Toh 1260 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

A Ritual for the Dead

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1260
Genre: Ritual
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 009_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཉ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,784 Tibetan characters · 456 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

This ritual text, titled Mṛtyuvidhi-nāma in Sanskrit and Gshin gyi cho ga zhes bya ba in Tibetan, provides a liturgical framework for the seven-day rite (bdun tshig) following a person's death. Operating within the Hevajra tantric system, the text instructs the practitioner to employ specific visualization techniques to facilitate the transition of the deceased. The process involves the projection of light into the heart of the subject to purify the obscurations of body, speech, and mind, followed by the recitation of aspiration prayers and the dedication of merit. By committing the reader to a precise sequence of visualization and recitation, the text aims to cleanse the consciousness of the deceased and ensure a favorable rebirth or liberation through the application of Hevajra's spiritual influence.

Provenance

About this text

Providing a liturgical framework for the seven-day rite following a person's death, the Mṛtyuvidhi is a work belonging to the Hevajra system. It is attributed to the Indian author Kṛṣṇa Paṇḍita. The text passed into the Tibetan language through the work of the translators Jetakarṇa and lo tsa ba shakya’i dge slong nyi ma rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po. Preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཉ), it is situated within the Non-dual Tantra collection of the classical Tibetan period, where it extends over two pages. The work enacts a specific ritual process to facilitate the transition of the deceased, instructing the practitioner to use a support such as a garment or a piece of paper. Through the visualization of light dissolving into the heart of the subject, the ritual aims to purify the obscurations of body, speech, and mind, followed by aspiration prayers and the dedication of virtue. The consciousness of the deceased is further visualized as a short A, lifted by a Yaṃ wind-maṇḍala. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the precise sequence of visualization and recitation used to cleanse the consciousness of the deceased within the Hevajra tradition.

Sanskrit title: Mṛtyuvidhi
Indian author: Kṛṣṇa Paṇḍita
Tibetan translators: Jetakarṇa, lo tsa ba shakya’i dge slong nyi ma rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po
Canonical collection: Non-dual Tantra
Genre: Ritual
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཉ
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Ritual for the Dead” (Toh 1260), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1260

Summary & commentary

Significance

The text is significant as it demonstrates the application of Hevajra tantra to funerary rites, illustrating how high-level deity yoga is adapted for the benefit of the deceased. For the modern reader, it provides insight into the Tibetan Buddhist conceptualization of the post-mortem state and the perceived efficacy of ritual intervention during the bardo period.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction and Preliminary Instructions	Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and establishes the Hevajra system as the basis for the seven-day rite.
2	Purification Ritual	Details the visualization of light dissolving into the heart to purify obscurations, followed by aspiration and dedication.

Themes

Post-mortem purification (2)
Hevajra tantric system (1)
Visualization and merit dedication (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaA Ritual for the Dead·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། མྲྀ་ཏྱུ་བི་དྷི་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། གཤིན་གྱི་ཆོ་ག་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། ཀྱཻའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། གང་ཟག་གང་ཕྱིར་ཤི་འཕོས་ཏེ། ཀྱེ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་ལུགས་ཀྱིས་བདུན་ཚིག་བྱེད་པར་འདོད་ན། གོས་ལ་སོགས་པའི་རྟགས་གཅིག་ལ་རྟེན་བྱ་བའམ། ཡང་ན་མིང་ཤོག་བུ་ལ་བྲིའོ། ། མཎྜལ་དང་མཆོད་པ་དང་གཏོར་མ་ཡང་གཞུང་ལྟར་བཤམ་མོ། ། དེ་ནས་རང་ལྷག་པའི་ལྷར་ བསྒོམས་ལ། ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་སྤྱན་དྲངས་ཏེ། མཆོད་པའི་ཁྱད་པར་གྱིས་མཆོད་ལ། བསྟོད་པས་བསྟོད་དེ། མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་རྣམས་ལ་གཏོར་མ་བསྔོས་ལ་འདོད་པའི་དོན་ལ་གསོལ་བ་གདབ་པོ། ། དེ་ནས་རང་གི་སྙིང་གའི་ས་བོན་གྱི་འོད་ཟེར་གྱིས། ཚེ་འཕོས་ པའི་སེམས་ཡི་གེ་ཨ་ཐུང་གི་གཟུགས་སུ་འོད་ཟེར་གྱི་ལྕགས་ཀྱུས་བཀུག་ནས། རྟེན་གང་ཡིན་པ་ལ་བསྟིམ་མོ། ། རྣམ་སྨིན་གྱི་ལུས་གང་ཡིན་པ་དེར་བསམས་ལ། རང་གི་སྙིང་གའི་ས་བོན་ལས་འོད་ཟེར་འཕྲོས་ཏེ། བསྒྲུབ་བྱའི་སྙིང་གར་ཐིམ་པས་ལས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་ པ་ཐམས་ཅད་སྦྱངས་ཏེ། ལུས་ཤེལ་ལྟ་བུར་བསམ་མོ། ། དེ་ནས་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་དང་བཅས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་དང་རིག་པའི་ལྷ་མོ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་ན་བསྣམས་པའི་བུམ་པའི་བདུད་རྩིའི་ཆུ་རྒྱུན་གྱིས་དབང་བསྐུར་ཏེ། བཀྲུས་པས། བསྒྲུབ་བྱའི་སྒྲིབ་པའི་ བག་ཆགས་ཐམས་ཅད་བྱང་བར་བསམ་མོ། ། དེ་ནས་བཟླས་པ་བྱས་ཏེ། བདག་གི་སྙིང་གའི་ཡི་གེ་ལས་བཟླས་པའི་ཡི་གེའི་ཕྲེང་བ་སྦྲུལ་འཁྱིལ་བའི་ཚུལ་དུ་བསྐོར་བར་བསམས་ལ། དེའི་ཕྲེང་སྔགས་གང་ཡིན་པ་བཟླས་པས་སྔགས་ཀྱི་ཕྲེང་བ་ལས་འོད་ཟེར་ འཕྲོས་པས།

In the language of India: Mṛtyuvidhi-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Gshin gyi cho ga zhes bya ba (The Ritual for the Deceased). Homage to Hevajra! If any individual, having passed away, wishes to perform the bdun tshig (the seven-day rite) according to the system of Hevajra, one should rely upon a single support such as a garment or the like, or alternatively, write the name on a piece of paper. The maṇḍala, offerings, and torma should also be arranged according to the source text. Then, having meditated on oneself as the chosen deity, one should invite the wisdom maṇḍala, make offerings with the specific offerings, and praise with hymns. One should dedicate the torma to the ḍākinīs and make supplications for the desired aims. Then, with light rays from the seed syllable at one’s own heart, the consciousness of the deceased is summoned in the form of a short a letter by means of a hook of light rays and dissolved into whichever support has been used. Visualizing the deceased’s karmically ripened body, light rays radiate from the seed syllable at one’s own heart and dissolve into the heart of the subject to be accomplished, thereby purifying all karma and afflictions; one should visualize the body as being like crystal. Then, the wisdom maṇḍala together with the ḍākinīs and the vidyā goddesses confer empowerment with a stream of nectar from the vases they hold in their hands. By being washed, one should visualize that all the habitual tendencies of the subject’s obscurations are cleansed. Then, perform the recitation. Visualize that from the syllable at one’s own heart, the garland of recitation syllables circles in the manner of a coiled snake. By reciting whichever mantra garland it may be, light rays radiate from the mantra garland.

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

definitionརྡོ་རྗེ “vajra” — This term generally indicates indestructibility and stability. In the sūtras, vajra most often refers to the hardest possible physical substance, said to have divine origins. In some scriptures, it is also the name of th

terminologyགཏོར་མ → “offering cake”. 'Torma' is defensible for specialists; in a general text 'offering cake' says what it is.

homonymགཏོར་མ is rendered “offering cake” here; the glossary also records Bali, oblation, bali offering for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionགཏོར་མ “offering cake” — Bali wrested control of the world from the devas , establishing a period of peace and prosperity with no caste distinction. Indra requested Viṣṇu to use his wiles so that the devas could gain the world back from him. He

definitionམ་མོ “mātṛ” — “Mothers”; a class of female spirits common to both the Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions. Typically these spirits are associated with creating obstacles and illness during pregnancy and early childhood. However, when

terminologyཡེ་ཤེས → “wisdom”. Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty on the path.

homonymཡེ་ཤེས is rendered “wisdom” here; the glossary also records awareness, Wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཡེ་ཤེས “wisdom” — The term jñāna is formed by the root jñā , meaning “to know,” “to know of,” “to understand,” “to be aware of,” with the addition of the pratyaya lyuṭ , which can be interpreted as having different values (the instrument

homonymདཀྱིལ་འཁོར is rendered “maṇḍala” here; the glossary also records inner circle, maṇḍalaka, disk for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionདཀྱིལ་འཁོར “maṇḍala” — A small ritual space, usually on the ground which is smeared with cow-dung and other substances, where offerings are made. Although the term sometimes lacks the - ka ( kan ) suffix, it is not to be confused with the pant

definitionམཁའ་འགྲོ་མ “ḍākinī” — A class of powerful nonhuman female beings who play a variety of roles in Indic literature in general and Buddhist literature specifically. Essentially synonymous with yoginīs, ḍākinīs are liminal and often dangerous bei

terminologyབོན → “Bon”. Do not translate as 'paganism' or 'shamanism'.

definitionབོན “Bon” — The word bon , while often understood as referring to the indigenous religion of Tibet, is here used to refer to local ritual practices in China that may have had some resemblance to those in Tibet. For more on this term

termརྡོ་རྗེ → vajra

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termམཆོད་པ → offering

termགཏོར་མ → offering cake

termགཞུང → source text

termམ་མོ → mātṛ

བསྒྲུབ་བྱའི་སྙིང་གར་ཐིམ་པས། ལུས་ངག་ཡིད་གསུམ་གྱི་སྒྲིབ་པའི་དྲི་མ་ཐམས་ཅད་བྱང་བར་བསམ་ཞིང་བཟླས་པར་བྱའོ། ། དེ་ནས་སྨོན་ལམ་གདབ་ཅིང་དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བར་བསྒྱུར་རོ། ། དེ་ནས་བསྒྲུབ་བྱའི་ཤེས་པ་ཨ་ཐུང་ངུ་སྟེ། ཡཾ་གི་རླུང་གི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྱིས་ བཏེག་ནས་ནམ་མཁར་བཞུགས་པའི་གཙོ་བོའི་ཐུགས་ཀར་ཐིམ་པར་བསམས་ཏེ། གནས་བཏང་བའོ། ། གལ་ཏེ་རྟེན་མེད་པར་གྱུར་ན། གང་ཡིན་པའི་རྣམ་སྨིན་གྱི་ལུས་དེ་ཉིད་མངོན་སུམ་དང་འདྲ་བར་བསམས་ལ་མངོན་རྟོགས་སྔར་བཞིན་བྱའོ། ། དེ་ལྟར་ཞག་བདུན་པ་ཐམས་ ཅད་ལ་བྱའོ། ། གཤིན་གྱི་ཆོ་ག་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་ནག་པོ་ཞབས་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། པཎྜི་ཏ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱལ་བའི་སྙན་ལས་ལེགས་པར་མཉན་ཏེ། ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཤཱཀྱའི་དགེ་སློང་ཉི་མ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་དཔལ་བཟང་པོས་དཔལ་ཐར་པ་གླིང་གི་གཙུག་ལག་ཁང་ཆེན་ པོར་ལེགས་པར་བསྒྱུར་བའོ། །

One should recite while visualizing that [the light] dissolves into the heart of the subject to be accomplished, thereby purifying all stains of the obscurations of body, speech, and mind. Then, one should make aspiration prayers and dedicate the roots of virtue. Next, the consciousness of the subject is visualized as a short A, which is lifted up by a Yaṃ wind-maṇḍala and dissolves into the heart of the central deity residing in space; this is the transference of the state. If there is no physical support [for the consciousness], one should visualize the very body of karmic maturation as if it were actually present and perform the visualization as before. This should be done for all seven days. This concludes the ritual for the deceased, composed by the great master Kṛṣṇapāda. It was properly heard from the great paṇḍita Jayaghoṣa and translated by the translator, the Śākya monk Nyima Gyaltsen Palzangpo, at the great temple of Pal Tharpa Ling.

structureColophon: closes the text and names the translators or author.

definitionསྨོན་ལམ “aspiration” — Usually appears in the idiomatic expression smon lam ’debs “express / utter an aspiration / wish” and instantiated in a verbal formula (a variety of formulas is found throughout Mahāyāna literature) which is uttered in t

definitionརྩ “channel” — The channels are subtle psycho-physical routes which run vertically in the body. There are typically 72,000 channels said to reside in the body. Of these, however, the most important are the three main channels: the cent

definitionསློབ་དཔོན “ācārya” — A spiritual teacher, meaning one who knows the conduct or practice ( ācāra ) to be performed. It can also be a title for a scholar, though that is not the context in this sūtra .

definitionཉི་མ “Āditya” — The sun; the god of the sun; the king identified as Ādityavardhana of the Śrīkaṇṭha - Sthāṇvīśvara dynasty who ruled in Madhyadeśa in the sixth century ᴄᴇ .

terminologyམཚན → “name”. མཚན་བརྗོད is recitation of names; in མཚན་ཉིད it is a 'definition' (lakṣaṇa) — same spelling, different word.

homonymམཚན is rendered “name” here; the glossary also records major signs, buddha marks, auspicious marks for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམཚན “name” — The thirty-two primary physical characteristics of a “great being,” mahāpuruṣa , which every buddha and cakravartin possesses. They are considered “major” in terms of being primary to the eighty minor marks or signs of a

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: name

checkAutomatic check: bracketed gloss waived.

termསྨོན་ལམ → aspiration

termརྩ → channel

termདཀྱིལ་འཁོར → maṇḍala

termསློབ་དཔོན → ācārya

termལས → action

termདགེ་སློང → monk

Terminology used in this text (24)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
དཀྱིལ་འཁོར	maṇḍala	2
ལས	action	2	84000 uses 'action' where the mechanics matter, 'karma' where it is a fixed term.
རྡོ་རྗེ	vajra	1
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
མཆོད་པ	offering	1
གཏོར་མ	offering cake	1	'Torma' is defensible for specialists; in a general text 'offering cake' says what it is.
གཞུང	source text	1
མ་མོ	mātṛ	1
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	1	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ	ḍākinī	1
བོན	Bon	1	Do not translate as 'paganism' or 'shamanism'.
གཟུགས	form	1
ཉོན་མོངས	affliction	1
ལྷ་མོ	goddess	1
བདུད	Māra	1
དབང	empowerment	1	In compounds དབང་ཆེན is 'great power' (a deity epithet), not 'great empowerment'.
བདག	self	1
སྔགས	mantra	1	སྔགས་པ is a mantra-practitioner, not 'the mantric one'.
སྨོན་ལམ	aspiration	1
རྩ	channel	1
སློབ་དཔོན	ācārya	1
དགེ་སློང	monk	1
ཉི་མ	Āditya	1
མཚན	name	1	མཚན་བརྗོད is recitation of names; in མཚན་ཉིད it is a 'definition' (lakṣaṇa) — same spelling, different word.

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 009_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཉ.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

Translation status: 84000 catalogue + registry; grade no-translation-known; checked 2026-11-10.

Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.

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