Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text provides a symbolic exegesis of the ritual implements and hand gestures (mudras) associated with the deity Hevajra. The author argues that the specific attributes held by the deity are not merely ornamental but function as instruments for psychological and spiritual transformation. The work is structured as a sequential description of these symbols and their corresponding effects on the practitioner's consciousness. By linking specific objects—such as the elephant, the monk's staff, and the wheel of Dharma—to the eradication of specific mental obstructions, the text commits the reader to a view of deity yoga where the visual attributes of the mandala serve as a map for neutralizing afflictions. Specifically, it posits that contemplating these symbols can pacify negative states, dismantle the innate sense of self, and overcome stinginess and mental rigidity.
Provenance
About this text
Describing the benefits of the hand-symbols borne by the deity Hevajra, the phyag mtshan gyi phan yon is a work of the classical Tibetan period. This text is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཏ, where it comprises three pages and is situated within the Non-dual Tantra collection. The work enacts a symbolic exegesis of ritual implements and gestures, arguing that the attributes held by Hevajra function as instruments for spiritual transformation. By linking specific objects—such as the elephant, the monk's staff, and the wheel of Dharma—to the eradication of mental obstructions, the text posits that these symbols can pacify diseases, dismantle the innate sense of self, and overcome stinginess. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to understand a view of deity yoga where the visual attributes of the mandala serve as a map for neutralizing afflictions and shattering conceptual construction.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Benefits of Hand Gestures” (Toh 1289), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1289
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its illustration of how Anuttarayoga Tantra employs symbolic iconography to achieve specific soteriological results. For the modern reader, it demonstrates the technical relationship between ritual art and the cognitive process of dismantling the ego-construct.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Pacification
An opening homage to Hevajra followed by the beginning of a sequence describing the benefits of his hand-symbols, starting with the attribute of the elephant.
2
Overcoming the Self and Afflictions
An analysis of the monk's staff and the wheel of Dharma as tools to eliminate the view of self, stinginess, and the hardness of afflictions.
Themes
Iconographic Symbolism (1-2)
Elimination of the Ego-Self (2)
Transformation of Afflictions (1-2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
The Benefits of the Hand-Symbols
Homage to the Blessed One Hevajra.
To Hevajra, who is endowed with selflessness,
Surrounded by the eight ḍākinīs,
I prostrate and shall describe in sequence
The benefits of the hand-symbols he bears.
Bearing the elephant and so forth
Brings about the pacification of diseases:
Cough, asthma, and likewise insanity,
Hemoptysis, leprosy,
Smallpox, and disorders of the spleen and liver.
These are known as the sequence of the elephant and so forth.
The eight [symbols] such as the earth
Bring about the accomplishment of all wealth.
To sever the six faults such as pride,
The curved knife is held in the right hand.
Regarding the conceptualization of existence and non-existence,
The skull-cup is held in the left.
To rescue beings who are like fish
From the poisonous waters of the ocean of saṃsāra,
The auspicious rohiṇī is held.
The curved knife in the right is like a net for the afflictions.
To awaken from the sleep of delusion
Beings who are like pigs, utterly bewildered by delusion,
The sound of the hand-drum is proclaimed in the right.
To clear away the diseases of beings
Who are like tortoises tormented by desire,
And to satisfy them with the nectar of great passion,
He bears the tortoise and the skull-cup.
To satisfy with great hatred
Beings who are like snakes, defeated by the enemy of hatred,
He holds a snake and a skull-cup in his hands.
To terrify the wild beasts of negative conceptualization,
Or to subdue the lion-like pride,
He bears a lion and an axe.
The second [attribute] is for the viewer of the view of self and so forth. In order to untie the knot of the view of self and to release stinginess, the monk and the mendicant’s staff are held. For example, like a skull, the wheel of Dharma is turned to crush the hardness of the afflictions; thus, the wheel and the skull are carried. To shatter the mountain of conceptual construction and to subdue the malevolent, the right hand displays the threatening gesture. The Blessed One, the Great Glorious Heruka, completely surrounded by the hosts of mamos—may the qualities of the hand-symbols and the qualities of what can be expressed as much as possible, by relying on the great boat of method and insight, cause infinite sentient beings to cross over the ocean of saṃsāra and abide on the dry land of liberation. The benefits of the hand-symbols are complete.