Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
Attaining the Glorious Gnosis of Suchness (Śrī-tattvajñānasiddhi) is a technical manual for a Vajrayana practice centered on the deity Vajravārāhī. The text provides a systematic sequence of ritual and meditative requirements, beginning with physical and energetic preparations such as the vajra ablution and the placement of mantras on the body. It moves from external offering rituals to internal yogic processes, specifically the manipulation of nectar and the melting of the wheel of bliss to realize the nature of the three bodies. The work commits the practitioner to a rigorous path of self-consecration, requiring devotion to a guru and the precise execution of mantra-writing and mandala construction. The ultimate goal is the attainment of Mahāmudrā, signaled by a series of five progressive visual and conceptual signs, culminating in a non-conceptual state akin to a cloudless sky. The text positions these practices as a means to equalize existence and peace for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise on the ritual of external offerings and meditative practice, the Śrītattvajñānasiddhi is a work of the classical Tibetan period. It is attributed to the Indian author Śūnyatāsamādhivajra. The text was translated into Tibetan by Varendraruci and lo tsa ba blo ldan shes rab, and it is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཟ, where it comprises seven pages. Within the Tibetan canon, it is situated among the Śaṃvara and Related Tantras. The work enacts a precise sequence of Vajrayana ritualism centered on the deity Vajravārāhī, beginning with an invocation of the goddess and the performance of the vajra ablution. It provides technical instructions for the placement of mantras of the six lords of heroes upon the body and the application of pigments to a Vajradhara image. The practitioner is guided through the preparation of external offerings before transitioning to a meditation on the goddess at the heart of a corpse in the form of the sun. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific intersection of physical ritual, such as the use of lead powder and cotton cloth, and the internal visualization processes required for the accomplishment of the wisdom of suchness.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Attaining the Glorious Gnosis of Suchness” (Toh 1551), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1551
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as a representative example of the intersection between ritual offering, deity yoga, and the physiological focus of the Anuttarayoga Tantra tradition. It illustrates the transition from external ritualism to internal meditative realization. For the modern reader, it provides insight into the specific semiotics of mantra-writing and the phenomenological markers used to verify spiritual progress in the Mahāmudrā tradition.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-3
Preliminary Rituals and Offerings
Instructions on the vajra ablution, mantra placement, and the ritual of external offerings.
4-5
Internal Yoga and Meditative Signs
Descriptions of the bliss-nectar process and the five signs indicating the attainment of Mahāmudrā.
6-7
Transmission and Initiation
Guidelines for the relationship between guru and disciple and the oral transmission of the Vajrayoginī mantra.
8-9
Mantra Construction and Dedication
Technical specifications for writing secret syllables and a final dedication for the benefit of all beings.
Themes
Ritual Purity and Preparation (1-3)
Physiological Transformation and Bliss (4)
Phenomenology of Realization (5)
Guru-Disciple Lineage (6-7)
Sacred Syllables and Mantras (8)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Śrī-tattvajñānasiddhi. In the language of Tibet: dPal de kho na nyid ye shes grub pa (The Accomplishment of the Wisdom of Suchness). Homage to the glorious Vajravārāhī!
Stirred by the winds, she arises from the lower cakra, luminous like a flash of lightning; having incinerated the three spokes, she is worshipped by the three worlds, and a stream of amṛta flows forth. Blended with the essence of the Buddha’s wisdom, she bestows a host of supreme joy, free from the conceptualization of existence and non-existence—may Vārāhī protect you!
Surrounded by the letters beginning with Ka, she dwells within the maṇḍala of the emanated spokes. Blazing like a fierce fire, she drips amṛta as fine as a lotus fiber. She incinerates the hosts of consorts and Buddhas, opening the three cakras; may you, Vārāhī, who ascends through the play of universal joy, be manifest in the mind!
To the Vajrayoginī, the Vajravārāhī who preceded the Vajra, I prostrate with my head. For the sake of my own recollection, I shall express the accomplishment of the knowledge of suchness. In a secluded place that is pleasing to the mind, the wise one, having entered with the Protector as the head-mark, should meditate on complete purity upon a very soft seat. Thereafter, having written the heart mantra of the Victorious Vajradhara with the three syllables, one should worship it with red flowers. Placing the hand other than the right into the supreme vessel of the vajra, one should proceed exactly as instructed.
Having touched with the hand, one should perform the vajra ablution. Having properly arranged the hands with the great thumb and the fingers, one should place the mantras of the six lords of heroes upon the body. Following that, upon the Vajradhara [image], in a level vessel produced from well-prepared pigments, one should gently filter and apply fine, fresh lead powder onto a fine cotton cloth. There, with a golden stylus, one should clearly draw the wheel of the heart of the Victorious One, with its corners marked by the one with the topknot (Śikhin). In its center, one should write the mantra garland. On the outer part of the wheel, in the eastern section, and in the directions of the north, the west, and the son of the Resplendent One (Agni), one should clearly write the supreme auspicious signs in sequence with the left hand. Having uttered "Jaḥ hūṃ vaṃ hoḥ," one should summon the vajra goddesses, cause them to enter the syllables of the secret mantra, bind them, and fully satisfy them through the ritual. Following that, one should perform various types of offerings to that which is of the nature of mantra, including food, snacks, things to be licked, drinks, and things to be sucked, along with the five sensory qualities. With various strengths and intoxicants, the five most excellent offerings, songs, music, and dances, circumambulations, prostrations, and praises, the supreme one who desires accomplishment should perform them daily, or every half-month, or every month, or on the tenth day of the lunar month, as it has been taught.
One should perform this offering ritual as previously explained. From the Siddhi of the Wisdom of Suchness, this is the ritual of external offerings.
Next, regarding the method of the principal external offering: having performed it, in the center of an emanated lotus with spokes, one should meditate on the goddess previously described at the heart of a corpse, in the form of the sun. At the twilight of evening, she is of a crimson hue, her mass of light overwhelming the darkness before her. In her right hand, she holds a curved knife that emits immeasurable light and severs all suffering. In her left, together with a victory banner, she holds a very white lotus vessel filled with blood. Her head is bound with a garland of skulls and a vajra chain; her hair is loose and stands upright. Her body is adorned with a garland of heads, her mouth is filled with blood, and she has the eyes of a corpse with a liberated gaze. Her face looks upward like a flash of lightning, while her root face is slightly wrathful. Accompanied by joy and passion, she possesses various expressions and performs a dance in the half-lotus posture. Sealed with the five mudrās, naked, and sixteen years of age, she possesses a supreme body.
The practitioner, having performed the ritual sequence of summoning wisdom and so forth as before, should quickly meditate on a single wheel facing the auspicious forehead. Following that, in the space of the path of birds, within the hollows of a triangular diagram, one should meditate on a blazing red wheel spinning rapidly as previously described. Abiding as taught with extraordinary force, it is unmoving like a lamp in a windless place, and is vividly clear.
Having melted the wheel of great bliss, one bathes with the dripping drops of nectar. The essence of the three bodies, supremely coemergent, pervades all beings as the nature of birth, radiating as the cause of immeasurable bliss. Looking toward the west, one should look outward. Every day, in each session, or as much as one has leisure, one should meditate on this until the signs of accomplishment are seen. This object of meditation should also be described clearly. When this meditation becomes clear through the effortless force of the consort, and one no longer feels the pain of being melted by iron and so forth, then accomplishment is near. The sounds of drums and the like being beaten no longer fall within the range of clear hearing. When, in a dream, one attains supreme, unsurpassed awakening, the meditator will achieve the supreme state before long. Having seen the signs of accomplishment, one should dwell in haunted places, mountain valleys, the roots of trees, and so forth, and meditate continuously on the yoga of the completion stage with a noble mind. Once accomplished, the stages of the earth and so forth dissolve further and further upward. At that time, through an appearance like space, one becomes the mere wisdom of clear light. These signs and the objects of knowledge should be understood; they should be known through the five aspects. Therefore, the yogi should realize them with a mind in meditative equipoise.
First, the appearance is like a deer’s thirst; the second sign has the form of smoke; the third is like fireflies, and the fourth is clear like a blazing lamp. The fifth sign is non-conceptual, appearing like a cloudless sky. Having seen such signs, one will attain Mahāmudrā. Desiring to arise, the yogin bows to the Protector residing at the crown of the head and clearly utters the syllable MUḤ. Having arisen, one should accomplish the activities of that very reality, and remain always endowed with yoga through the logic of yoga. This is the ritual of meditation from the Siddhi of the Wisdom of Suchness.
The disciple, having prepared a maṇḍala and offered many prayers of aspiration at the lotus feet, should be accepted by the mantra practitioner on the tenth day. Having performed yoga, one should worship the Goddess who is the nature of the maṇḍala and perform the recitation; having first taken up the supreme [practice], one should not deviate from it. Then, having prepared five maṇḍalas and offered the fee, the disciple stands before [the teacher] holding a garland of flowers. The Guru, having visualized the Protector, should look upon the disciple. Thereafter, having contemplated the Goddess as described, possessing the power of a blazing wheel of light, and having focused on the body of the one present, the Vajra-holder should be bestowed upon them. Gradually, as it descends in that way, there is the standing of hair on end, intense trembling, the shedding of tears, and falling down.
The nature of the arising of primordial wisdom will occur. Thereafter, for the disciple who possesses devotion and qualities, and who has reverence for the Guru as the non-dual Buddha, the meditative absorption, offerings, and mantras of the Vajra Yoginīs should be explained. This yoga, which generates supreme purity and inspires immediate conviction, must not be explained to a disciple who is devoid of faith and whose devotion has utterly declined.
Whoever makes offerings to the wheel of goddesses together with the mantras, for them the eight fears, great sins, misfortune, poverty, disease, old age, suffering, mental unease, strife, quarrels, faults, afflictions, and various torments will be destroyed. Whoever meditates on the secret mantra of the wheel at the heart and recites it with the words of cessation, will attain the eight accomplishments, the five superknowledges, and likewise the eight qualities.
Whoever exerts themselves in four sessions every day and meditates on the face of the Earth-Mother, will develop a mindfulness that is difficult for even lions, Śiva, or the essence of wealth to overcome. Whoever meditates on this sow-faced one together with the wheel, for them women, various types of garments, diverse foods and drinks, wealth, grain, land, palaces, divine bedding, and means of accomplishment will arise.
This is the section on the benefits and the ritual for receiving the disciple from the Tattvajñānasiddhi. Then, the supreme extraction of the mantra of Vajrayoginī, in its proper sequence, came from ear to ear and likewise from mouth to mouth. It is said: "Draw the mandala of the deities as previously described, complete with the locations of the assembly. There, write the row of vowels and the row of consonants in sequence, without omitting a single one. The supreme syllable, which clarifies the reality, is adorned by joining the letter beneath jha with the one above, and by relying on the letter beneath ha. First, write three [syllables]. Then, the one supported by the top of bha and situated above cha, followed by the one connected to the position above ṭa. Then, the one supported below ṣa together with the one below ḍa; the one supported above śa together with the one situated above ṣa. The one situated below li together with the one below ña; the one connected to the bottom of pa and the bottom of ṭa. Then, the one reached above pha together with the one below ṭha. Between ha and ṭa, situated to the left of ai. The one situated between ca and sa together with the one below bha. Then, the one connected to the right of tha. Then, the one reached between ha and tha supported by the left of ta. The one connected to the middle of ṭha and la is written last. Between the end of all the chas and the middle of pha, it is connected from the left of the first of the third [group]. Below la is the one with the top of ṇa. The one situated above cha together with the bottom of dha and the right of ṭha. The one situated below ṣa together with the top of ta. The one below ṇa together with the top of tha is the last. The one supported below pha and the one below tha above pha. The one below la together with the top of ṇa and da. The one situated below va together with the empty space below ṛ. The three together with the top of ca and the one situated below ra—these are the three."
That which resides beneath the śa is joined with the tha below; it is also joined with the one below ña. Together with the ja situated between the sas and the left side, these are the expressions of the forms of the great secret syllables. This mantra of the Vajra Goddesses is to be written, meditated upon, and recited.
The wish-fulfilling jewel, the wish-granting tree, and the supreme vase, as well as the glorious cow of milk that grants all desires, are highly praised. While the accomplishment of those [objects] merely bestows wealth in this world, this [mantra] bestows wealth along with bliss.
This concludes the ritual for extracting the mantras from the Tattvajñānasiddhi.
The wise one, through the ritual of offering, should write this upon a vessel. By fastening it to the head, neck, or arms, one should protect [the child] in the manner of a child. When the child is thus protected, the bālagraha spirits, bhūtas, grahas, those who roam at night, and the hosts of piśācas, as well as other terrifying beings who cause the child to suffer with fear, will flee in terror like powerful lions in a forest.
Having obtained the sublime oral instructions of yoga and having gained conviction through direct perception, I have written this perfectly accomplished, stainless, and clear wisdom. Therefore, for the sake of attaining that, one should serve the lotus feet of the sublime guru with respectful speech, offerings, physical fatigue, and profound prostrations. Whatever faultless merit has been gained through this, which is as white as the light of the full moon and produces great benefit for the world like a mother, may it be perfected.
By this, may the world become a pure vessel for the stainless, perfect awakening that transcends dispute. May all sentient beings attain the vast mudrā that equalizes existence and peace and acts for their benefit. This concludes "The Stage of Self-Consecration," titled "The Perfectly Established Wisdom of Suchness," composed by the Paṇḍita Śūnyatāsamādhi, who touched the dust of the feet of the great scholar Samādhivajra, who was blessed by the glorious Mañjughoṣa. It was translated by the Nepalese Ācārya Bharendraruci and the translator Blo ldan shes rab. May all beings swiftly attain buddhahood.