Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This commentary provides a technical exegesis of the Vajra Song of Vajrāsana, focusing on the realization of non-duality and the nature of the mind. The text argues that liberation is achieved through the stabilization of the luminosity of emptiness and the integration of awareness with the symbolic Nairātmyā. It employs a systematic approach to dismantle conceptual proliferation, specifically warning against the yoga of conceptual imputation and the delusions of subject and object. The author commits the reader to a rigorous path of practice where insight acts as the root, supported by faith, diligence, mindfulness, and absorption. By utilizing analogies—such as the moon in water or the vulture's tree—the text guides the practitioner toward a state where the environment and inhabitants dissolve into luminosity. Ultimately, the work asserts that by eliminating the habitual tendencies of the worldly mind and recognizing the non-duality of the expanse and awareness, the practitioner attains the qualities of a Buddha.
Provenance
About this text
A commentary on the Vajra Song of Vajrāsana, the Vajrāsanavajragītivṛtti belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. It is attributed to the Indian author Atīśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. The work was translated into Tibetan by Atīśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna and dge slong tshul khrims rgyal ba, and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཞ, within the collection of Śaṃvara and Related Tantras, where it extends over twelve pages. The text provides a technical exegesis focusing on the realization of non-duality and the nature of the mind, arguing that liberation is achieved through the stabilization of the luminosity of emptiness and the integration of awareness with the symbolic Nairātmyā. It employs a systematic approach to dismantle conceptual proliferation, specifically warning against the yoga of conceptual imputation and the delusions of subject and object. By utilizing analogies—such as the moon in water or the vulture's tree—the work guides the practitioner toward a state where the environment and inhabitants dissolve into luminosity. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine its rigorous path of practice, where insight acts as the root supported by faith, diligence, mindfulness, and absorption, and to understand its treatment of the qualities of the Guru and the symbolic nature of the body, speech, and mind.
Sanskrit title
Vajrāsanavajragītivṛtti
Indian author
Atīśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna
Tibetan translators
Atīśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna, dge slong tshul khrims rgyal ba
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Running Commentary on the “Vajra Song of Vajrāsana”” (Toh 1495), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1495
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its synthesis of meditative practice and philosophical negation, illustrating the transition from conceptual study to direct experience of luminosity. For the modern reader, it provides a precise map of the psychological and ontological shifts required in Indo-Tibetan tantric praxis to overcome the duality of self and other.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and Qualities
Opening homages and a definition of the perfected qualities of the Guru.
3-5
Analogies for Practice
Discussion of the two extremes, the symbolic Nairātmyā, and the organic metaphor for the yogi's progress.
6-11
Nature of Mind and Awareness
Analysis of the absence of shape and agency, the role of bodhicitta, and a critique of conceptual imputation.
12-15
Overcoming Delusion
Use of analogies to describe worldly attachment and the method of dissolving elaborations into luminosity.
16
Conclusion
Identification of synonyms for the ultimate state and a closing dedication.
Themes
Non-duality and Emptiness (3, 5, 13, 14)
Conceptual Proliferation vs. Direct Insight (9, 10, 11, 15)
Luminosity (ābhāsvara) (8, 13, 15)
The Path of the Yogi (4, 7, 8)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaA Running Commentary on the “Vajra Song of Vajrāsana”·
In the language of India: Vajrāsana-vajragīti-vṛtti. In the language of Tibet: rDo rje gdan gyi rdo rje’i glu’i ’grel pa (The Commentary on the Vajra Song of Vajrāsana). Homage to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta!
Homage to the Venerable Tārā, who dispels the sufferings of existence with waves of birth and so forth, and who fulfills hopes like a wish-fulfilling jewel through her compassion.
May the glorious Heruka, the foremost of teachers, who possesses the nine dramatic moods like the moon reflected in water, and who is the king of heroes, always protect [this work].
For the sake of benefiting those who are blind and have lost their way, constantly wandering due to the power of unbearable karmic machinery, I shall write the stages of the profound lineage of the definitive meaning, in accordance with the instructions of the guru.
The homage is expressed by the words, "The glorious Buddha of Vajrāsana," and so forth. Its objects are twofold: the Three Jewels and their cause, the guru. By mentioning the Buddha, the Jewel of the Dharma of the path and the Jewel of the Saṅgha as the support are to be understood by implication. Because they are of the nature of cause and effect and support, the guru is their source; therefore, it is said: "The guru is the actual Vajradhara himself," for there is no difference in nature and he is their cause.
"This song, which possesses the profound meaning and will be taught, is called 'Complete in All Qualities' (Yon tan kun rdzogs)," which clarifies the meaning of the coemergent. It is profound like the ocean, and because it accurately illustrates its meaning, it is called a "song" (gīti).
Regarding the phrase "Complete in All Qualities" (Yon tan kun rdzogs), it refers to the complete perfection of all the qualities of the Guru without exception; because the qualities of a Buddha are naturally perfected therein, it is so named. For that reason, he is "Sublime," and this is the expression of homage to him. Now, in order to explain the source text, it says: "The body is completely withered," and so forth. In this regard, there are two aspects by way of exclusion (ldog pa) and engagement ('jug pa). The exclusion is the body being completely withered and the mind engaging in the ascetic practices (sbyangs pa'i yon tan) of outsiders, such as the five fires and so on. For those of this Dharma, the engagement consists of the twelve ascetic qualities and so forth, as well as everything else that is incompatible with meditative absorption (ting nge 'dzin). Having abandoned such excessive activities, if one properly indicates and practices the nature of the coemergent luminosity ('od gsal), then: "All beings, in their naturally pure nature, become Buddhas at the glorious Vajra Seat." Regarding that purity, there are two types: natural purity, which is common to all beings, and the state in which stains are purified through the thorough training of insight and compassion. The word "intermediate" refers to the purity free from stains. Having briefly shown the meaning of the terms for engagement and exclusion, now, in order to explain them extensively by way of examples, it says: "The supreme beautiful woman," and so forth. In this, there are four examples: the beautiful woman, the river, the Bodhi tree, and the vajra. Of these, the first example is an illustrative analogy (mtshon bya mtshon byed) of the symbolic sign. The second is like a river, being an uninterrupted flow.
This is the analogy for not abiding in the two extremes. The third is the analogy for clarity through purification. The fourth is the analogy for qualities. Regarding the phrase, "Having taken the most beautiful woman, one accomplishes it very swiftly": in terms of the symbolic Nairātmyā, "the beautiful woman" is the body; "the supreme" refers to speech and mind. She is endowed with the qualities of these three. "Taking her" means to a secluded place and so forth. "There, one accomplishes it very swiftly" means to accomplish it quickly. The word "by" (pas) means that by accomplishing it in that way, one experiences the sahaja luminosity (ābhāsvara). How it is experienced will be explained below. As for the actual Nairātmyā to be symbolized, "the most beautiful woman" is the luminosity and the sahaja. "Endowed" means endowed with untainted qualities. Thus, by swiftly accomplishing the union of these two, one attains the result, Mahāmudrā.
Regarding the second analogy, "Gathering by entering blissfully on the banks of the Nairañjanā": the Nairañjanā has two characteristics: its flow is uninterrupted, and it does not flow from both banks. Likewise, the yogi should focus on the meaning symbolized by this example, which is uninterrupted and does not fall into the extremes of permanence or nihilism. Because that path is not entered through hardship, it is said to be "entering blissfully." "Gathering" is twofold: it is the accomplishment by way of the union of the vajra and the lotus, and the union of the expanse and awareness.
Regarding the third analogy, "Sitting at the Vajra Seat at the foot of the Bodhi tree": the Bodhi tree has five characteristics: the root, the trunk, the leaves, the branches, and the fruit.
Flowers and fruit. Likewise, the yogi should practice by being governed by insight, which is like the root; faith, which is like the trunk; diligence, which is like the leaves; mindfulness, which is like the flowers; and absorption, which is like the fruit. Wherever such a yogi dwells, they are said to be "seated upon the Vajra Throne." To demonstrate the meaning of the fourth analogy, it says: "Abiding in absorption, which is exemplified by the vajra," and so forth. Regarding the vajra, there are two qualities: being indivisible and being that which divides. Likewise, the yogi, by means of the five faculties, practices in a manner that is indivisible by the three obscurations—of afflictions, of the knowable, and of meditative absorption—and that divides them. "By this path of unsurpassed absorption, O!" refers to this path governed by the five faculties of the coemergent clear light. "O" is an address used as an instruction. "Whatever great fear of the four Māras, that is conquered" means that by the power of the arising of the coemergent clear light, one perceives the Māras of karma, afflictions, birth, and so forth, along with their various activities, as being like the surface of a pure sky. Now, to extensively teach the actual meaning of the first analogy, the selflessness of Nairātmyā, it says: "Form is not abandoned," and so forth. Regarding the term rūpa, it applies to both form and nature; when the suffix svā is applied, svā-rūpa refers to the clear light mind, which is selfless.
Regarding the phrase "by sporting together without abandoning," this refers to the non-dual sporting of such a Nairātmyā and awareness. The two lines concerning the nature of selflessness and so forth are easy to understand. To demonstrate the characteristics and benefits, it says: "By that which is without attachment and is peaceful, there is no affliction." Here, "without attachment" refers to the one hundred and sixty worldly mental states. "Peaceful" means the cessation of their arising and entering. "By that which is without affliction" is merely an illustration; it refers to the luminous wisdom free from the three obscurations, which cuts through the delusions of birth and death in cyclic existence. If one asks, "Is it merely a cutting?" it is said: "It takes and bestows the unerring great bliss," because it takes up every single uncontaminated quality free from delusion. To explain its characteristics in detail, it says: "In that, there is no color, shape, or measure," and so forth. The meaning here is as follows: with respect to the action seal (karmamudrā) of the signifying Nairātmyā, there is the excellence of color and shape, such as long eyes, and the symmetry of thinness and thickness. There is the function of the six wheels of samaya, the desire for manifest bliss, and the birth of the mind in the aspect of bliss based upon that. Based on the pride of mantra, dharma, and so forth, the mind is inserted into the central channel (avadhūti), and by being blessed in the aspect of bliss, it becomes stable. Then, by meditating on the signified Nairātmyā as luminosity, its characteristics are the nine, such as the characteristic of being without color. These are: being without color, and...
It is characterized by the absence of shape, the absence of measure, the absence of agency, the absence of desire, the absence of birth, the absence of pride, the absence of coming and going, and the absence of self and other. As for the analogy of how the mind becomes inseparable from that which possesses such characteristics, it is said: "Just as the essence of space, exactly as it is." This means it appears like the center of the utterly pure sky. If one asks whose object this is, it is said: "The yogi, the supreme sage, sports in all [aspects] without exception." This refers to those fortunate yogis, the sons of the Buddha, who have relied upon the sublime guru, gathered the accumulations, and perceive this as an object with the eye of insight, sporting in it through the manner of certainty by means of the four faculties. Therefore, she is called the consort Nairātmyā (Selflessness). By sporting with such a nature as Nairātmyā, one indeed cuts through birth and so forth arising from karma and afflictions at their root, and also realizes the natural cessation. Nevertheless, if one were to realize the limit of reality in the interim without having perfected all the untainted qualities within one's own continuum through the bodhicitta impelled by love and compassion, without having fully ripened sentient beings, and without having completely purified the buddhafield, one would fall into the level of a hearer or a solitary realizer. Therefore, in order to show that while possessing that acceptance, one must complete all virtuous dharmas, it is said: "Arising from non-attachment, love, and compassion..."
Regarding "awakening": "One should firmly stabilize the aspirational mind." In this context, "non-attachment" means not clinging, because one understands the nature [of things] to be like an illusion. The bodhicitta impelled by love and compassion is easily understood. Here, the sequence is as follows: first, the yogi rises from bed and contemplates the stream of conceptualization in which the fire of suffering blazes due to the power of imputing a self and "mine" to the mental body, which has not been established as such since beginningless time. Since the succession of births is infinite, one cannot count the number of times even a single sentient being has acted as one's mother; thus, with the intention to deliver all beings dwelling in the entirety of saṃsāra, one should first bring love and compassion to mind. Then, for their sake, one should stabilize the aspirational bodhicitta that desires the glorious Heruka. Then, because all phenomena are the magical display of the wind-mind, one should contemplate that there is no object other than the mind. Contemplating the deity within the mere wind and mind is the self-consecration, the conventional truth. Then, by means of the method of recollecting the previous bliss, one should cause the wind-mind to enter the central channel and meditate on the absorption of great emptiness together with bliss. Then, contemplating that one has entered the nature of the mind, at that time its characteristic is the luminosity that is without appearance. One should look at it like the center of the sky with the eye of insight, look without distraction through mindfulness, and look with conviction through faith.
Through diligence, one should look while eliminating worldly thoughts. By looking with the mode of one-pointed absorption, the luminous nature of the mind appears as a non-apparent, clear, and pure radiance; based upon that, a definitive cognition arises. The analogy for looking without distraction through mindfulness is like a person holding a stack of white mustard seeds in their hand. The analogy for conviction through faith is like a young maiden experiencing desire. The analogy for diligence is like a king’s gatekeeper. Absorption should be viewed as being like a lamp in a windless place. The analogy for the certainty of insight is like seeing a person one has known before. I have not written out the stories for these analogies for fear of making the text too long.
In that way, remain for as long as the mind is able to abide. Then, from within that state, instantly arise in the form of the deity, which is like an illusion. Contemplate all phenomena as being like the moon in water—free from superimposition and denial, and characterized by mere appearance. Through love, compassion, and bodhicitta, one should bring all virtuous dharmas to perfection in a manner free from superimposition and denial, just like the moon in water. In this way, all virtuous dharmas should be perfected through the inseparable union of method and wisdom, compassion and insight; if it is not so, one will fall into the level of a hearer and so forth. Therefore, a sūtra states: "Lacking method and devoid of wisdom, one falls into the state of a hearer." In that regard, what is method?
Impelled by bodhicitta, one brings all virtuous phenomena to complete perfection, brings sentient beings to full maturity, and purifies the buddha-fields. What is insight? It is that which cuts through attachment and conceptual proliferation. Therefore, without that method, such insight will not arise. Likewise, other Mahāyāna sūtras state in detail: "Method gathers all virtuous phenomena, while insight discerns them." Because such a yogi proceeds without abiding in the two extremes, it is said: "The mind, through habituation to the nature, abides nowhere; this very state is the unsurpassed path to awakening."
Now, in order to show another object of vision for the eye of insight, it is said: "One with cataracts speaks of seeing hair in the sky," and so forth. There are two objects of vision: the non-existent and the existent. Seeing the non-existent refers to the cognition of ordinary perception and the entirety of knowable objects; seeing the non-existent is understood to be like the hair and so forth seen by one with cataracts. Regarding the vision of the nature of the existent, there are two: seeing the support, which is luminosity, and seeing the supported, which are the untainted qualities. How is luminosity seen? By seeing it as unborn and aspectless; therefore, it is said: "All beings are truly unborn and without abode." How are the untainted qualities seen? They are seen as their very nature through the mere appearance and mere experience of being free from superimposition and denial, like an illusion, a dream, an optical illusion, or the moon in water.
Therefore, it is said: "It appears completely, just like a magical illusion." Now, as a secondary point, in order to refute the yoga of conceptual imputation, it is said: "Do not be attached to that which is generated by conceptual elaboration." Here, "conceptual elaboration" refers to the drops, the subtle [wind], and so forth. "Do not be attached" means that although there is a subtle state of mental abiding based on those, because the characteristics of the path are incomplete, it is not the path to awakening; thus, it is refuted. Since that itself is not the path that cuts the machinery of saṃsāra, it is shown to be the cause of saṃsāra: "There is no bondage other than various conceptual thoughts; there is no other saṃsāra of birth and death than that." Even if one practices methods that lack the characteristics for cutting the machinery of existence, that very machinery will not be severed; therefore, they should be abandoned. To show the instruction for the yogi who practices the ultimate meaning, it is said: "I speak the heart mantra to the yogis," and so forth. This concerns: to whom the instruction is given, what is instructed, and the manner in which it is instructed. It is an instruction on the yogi, the meaning of the heart mantra, and mindfulness. To whom is it given? To the yogis. What is instructed? The heart mantra, which is the clear light. In what manner is it instructed? Through mindfulness and so forth. The movement of conceptual thought is the worldly mind. "Do not look" is the instruction not to follow after it. Why is that? That which wanders in saṃsāra is the mind; that by which it wanders is the wind; and the manner in which it wanders is that the worldly minds wander by the power of depositing various habitual tendencies day and night.
Therefore, the conceptualization that causes cyclic existence is nothing other than this; the ignorance that causes delusion is nothing other than this. If one asks what it is, it is mind and wind. The explanation of the worldly mind begins with "attachment and aversion" and so forth, which is easy to understand. Regarding the instruction on insight (prajñā), it begins with "Whatever is conceptually constructed" and so forth. Based on the delusions of mind and wind, if one examines with insight whatever worldly minds arise, they are realized to be false and erroneous; yet, if one examines the essential meaning with certainty, it is great bliss (mahāsukha). Therefore, it is said: "Such a meditative absorption (samādhi) is called great bliss," which means the five faculties are mastered within the clear light (prabhāsvara). By severing all delusions of existence without exception, there is no fear of birth and death, nor any suffering of illness or harm. Now, to show that if one does not know the nature, one is bound by attachment to the qualities of desire, it says "the deer and the mirage" and so forth, which is easy to understand. The phrase "seeking the pleasure of enjoyments in the city" and so forth illustrates the example of bondage. Now, to show that if one knows the nature, it is the cause of liberation, it says: "Whoever knows the essence, there is nowhere to go; through the play of meditative absorption, they radiate the inconceivable." This means knowing all things to be the magical display of mind and wind, and knowing them to be unborn. Now, to show that if one clings to the bliss of the symbol, one will not see reality itself, it says "Where the vulture of the mind..." and so forth. In this regard, there are two examples.
There are the examples of the tree inhabited by a vulture and the bee drinking from a flower in the sky. Regarding the first, there are two: the examples of binding and releasing. Just as the tree where a vulture dwells has its roots rotted by the vulture’s droppings and its bark stripped by its beak, so that leaves and flowers no longer grow, likewise, when the mind and wind are mixed and a state of mental bliss arises, if one becomes attached to that, one will not see the clear light, which is like the flower, nor will one see the body of union, which is like the leaves. Therefore, it is said: "In whatever tree the vulture of the mind dwells and rests, there the flowers and leaves of bliss will not grow." If one asks, "Then by what are those two seen?" by binding the mind and wind and slaying the worldly mind, one sees the clear light; by releasing them, one sees the union. "If the vulture of the mind is definitely bound and slain" refers to binding and slaying the mind and wind within the state of clear light. If one asks, "What happens by that?" it is explained as the cessation of the "mechanism": "What could be done that is improper by that which moves and changes?" By cutting off the movement of the wind and the transformation of the mind into the one hundred and sixty [mental states], what improper action could be performed? How could the latencies of virtue and non-virtue be deposited? They would not. When the vulture is released from being bound, it drinks the flesh and blood and is no longer hungry; similarly, the mental body, which abides like the moon in water, is a companion once the side of dualistic perception has been destroyed by insight.
For the yogi who knows that whatever appears is like the moon in water, there is no effort to be made to harm them through subject and object in any location. Therefore, because there is no delusion to be abandoned once the luminosity of emptiness is stabilized, it is said: "By stabilizing emptiness, there is no delusion to be abandoned." As for the phrase, "Do not think of abandoning the bonds of delusion," this is because there is no worldly mind to be bound by any yogi of delusion who has not realized the Sahaja yoga of luminosity.
Regarding the line, "Whatever arises, look at its source; clarify it with non-conceptual absorption," whatever worldly mind arises, look at it with the eye of insight and clarify it. If one asks by what means it is known, it is by non-conceptual absorption; non-conceptual insight and absorption are explicitly mentioned, while the other three are to be understood by implication, clarifying them through the possession of the five faculties.
The instruction in the form of a conclusion is: "Wash away all stains of conceptualization without exception; realize that things are equal, like flowers in the sky." This means that to wash away the stains of conceptualization, one should examine with insight that delusive things are like flowers in the sky, and then familiarize oneself with that path, examining them in the equality of union. Regarding the second example from the perspective of the reversal: "The yogi who does not see because of being free from the purified habitual tendencies is like a bee seeing itself drinking from a flower in the sky." This means:
By training the mind with certainty in that indicative bliss, one is freed from the habitual tendencies of the movement of worldly minds; yet, this is still a yoga. If one does not see the non-duality of the expanse and awareness, but remains attached to being completely enveloped by the feeling of bliss without having integrated the wind-mind into its natural state, it is like a bee sucking from a flower in the sky. Why, then, is it explained as an "indicator"? There is no fault in this; it is like a finger pointing to the moon. This is because the wind-mind must be stabilized through the waves of bliss and then integrated into its natural state. If one is attached to that very [bliss], it is called deceiving and deluding the ultimate, for it is established through dependence.
If one asks, "What then?"—regarding the teaching by way of the subsequent [process] such as "thoroughly trained" and so forth: by thus thoroughly training the wind-mind in the aspect of bliss, one enters into the great emptiness that is empty of the one hundred and sixty worldly minds. Following the words of the sublime guru and the Buddha, one should meditate on everything as the luminosity of total emptiness. This is the pure conduct; from that, one arises in the illusory body of the deity, and by knowing that deity's body to be like the moon in water, one should complete all virtuous dharmas.
If one asks, "What is the use of elaboration other than training in the luminosity of total emptiness alone?"—although it appears as elaboration, it is called "contrary to the worldly abiding in elaboration." This is like the mudrā of a bee sucking from a flower in the sky.
The delusion of viewing self and other is purified by luminosity (ābhāsvara). If one asks how to meditate on luminosity: "Having brought the world of elaborations down with the vajra" means that the entire environment and its inhabitants are dissolved into luminosity and then withdrawn back into it. "Abandoning the world, shame, and the avadhūti channel" means that the winds and mind, together with the central channel, are inserted into the central channel to meditate on luminosity. To conclude the fourth example, it is said, "the aspiration for awakening," which has already been explained. Because all paths of the Mahāyāna are subsumed here in the definitive training in the non-duality of compassion and insight, such a path is like the mantra of the ḍākinī. If one asks from where it is obtained, it is from the guru, for without that, it will not arise. Therefore, it is said: "If the yoginī has the experience, one becomes a yogi." This refers to meditating on the non-duality of compassion and insight, and the expanse (dhātu) and awareness (vidyā), which depends upon the guru. It is, for example, like the arising of a young maiden's bliss depending upon a man. Therefore, since the sublime guru's methods sever the delusions of cyclic existence in this very life, there is nothing more precious than his oral instructions. For this reason, the wise who desire their own welfare should rely upon the sublime one. "Benefiting others through compassion" is easy to understand. Now, to summarize the source text: "The syllable Śrī is non-dual wisdom," and so forth, concludes that path by showing the characteristics of the two truths and their non-dual union (yuganaddha).
Its synonyms include the ultimate Heruka, Vajrasattva, and that which abides in the manner of the two truths, and so forth. This ocean-like, profound system of Dharma has been written with the intention of benefiting others. Whatever errors have occurred herein, may the Noble Ones and the ḍākinīs grant their forgiveness. In this final age, when life is short, diseases are many, and resources are meager, one lacks the power to remain for long due to the abundance of adverse conditions and obstacles. Since one is unable to follow the words [of the scriptures] through study alone, one should rely upon a sublime spiritual friend. With a mind of intense diligence and by remaining mindful of the abyss, I have elucidated this essential meaning in order to liberate others. Through the merit of having elucidated this out of compassion, may all beings who have entered inferior paths come to abide upon the sublime path. This Clarification of the Meaning of the Vajra Song, composed by the great scholar Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna, is hereby complete. It was translated and finalized by that very Paṇḍita and the monk Tsultrim Gyalwa.