Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Stages of the Great Tilaka is a technical manual on the completion stage of Hevajra tantra, attributed to the Indian master Lūyipa. The text outlines a path toward non-dual awakening by integrating the conceptualization of the deity with the manipulation of the subtle body. It posits that the ground of being is naturally free from duality and that liberation is achieved through the blending of method and wisdom. The work commits the reader to a practice of transforming ordinary experience and desire into tools for liberation, arguing that the very passions that bind a practitioner can be used as skillful means for cauterization and purification. By navigating the internal channels and the maṇḍala of ḍākinīs, the practitioner aims to reach a state of non-obstruction where the Vajra-holder abides in all things while remaining detached from all activities, ultimately collapsing the distinction between enjoyment and nirvāṇa.
Provenance
About this text
Offering homage to the glorious Hevajra, the Mahātilakakrama is a work belonging to the Non-dual Tantra. It is attributed to the Indian author Vilāsavajra. The text was preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition under the title thig le chen po'i rim pa, appearing in volume ཏ of the Tengyur, where it extends over seven pages. The work enacts a vision of the ground as a mass of qualities naturally free from duality, asserting that enjoyment and nirvāṇa are perfected. It describes a state of total purity where the five principal deities and the five faculties are primordially uncreated, while detailing the maṇḍala of the ḍākinīs and the assembly of bodies, mudrās, and consorts. A scholar or serious reader consults this text to examine the specific conceptualizations of the Sky-farer and Earth-farer, the roles of deities such as Akṣobhya and Vairocana, and the lists of yoginis including Caṇḍālī, Rauravī, and Rañjanī, which serve to illustrate the bliss of the moments and the nature of the non-dual state.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Stages of the Great Tilaka” (Toh 1290), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1290
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant as a representative of the Anuyoga tradition within the Hevajra cycle, emphasizing the direct use of desire and the subtle body for rapid enlightenment. For the modern reader, it illustrates the tantric logic of using 'poison as medicine' to transcend dualistic extremes.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and Ground
Establishes the non-dual nature of the ground and identifies the five Buddha families with mental faculties and elements.
3-4
The Maṇḍala and Subtle Body
Lists the ḍākinīs and describes the central seat and the internal channels.
5-6
Conduct and Energetic Activity
Discusses the avoidance of extremes in conduct and the role of winds and light in the sequence of activity.
7-8
Transformation of Desire
Argues that desire is cleared by desire and explains the blending of method and wisdom through Anuyoga.
9-10
The Nature of the Vajra-holder
Defines the accomplished practitioner as one who abides in all while abandoning all, concluding the instruction.
Themes
Non-duality of Samsara and Nirvana (2, 5, 8)
Subtle Body and Energetics (3, 4, 6)
Transformation of Afflictions (7)
The State of the Accomplished Practitioner (9)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Mahātilakakrama-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Thig le chen po’i rim pa (The Stages of the Great Drop). Homage to the glorious Hevajra!
The ground, a mass of qualities, is like gold, naturally free from duality. The tantra itself, which is to be entered, is made manifest by oneself. The hero of one’s own experience, the hero of heroes, the self of the moment of the stable and the moving; abiding at the limit of space, free from conceptualization, all activities are perfected. The ocean, the weapon, and the words have been primordially passed beyond sorrow. To that which naturally and forcefully exercises mastery, I prostrate and bow.
Not following the three [stages] of opening and so forth, nor the two [methods], the activity of the finger does not point to the meaning. For those with faith in this introduction to the indefinite and manifold [realms], this is the pith instruction of the method that makes the sunlight clear. Therefore, like pouring water into a fire, for the person who is connected to this through their own fortune, I shall distinguish a few collections of names illustrated by the river, for the sake of the ignorant like myself.
The nature of the first treatise is primordially pure like the earth or gold. Because its nature is emptiness, its nature is unborn, yet it is not empty [of itself]. Like the fulfillment of desire in a dream, delusion accomplishes one’s own purpose. Even appearance without a basis is like a golden tree; knowing that meaning is not to be obstructed. The aggregate of form is not Vajrā; feeling is said to be Gaurī. Perception is the Yoginī of Water; formations are Vajraḍākinī. Because the aggregate of consciousness is the essence of Nairātmyā, its nature is known as nirvāṇa. Form is Gaurī; sound is Caurī; smell is Vetālī; taste is Ghasmarī.
Upon contact, the Sky-farer and Earth-farer always abide as the Dharma. Enjoyment and nirvāṇa are perfected. Akṣobhya is water, and Vairocana is the sun’s emergence. Ratnasambhava and Amitābha are the mind; Amoghasiddhi is the five principal [deities]. Delusion and the others are the five faculties; by nature, they are primordially uncreated. In the state of total purity, there is naturally no bondage. Then, the natural vows and the inner ten stages should be known in sequence: the places, the near-places, the fields, and likewise the charnel grounds, the caṇḍas, the gathering places, and so forth. The body of the Great Self, the Victor, is thus externally, thus internally, and likewise should be known as the secret. The movement of the feet is known briefly as heat. Because the gathering is always shown as water, one should know the four through the shape in the void. The wheel of bliss abides likewise; the bhaga is space. The anus is the fierce and violent great charnel ground; the secret place is the shaped one likewise. The ears are called the vulture and the bell. The mouth appears as the blazing thicket. The unbearable hells are shown in the eyes. The śirīṣa tree is the actual entity, with flowers and fruits together with the faculties. It possesses one pillar and nine doors. The bliss of Nairātmya Heruka is primordially linked with method and insight. The sun and moon are the seats on the right and left. The non-dual connection is always subtle. The assembly of mothers, the Vajra Ḍākinīs, are the indivisible, subtle Vajra Ladies. Gaurī is the left, the Compassionate One. The short one is to be known as the turtle in the water. The empowerment of meditation is shown as the Vajra Ḍākinī. The fault-ridden tail is Pukkasī. Śavarī is the sign of the mātṛ. Heat and coolness are Caṇḍālī.
Caṇḍālī, Rauravī, and Rañjanī; Gaurī, the gate-keeper, and the Universal Form; Dhūmā, Yoginī, and Caurī; Śauṇḍinī, Siddhā, and Vetālī; Sumati, Pramāṇā, and Ghasmarī. In the three gates are Icchā, Bhūcarī, and Khecarī; the Housewife and Caṇḍālī are thus taught. The maṇḍala of the ḍākinīs is uncreated. The assembly of bodies, mudrās, and consorts—the result, the bliss of the moments—should be known as the eternal nature itself. From the forty-eight up to the sixty, and so forth, the seventy-two thousand [channels] are beyond full description; the Victorious One taught them to be the natural emanations. The secret should also be understood in that way. The elements in their sequence abide in the bhaga; through the gathering of the apertures, it is the earth itself. It should be known as the mother through manifold bliss. The nature of the three kāyas is primordially present. In the world, which is naturally pure, there is nothing whatsoever that is bound. Whatever is to be eliminated by the inferior [practitioners] is just so by its very nature. This is the first chapter, the Stage of the Natural Abiding, from the Śrīmahātilakakrama.
That which is to be known as the entry into generation is the purpose of the inferior [practitioners] together with the methods. The deities arise from the meaning of the sounds; the perfect vows should also be known therein. Purifying the cakras, and consuming oneself with one's own bliss, one is liberated from conceptual thought and purifies the ten bhūmis. One should know the Vajradhara as ninefold. It is not a conventional expression; at the navel, where the extremes are exhausted, in the insight, the method should be known at the tip of the anthers. At the root are sixty-four petals; the eight classes [of letters] end in emptiness.
Possessing the essence of the unborn, that should be known as the central seat. Through the conceptualization of blazing and moving actions, one should understand the first of the actions. The center of the earth is taught as the dharma; previously, there was one-eighth. The four channels are the four internal mātṛs; others are definitively taught in the tantras. The essence is explained as the arising of the aggregates; this is always taught as the dharma. The essence should be known as the dharmakāya; that itself is the essence of jñāna. This is the cakra of the space element, the great pervasiveness of all. That itself is the enjoyment in emptiness; because the four intermediate elements are empty, it possesses the essence of the five jñānas. Through attachment, one is always bound by oneself; through wrong views, liberation is always difficult. Through the unimpeded entry and exit of the elements, one becomes liberated. The lotus, possessing the marks, is great bliss; it is the eternal, indestructible expanse. To fully know the nature as the dharmakāya, one should know that there are six gates here. Through the jñāna of familiarization with samādhi, there is great bliss in all the stages. The birth of jñāna is not fixed. The maṇḍala with its branches is the nirmāṇakāya; having made that very thing blissful through bliss, the saṃbhogakāya is Hevajra. One enters the path of action as another. "Oṃ! Open the gate of the vital point; I have made the jñāna of the directions." Having entered the first gate of holding the blaze, in the center of the path where the amṛta drips, one makes it straight through the power of samādhi. Having found it, one enjoys nirvāṇa. Even the four kāyas are not perceived; whatever dwells in the bliss of the nature of mind, through familiarization, even light is not perceived.
Even if one does not perceive [the object] at the very end, even as much as a hundredth part of a hair-tip, one does not experience bliss with the mind, and does not abide in any extremes whatsoever. This should be known as the conduct and enjoyment. The two bodies that desire the welfare of beings are also unimpeded in the manner of sound. The wisdom of natural appearance is not dualistic in terms of appearance and emptiness; it is therefore always taught as the Great Drop (mahābindu). This is the second chapter, the stage of entering great wisdom, from the Glorious Stages of the Great Drop.
For the wise who desire to abide in their own experience, the objects of knowledge are difficult to realize. They possess the signs of the transformation of their own family: one hundred and sixteen, half-white and half-black, and neither white nor black. With black hair, long eyes, and a deep navel; free from the two extremes of thinness and thickness, or long and short; with a straight nose, a slender waist, and broad hips; with large petals and deep within; with firm breasts, little illness, and much camphor; and possessing excellent sila (fragrance); with the inner and outer body, water, and wind smelling sweet; gentle, disciplined, faithful, and unwavering—one should also examine the divine family. Having found [such a partner], one should gradually bestow the treatises. This is called the "Dharma of the King’s Daughter." Having understood the stages of the samaya, the food, and so forth, without conceptualization, one should properly bestow the fluid and understand the four winds. By thoroughly pleasing the signs and the sign-holder, the palace generates bliss. One should know the locations and the stages: the Emanation, the Dharma, and the Great Bliss. One should know the abiding of joy and bliss: joy, supreme joy, the joy of separation, and the coemergent. One should know that as the essence of the treatise. In that very instant, that very moment, that very second...
The activity of the winds opens the way.
Diversity itself is free from day and night;
It is taught as the very sequence of activity.
Appearance, increase, and attainment
Arise from the perfectly stainless light.
Between day and night, and neither of the two,
Is the name for the meeting of the two entities.
The classes and mudrās are the mothers from whom they arise;
The "Supreme" and so forth are also taught as contextual names.
The lalanā, rasanā, and avadhūtī
Are the abodes of the three families and the path of bliss.
Through the sun and moon, method and insight,
One's own purpose is thereby attained.
The conventional also appears as two;
The well-known "life-force illness" is that very self.
The characteristic of the knot is within;
The Teacher also taught the various joys.
The twelve finger-widths at the peak are the drops;
One should understand the enjoyment at the base.
The sequence of eight and eight is applied to the essence;
That is taught as the meaning of the nature.
Appearance is the joy of bliss;
External touch is taught as the second.
Through meeting, bliss is free from [duality];
The coemergent arises in its place.
That should be known as the common sequence.
Abiding in the sequence of the cakras,
The external object is also the internal.
Within the archway are the two sets of three syllables;
At the peak, the sequence is likewise uninterrupted.
Having understood that within the jewel,
That is the sixteen-fold sequence of the anthers.
My drop abides at the end.
Having understood that as the object of the mind,
One should know the internal bhūmis, such as the "abodes."
The secret bhūmi sequence is at the end of joy;
Method and insight are the bhūmis of the Buddha.
At the end of the pāśa is the Vajradhara,
Who has completely transcended the two appearances.
Thus, having understood the sequence of the bhūmis, ...
For example, a body burned by fire
Must be cauterized by fire itself.
Likewise, those burned by the fire of desire
Are thoroughly cleared by desire itself.
Whatever terrible actions bind a person,
By those very same actions, when combined with skillful means,
One will be liberated from the bonds of existence.
Wrong views, the lack of fortune of the Hearers, and disparagement—
Because of these, liberation is said to be far away.
Through the supreme union of the vajra and lotus,
The solid is explained as the emanation body (nirmāṇakāya).
The fluid element is Māmakī;
Through movement, Pāṇḍaravāsinī is the complete enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya).
Summoning is Tārā, the great bliss;
By the power of one's own winds, HŪṂ and PHAṬ,
One should examine from the ultimate limit.
Whatever is known through the gathering of entities
Is neither a gathering nor a separation.
The entity together with the sun, moon, and mind
Is called the coemergent entity.
That which is mixed without downfall
Is bliss; through skillful means, all is known.
This is called the natural coemergent.
Because it is the joy of suchness,
It is described as the Great Joy.
Since it is the single summary of all phenomena,
The vow is also called the Great Drop (mahābindu).
Whoever abides in the great vow
Has nothing to guard and nothing to transgress.
Since method and insight do not exist,
There is neither desire nor freedom from desire.
Even the Middle Way is not perceived;
Thus it is explained in the Yogasamputa.
The reasoning that clarifies in detail
Is the conceptualization of one's own mind.
Through the guru’s timely skillful means and mudrā,
It is known through one's own merit.
Having found that primordial wisdom,
The karmic body itself does not appear.
Method and wisdom become blended as one entity; in a single instant, perfect awakening is attained. There is no sequence other than this. Even if one does not become purified, through the focal point of Anuyoga, one is always endowed with the engagement of one’s own experience. If ascetic conduct is not required, it is like a person who has found the dispeller of darkness. Even if the four mudrās are abandoned, bliss will never diminish. The ultimate activity is accomplished without effort; the elaborations of its qualities are beyond description.
This is the third chapter from the Glorious Great Drop Sequence, the sequence of the great wisdom of one’s own experience.
The yogi who has reached the culmination of wisdom, having found that natural wisdom, realizes that the manifold natures are one and free from extremes. The kāya transcends existence, non-existence, and the middle. There is no self, no other, and no cognition of them. Whether inferior, middling, or supreme, and whatever else there may be—all are known as the single equal taste of the self. From coemergent wisdom, no nature other than the stable and the moving is seen. Whatever is done is that very reality. By meditating on colors, shapes, and emptiness, this meaning can never be found. Because it is taught as the sequence of action, Mahāmudrā is free from causes. The wisdom of self-knowing luminosity is in no way empty; whatever categories of things to be accomplished are found, they are said to be spontaneously present by nature. Like the qualities of a precious jewel, it is forever without any [conceptual] joy. Since it does not appear as an object, it is the supreme wisdom unceasing throughout the three times. Liberated from activities such as fire offerings and training, one finds abiding in the awareness of one’s own experience.
The Teacher spoke again of that very reality: "The knower, the person, the accomplished Vajra-holder, is that which has abandoned all and abides in all. It has abandoned all activities; it does not obstruct any agent; it is nothing whatsoever; its qualities are incomparable. It does not go anywhere; it does not abide anywhere. It is utterly free from beginning, end, and so forth. It appears as the three branches of approach. It has gone everywhere; it knows everything; it is everything; it is the purpose of everything; it abides in the minds of all. It is completely liberated from all lower realms; it is adorned with all qualities. It possesses all colors and shapes; it benefits all. It is peerless virtue; it arises not just once. It is the Protector, the Savior. It has abandoned conceptualization; it is free from all colors and shapes. Because it is profound, it is not an object for ordinary beings. Because it is the master of all, it is the King. Because it is difficult to divide, it is the Vajra. Because it is liberated from the torment of the afflictions, it is the Moon. Because it illuminates everything, it is the Sun. Because it is without doubt, it is the Lion. Because it is difficult to fathom, it is a great mass of water. Because it is the ground of all, it is the entirety of space. Because it is spontaneously present, it is called the Svabhāvakāya," and so forth, as he spoke extensively. This is the fourth chapter from the Śrīmahātilaka-krama, the stage of abiding in the ultimate meaning. From the great ocean of the Hevajra Tantra: "The natural engagement and the experience are like the harvest of the fruit; like a king in a borderland, it acts with reckless purpose."
May the fourfold stream of the swan reach its consummation. This concludes the Instruction on the Completion Stage, titled The Stages of the Glorious Great Drop, composed by the Indian preceptor and guru Lūyipa (Lalita-vajra). It is finished.