain in bliss, the three realms are emptied. Having unified them with the mind, one takes the camphor with the tongue and places the bindu drops within the lotus-faces of all the deities. That is the bliss of jñāna; it should be made to enter the enjoyment wheel (saṃbhogacakra). In that sequence, all the deities without exception, through the stage of self-consecration (svādhiṣṭhāna), enter into union upon a comfortable seat and consume their own amṛta. That bliss is correctly known through the method; whatever bliss arises in the mind is asserted to be the mind wheel (cittacakra). If those are not fully accomplished, one should apply medicinal butter to the heart and gently massage it slightly. That too is the great bliss of the mind; it is certainly the mind wheel. Thus, through the assembly of complete applications, having offered enjoyments according to the yoga of each respective deity—gold, jewels, and so forth, silk, cotton, or medicinal substances—one should offer twice the amount to the Principal Deity and the Wisdom Consort, and half of that to the others. Then the patron should exhort them toward virtue.
With the maṇḍala and flowers prepared, and holding flowers in his hands, he should speak these words:
"Vajradhara and the rest, please attend to me! With supreme faith in you, I have presented this assembly of offerings. May I and all sentient beings without exception, having abandoned the suffering of saṃsāra, become the King Vajradhara of Great Bliss."
Then, in order to inspire him, the Principal should speak these words:
"O, great sentient being! Today the Buddhas are turning their attention toward you. Since you shall become a Buddha, you see the great fruit; therefore, exert yourself with conviction. This is the basis of merit."
Then, mixing the leftovers and the first portions, the yogi, endowed with excellence, should offer the torma to all the elemental spirits. Having gathered the flowers and so forth, the drops (bindus) should be wiped away. Through the yoga of one's respective deity, with meditative absorption, mantra, and mudrā, one should request them to depart for the benefit of beings.
Then, in order to show the samaya to the assembly of deities, the Principal says: "Having seen the sufferings of the hells and so forth, do not speak of this way [to others]."
"By whatever stainless virtue I have obtained through accomplishing the feast (gaṇacakra), may I gather the two accumulations and cause all beings to attain the state of Vajradhara."
The Ritual of the Gaṇacakra, composed by the master Ḍombi Heruka, is complete. Translated by the Indian abbot Jñānākara and the translator Marpa Lodrö.