Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text provides a structured formula for the daily confession of faults within the Cakrasaṃvara tantric tradition. The work begins with a visualization of the deity Cakrasaṃvara, detailing his four faces, twelve arms, and consort Vajravārāhī, establishing the sacred field for the practice. The practitioner then systematically acknowledges transgressions committed through the three doors of body, speech, and mind, specifically citing the misuse or degradation of vidyāmantras, heart mantras, and mudrās. The text concludes with a plea for the deity's compassion and protection, employing a paternal metaphor to request sustenance despite the practitioner's lack of full understanding of the source material. By engaging with this ritual, the reader commits to a process of purification and spiritual realignment, acknowledging the potential for technical and ethical errors in the execution of complex tantric praxis.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual for the daily confession of faults, the 'khor lo bde mchog gi rgyun bshags belongs to the tradition of the Śaṃvara and Related Tantras. The work is attributed to the Indian author Indrabhūti, identified in the text as King Indrabhūti. Preserved in the classical Tibetan period, the work appears in volume ཞ of the Tengyur. The text enacts a process of purification through the visualization of the four-faced, twelve-armed deity Cakrasaṃvara and his consort Vajravārāhī. The practitioner systematically acknowledges verbal and mental transgressions, including the degradation of heart mantras, mudrās, and vidyāmantras, while requesting the deity's compassion through a paternal metaphor. Spanning three pages in its source edition, the work is consulted by scholars and practitioners to understand the specific formulas of confession and the technical requirements of spiritual realignment within the Cakrasaṃvara tradition.
The text illustrates the necessity of purification rituals in Vajrayāna Buddhism to counteract the perceived spiritual risks of misusing powerful mantras and mudrās. It highlights the tension between the high technical requirements of the tradition and the practitioner's reliance on the deity's compassion for redemption.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Invocation and Visualization
Description of the physical attributes and consort of the deity Cakrasaṃvara.
2
Confession of Faults
Acknowledgment of verbal and mental transgressions, specifically regarding the degradation of tantric implements.
3
Closing Prayer
A request for compassionate protection and enlightened activity.
Themes
Purification of Speech and Mind (2)
Deity Visualization (1)
Compassion and Dependence (3)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
The Daily Confession of Cakrasaṃvara
Bhagavān with four faces and twelve arms, holding the elephant hide and other implements in your twelve hands; adorned with the six mudrās of the six Sugatas, you sport in supreme bliss with Vajravārāhī as your physical ornament. You turn the maṇḍala of the assembly of ḍākinīs and the rest. All you who dwell in the three worlds, including the space, the earth, and likewise the subterranean realms, together with your retinues—please attend to me!
O Vajra Wisdom, you who possess the samaya, please turn your attention toward me. From beginningless time until this present birth, I have wandered in this most unbearable saṃsāra. In this degenerate age at the end of the eon, I have seen but a flash of the light from your face, like a bolt of lightning. Through my previous karmic connection and your compassion, I have encountered this great purpose of the Secret Mantra Vajrayāna, the unsurpassed supreme vehicle.
In order that I, with my inferior intellect, might practice and accomplish this, from the moment I took the vows and made the commitments, although the fruit of my practice has not yet been manifested, I shall not transgress the samaya. The word of the Sugatas is unfailing. Constantly regard me as if you were before my very eyes. Although I have not purified the consciousness that is the nature of the afflictions, and thus have not seen your body, speech, and mind, since I shall not transgress your command, grant that the blessings of your word be realized within me. My own nature is entirely equal to yours, and the same is true for the entire host of wandering beings without exception. Whatever physical misdeeds I have committed, I pray for forgiveness before the assembly of your body maṇḍala.
Through speech, I have spoken ill in the manner of selflessness; through the continuous and exhaustive use of the vidyāmantras, deities, heart mantras, and mudrās, I have caused them to degenerate. I pray for forgiveness for these collections of verbal faults.
With my mind, I have contemplated the faults of others; regarding meditative absorption, view, conduct, the deities, the ācārya, and the vidyāmantras, deities, heart mantras, and mudrās, I pray for forgiveness for the continuous failure in these assemblies.
I have disparaged the ācārya and transgressed his commands; I have spoken ill to my vajra siblings and abandoned great love. I have abandoned bodhicitta and disparaged the three vehicles; I have revealed secrets to the unqualified and reviled my own aggregates. I have harbored doubt toward the Dharma and felt aversion toward suffering; I have made dualistic distinctions regarding the Dharma and disparaged the faithful mind.
I have not relied upon the samaya as it was explained; I have reviled the visualized vidyā-consort. I pray for forgiveness for these root downfalls.
I have delighted in relying on a consort who lacks samaya; I have quarreled in the maṇḍala assembly and taught secret Dharma. I have taught the samaya to sentient beings who lack faith; I have lived together with hearers (śrāvakas) and, without having performed the preparatory rites, I have revealed secrets to those who are not vessels.
I have relied on a mudrā without knowing the mudrās; I have entered the maṇḍala without having purified the approach (sevā). Because I have disregarded the prohibitions of the two vows, I have contravened these branch samayas. Whatever has become a ground for punishment, I pray for forgiveness.
I pray that you grant me purification. At this present time, when the teachings are perishing, you fully know the prevalence of afflictions. Please consider me according to your respective vows.
Please perform your enlightened activities just as they are requested. Just as a father, out of love, protects his child well even if the child does not fully understand, so too, although I do not fully understand this source text, I pray that you sustain me with your great compassion. This concludes the "Brief Daily Confession of the Glorious Cakrasaṃvara," composed by King Indrabhūti at the abode of the glorious goddess of Oḍḍiyāna.