Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text outlines the procedure for a secret fire offering (homa) associated with the deity Vajrayoginī. The work functions as a technical manual for the performance of a sacrificial rite, specifying the necessary substances and the corresponding mantras required for the principal deity and their retinue. The text commits the practitioner to a precise correspondence between the material offerings and the intended ritual outcome: ghee is prescribed for pacifying activities, sweet substances for enriching activities, and a combination of sweet and salty substances for magnetizing activities. By integrating the use of the five nectars (amṛta) and other primary substances, the ritual seeks to manipulate specific energetic or spiritual results through the medium of the fire offering, following a structured system of ritual correspondences common in Vajrayāna practice.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the performance of a secret fire offering, the Śrīvajrayoginīkāntaguptahomavidhi belongs to the tradition of the Śaṃvara and Related Tantras. The work is attributed to the Indian author Koṅkadatta. It was translated into the Tibetan language by Paṇḍita Dharmapāla and the lo tsa ba ba ri rin chen grags pa, and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume འ, where it extends over two pages. The text enacts a precise sacrificial rite associated with the deity Vajrayoginī, providing technical instructions for the mantra practitioner to accomplish mundane and spiritual goals. It specifies the use of the five nectars and other primary substances, mandating a strict correspondence between the material offerings and the intended ritual outcome: ghee is used for pacifying, sweet substances for enriching, sweet and salty substances for magnetizing, and pungent substances for wrathful activities. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine the structured system of ritual correspondences and the specific application of mantras and substances used to manipulate spiritual results through the medium of the homa.
Sanskrit title
Śrīvajrayoginīkāntaguptahomavidhi
Indian author
Koṅkadatta
Tibetan translators
Paṇḍita Dharmapāla, lo tsa ba ba ri rin chen grags pa
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Ritual of Secret Fire Offerings, The Wishes of Glorious Vajrayoginī” (Toh 1575), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1575
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text is significant as it demonstrates the application of the four ritual activities (pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, and destroying) within the specific context of a Vajrayoginī homa. For the modern reader, it provides a concrete example of how material substances are semiotically linked to specific spiritual goals in Indo-Tibetan ritual technology.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and Technical Instructions
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and specifies the substances required for different ritual objectives.
Themes
Ritual Correspondences (2)
Fire Offering (Homa) (1-2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaA Ritual of Secret Fire Offerings, The Wishes of Glorious Vajrayoginī·
In the language of India: Śrīvajrayoginīmahānāgohomavidhināma. In the language of Tibet: Dpal rdo rje rnal ’byor ma’i bzhed kyi sbas pa’i sbyin sreg gi cho ga zhes bya ba (The Ritual of the Secret Homa According to the Tradition of Glorious Vajrayoginī). Homage to Glorious Vajrayoginī!
First, a mantra practitioner who wishes to perform the activity of homa in order to accomplish the mundane and supramundane siddhis (accomplishments) according to the tradition of Glorious Vajrayoginī should construct a triangular hearth. It should be dug to a depth equal to half its width, provided with a rim, and made beautiful and symmetrical in color, such as red lotus. Facing west or in the appropriate direction, one should sit correctly and make perfect offerings with the five types of offerings. Then, one should place firewood into the hearth.
One should meditate on the Fire God (Agni), red in color, born from the seed-syllable RAṂ, holding a water-pot, a gesture of fearlessness, a staff, and a rosary. Then, having performed the entry of the wisdom-being (jñānasattva) and so forth, and having made perfect offerings, one should meditate on the syllable RAṂ at the tip of the tongue. Then, with the five nectars (amṛta) and other substances, as well as worldly substances, one should offer them into the fire with the mantra: OṂ AGNAYE SVĀHĀ. With that same mantra, one should also offer the ladlefuls of clarified butter.
Then, in the center of the fire, which is the nature of the wisdom of suchness (tathatā), one should visualize the maṇḍala circle with intense devotion, and perform the offerings and so forth.
One should perform the fire offering (homa) with the five nectars (amṛta) and other primary substances using the respective mantras of the principal deity and the retinue. For pacifying, use substances such as ghee; for enriching, use sweet substances; for magnetizing, use sweet and salty substances; and for wrathful activities, use pungent substances and the like. For pacifying, visualize the form as white; for enriching, visualize it as yellow; for magnetizing, it is said to be red; and for wrathful activities, it is renowned as black. At the time of accomplishing the siddhis, one should visualize the color as red. Having done so, one should dissolve the wrathful wheel into one's own body, offer the torma, perform the supramundane offerings according to the sequence of the gaṇacakra, and then take the desired siddhi. This fire offering is not to be shown to others; if it is applied with great diligence, one will attain the siddhis. Otherwise, there is no fortune for siddhis. Those who desire Mahāmudrā and the like should apply this mantra, which is like a wish-fulfilling jewel, with perfect faith and make the ground of faith firm. This concludes the "Secret Fire Offering Ritual" according to the system of the glorious Vajrayoginī, composed by the master Koṅka Jñāna. It was translated by the Paṇḍita Dhavalahū and the translator Ri Rinchen Drakpa.