Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text provides a concise procedural guide for the preparation and offering of torma cakes. The work functions as a liturgical manual, directing the practitioner through a sequence of physical and mental actions. It begins with the material arrangement of the offering in a vessel and the inclusion of cleansing substances, transitioning immediately into a visualization practice where the practitioner identifies as a meditational deity and envisions a dark blue HŪ seed syllable atop a sun-maṇḍala. The text commits the reader to a specific ritualized performance that blends material offerings with mental imagery and mantra recitation. The process concludes with a formal interaction with the ḍākinīs, involving the delegation of specific activities and a request for forgiveness, ensuring the ritual is closed properly as the entities depart. The brevity of the text suggests it serves as a practical prompt for a practitioner already familiar with the broader theological framework of the deity yoga and offering rites.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual guide for the offering of torma, the gtor ma'i cho ga is a work of the classical Tibetan period. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཏ, where it is situated within the Non-dual Tantra collection and spans two pages. The work enacts a precise liturgical sequence, beginning with the physical arrangement of torma and cleansing substances in a vessel. It directs the practitioner to visualize themselves as a meditational deity and to envision a dark blue HŪṂ syllable upon a sun-maṇḍala seat, which dissolves into the offering. The ritual concludes with the recitation of mantras and a formal interaction with the ḍākinīs, who are entrusted with desired activities and asked to depart after receiving a request for forgiveness. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific intersection of material offering and mental visualization within the Non-dual Tantra tradition.
The text is significant as it illustrates the intersection of material offerings and visualization in Vajrayana practice. It demonstrates the role of the ḍākinīs as active agents in the ritual process. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of how Tibetan ritual manuals condense complex theological concepts into a streamlined set of instructions.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Preparation and Visualization
Instructions for placing the torma and cleansing substances, followed by the visualization of the deity and the HŪ syllable.
2
Conclusion
Instructions for recitation, the entrustment of activities to ḍākinīs, and the formal closing of the ritual.
Themes
Ritual Offering (1-2)
Visualization and Deity Yoga (1)
Interactions with ḍākinīs (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
The Ritual of the Torma Offering
Homage to the Three Jewels!
First, in a skull-cup or any suitable vessel, place the first portion of the torma along with the cleansing substances. Then,
visualize yourself as the meditational deity. Above the torma, upon a sun-maṇḍala seat, imagine a dark blue HŪṂ. As it melts and dissolves into the torma, visualize that the substantial nature of the torma substances is purified.
Then, upon an eight-petaled red lotus, imagine a red ĀḤ. As it melts into light and dissolves, visualize the torma as being red in color, translucent, pure, stainless, and endowed with the most excellent taste.
Then, upon a moon-maṇḍala, visualize a white OṂ. As it melts into light and dissolves, visualize it transforming into the nature of nectar (amṛta), white, clear, and possessing a hundred supreme tastes.
Then, light radiates from that nectar, summoning the nectar of the non-conceptual wisdom of the Tathāgatas' hearts and the nectar found in the celestial realms, which then dissolves into it.
Then, light radiates again from that very nectar, summoning into the sky the sublime gurus, the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and the outer and inner Dharma protectors and ḍākinīs. By reciting: OṂ ĀKĀRO MUKHAṂ SARVA DHARMĀṆĀṂ ĀDYANUTPANNATVĀT OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ, light radiates from the torma and touches the tongues of each [deity], whereby they partake of and experience the power of the great bliss of the nectar.
Then, the Dharma should be explained: "All phenomena are like reflections..."
Recite these and so forth. Entrust the ḍākinīs with whatever activities are desired. Request their forgiveness and ask them to depart. This is complete.