Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual manual provides instructions for the performance of the Hand Offering, a practice situated within the context of the gaṇacakra maṇḍala. The text functions as a technical guide for the mantrin, beginning with a prostration to Vajravārāhī as the central figure of the yoginī circle. The procedure requires the practitioner to engage in a complex visualization process where the five physical elements—earth, water, fire, wind, and space—are identified with specific deities: Pātanī, Māraṇī, Ākarṣaṇī, Nṛtyeśvarī, and Jvalitapadma. By anointing seed syllables in the hands with melted substances, the practitioner transforms the physical body into a ritualized space. The text commits the reader to a precise synthesis of somatic action and mental visualization, aiming to align the practitioner's physical form with the divine architecture of the mandala through the medium of the hands.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual detailing the Hand Offering, this work belongs to the tradition of the Śaṃvara and Related Tantras. It is attributed to the Indian author Abhiyukta. Preserved in the classical Tibetan period, the text is found in volume འ of the Tengyur. The work enacts a precise somatic and mental procedure for the mantrin endowed with the yoga of the glorious Cakrasaṃvara, specifically for use during a gaṇacakra maṇḍala. Beginning with a prostration to Vajravārāhī, the principal of the circle of yoginīs, the ritual guides the practitioner through a visualization where the five fingers and the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space are identified with the deities Pātanī, Māraṇī, Ākarṣaṇī, Nṛtyeśvarī, and Jvalitapadma. By anointing seed syllables in the hands with melted substances, the practitioner transforms the palms into the three cakras blessed as heroes and yoginīs. A scholar or serious reader consults this two-page guide to understand the technical synthesis of physical action and divine visualization required to align the practitioner's body with the architecture of the mandala.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Making Hand Offerings” (Toh 1601), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1601
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its illustration of how Vajrayāna ritual transforms the human body into a sacred vessel through the identification of elements with specific deities. For the modern reader, it provides primary evidence of the intersection between somatic practice and deity yoga in the yoginī traditions.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Invocation
Prostration to Vajravārāhī and the establishment of the ritual context within the gaṇacakra maṇḍala.
2
Visualization and Anointment
Instructions for mapping the five elements to specific deities and the application of substances to seed syllables in the hands.
Themes
Deity Yoga (1-2)
Somatic Ritual (2)
Elemental Transformation (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
The Hand Offering is contained herein.
I prostrate to Vajravārāhī, who is the principal of the circle of yoginīs. I shall here correctly summarize the ritual of the hand offering according to its tradition.
At times such as during a gaṇacakra maṇḍala, a mantrin endowed with the yoga of the glorious Cakrasaṃvara should visualize the thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger of the left hand, along with their nails, as being the nature of Vajrasattva, Vairocana, Amitābha, Akṣobhya, Ratnasambhava, and Amoghasiddhi, respectively. These are white, yellow, red, black, orange, and green in color. One should arrange the syllables OṂ HA, NAMAḤ HI, SVĀHĀ HU, VAUṢAṬ HE, HŪṂ HŪṂ HO, and PHAṬ HAṂ upon them.
Furthermore, one should visualize a red five-petaled lotus suddenly formed in the hand. Upon the petals in the east and so forth, arranged in counter-clockwise order, one should visualize the natures of Yamī, Mohanī, Tāpanī, Trāsanī, and Caṇḍālī, who are blue, white, yellow, green, and smoke-colored, respectively. One should contemplate the seed-syllables HOṂ YOṂ, HRĪṂ MOṂ, HREṂ HREṂ, HŪṂ HŪṂ, and PHAṬ PHAṬ.
In the center of the lotus is the seed-syllable OṂ BAṂ, which is the nature of Vajravārāhī and is red in color. These forms, or the three wheels, should also be clearly visualized on the back of the hand.
Then, one should visualize the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space residing in the hands as being the nature of Pātanī, Māraṇī, Ākarṣaṇī, Nṛtyeśvarī, and Jvalitapadma. Then, having anointed those seed syllables residing in the hands with the substances to be melted, one should visualize the palms as being the nature of the three cakras blessed as the heroes and yoginīs. One should then offer those substances, such as the melted ones, with the three syllables or the eight-line mantra. Then, having performed the perfect offerings, one should recite the hundred-syllable mantra to remedy any excesses or omissions. Having made a supplication for the purpose of blessing the cakra and so forth, one should set the substances aside or elsewhere. Taking the substances from the left hand with the left ring finger, preceded by the recitation of HŪṂ ĀḤ OṂ, one should anoint the heart, the tongue, and the crown of the head. One should then visualize the hosts of deities entering into oneself. These rituals are connected to the Yoginīsaṃcaryā. This concludes the Hand Offering composed by Abhyukta.