Toh 1275 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

The Three Stages of the Great Empowerment

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

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1275
Genre: Ritual
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 010_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཏ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,368 Tibetan characters · 411 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)

The Three Stages of the Great Empowerment is a ritual or instructional manual centered on the Hevajra tantra. The text aims to guide the practitioner toward the realization of a specific non-dual wisdom that transcends the binary of subject and object. It posits that the ultimate nature of reality is not a conventional appearance but a state where two characteristics are intermingled and beyond linguistic description. By committing to this process, the reader is led toward the attainment of a wisdom body in which phenomena are perceived as reflections in a mirror, signifying a state of emptiness and luminosity. The text frames this spiritual achievement as a liberation from the fear and limitations that persist over eons, positioning the Great Empowerment as the mechanism for accessing the limit of knowing.

Provenance

About this text

Dedicated to the glorious Hevajra, the Mahābhiṣekatrikrama is a work of the Non-dual Tantra. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཏ, where the classical Tibetan version, titled dbang chen po rim pa gsum pa, extends over two pages. The work provides pith instructions on the completion stage, guiding the practitioner toward a wisdom body free from subject and object. It argues that the ultimate nature of reality is not a conventional appearance, as the two characteristics of desired phenomena are always intermingled and beyond the description of the tongue. By accessing the limit of knowing, the practitioner seeks a state where phenomena are perceived as reflections in a mirror, offering liberation from fear that persists for an eon. A scholar or serious reader consults this text to examine the mechanisms of the Great Empowerment in Three Stages and the specific non-dual realizations it enacts.

Sanskrit title: Mahābhiṣekatrikrama
Indian author: not recorded
Tibetan translators: not recorded
Canonical collection: Non-dual Tantra
Genre: Ritual
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཏ
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Three Stages of the Great Empowerment” (Toh 1275), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1275

Summary & commentary

Significance

This work is significant as it represents the technical application of Hevajra tantra's non-dual philosophy. It illustrates the transition from ritual empowerment to the direct experiential realization of the mirror-like wisdom characteristic of higher yoga tantra.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction and Preliminary Homage	Provides the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles and offers homage to Hevajra while defining the goal of accomplishing wisdom.
2	Description of Non-Dual Wisdom	Describes the nature of the wisdom body, emphasizing its ineffability and its perception of phenomena as mirror-like.

Themes

Non-duality of subject and object (2)
Ineffability of ultimate reality (2)
Mirror-like wisdom (2)

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

AnuvādaThe Three Stages of the Great Empowerment·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། མ་ཧཱ་ཨ་བྷི་ཥེ་ཀ་ཏྲི་ཀྲ་མ་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། དབང་ཆེན་པོ་རིམ་པ་གསུམ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། དཔལ་ཀྱེ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། པྲ་ཡི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྒྲུབ་འདོད་པས། ། འདོད་ཆོས་མཚན་གཉིས་ཤེས་པའི་མུ། ། དེ་ཤེས་ཡུལ་དུ་བྱ་བ་ནི། ། མིག་དགུ་གཤི་ར་མཐའ་ཟད་རྩེ། ། ཆུ་སྐྱེས་དགའ་གཉིས་དབུས་སུ་ འདུས། ། གསང་བའི་ས་བཅུར་ཤེས་པར་བྱ། ། ཐབས་ཀྱི་ཟེ་འབྲུ་གསུམ་ནོར་བུ། ། པྲ་རུ་འདོད་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་གཅིག། ཐུར་རླུང་ཕྲད་བཟློག་དབུས་ཞུགས་པས། ། ས་གནས་གར་འདོད་ཀུན་ཀྱང་འགེངས། ། རྟོག་བྲལ་སྨོན་ལམ་གཟུགས་སུ་གཉིས། ། ར་ཏའི་ཏི་ལ་བཞི་ འགྱུར་གྱི། ། སྐད་ཅིག་ཆ་ཀུན་ཤེས་བྱས་ནས། ། རོ་བཞི་ཤེས་པས་རོ་བཞི་བྱ། ། རླུང་གི་ས་ཡི་དུས་སུ་ནི། ། ཧཱུྃ་ཕཊ་བསྐྱོད་པས་ལས་རླུང་མེ། ། འབྱུང་བཞིའི་རླུང་གྲངས་འཁོར་ལོ་བཞིན། ། ས་ཡི་དུས་སུ་བཟློག་ལ་བསྟུན། ། ཆུ་ཚགས་རླུང་གིས་གཟུང་ཡི་གེ། ། འགྲེང་ སྟེངས་ཡར་རླུང་དགག་པའོ། ། ཏིང་འཛིན་ཁྱད་པར་གྱུར་པ་ཡིས། ། གཉིས་འདུས་བྷ་གར་རླུང་བཞི་གནོན། ། མི་གཡོ་བདུད་བཞི་མནན་ཞེས་བྱ། ། ཅུང་ཟད་འདུས་པར་ཟིན་པ་ཡིས། ། མི་རྟོག་དང་པོའི་ས་ཐོབ་བཤད། ། བརྒྱད་ཕྱེད་མཐའ་ཡི་བརྒྱད་ཕྱེད་མཐར། བྲག་གདུང་ ལྟ་བུ་གཉིས་ཕྲད་དེ། ། བསྟན་པས་ཡེ་ཤེས་བསམ་ཡས་ཤིང་། ། ཀུན་ཀྱང་གསལ་བ་དུང་ལྟ་བུ། ། ཡང་དག་རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཏེ། ། ཡོན་ཏན་ཆེ་བ་བརྗོད་མི་ལང་། ། གལ་ཏེ་པྲ་ཡི་ཉི་མ་དག། ཐིག་ལེ་ཁ་བསྒྱུར་སྔོན་བཞིན་སྤྲད། ། མར་རམ་ཆུ་ལྟར་འདྲེས་ནུས་པས། ། སོ་སོར་གནས་ཀྱང་རྨོངས་པ་མེད། །

In the language of India: Mahābhiṣekatrikrama-nāma. In the language of Tibet: dBang chen po rim pa gsum pa zhes bya ba (The Great Empowerment in Three Stages). Homage to the glorious Hevajra. For those who wish to accomplish the wisdom of pra, the limit of knowing the two characteristics of the desired phenomena is to be made the object of that knowledge: the nine eyes, the exhaustion of the śira at the peak. In the center of the two joys of the water-born lotus, one should know the ten secret stages. The three jewels of the stamen of method are the single Buddha desired in pra. By reversing the meeting of the downward wind and entering the center, one fills all desired locations on the stages. The two forms of the non-conceptual aspiration and the fourfold ratītila—having known all the parts of the moment, one should act with the four flavors through knowing the four flavors. At the time of the wind-stage, by the movement of hūṃ and phaṭ, the fire of the karmic wind arises. Like the number of the winds of the four elements in the four wheels, one should reverse and harmonize them at the time of the earth-stage. The syllables are held by the wind of the water-strainer; standing upright, the upward wind is blocked. Through the excellence of meditative concentration, the four winds are suppressed in the bhaga where the two have met; this is called "suppressing the four unmoving Māras." By capturing the slight gathering, it is explained that the first stage of non-conceptuality is attained. At the end of the half of eight, the half of eight at the end, the two meet like a rock and a beam; through this teaching, wisdom is inconceivable, and all is clear like a conch. This is the perfectly complete Buddha, whose great qualities are beyond expression. If the sun of pra is joined as before, the tilaka is transformed; because it is able to mix like butter or water, although they abide separately, there is no delusion.

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.

terminologyདབང → “empowerment”. In compounds དབང་ཆེན is 'great power' (a deity epithet), not 'great empowerment'.

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

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

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti . It may mean the Buddhist teachings, the awakened qualities which buddhas and bodhisattvas acquire, phenomena or thing

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

terminologyསངས་རྒྱས → “buddha”. The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carried by context, not by a suffix.

homonymསངས་རྒྱས is rendered “buddha” here; the glossary also records Awakened, awakened, Buddha for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

termདབང → empowerment

termརྡོ་རྗེ → vajra

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termཡེ་ཤེས → wisdom

termཆོས → dharma

termམཚན → name

ཀུན་རྫོབ་སྣང་བ་མ་ཡིན་ཏེ། ། དངོས་པོ་གཉིས་ཀྱང་རྟག་ཏུ་འདྲེས། ། སུས་ཀྱང་མཐོང་བར་མི་ནུས་ཏེ། ། ཡོན་ཏན་ལྗགས་ཀྱིས་རྫོགས་པ་མིན། ། བསྐལ་པར་འཇིགས་དང་བྲལ་བ་མེད། ། གཟུང་འཛིན་བྲལ་བའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྐུ། ། དུས་སུ་ ཆོས་རྣམས་མེ་ལོང་བཞིན། ། དབང་ཆེན་པོ་རིམ་པ་གསུམ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་རྫོགས་རིམ་གྱི་མན་ངག་རྫོགས་སོ། །

It is not a conventional appearance, for the two entities are always intermingled. No one is able to see it, and its qualities are not exhausted by the tongue. There is no freedom from fear for an eon. The wisdom body, free from subject and object, at that time—phenomena are like a mirror. This concludes the pith instructions on the completion stage called "The Three Stages of Great Empowerment."

Terminology used in this text (16)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
དབང	empowerment	2	In compounds དབང་ཆེན is 'great power' (a deity epithet), not 'great empowerment'.
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	2	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
ཆོས	dharma	2	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
མེ	fire	2	In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not c
རྡོ་རྗེ	vajra	1
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
མཚན	name	1	མཚན་བརྗོད is recitation of names; in མཚན་ཉིད it is a 'definition' (lakṣaṇa) — same spelling, different word.
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
སྨོན་ལམ	aspiration	1
གཟུགས	form	1
ལས	action	1	84000 uses 'action' where the mechanics matter, 'karma' where it is a fixed term.
འཁོར་ལོ	cakra	1
བདུད	Māra	1
ཉི་མ	Āditya	1
ཐིག་ལེ	drop	1
ཀུན་རྫོབ	conventional	1

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 010_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཏ.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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