Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text provides a structured liturgical framework for daily confession and spiritual purification within the Cakrasaṃvara tantric tradition. The work functions as a series of formal commitments and petitions, beginning with an invocation of the wrathful deity Heruka as a manifestation of the dharmadhātu. It guides the practitioner through a sequence of traditional Buddhist disciplines: the cultivation of rejoiced virtue, the taking of refuge, and the commitment to ascetic vows and the Secret Vehicle. The text specifically commits the reader to a path of transformation where conceptual thoughts are converted into the five wisdoms and physical substances are ritualized for the attainment of Mahāyāna goals. The ritual concludes with a request for the three types of accomplishments and a visualization of the practitioner's own transformation into a pervasive deity, such as Vajrasūrya, through the purification of negative emotional states like envy and pride.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual for the extensive daily confession of Śrī Cakrasaṃvara, this work belongs to the tradition of the Śaṃvara and Related Tantras. It is attributed to the Indian author Bhūripa. The text was translated into classical Tibetan by Atīśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna and lo tsa ba rin chen bzang po, and it is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཟ. The work enacts a liturgical process of purification and commitment, beginning with an invocation of the wrathful deity Heruka as a manifestation of the dharmadhātu. It guides the practitioner through the cultivation of rejoiced virtue, the taking of refuge, and the adoption of ascetic disciplines, specifically seeking the transformation of conceptual thoughts into the five wisdoms. A scholar or serious reader consults this five-page ritual today to examine the structured framework of daily confession and the specific vows associated with the Secret Vehicle, as well as the practitioner's commitment to the ascetic disciplines of the five families of Victorious Ones.
Sanskrit title
not recorded
Indian author
Bhūripa
Tibetan translators
Atīśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna, lo tsa ba rin chen bzang po
Cite thisAnuvāda, “An Extensive Confession Ritual of the Glorious Cakrasaṃvara” (Toh 1533), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1533
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text is significant as it illustrates the integration of monastic-style ethical commitments with the specific transgressive and transformative practices of the Anuttarayoga Tantra. It demonstrates how the Cakrasaṃvara tradition utilizes the mechanism of confession not merely for remorse, but as a method for achieving divine identity and spiritual accomplishment.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Invocation and Refuge
Homage to Heruka and the expression of rejoice in the virtues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
3-4
Vows and Discipline
Commitments to the five wisdoms, ascetic practices, and the Secret Vehicle.
5-6
Petitions for Accomplishment
Requests for protection from dakinis and the transformation of negative emotions into divine qualities.
Themes
Transformation of Consciousness (3, 6)
Tantric Accomplishment (Siddhi) (4, 5)
Devotional Refuge (1, 2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaAn Extensive Confession Ritual of the Glorious Cakrasaṃvara·
The Extensive Daily Confession of Śrī Cakrasaṃvara
Homage to the glorious Heruka! Although you do not waver from the expanse of the utterly pure dharmadhātu, you manifest in the form of a wrathful deity through skillful means to subdue the malevolent. To the supreme among the great, the god of gods, the Samantabhadra Heruka, I prostrate.
Inseparable from the body of the Lord of Selflessness, from the pure maṇḍala of great bliss and luminosity, you radiate clouds of Victorious Ones and their heirs. To the body of Vajravārāhī, I prostrate.
The wisdom body of the Sugatas of the three times, through your compassion that renders saṃsāra and nirvāṇa empty, you establish all those to be trained upon the level of omniscience. To the Sugatas of the five families, I prostrate.
Unobstructed like space, possessing a body of miraculous power that transforms according to desire, you regard practitioners with love through the power of your sacred bond. To the hosts of ḍākinīs of the three abodes, I prostrate.
Having attained the wisdom body in which the afflictions are utterly pure, in order to sever the entire wheel of becoming, you lead beings through skillful means and compassion. With faith, I bow at the feet of the two Victorious Vajra-holders.
With all the abundant enjoyments of gods and humans, with the great offering clouds of Samantabhadra, and with oceans of great offering clouds of the secret, the most secret, and the unsurpassed great secret, I make offerings.
Whatever sins I have committed through my body, speech, and mind, with a mind of attachment, aversion, and delusion, within the terrors of cyclic existence—from now on, I thoroughly confess all those sins.
Whatever virtue has been performed by the perfect Buddhas, the Protectors, the supreme Bodhisattvas, and the Noble Ones, I always rejoice in all of it without exception, so that they may attain the fruit of unsurpassed awakening.
I go for refuge with profound faith to the perfect Buddhas, the jewels who abide in their own minds; to the sublime Dharma, which completely tears apart the web of conceptual thought; and to the Saṅgha, the assembly of lords of the stages and those of disciplined conduct.
To the Victors and those well-born in the state of victory, I offer myself from every side and in every way. O Supreme Beings, please accept me! With faith, I become your servant.
In order to liberate all beings who are agitated by the torment of the collection of adventitious afflictions, I pray to the Protector, the Supreme Physician, to explain the mantras of the nectar of the sublime Dharma.
I pray to the Protector, the Supreme Physician, to abandon the desire for parinirvāṇa, having utterly conquered the most supreme non-virtue and being liberated from the Māras of birth, aging, sickness, and death.
Just as when a Buddha appears in the world, fortunate Bodhisattvas generate the mind of awakening, so too do I generate the mind this very day. I shall likewise firmly uphold the three types of discipline: the discipline of ethical training, the discipline of gathering virtuous dharmas, and the discipline of acting for the benefit of sentient beings.
Just as the Victors of the ten directions, following the countless Sugatas of the past, never abandoned their immeasurable resolve and samaya until they attained buddhahood, so too, from this day forth until awakening, shall I remain without regard even for my body or life.
Abiding in the protection of these trainings like a guardian, I pray that you, with your wisdom mind, hold me in your thoughts. May conceptual thoughts be transformed into the five wisdoms, which I shall always rely upon and practice. I shall never forsake, even at the cost of my life, the ascetic disciplines of the five families of Victorious Ones. I shall always maintain the indivisible ascetic discipline of the vajra body, speech, and mind. I shall guard the four samayas spoken by the Victorious Ones with their enlightened intent. Just as all mantra-holders do not transgress the fourteen root downfalls and so forth, from this day until unsurpassed awakening, I shall guard them correctly. Three times each day and night, and on the tenth, fifteenth, and thirtieth days of every month, I shall make extensive offerings. I shall not desire the Lesser Vehicle, nor shall I turn my back on sentient beings. I shall not abandon saṃsāra, nor shall I take pleasure in nirvāṇa. I shall respectfully serve, honor, and make offerings to all heroes and yoginīs. I shall not treat any sentient being with contempt. I shall not step over mudrās, mounts, weapons, or sacred symbols. By whatever virtue I have practiced throughout the three times, may all sentient beings, as vast as the limits of space, become vessels for the unsurpassed Mahāyāna and all attain the nature of the Vajra Holder. In every birth, may I be born into a noble family with intelligence and free from pride; may I possess great compassion, have faith in the guru, and abide by the samaya of Cakrasaṃvara. May I always hold the vajra, bell, and so forth, and may I realize the profound and vast Dharma.
May I always consume the kaṅko, śukra, and so forth, and become fortunate enough to accomplish the ultimate Mahāyāna. From now until I reach the heart of awakening, may I never be separated from the Bhagavān Sugata Samantabhadra and the marvelous, inseparable Secret Vehicle, and may I always practice in accordance with the Dharma. May no obstacles arise for this supreme practice, and for seven lifetimes, including this one, may the pollen of the feet of the glorious great Cakrasaṃvara rest upon the crown of my head. Whenever I wish to behold the Protector of beings or even to offer a small or middling prostration, may the Bhagavān Sugata, the Lord of the Mind, see everything clearly and without obscuration. In order to establish all sentient beings without exception in awakening, as vast as the element of space in the ten directions, may my conduct be just like that of the Lord of Sages. May the suffering of all sentient beings ripen upon me, and may they all attain it through my own happiness and virtue. In all my lives, may my three doors be like a precious jewel, an excellent vase, a wish-fulfilling tree, and the earth. Through the blessings of the omniscient Protector’s compassion and by training one-pointedly in supreme practice, may I attain the supreme accomplishment of the Cakrasaṃvara ḍākinīs and possess the power to ripen all sentient beings. Having realized empowerment, clairvoyance, individual awareness, dhāraṇīs, and the doors of liberation, may I travel to the sacred sites, near-sites, and so forth, for all sentient beings as limitless as the reaches of space. In the presence of the Sugatas, may the ḍākinīs of the three abodes...
Protecting your vows and bestowing the supreme accomplishment, may you always guard me according to your sacred pledge. May the three types of accomplishments be granted in this very life. At the time of death, may the protectors, heroes, and hosts of dakinis, holding flowers, victory banners, parasols, and incense, and offering music, song, and melodious sounds, lead me to the realm of the Khecaris.
In that very instant, having attained the three appearances, may I realize the clarity, the signs, and my own family. Having reached the ground of the Victorious One in the charnel grounds and other places, may I traverse the stages of Chandoha and the rest. May I become the sovereign son of Samantabhadra, the primordial liberator, the Tathagata, the supreme of all utterly pure beings.
Having perfected the three grounds and the three triads, and having transformed the eight consciousnesses into the five wisdoms, may I attain the heart of awakening, the Dharmakaya inseparable from the wisdom of the dharmadhatu. Arisen from the dharmadhatu, like the nature of space, the self without beginning or end, may I become Vajrasattva, the lord of the Vajrasattva mind.
May I become the lord of all accomplishments without exception, the Great Ishvara, the god of gods, the king of all who are the ornaments of the Ghanavyuha, the supreme unchanging reality. Through the satisfaction of the wisdom body of purified afflictions, and through being intensely passionate for all desires, may I become the Lord of Speech, the nature of which is the utter purity of the fire of desire.
Through the purity of pride, spontaneously present in equanimity,
With qualities as vast as the wish-fulfilling jewel and like space,
Fulfilling the hopes of those to be trained for the state of perfect buddhahood—
May I become the pervasive lord, Vajrasūrya.
Through the purity of envy, attaining the accomplishment of activities,
With an ocean of enlightened deeds, establishing immeasurable beings
In the supreme siddhi of Mahāmudrā—
May I become the Sugata Amoghasiddhi.
Having become the embodiment of the glorious Cakrasaṃvara,
The lord of all Sugatas of the three times,
Through power and strength equal to the pure expanse of space,
May I be the glory that leads all of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa without exception.
This concludes the extensive daily confession of the glorious Cakrasaṃvara, composed by the master Bhuripa. It was translated by the Lord Atiśa and the translator Rinchen Zangpo.