Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
Entering into Gnosis (Jñānāveśa-nāma) is a ritual manual focused on the visualization and invocation of the deity Vajravārāhī. The text provides a technical guide for the practitioner to establish a sacred space through the construction of a vermilion mandala and the precise placement of symbolic elements, including celestial bodies and letters. It commits the reader to a rigorous set of meditative and physical requirements, including the observation of specific dates during the dark fortnight and the use of secret mantra and vidyā while facing west. The process culminates in the transference of wisdom, where wisdom beings are summoned to merge with samaya beings. By adhering to these ritual prescriptions, the practitioner is promised the attainment of perfect accomplishment, which manifests as both personal spiritual radiance and the capacity to provide benefits for other sentient beings.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise on the transference of wisdom, the Jñānāveśa (Tibetan: ye shes 'pho ba) belongs to the collection of the Śaṃvara and Related Tantras. The work is attributed to the Indian author Śūnyatāsamādhivajra. It entered the Tibetan tradition through the efforts of the translators Varendraruci and lo tsa ba blo ldan shes rab, and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཟ, where it extends over five pages. The work enacts a detailed ritual process centered on the deity Vajravārāhī, beginning with an invocation and homage to Vajrayoginī. It provides precise instructions for the visualization of the deity—described as possessing a red body, the face of a sow, and three eyes—situated upon a red lotus. Furthermore, it guides the practitioner in the construction of a vermilion palace at the emanation-cakra, detailing the placement of the Vedas, celestial bodies such as Candra, and specific seed-syllables. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan text today to examine the technical requirements of the visualization and the symbolic architecture of the mandala used to facilitate the transference of wisdom.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Entering into Gnosis” (Toh 1553), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1553
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as a representative of the Vajrayāna tradition's emphasis on deity yoga and the technical precision of mandala construction. It illustrates the intersection of astronomy, geometry, and visualization used to facilitate the transference of gnosis. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of the ritualized methodology intended to collapse the distinction between the practitioner and the enlightened deity.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Invocation and Visualization
Opening homage and the visualization of Vajravārāhī upon a red lotus.
3
Mandala Configuration
Description of the red palace and the placement of the Vedas, deities, and letters within the emanation-cakra.
4-5
Ritual Timing and Execution
Instructions on the timing of the dark fortnight, the drawing of the mandala with the left hand, and the summoning of wisdom beings.
6-7
Outcome and Translation
The promised results of the practice and the identification of the translator Blo ldan shes rab.
Themes
Deity Yoga (2, 6)
Mandala Construction (3, 5)
Ritual Precision (4, 5)
Transference of Wisdom (5)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Jñānāveśa-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Ye shes ’pho ba zhes bya ba (The Transference of Wisdom). Homage to Vajrayoginī!
Like a cluster of coral adorned with pearls, clear as the twilight sky with its stars; like a blazing fire of terrifying sparks that illuminates the directions and the heavens; like a mass of blooming white kiśuka flowers; you who possess a red body adorned with manifold splendors—Vajravārāhī, protect me!
Having bowed to the Blessed Lady Vajravārāhī, who has crossed over the waters of the ocean of faults without exception and is perfectly adorned with sublime wisdom, and who is diligent in the welfare of others, I shall duly describe the method for generating secret conviction through the ritual of descending wisdom, as correctly extracted from the profound and glorious Cakrasaṃvara Tantra.
Entering a delightful meditation cell, secluded from people and moistened with fragrant water, one should sit upon a very soft and high seat. Having recited the secret mantra to dispel external fears, one should then prepare a maṇḍala smeared with flowers. Having performed the excellent ritual and bathed with the vajra water of recitation, one should offer a stable torma to the hosts of spirits. With supreme diligence, having spread the thangkas before one, fumigated with incense, and made offerings, the wise one should practice concentration.
In the emanation wheel (nirmāṇacakra), from the seed-syllable of the sun, there arises a red triangular form of fire.
Meditate on a blazing, fully blossomed red lotus with petals corresponding to the seasons. Upon that, at the heart of the corpse, she dwells with her left leg fully extended atop a mass of radiant heat. The Blessed Lady Vajravārāhī, possessing the face of a sow, is intensely wrathful. Adorned with the five mudrās, she has three eyes, a full and very firm belly, and a deeply furrowed brow. Her tongue flickers and her mouth is filled with the sound of "Hrīḥ." Born from the radiating mass of light of the terrifying one, she performs the welfare of sentient beings through the Victors. Naked, her tawny hair is tied upward with a vajra-strung garland of skulls. With her supreme hands, which measure a vedāṅga, she holds a vajra hook, a victory banner, a skull-cup, and a lasso with the threatening gesture. She possesses the haughty gait of a female jackal and is as red as lac, kiṃśuka, bandhūka, jīvaka, and kīla flowers. Adorned with a necklace made of a garland of heads, she has full and firm breasts. She is the supreme one born from the limits of earth, space, and the crescent moon of Śrī. Behold her whose mind is moistened by the water of compassion and joy, and who generates the realization of primordial wisdom (jñāna). Then, having integrated the blazing primordial wisdom into the samaya and arranged the six syllables upon the body, one should worship her with the rituals arising from the mind, the outer, inner, and most secret rites, and with various praises and supreme melodies. With palms joined and a mind full of devotion, one should prostrate to her with the head.
In that regard, at the emanation-cakra, the palace of the Victorious One is red like vermilion. At the upper corner, below, are the Vedas, the gate, and the fierce Āditya; at the lower corner, above, are the Cool-rayed One (Candra), the Sky-possessor (Khāḍga), and the letter preceding the last; in the center, meditate on the seed-syllable that illuminates the directions with infinite red light-rays. Then, having meditated on the Victorious One’s most beautiful abode as a revolving wheel, the mantra is recited. The wise one, possessing the mantra, burns the incense prepared from the action of Balabhadra. Immediately after invoking the goddess who possesses the bodies of all the Victorious Ones without exception, [recite] āveśaya. Then, the inciter; following that, one’s own seed-syllable; below that, the consort of Fire; the body and all its parts; following the last, the supreme seed-syllable; then the elephant; following that, the letter of mindfulness, the kṣa supported by the sky-corner; and that very same one again. Oṃ hrīṃ haṃ, and following that, the three letters of bliss; hi hi pheṃ—these three are to be recited in sequence for the burning and the night bali offering. Beginning from the tenth day of the dark fortnight, on each successive day, if one accomplishes the sublime concentration endowed with recitation, bali, and offerings, by taking the accomplishment whose nature is the equality of the utterly vast and the unequaled, the great-minded ones should not be confused regarding this excellent skull-cup. This is the ritual of meditation from the ritual of the descent of wisdom (jñānāveśa). The guru, having been supplicated by the devoted disciples who bow at his lotus feet—
One should correctly and perfectly grasp those supreme dates of the dark fortnight as they have been described. Following that, having meditated upon the supreme goddess as described by the excellent ritual in the wheel, and having meditated upon a beautiful wheel revolving below its spokes as before, one should then offer the vajra-holding [substance] from the hand. Until it has completely descended upon the head of the one possessing the protector and the flowers, one should offer incense and recite the secret mantra. When the descent has occurred, there will be the rising of the hair like being in a place of great cold or heat, tears falling from the eyes, trembling, and falling down, and wisdom will be born. For those who have become thus established, one should recite the ritual of offering for the great yoga, the object of meditation, the recitation, and the secret mantras endowed with incense that accomplish all aims. This should not be told to those who possess minds devoid of faith, who are foolish, who are intent on sinful actions, or to those who act out of mere respect and honor. This is the ritual for the subsequent guidance of the disciple from the ritual of the descent of wisdom. Furthermore, having performed the outer offerings, the one who correctly accomplishes and accepts the excellent disciple should prepare a maṇḍala in front with red fluid and red flowers. Relying on a large, level vessel marked with a vajra, one should use the left hand to draw a beautiful three-cornered wheel together with a crossed vajra. Upon that, one should place the four syllables previously explained, which open the crown of the head of the Lord of Vighnas.
Facing west, one should draw [the mandala] with the left hand using secret mantra and vidyā, just as before. Then, having summoned the wisdom [beings] through the sequence of the ritual, one should swiftly cause them to enter into the samaya [beings]. To that [mandala], one should offer perfumes, supreme incense, fragrant flowers, lamps, and divine food (naivedya), along with the five objects of desire, the supreme amṛta, strength, and excellent drinks and soups. Together with these, one should offer food, the six Sugatas, and the sounds of bronze cymbals, songs, lutes, flutes, drums, clay drums, paṭaha drums, and conch shells, as well as the melodious sounds of copper horns, accompanied by dance and auspiciousness. One should worship and praise with various excellent modes of offering in every way. With palms joined in devotion, one should perform the peerless prostration. By reciting the individual mantras according to the excellent ritual, one should complete one hundred thousand [recitations]. Through the divisions of the vajra and so forth, if one recites in this way, it will certainly become threefold. When the desire to view [the deity] arises, at that time, having bowed deeply to the Guru who resides within those beautiful wheels together with the syllables, and having uttered the mantra endowed with the ritual and the syllable MUḤ, the person who strives for the supreme goal should truly arise from meditative concentration. This is the ritual of external offering from the ritual of the descent of wisdom. Whoever worships the wheel every day according to the supreme ritual already explained, and also performs the recitation of the goddess’s mantra before the thangka according to the ritual, [attains the goal].
By this, one will certainly attain the perfect accomplishment that generates various benefits for beings, and will become an object of supreme worship, like a goddess blazing with radiance in the worlds. Having visualized the object of accomplishment—who possesses a heart of passion and wears red garments—one should bind them firmly by the neck with a vajra noose and pierce them in the chest with an iron hook. Having drawn them forth naked with palms joined, they dance, prostrating at one's own two feet. Like a person from the land of Ḍombī, one will perform this very act.
If one strikes the head of someone with the tip of a vajra and fills their eyes with blood from a skull-cup, even if they possess a vajra body, they will quickly go to the abode of Yama. If the wounds of one who has died are washed with a collection of nectar-like light rays from the seed-syllable, they will be restored to life by the sounding bell resting upon the khaṭvāṅga. This is the ritual of the application of benefits from the procedure for the descent of wisdom.
Through the merit I have gained by correctly explaining the ritual for the descent of wisdom, which is as white as the light of the full moon and dispels every fault without exception, may all beings be freed from every affliction and become a treasury of qualities, blazing intensely with the wisdom-light of the Blessed Lady Vajravārāhī. This concludes the supreme yoga ritual for the descent of wisdom, composed by Śūnyatāsamādhi. [It was translated] by the Nepalese Ācārya Bharendraruci and...