Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual manual provides a technical guide for the performance of a Vajrayoginī pūjā, integrating external offerings with internal yogic practices. The text is structured as a sequence of liturgical instructions, beginning with the recitation of mantras associated with the six yoginīs to facilitate counter-clockwise offerings. It details the precise preparation and purification of torma offerings through nectar rituals and specific invocations to appease spirits and rakṣasas. Beyond external ritualism, the text commits the practitioner to a complex internal visualization and energetic process, describing the movement of winds (prāṇa) within the subtle body, specifically focusing on the navel lotus and the interaction between inward and outward-moving winds. The ritual concludes with advanced visualizations involving light rays, a bound rakṣasa face, and the movement of a red swastika through the subtle channels, such as the lalanā and dharmodaya, indicating a synthesis of offering ritual and completion stage yoga.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the offering of Vajrayoginī, the Vajrayoginīpūjāvidhi belongs to the tradition of the Śaṃvara and Related Tantras. The work is attributed to the Indian author Dārika. It was translated into the Tibetan language by Dānaśīla (III) and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཟ, where it extends over three pages. As a work of classical Tibetan ritual literature, the text enacts a precise liturgical sequence designed to facilitate the pūjā. It begins with the purification of the ground and the recitation of mantras associated with the six yoginīs to guide counter-clockwise offerings. Furthermore, it provides technical instructions for the preparation and purification of torma vessels using nectar rituals, alongside specific invocations directed toward rakṣasas, yakṣas, and other spirits to ensure the success of the practice. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the technical intersection of external offerings and the specific mantra-driven protocols used to appease spiritual entities and purify the ritual space within the context of the Vajrayoginī tradition.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Ritual for a Vajrayoginī Puja” (Toh 1567), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1567
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for demonstrating the integration of external ritual offerings (pūjā) with internal subtle body manipulations (yoga) characteristic of the Anuttarayoga Tantra tradition. For the modern reader, it illustrates the precise technicality of Tibetan Buddhist liturgy and the conceptualization of the body as a map of energetic currents.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and Mantras
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and lists the mantras of the six yoginīs for counter-clockwise offerings.
3
Torma Ritual
Instructions for the purification of the torma vessel and the recitation of mantras to address spirits and rakṣasas.
4-5
Internal Energetic Processes
Detailed descriptions of wind movements in the subtle body and visualizations involving light rays and the movement of a red swastika.
Themes
Subtle Body Physiology (4-5)
Ritual Offerings and Torma (2-3)
Mantra and Invocation (2-3)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Vajrayoginīpūjāvidhi. In the language of Tibet: rDo rje rnal ’byor ma’i mchod pa’i cho ga (The Ritual for the Offering of Vajrayoginī). Homage to the glorious Vajrayoginī!
Next, the ritual for the offering as it arises from the pith instructions shall be explained. With "Oṃ āḥ rakṣa rakṣa hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā," one purifies the ground. One recites: "The places and near-places, the fields and near-fields, the assemblies and near-assemblies, the gatherings and near-gatherings, the pālava and upapālava, the charnel grounds and near-charnel grounds." Having thus recited, one should smear the maṇḍala. In its center, one should draw a six-spoked source of phenomena (dharmodaya), and in its center, the syllable Vaṃ.
Oṃ sarvabuddhaḍākinīye vajrapuṣpe āḥ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ vajravarṇanīye vajrapuṣpe āḥ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ vajravairocanīye vajrapuṣpe āḥ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ aṃ āṃ hūṃ hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ iṃ īṃ hūṃ hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ uṃ ūṃ hūṃ hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ ṛṃ ṝṃ hūṃ hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ ḷṃ ḹṃ hūṃ hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ eṃ aiṃ hūṃ hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ oṃ auṃ hūṃ hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ aṃ āṃ hūṃ hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
One should make offerings with this eight-line mantra of the Blessed Lady:
Oṃ vaṃ vajravārāhī vajrapuṣpe āḥ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ haṃ yoṃ yamini vajrapuṣpe āḥ hūṃ phaṭ svāhā.
Oṃ hrīṃ moṃ hānī... [continues]
Regarding the ritual of the torma: first, one should completely purify a torma vessel filled with dough and so forth through the ritual of nectar. Following that, recite:
OṂ ARALLI HOḤ | JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ SAMAYA MANUPĀLAYA | DṚŚYA HOḤ | OṂ KHA KHA KHĀHI KHĀHI | SARVA YAKṢA RĀKṢASA SARVA BHŪTA PRETA PIŚĀCA SMARA APASMARA ḌĀKA ḌĀKINYADAYA | IMIṂ BAḶIṂ GṚHṆANTU | SAMAYAM | RAKṢANTU | MAMA SARVA SIDDHIṂ ME PRAYACCHANTU | YATHĀIVAṂ YATHAIṢṬAṂ BHUÑJATHA | PIPATHA | JIGHRATHA | MATIKRAMATHA | MAMA SARVA KĀRTAYA SATSUKHA VIVṚDDHAYE SAHĀYIKĀ BHAVANTU HŪṂ HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ.
This is one ritual for the torma. Alternatively, one may offer it to the deity using the mantra of the Goddess herself. This is the ritual for the outer torma offering of Vārāhī.
First, whatever appears before oneself should be visualized as the form of the Blessed Lady and then dissolved into oneself. Second, one meditates on oneself as the form of the Blessed Lady, and meditates on the various forms of the animate and inanimate world as the form of the Blessed Lady. Third, having contemplated that these dissolve into oneself, one should meditate on the inseparability of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. Fourth, focusing on the yoga of the Blessed Lady, one should seal the rākṣasa face.
At the navel is a red four-petalled lotus. From the nāda of the third of the fifth pentads, the outward-moving wind emerges in the form of a thread like the sun. Having emerged, it dissolves into the nāda of the inward-moving wind itself; that is the mudrā.
The fifth [stage] is the wind maṇḍala arising between the two feet, and the fire maṇḍala from the syllable raṃ below the navel. Above that, at the navel, is the red four-petalled lotus. From the nāda of the third of the fifth pentads, light rays radiate outward, and one should meditate on the entire body of the Blessed Lady as being of the nature of light rays.
Regarding the sixth, within that very body together with the light rays, one should meditate on everything as emptiness according to this sequence: "Just as the breath and wind dissolve completely into a mirror, likewise, in the yoga of the ultimate reality, they dissolve again and again."
From that nature of emptiness, upon the sun-like third of the fifth pentads, the ṣiḍa (semen) which is the nature of the bodhicitta, hanging head-downward, is melted by the light rays of the third of the fifth pentads. It dissolves into that very nāda previously explained. Then, by means of that nāda of the third of the fifth pentads, one should meditate on the Blessed Lady in the form of the union (yuganaddha).
In particular, having closed the rākṣasa face, one should meditate on three or seven garlands. By the light rays of the nāda of the third of the fifth pentads at the navel, the ṣiḍa is melted; through both of these, they become one in great bliss. Then, having emerged from the dharmodaya, [it proceeds].
By the light rays of the bound rākṣasa face, it revolves like a wheel. The second distinction is that by the light rays of the bound rākṣasa face, a red swastika revolves in front of the tongue and, through the lower gate of the lalanā at the left ear, enters the dharmodaya, revolving counter-clockwise like a wheel in three or seven strands. This concludes the pith instructions of the glorious Vajrayoginī composed by the great master Dārikapa, as they appear in the oral instructions of the accomplished ones. It was translated into Tibetan by the great paṇḍita Dānaśīla of Jagatala in eastern India at Drangsong Sinpori in Central Tibet, as a self-translation.