Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This commentary provides a technical manual for the practice of the Cakrasaṃvara tantra, detailing the progression through the generation and completion stages. The text instructs the practitioner to transition from the visualization of the deity Heruka and the syllable HŪṂ—emphasizing a lack of inherent existence—to the manipulation of subtle bodily energies. It commits the reader to a rigorous regime of yogic exercises, including the control of winds, the movement of bodhicitta drops, and the cultivation of non-dual wisdom characterized as self-aware great bliss. Beyond meditative visualization, the work integrates practical instructions on medicinal preparations for the body and the ethical management of samaya misdeeds. By synthesizing visualization, physiological manipulation, and ritual conduct, the text aims to lead the practitioner toward the attainment of mundane and ultimate siddhis, ultimately grounding the experience in the primordial wisdom of the coemergent.
Provenance
About this text
A commentary on the five stages of Cakrasaṃvara, the Śrīcakrasaṃvarapañcakramavṛtti is a work of classical Tibetan Buddhism attributed to the Indian author Vajraghaṇṭa. The text was translated into Tibetan by Sumatikīrti and lo tsa ba mar pa ban+de chos kyi dbang phyug. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཝ, where it is situated within the collection of the Śaṃvara and Related Tantras and extends over twelve pages. Under its Tibetan title, dpal 'khor lo sdom pa'i rim pa lnga pa'i 'grel pa, the work enacts a detailed meditative process. It guides the practitioner through the visualization of the syllable HŪṂ within a sun and moon maṇḍala at the heart, and the subsequent transformation of light rays and drops into the deity Heruka, depicted with one face, two arms, and a khaṭvāṅga. Scholars and serious readers consult this work today to examine these specific instructions on the visualization of the deity and the recollection of bliss experienced during the empowerment of insight.
Sanskrit title
Śrīcakrasaṃvarapañcakramavṛtti
Indian author
Vajraghaṇṭa
Tibetan translators
Sumatikīrti, lo tsa ba mar pa ban+de chos kyi dbang phyug
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Running Commentary on “The Five Stages of Glorious Cakrasaṃvara”” (Toh 1435), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1435
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as it exemplifies the integration of somatic control and emptiness-based visualization characteristic of the Anuttarayoga Tantra tradition. For the modern reader, it illustrates the complex intersection of ritual art, internal alchemy, and ethics within the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist framework.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-4, 6
Generation Stage
Instructions on visualizing the syllable HŪṂ, the deity Heruka, and the conceptualization of the deity's body as lacking inherent existence.
5, 7, 8, 11, 15-16
Completion Stage and Subtle Body
Technical details on the nāda, the movement of bodhicitta drops, the control of winds, and the realization of non-dual wisdom.
9, 10, 12, 14
Ritual and Physical Practices
Guidelines on ritual union, medicinal applications for the body, and the conferral of empowerment.
13
Ethics and Samaya
Classification and management of natural and proscribed misdeeds within the Secret Mantra system.
Themes
Visualization and Emptiness (3, 4)
Subtle Body Physiology (Winds and Drops) (5, 7, 15, 16)
Non-dual Wisdom and Bliss (8, 11)
Tantric Ethics (Samaya) (13)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaA Running Commentary on “The Five Stages of Glorious Cakrasaṃvara”·
In the language of India: Śrīcakrasaṃvarapañcakramavṛtti. In the language of Tibet: dPal ’khor lo sdom pa’i rim pa lnga pa’i ’grel pa. Homage to the glorious Cakrasaṃvara!
From the HŪṂ at the heart, light rays are emitted, emerging from the avadhūtī and passing through the throat. Exiting through the right nostril, as soon as they touch the ground, they transform into a HŪṂ. From the melting of that HŪṂ, one should meditate on a crossed vajra (viśvavajra) with five prongs, which are respectively dark blue, blue, green, red, and yellow at the central, eastern, northern, western, and southern points.
Visualize that light rays emanate from it in the four directions. By these, five-pronged vajras of blue, green, red, and yellow dissolve respectively into the eastern, northern, western, and southern directions, such that even the wind cannot pass through. From the tips of those vajras, light radiates, and by dissolving into the upper parts of the eastern, northern, western, and southern directions as five-pronged vajras of blue, green, red, and yellow, they are arranged in a checkered pattern so that even the wind cannot pass through. This is the vajra canopy.
At the center of the crossed vajra, the HŪṂ melts and one should visualize an eight-petaled multicolored lotus. At its center, in the east, north, west, and south, are the drops (bindu) of bodhicitta—white, radiant, clear, and lustrous—which were experienced as mere bliss during the empowerment of the wisdom-knowledge (prajñājñāna). They are dark blue, blue, green, and...
Visualize five [drops] the size of thick peas, red and yellow, leaping forth like fish from water. From their melting, one should imagine oneself as Heruka, with one face and two arms, holding a vajra in the right hand and a bell in the left, with a khaṭvāṅga cradled in the crook of the arm. He stands with the right leg extended and the left drawn in, his yellow hair bristling upward, adorned with a crescent moon on his head, possessing three eyes and tawny eyebrows, and endowed with the six mudrās.
From the melting of the blue, green, red, and yellow drops, one should imagine the four goddesses—Vajraḍākinī, Lāmā, Khaṇḍarohā, and Rūpiṇī—appearing in blue, green, red, and yellow respectively. These goddesses also have one face and three eyes, their yellow hair bristling upward and adorned with a crescent moon. They are naked, standing with the left leg extended, endowed with the five mudrās, holding a curved knife in the right hand and a skull-cup in the left. All five deities likewise sit upon corpse seats. On the four petals of the intermediate directions are four precious vases. Above, one should meditate instantaneously upon four kapālas filled with the five natural nectars (amṛta). This is the generation stage (utpattikrama), which is comprised of the excellence of place, body, and enjoyments.
Whichever completion stage (niṣpannakrama) one may meditate upon, one should first practice the generation stage. Following that, there are three ways to meditate on the completion stage: focusing on the syllable HŪṂ, focusing on the drop (bindu), and focusing on the subtle hair-like nāda of one finger-width.
Regarding the meditation on the visualization of the syllable HŪṂ: within the hollow interior of the heart, visualize a sun maṇḍala below and a moon maṇḍala above it. Between the sun and the moon, visualize the king of drops, the syllable HŪṂ, the size of a grape seed, a pea, or a thick mustard seed. At the time of the empowerment of insight, one should recollect that very bliss experienced [therein].
One should also contract the lower winds, draw them upward from within the lower abdomen, and perform the application of pressing the tongue against the palate. Having made the king of drops, the syllable HŪṂ, the same size as before, visualize it as white and radiant, endowed with bliss and a brilliant luster, within the aperture of the moon maṇḍala, the size of a grape seed or a thick mustard seed.
Then, light rays radiate from the HŪṂ, and by their mere touch, the impure environment and its inhabitants melt into a mass of light—like salt dissolving in water—and are absorbed into the pure environment and inhabitants. The pure environment and inhabitants are then absorbed into oneself. Oneself also melts and is absorbed into the sun and moon maṇḍalas. The sun and moon maṇḍalas also melt and are absorbed into the HŪṂ. The syllable HŪṂ is absorbed into the vowel u (the hook), the u into the ha, the ha into the crescent moon, the crescent moon into the drop (bindu), and the drop into the extremely subtle nāda, like a single hair-stroke. That subtle hair-stroke nāda also dissolves into space.
Focusing the mind on that very dissolution, then, like a fish leaping from water or lightning flashing in the sky, one recollects the previous sequence in a single instant.
Visualize the deity’s body as appearing yet lacking inherent existence. One should cultivate the conviction that the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, speech, and mind are Jinajik, Vajradhṛk, Ratnadhṛk, Prajñādhṛk, and Vajrasattva, and that they are the vajra body, speech, and mind. One should then abide in the conduct of non-equipoise. Abiding in the drop is the stage of the generation phase; the meditation on the excellence of the body and enjoyments is the same as before.
Between the maṇḍalas of the sun and the moon, one should recollect the blissful drop of bodhicitta—white, radiant, and brilliant—which is the very bliss experienced at the time of the wisdom of insight. Contract the lower wind. By contracting the lower wind, drawing the flesh of the lower abdomen upward, and applying the yoga of joining the tongue to the palate, one should withdraw the five collections of consciousness into the previous drop—whether it be the size of a grape, a pea, or a mustard seed—from the moon’s aperture. Having gathered them from the ālayavijñāna, one should focus upon it. When the mind is held upon the drop and does not wander elsewhere, the winds are arrested, and the wisdom of bliss arises solely through the nature of phenomena (dharmatā). Focusing on the nāda, the subtle hair-like stroke, is the generation phase comprised of the excellence of the place, enjoyments, and body, just as before.
Regarding the completion stage: within the hollow center of the heart, the abode of luminosity, is a nāda—a subtle hair-like line one finger-width in length, as thick as a single hair, white and radiant, possessing a brilliant luster and bliss. By contracting the lower winds, drawing the flesh of the lower abdomen upward, and pressing the tongue against the palate, one joins [the winds]; then, recollecting the very bliss experienced during the wisdom-knowledge empowerment (prajñājñānābhiṣeka), one should focus on the subtle hair-like nāda.
Holding the two channels at the subtle hair-like nāda, one observes from which nostril the breath emerges. From whichever side the breath flows, one focuses on the white, radiant, and brilliant bliss of the union of wind and mind emerging from the hair-like nāda. One then focuses on that very [bliss] as it enters within. By shortening the duration of the exhalation and inhalation, one should fix the mind and remain for a long duration upon the [breath] as it abides. Following that, one should meditate on all phenomena, including the subtle hair-like nāda, as being established as nothing whatsoever.
Then, in a mere instant, one should visualize the illusory body. One should contemplate and understand the six sense faculties and the three of body, speech, and mind as the six buddhas and the body, speech, and mind [of the deity], and abide in the conduct of non-equipoise. With this, the pith instructions for the stage of self-consecration (svādhiṣṭhānakrama) have been taught.
The stage of the stainless viśvavajra has two parts: the stage of accomplishing mundane accomplishments (siddhi) and the stage of meditating on supramundane accomplishments.
First, regarding the stages for accomplishing mundane siddhis, there are two: the generation stage and the completion stage. Regarding the meditation on the generation stage, there are two: meditating on the support, the vajra pavilion and lotus, and meditating on the supported deity. The meditation on the support is the same as before. As for meditating on the supported deity, one should visualize a hūṃ in the center of the lotus. From the melting of the hūṃ, one visualizes a vajra. From the melting of the vajra, one visualizes Heruka with one face and two arms, with yellow hair bristling upward, tawny eyebrows, and a head adorned with five skulls and beautified by a crescent moon. He has bared fangs and so forth, and his body is either blue or red as appropriate. His head is adorned with the Primordial Buddha (Ādibuddha). With the right leg extended and the left drawn in, he possesses the five mudrās and a necklace of fresh human heads. One should meditate on the form of Vajreśvara, possessing the radiance of the midday sun. That is the generation stage.
As for meditating on the completion stage: one should meditate on the eyes as emptiness (śūnyatā), and focus the mind on the drop (bindu) of the bliss of bodhicitta within the eyes, the size of a pea, white and radiant, possessing luster and accompanied by bliss. Likewise, having meditated on the ears, nose, tongue, and body as emptiness, one should focus the mind individually on the objects of the ears and so forth, visualizing a white, radiant, oily, and spherical drop of the bliss of bodhicitta, possessing luster and accompanied by bliss, in each of those locations.
At the heart, one should focus the mind on a white, radiant, and lustrous drop of the bliss of bodhicitta, the size of a pea, accompanied by bliss. At the crown of the head, in the wheel of great bliss, one should focus the mind on a drop of bodhicitta similar to the one above. At the throat, in the wheel of enjoyment, one should focus the mind on a drop of bodhicitta similar to the previous one. At the navel, in the wheel of emanation, one should focus the mind on a drop of bodhicitta similar to the previous one.
Regarding the stages for accomplishing supramundane siddhis, there are two: the generation stage and the completion stage. The generation stage is as described before. For the meditation of the completion stage, one should focus the mind on a white, radiant, and blissful drop at the ūrṇā (the hair-treasure between the brows), the size of a thick pea. When stability of mind is attained therein, the sign of "white clarity" will arise. Once that occurs, one should focus the mind on a white, radiant, and lustrous drop of bliss inside the forehead, the size of a thick pea. The sign of attaining stability of mind therein is the arising of "white clarity." Following that, one should focus the mind on a black, radiant, lustrous, and blissful drop at the crown of the head, the size of a thick pea. The sign of attaining stability of mind therein is the arising of "black clarity."
That which subsequently arises naturally as the non-dual wisdom of self-aware great bliss, free from conceptual thought, is the Mother Prajñāpāramitā. In her, the Son Buddha is born; this is the stage of the stainless Viśvavajra, the second.
Regarding the stage of filling the jewel, there are four: relying on the samaya-mudrā, relying on the karma-mudrā, relying on the dharma-mudrā, and relying on the mahāmudrā.
Among these, relying on the samaya-mudrā involves a woman of the yoṣidha family who has been well-consecrated, who is close through her conduct, who dwells with joy and affection like a sister or a daughter, who possesses the capacity to hold mantra and mudrā, and who has been ripened by the path of ripening from the age of twelve to twenty and is endowed with empowerment. Having prepared the preliminaries, in a pleasing location strewn with red flowers, she should wear beautiful garments so that the body's foul odor is not perceived and sit upon a soft cushion. For seven days, she should observe the samaya of food, consuming a drink mixed with milk and sugar, and eating the fresh, mild meat of a young lamb. She should then remain gazing at one another with eyes of passion.
Then, at the time of union, one should generate the divine pride of oneself as Heruka and the consort as Nairātmyā. One should place the syllables on the consort’s head, throat, heart, navel, secret place, and thighs. Having arranged them with oṃ āḥ hūṃ ho haṃ kṣa svāhā,
Having blessed the vajra and the lotus, one should perform the playful acts of kissing the lips, the cumbana kiss, the scratching of the channels, and the pressing of the nails upon the nine locations, and so forth. Following that, one should embrace one another and cultivate the pride of passion.
Then, with the hand of the gol che ba, one should rub and clarify the avadhūtī. At the moment the avadhūtī and the hand of the gol che ba meet, one should keep in mind the signs such as the change in facial expression, the uttering of sounds of pleasure, and the trembling of the heart. When the time comes for the vajra and lotus to join in union, and when signs such as those previously mentioned arise, one should apply that very vajra and perform the churning and rubbing of the wheel-like union of the naked kha sbyor. One should also restrain the downward-clearing wind (apāna) of method and insight, as well as the life-sustaining (prāṇa) and effort (āyāma) winds, and perform the yogic exercises (yantra). One should join the lower part of the trunk upward and also perform the exercise of joining the tongue to the palate. One should also perform the taṅkuli exercise; these are the yogic exercises.
As for the medicinal application: one should swallow a pill the size of a pea, made by mixing citarka, the root of white arka, and the "vajra-milk" (vajra-kṣīra) which digests [the essence]. At the time when the mind desires [the emission], one should ensure that not even one of these three medicinal pills is missing. By mixing "vajra-milk" and cow's milk, one should also anoint the soles of both feet. One should also anoint the root of the vinukanta and the white, elongated substance inside the white lotus, and bind the waist.
That is the medicine called dhara-aśoka, which holds the mind. At the time of entering into union, one should fill the cavity of a mute person’s ear with mercury and seal the opening with beeswax. Placing it at the root of the tongue, when the mind is about to arise, it should be applied to the root of the tongue of the mute. This is the method for holding the mind with the mute precious jewel.
One should insert a hollow tube into the anus of the wisdom consort (prajñā). Using a felt net one finger-width longer than the measure of one’s own vajra, it should be wrapped in beeswax. The waist of the wisdom consort should be bound with silk, and the vajra form, about one finger-width in size, should be inserted into the secret lotus (padma). The waist should be bound slightly upward. When it has entered about two finger-widths, it should be bound slightly more. Likewise, as the vajra is inserted slightly, the waist should be bound. It should be inserted until one finger-width remains, and that too should be bound very tightly. By the wisdom consort herself inserting it upward for that one finger-width, the lotus is turned back. The avadhūtī emerges one finger-width, is inserted into the vajra opening, and one should insert and rub it using the wheel-like method of union. By the power of these pith instructions, one will experience the non-dual wisdom of self-aware great bliss, like the flower of the illustrative coemergent (sahaja). Following that, one should perform the wheel, the drop (bindu), the union, or the neuter recitation (maṇi).
One should focus the mind on any one of these four pith instructions, recollect the previous bliss, and train in the non-dual primordial wisdom (jñāna) of self-aware great bliss, which is like the scent of the flower of the ultimate coemergent (sahaja). Even during periods when one is not in formal meditative equipoise, such as when practicing the generation stage (utpattikrama), one should cultivate devotion toward whatever is seen as the nature of the mind’s characteristic, which is great bliss. One should train in the manner of the following: "I am not seen, nor are beings seen; the three worlds are born from me. Yellow bliss, white bliss, red bliss, green bliss—likewise, bliss is born from the kunda."
If one wishes to summon a wisdom woman endowed with qualities, one should take the three fruits, bilva, pomegranate, walnut, pauṣkara, dāḍima, balika, and the two types of śukra—these eleven medicinal ingredients should be mixed in equal parts and applied as a paste to flowers to be placed in a casket. Then, having combined dog bone, human bone, and vulture dung, one should apply this to one’s own forehead. As for the method to prevent others from altering one’s mind: having ground a bat on the evening of the fourth day of the lunar month and its dung, one should apply it to the tip of one’s own secret vajra; if one then engages in union, others will not be able to alter one’s mind.
The pith instruction for not increasing saṃsāra is as follows: having washed the palms of the hands clean, apply mercury to the ring fingers, collect fresh sesame oil, and place the hands inside wine.
When it has dried, apply it to the forehead and leave it in the yośiti [vessel]. Alternatively, grind two zho of dark vermilion into a fine powder and, in the morning, mix it with delicious wine and have it drunk. Have the patient hold an iron ladle wrapped with the root of pūpika. Furthermore, the waist should be wrapped with the root of pūpika. At dusk, the padma should be washed with iron water. Boil molasses, sesame oil, salt, jujube fruit, rice, and barley in milk; once only the sesame oil remains, strain it and insert the ring finger into it, then place it inside the padma and stir for a long time. For the procedure involving goat's hair, mix the root of dāruharidrā with camphor and apply it to the vajra. Mix half a srang of sugar and cow's butter and eat it after a meal. Eat the meat of a sparrow that has been kept for one night at the time of the junction [of day and night], and drink boiled milk in the proper measure. One should eat sesame oil mixed with the powder of māṣa beans and milk. One should drink a mixture of gocha, cow's milk, and licorice combined with butter. One should drink cow's or goat's milk into which the finely ground powder of indravāruṇī and sugar has been added. Regarding the instruction for not violating the samaya: the discipline of a monk's prātimokṣa vows becomes the discipline of a bodhisattva at the time of generating the bodhicitta and remains as such. In general, if the samaya of Secret Mantra is violated, the three sets of vows will be destroyed. The bodhisattva vows and...
In the system of the samaya of Secret Mantra, there are two types of misdeeds: natural misdeeds and proscribed misdeeds. Regarding these, natural misdeeds are killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, and lying. Of these four, the first two and the last are to be practiced according to the Vidyādhara Piṭaka, but they are not explained here. Sexual misconduct is included among natural misdeeds, so it is not explained here as something to be practiced. Unchaste conduct is a proscribed misdeed; therefore, one should understand it as being of the nature of suchness. Because there is great purpose, the Blessed One explained in the Root Tantras that if one possesses the oral instructions, there is no contradiction. Because sexual misconduct is a natural misdeed and because there is the protection of others' bodies, the Blessed One did not explain it here as something to be practiced. Unchaste conduct is taught as something to be practiced; furthermore, because it is described as a "young girl" up to twelve, sixteen, or twenty years of age, there is no contradiction. Moreover, it appears as a union with one who is not under the power of another. Because there is great purpose here as well, it should be practiced during four times. The four times are: the time of offering the bliss of bodhicitta, the time of accomplishing the deities of the maṇḍala, the time of conferring the secret empowerment upon the disciple, and...
This is the time for the conferral of the wisdom-gnosis empowerment (prajñājñānābhiṣeka). Through offerings, there is the great purpose of pleasing the deities and thereby attaining the two types of accomplishments (siddhi). Through the accomplishment of the maṇḍala, there is the great purpose of performing the great benefit for beings through the body, speech, mind, and wisdom, and thereby attaining the dharma of the benefit for beings. Through the conferral of the secret empowerment, the student becomes a suitable vessel for the Mahāyāna; thus, there is the great purpose of attaining the acceptance of the non-arising of phenomena (anutpattikadharmakṣānti). Through the conferral of the wisdom-gnosis empowerment, there is the great purpose of experiencing the nature of one’s own mind as great bliss—the non-dual wisdom of self-knowing awareness that is free from all extremes of conceptual elaboration (prapañca). Therefore, one should rely [on this] without transgressing the samaya. This should be understood from the commentaries composed by the bodhisattvas, and not from those composed by the arrogant. These consist of conduct with elaboration and conduct without elaboration. Regarding conduct that is utterly without elaboration, since there is no contact with substantial entities, it is not established as a fault. The pith instruction for abandoning lack of faith is to smear the forehead with a paste mixed of camphor, musk, saffron, sandalwood, and buffalo semen. This is the stage of purifying the jewel by relying on the samaya-mudrā. The stage of purifying the jewel by relying on the karma-mudrā involves the samaya of the place, the samaya of food, and the pith instructions on conduct, which are the same as before. The yogi remains lying on his back.
Raising both big toes toward the sky, one should remain with the remaining fingers tucked downward. One should also perform the tāṅkuli application: contracting the lower wind, drawing the flesh of the perineum upward, and applying the technique of pressing the tongue against the palate. By means of the specific application of the mudrā called "the hands," one should perform the rubbing application and experience the non-conceptual wisdom of bliss.
Regarding the sequence of filling the jewel based on the dharmamudrā: one should visualize the goddess of mental appearance and, through the previous pith instructions, recollect the bliss of the time of the wisdom-knowledge empowerment (prajñājñānābhiṣeka). One should then focus the mind on the pith instructions for the cakra, the bindu, the yuganaddha, or the napuṃsaka-japa.
Regarding the sequence of filling the jewel based on the mahāmudrā: it is the meditation on that very bliss previously generated as having the characteristic of emptiness (śūnyatā). This is the sequence of filling the jewel.
The sequence of Jālandhara has two parts: the generation stage (utpattikrama) and the completion stage (niṣpannakrama). The generation stage is the same as before. As for the meditation on the completion stage: below one's navel and above the bladder, one should visualize a triangular dharmodaya mudrā, white with a reddish tint. Inside it, one should visualize a white and reddish four-spoked wheel with a central hub. In the center, one should visualize a white bliss-drop (bindu), and in the four directions, blue, red, yellow, and green drops the size of peas. One should then cultivate the conviction that these are the five Buddhas.
By arresting the winds of the lower and upper gates, the light rays of the five drops radiate and emerge from the space of the nostrils. They extend twelve finger-widths from whichever nostril the breath flows, and then are drawn back inside and dissolve into the five drops. During meditation, as the breath goes out and comes in, one should make the duration shorter and shorter and the count fewer and fewer; while the breath remains inside, one should make the duration longer and longer to stabilize the mind. One should meditate until the five drops are seen as clearly as they are seen with the eyes. Then, if one contemplates those same previous drops at the tongue, shoulders, eyes, ears, nose, and tongue, whatever worldly accomplishments one desires will be achieved.
Regarding the inconceivable stage, there are two: the generation stage and the completion stage. The generation stage is the same as before. As for the completion stage, one turns the mind away from objects and meditates on all phenomena as mind-only. That very mind should be made into non-conceptual bliss, and that very cognition should also be meditated upon as emptiness. The conduct when not in meditative equipoise is the same as before.
This concludes the commentary on the Five Stages of the Glorious Cakrasaṃvara, composed by the great master Vajraghaṇṭāpāda and translated by the Paṇḍita Sumatikīrti and the translator Marpa Bande Chökyi Wangchuk.