Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Kurukullā Sādhana is a ritual manual designed to facilitate the practice of the deity Kurukullā to achieve specific spiritual and mundane goals. The text guides the practitioner through a sequence of preparatory and active stages, beginning with the creation of a secluded environment and the cultivation of bodhicitta and the four divine abodes. It details complex visualization techniques involving the deity's iconography, the manifestation of offerings from the seed syllable Hrīḥ, and the mental construction of celestial mandalas featuring the moon and sun. The work commits the reader to a rigorous discipline of mantra recitation and visualization, specifically utilizing the syllables Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ and a specialized mantra to exert influence or power over others. By combining internal meditative states with external ritual offerings and precise phonetic repetitions, the text aims to transform the practitioner's consciousness and grant them the ability to bring others under their control.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual guide for the practice of the deity Kurukullā, the Kurukullāsādhana belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work was translated into Tibetan by Mañjuśrījñāna and bod kyi lo tsA ba rong zom chos kyi bzang po. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཏ, where it comprises five pages and is situated within the Non-dual Tantra collection. The text enacts a sequence of meditative and ritual operations, beginning with the preparation of a secluded space and the cultivation of the four divine abodes and the mind of awakening. It directs the practitioner to visualize the goddess Kurukullā holding a hook of red flowers and an utpala lotus, while offering incense, lamps, perfumes, flowers, and divine food arising from the syllable Hrīḥ upon a sun maṇḍala. Scholars and serious readers consult this work to examine the specific visualization techniques and the integration of meditative equipoise with the generation of bodhicitta and the contemplation of emptiness.
Sanskrit title
Kurukullāsādhana
Indian author
not recorded
Tibetan translators
Mañjuśrījñāna, bod kyi lo tsA ba rong zom chos kyi bzang po
This text is significant as it represents the intersection of tantric visualization and the 'vaśīkaraṇa' (subjugation/attraction) practices within the Indo-Tibetan tradition. It demonstrates how the cultivation of compassion and bodhicitta is integrated with rituals intended for worldly power and influence.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-3
Preparatory Rituals and Mindset
Instructions on environmental preparation, the cultivation of bodhicitta, and the meditation on the four divine abodes.
2, 4
Visualization and Offerings
Detailed descriptions of the deity's attributes, the generation of offerings from seed syllables, and the visualization of celestial mandalas.
5-6
Mantra Practice and Application
Guidelines for the consecration of food and drink and the specific mantra recitations required to bring others under the practitioner's power.
Themes
Deity Yoga and Visualization (2, 4)
Bodhicitta and the Divine Abodes (3)
Ritual Subjugation (Vaśīkaraṇa) (5-6)
Mantra and Seed Syllables (2, 4, 5, 6)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Kurukullē-sādhana. In the language of Tibet: Myur mdzad ma’i sgrub thabs (The Sādhana of the Swift-Acting Goddess). Homage to the goddess Kurukullē!
First, one should meditate in a secluded place where the mind is joyful, having smeared the ground with the five types of fragrant substances. The practitioner of ascetic discipline should sit in meditative equipoise upon a soft and spacious seat. Then, one should visualize at the heart a blazing sun maṇḍala, completely transformed from the syllable RAṂ and dense with garlands of flames. At its center, one should contemplate a red syllable HRĪḤ. From that syllable HRĪḤ, a web of light rays emanates and strikes the realms of sentient beings dwelling in the ten directions. Having manifested them in the form of the glorious Kurukullē, those garlands of light rays then reassemble and are visualized as entering back into that very [syllable].
Then, in the sky before one, one should visualize the goddess Kurukullē, appearing like a sixteen-year-old. Her tawny hair is tied upward in a blaze, and her head is adorned with five skull-cups. She stands in a dancing posture with half-lotus position upon a corpse. Her fangs are slightly bared and her tongue is flickering. She is adorned with a wheel, earrings, a necklace, armlets, bracelets, a belt, and anklets. She wears a tiger-skin skirt, her red eyes are moving and rolling, and her head is adorned by the protector Ananta. Of her four hands, two hold a red utpala flower and an arrow with an unopened tip, while the other two draw a bow of red flowers.
One should visualize that her two remaining hands hold a hook of red flowers and an utpala lotus. Then, in order to make offerings to the Blessed One Kurukullā, one should offer the five types of offerings—flowers, incense, lamps, perfumes, and divine food—which arise from the syllable Hrīḥ situated upon a sun maṇḍala at one’s own heart. This is the offering. Having made the offerings, the yogi, endowed with sublime compassion, should prostrate with devotion through body, speech, and mind. This is the prostration. Having prostrated, one should confess misdeeds: whatever misdeeds have been committed, caused to be committed, or were rejoiced in, all of these I confess directly in the presence of the Blessed Lady. This is the confession of misdeeds. Then, one should rejoice in merit: "I rejoice in whatever merit belongs to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, O practitioner of vows." This is the rejoicing in merit. Then, one goes for refuge to the Three Jewels: "In the Buddha Jewel, the Dharma Jewel, and the Saṅgha Jewel, I go for refuge for as long as I wander in saṃsāra." This is the going for refuge to the Three Jewels. Then, one should generate the mind of awakening (bodhicitta): "In order to lead those sentient beings who dwell in the saṃsāra of existence, I shall act as the Lord Vajra Mind."
This refers to the generation of the mind of awakening (bodhicitta). Then, one should meditate on the four divine abodes (brahmavihāra). Meditating with a mind that feels affection for all sentient beings as if they were an only child is the meditation on equanimity (upekṣā). Then, the fact that all those [beings] are by nature unobservable and separated from the body is the meditation on emptiness (śūnyatā). Then, the mind is blessed by means of the secret mantra of "mind-only," oṃ śūnyatā-jñāna-vajra-svabhāvātmako ’haṃ. Then, having perceived the welfare of sentient beings with the intellect through the power of previous aspirations, the practitioner generates the form of the deity; this sequence of the hidden mantra is called the "deity body." Then, in the expanse of space, one should meditate on a sun maṇḍala arising from the syllable raṃ, dense with garlands of nets of light rays. This is the rising of the sun. Above that, from the complete transformation of a black syllable hūṃ, one should visualize a crossed vajra (viśvavajra), from which arise a vajra fence, a vajra canopy, a vajra enclosure, and a vajra ground. This is the protection wheel (rakṣācakra). In its center, one should meditate on the white syllable e, the wisdom of the source of phenomena (dharmodaya). In its center, from a red syllable hrīḥ, arises a red eight-petaled lotus. Upon its heart, from the complete transformation of the syllable raṃ, arise a sun and a corpse.
Furthermore, above those is a white full moon, complete and perfectly round, possessing the thirty-two major marks. Above that is a red solar maṇḍala, the essence of the eighty minor marks. Between them, one should meditate on a red syllable HRĪḤ, which transforms into a red utpala flower that has not yet opened, and within it, one's own mind enters. Then, from the unified melting of the moon, vowels, and sun, one should meditate on the body of the goddess Kurukullā as previously described.
Having meditated on her, one should meditate on a solar maṇḍala arising from the syllable RAṂ at the heart, and within its center, the syllable HRĪḤ. With its rays of light, the Protector Ananta is summoned; having invited him, those holding offerings make perfect offerings, and one should supplicate for empowerment. The supplication is: abhiṣiñcatu māṃ amṛtanātha. One should meditate that from his heart, vases completely filled with the five nectars of the seed-syllable of Ananta emanate. Then, by the empowerment of pouring from the vases filled with the five nectars, the vases enter one's heart. Once they have entered, one should meditate on Ananta at the crown of the yogi. One should meditate on this during the three times and recite the secret mantra of the goddess. The secret mantra is: oṃ kurukulle hrīḥ svāhā. In particular, one should perform the recitation with a rosary of red sandalwood. One should diligently purify all foods with the nectar of the five aspects of wisdom.
By means of these three syllables—Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ—if one consecrates food and drink, the secret mantra of the mouth is accomplished. Then, if the mantra practitioner wishes to bring a man or a woman under their power, they should begin on the first day of the waxing moon and perform ten thousand recitations. At the three times of day, visualizing oneself in the form of the Bhagavatī, and wearing a red lower garment and red cotton on the body, one should imagine at one's heart a red syllable Hrīḥ resting upon a sun maṇḍala. From the complete transformation of that syllable, one should visualize a red eight-petaled lotus with its root emerging from the mud.
Upon those petals, one should visualize eight bees, transformed from the first eight vowels, who are wrathful yet expansive, joyful, and passionate, arranged in successive order. Stirred by the breath, they emerge from the nostrils, enter the right nostril of the object of practice, and while making sounds and dancing, they cause them to yearn. One should also observe the eight vowels on the lotus petals, which are slightly reddish in color. Having observed them in that way, the yogi then takes an arrow with an unopened utpala bud as its tip and, with a fist accompanied by a piercing gaze, draws it fully back and strikes the filaments of the lotus.
By that, those bees are exhorted by their own samaya; they take each vowel and emerge from the left nostril, entering the right nostril of the yogi. At the heart, one should cause the consciousness of oneself and the other to become one. Then, binding the throat with the root of the utpala and drawing [the object] out from the womb with a hook, one should imagine them becoming unable to endure it.
By means of blazing, one should bring [the object] under control and place it upon the wind-cakra. With a joyful mind, the yogi should recite the secret mantra and meditate in this way: the secret mantra is oṃ kurukulle hrīḥ amukaṃ me vaśamānaya svāhā. One should recite this throughout the night until the full moon. Then, in the morning, she will come; she will be passionate, naked, and with disheveled hair. By being exhorted with this king of secret mantras, even the most extensive accomplishments (siddhi) will be attained. This concludes the sādhana of the goddess Kurukullā, who originated from the land of Oḍḍiyāna. It was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian abbot Mañjuśrījñāna, an elder born in the land of Magadha and ordained at glorious Mahābodhi, and the Tibetan translator Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo.