Toh 1459 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Self-Empowerment in the Glorious Spontaneously Arisen Saṃvara

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1459
Genre: Ritual
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 022_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཞ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,321 Tibetan characters · 305 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

This text is a sādhanā, or liturgical manual, titled Self-Empowerment in the Glorious Spontaneously Arisen Saṃvara. Attributed to King Indrabhūti the Middle and translated into Tibetan by Mi nyag, the work provides a ritual framework for self-consecration within the Heruka tradition. The text outlines a threefold yogic system consisting of the blessing, the self-sign, and the inconceivable reflection of the perfected form. It commits the practitioner to a visualization process involving the maṇḍala, specifically the relationship between the support and the supported, and the integration of elements such as blood and bodhicitta. By following these instructions, the reader is led through a process of internalizing the deity's power to achieve a state of empowerment, transitioning from the conceptualization of the maṇḍala to the realization of the perfected form.

Provenance

About this text

A ritual work centered on the deity Heruka, the Śrīsahajasamvarasvādhiṣṭhāna belongs to the collection of the Śaṃvara and Related Tantras. The work is attributed to the Indian author Indrabhūti (II), also referred to as King Indrabhūti the Middle. It was translated into the classical Tibetan language by rje mi nyag chen po, known in the colophon as the great Lord Mi nyag. This translation is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཞ, where it occupies two pages. The work enacts a process of self-consecration, detailing a threefold yoga consisting of the blessing, the self-sign, and the inconceivable reflection of the perfected form. It guides the practitioner through the visualization of maṇḍalas characterized by the support and the supported, incorporating elements such as blood and bodhicitta. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific ritual framework and yogic instructions used to internalize the deity's power and achieve a state of empowerment through the realization of the perfected form.

Sanskrit title: Śrīsahajasamvarasvādhiṣṭhāna
Indian author: Indrabhūti (II)
Tibetan translators: rje mi nyag chen po
Canonical collection: Śaṃvara and Related Tantras
Genre: Ritual
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཞ
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “Self-Empowerment in the Glorious Spontaneously Arisen Saṃvara” (Toh 1459), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1459

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant as it represents the transmission of the Sahajasambhara cycle from India to Tibet via the translator Mi nyag. It illustrates the tradition of attributing tantric texts to legendary figures like King Indrabhūti to establish lineage authority. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of the structural components of a self-empowerment ritual in Anuttarayoga Tantra.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1-2	Introduction and Conclusion	Contains the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles, an invocation to Heruka, a definition of the threefold yoga, and the colophon identifying the author and translator.

Themes

Ritual Empowerment (1-2)
Maṇḍala Visualization (2)
Yogic Classification (1)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaSelf-Empowerment in the Glorious Spontaneously Arisen Saṃvara·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཤྲཱི་ས་ཧ་ཛ་སཾ་བ་ར་སྭ་ཏིཥྛ་ནཾ་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། དཔལ་ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེས་ པ་བདེ་བའི་མཆོག། བདག་བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། ཧེ་རུ་ཀ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་རྣམ་གསུམ་ཞེས་བྱ་སྟེ། ། བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབ་དང་རང་རྟགས་དང་། ། རྫོགས་པའི་གཟུགས་བརྙན་བསམ་མེད་དོ། ། སྣ་ཚོགས་གཟུགས་ཅན་ཡིད་དུ་འོང་། ། ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུའི་ གཟུགས་འཆང་མ། ། ཟིན་ན་དངོས་གྲུབ་ཆེན་པོ་འབྱུང་། ། ཆོས་བཤད་ནས་ནི་དབང་དུ་བྱ། ། ཡང་ན་རི་བའི་རིན་གྱིས་སླུ། ། ཤིན་ཏུ་གསང་བའི་སྒྲུབ་པ་པོས། ། དབང་གིས་ཡོངས་སུ་སྨིན་པ་དང་། ། ལྷ་ལྟར་བལྟས་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་བླང་། ། མེ་ལོང་ནང་གི་གཟུགས་བརྙན་ལྟར། ། གསལ་ལ་འཛིན་མེད་བདེ་བའི་སྐུ། ། ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་ལྔ་ཡུམ་རྣམས་རྫོགས། ། བལྟས་དང་དགོད་དང་འཁྲིག་པ་ཡིས། ། མཁའ་སྦྱོར་བདེ་བའི་ཕོ་བྲང་དུ། ། དབང་གི་རྒྱལ་པོས་གར་བྱས་པས། ། དཔའ་བོ་རྣལ་འབྱོར་མ་ཀུན་དགྱེས། ། དཔའ་བོ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་དགྱེས་པའི་གླུ། ། ཨཾ་དང་ ཧཾ་གི་སྒྲ་བརྗོད་པས། ། ཚངས་པའི་རི་བོ་རྩེ་ནས་ཉིལ། ། རྒྱ་མཚོའི་ལྦུ་བ་བལྟམས་པ་དང་། ། གནས་པ་བཞི་ཡི་རིམ་པ་ཡིས། ། རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ་རང་ཉིད་འགྱུར། ། དབང་ཕྱུག་དམ་པའི་གསང་གཏམ་འདིས། ། ནམ་མཁའ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གྲོང་དུ་འཇུག། བདེ་ཆེན་དག་པའི་ཞིང་ ཁམས་མཐོང་། ། ཐམས་ཅད་ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེས་པའི་སྐུ། ། ཤེས་རབ་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྣལ་འབྱོར་མ། ། གཉིས་མེད་བདེ་བའི་རྣམ་པ་ཅན། ། མ་ནིང་ཞེས་བྱར་བརྗོད་པ་སྟེ། ། ཁ་ཅིག་ཟུང་འཇུག་ཅེས་བྱར་བརྗོད། ། སྒྲིབ་པ་དང་བྲལ་ཆོས་སྐུ་འདིར། །

In the language of India: Śrī Sahajasambhara-svādhiṣṭhāna-nāma. In the language of Tibet: dPal lhan cig skyes pa bde ba’i mchog bdag byin gyis brlabs pa zhes bya ba. Homage to Heruka! The yoga is said to be threefold: the blessing, the self-sign, and the inconceivable reflection of the perfected form. She who possesses various beautiful forms, who bears the form of a wish-fulfilling jewel—if she is seized, great accomplishment arises. Having explained the Dharma, she is brought under control; or else, she is enticed with the price of a mountain. By the practitioner of the most secret [practice], who is fully ripened by empowerment, one should view her as a deity and take the accomplishment. Like a reflection in a mirror, the body of bliss is luminous and without grasping. The twenty-five mothers are complete. Through looking, laughing, and union, in the palace of the bliss of sky-faring, the King of Empowerment dances, and all the heroes and yoginīs are delighted. With the song that delights the heroes and ḍākinīs, by uttering the sounds of AṂ and HAṂ, the peak of the mountain of Brahmā collapses. With the emergence of the ocean’s foam, through the sequence of the four abidings, one becomes Vajrasattva himself. By this secret speech of the supreme Īśvara, one enters the city of the Vajra Sky. One sees the pure realm of Great Bliss. All is the Sahaja-kāya. The Vajrayoginī of insight, possessing the aspect of non-dual bliss, is described as the "neuter" (ma niṅ), or by some, as "union." In this Dharmakāya, free from obscurations, [it is realized].

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

definitionབདག “self” — A substantial, self-subsistent entity within beings or things, or the intrinsic reality of things, or the intrinsic identity of things, that is permanent and nonrelative. The Buddha’s teaching, in contrast to that of oth

definitionགཟུགས “form” — The first of the five aggregates ; but also, in this sūtra, “inner form ” within consciousness (see 1.38 ).

definitionདངོས་གྲུབ “accomplishment” — Accomplishment or success in general, as well as any particular magical power or ability. In the latter sense, eight are traditionally enumerated, namely the siddhi of the magical sword, of an eye ointment that renders i

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti . It may mean the Buddhist teachings, the awakened qualities which buddhas and bodhisattvas acquire, phenomena or thing

terminologyདབང → “empowerment”. In compounds དབང་ཆེན is 'great power' (a deity epithet), not 'great empowerment'.

periodལྷ → “god”. Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.

homonymལྷ is rendered “god” here; the glossary also records deva, divine being, God for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionལྷ “god” — In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine ‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who atten

periodམེ → “fire”. In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not capitalise the element.

homonymམེ is rendered “fire” here; the glossary also records Āgneya, Analā, Acalā for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམེ “fire” — Classified as a “ lord of beings ” ( prajāpati ).

termབདག → self

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termགཟུགས → form

termདངོས་གྲུབ → accomplishment

termཆོས → dharma

termདབང → empowerment

རཀྟ་ལ་སོགས་ བྱང་སེམས་རྣམས། ། རྟེན་དང་བརྟེན་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད་ཀྱི། ། དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ཐམས་ཅད་འདི་ཉིད་དོ། ། དཔལ་ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེས་པའི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་བདག་བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། རྒྱལ་པོ་ཨིནྡྲ་བྷཱུ་ཏི་འབྲིང་པོས་མཛད་པ། རྗེ་མི་ཉག་ཆེན་པོས་བསྒྱུར་བ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

Blood and so forth, The bodhicitta—these are all the maṇḍalas Characterized by the support and the supported. The Sādhana of the Glorious Sahaja, known as "Self-Consecration," composed by King Indrabhūti the Middle, translated by the great Lord Mi nyag, is hereby complete.

structureColophon: closes the text and names the translators or author.

terminologyམཚན → “name”. མཚན་བརྗོད is recitation of names; in མཚན་ཉིད it is a 'definition' (lakṣaṇa) — same spelling, different word.

homonymམཚན is rendered “name” here; the glossary also records major signs, buddha marks, auspicious marks for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམཚན “name” — The thirty-two primary physical characteristics of a “great being,” mahāpuruṣa , which every buddha and cakravartin possesses. They are considered “major” in terms of being primary to the eighty minor marks or signs of a

homonymདཀྱིལ་འཁོར is rendered “maṇḍala” here; the glossary also records inner circle, maṇḍalaka, disk for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionདཀྱིལ་འཁོར “maṇḍala” — A small ritual space, usually on the ground which is smeared with cow-dung and other substances, where offerings are made. Although the term sometimes lacks the - ka ( kan ) suffix, it is not to be confused with the pant

definitionསྒྲུབ་ཐབས “sādhana” — Derived from the Sanskrit verb √sādh , “to accomplish,” the term sādhana most generically refers to any method that brings about the accomplishment of a desired goal. In Buddhist literature, the term is often specificall

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: name

termམཚན → name

termདཀྱིལ་འཁོར → maṇḍala

termསྒྲུབ་ཐབས → sādhana

termབདག → self

termརྒྱལ་པོ → king

Terminology used in this text (19)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
བདག	self	2
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
གཟུགས	form	1
དངོས་གྲུབ	accomplishment	1
ཆོས	dharma	1	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
དབང	empowerment	1	In compounds དབང་ཆེན is 'great power' (a deity epithet), not 'great empowerment'.
ལྷ	god	1	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
མེ	fire	1	In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not c
རྩ	channel	1
རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ	Vajrasattva	1
དབང་ཕྱུག	Īśvara	1
རྡོ་རྗེ	vajra	1
ཁམས	element	1	In ཁམས་གསུམ it is the three realms, not 'three elements'.
ཤེས་རབ	insight	1
སྒྲིབ་པ	obscuration	1
མཚན	name	1	མཚན་བརྗོད is recitation of names; in མཚན་ཉིད it is a 'definition' (lakṣaṇa) — same spelling, different word.
དཀྱིལ་འཁོར	maṇḍala	1
སྒྲུབ་ཐབས	sādhana	1
རྒྱལ་པོ	king	1

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 022_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཞ.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

Translation status: 84000 catalogue + registry; grade no-translation-known; checked 2026-11-10.

Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.

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