Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Vajravārāhī Sādhana is a ritual manual designed to guide the practitioner through the visualization and invocation of the deity Vajravārāhī. The text prescribes a specific sequence of meditative actions, beginning with the necessity of receiving instructions from a guru and establishing a physical seat. It directs the practitioner to visualize the goddess in a terrifying form, emerging from a seed syllable (HRĪḤ) situated within a lotus at the center of a blazing mountain of fire. The work commits the reader to a rigorous discipline of mantra recitation, including the repetition of preliminary services one hundred thousand times and the offering of tormas. By maintaining the divine pride of the goddess and dedicating the resulting merit toward awakening, the practitioner is promised both spiritual progress and mundane benefits, such as wealth and sustenance. The text functions as a technical guide for transforming the practitioner's perception through deity yoga and ritualized sound.
Provenance
About this text
A sādhana for the practice of Vajravārāhī, the rdo rje phag mo'i sgrub thabs is a ritual manual belonging to the collection of Śaṃvara and Related Tantras. The work is attributed to the Indian author Vanaratnapāda. It entered the Tibetan tradition through the efforts of Vanaratnapāda and the translator lo tsa ba ’jam dpal ye shes, and is preserved in the Tengyur (vol. འ), where it extends over three pages of classical Tibetan. The text enacts a precise meditative process, beginning with the receipt of instructions from a guru and the taking of refuge. It directs the practitioner to visualize the goddess in a terrifying form arising from the syllable HRĪḤ within a blazing mountain of fire, while prescribing the recitation of essence mantras and the offering of tormas to pacify Māras. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine the specific visualization techniques and mantra disciplines required for the invocation of Vajravārāhī, as well as the structural requirements of the preliminary services and offerings detailed within the ritual sequence.
This text is significant as it exemplifies the Anuttarayoga Tantra tradition's use of deity yoga and seed syllables to achieve spiritual transformation. For the modern reader, it illustrates the intersection of metaphysical visualization and the pursuit of material prosperity within Tibetan ritual practice.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Preliminary Instructions
Requirements for the practitioner, including guru instruction and physical posture.
2
Visualization
Detailed instructions on visualizing the deity's terrifying form and the central seed syllable.
3
Mantra and Ritual Offerings
Presentation of essence mantras and instructions for preliminary recitations and torma offerings.
4
Conclusion and Benefits
Guidelines for prayer, dedication of merit, and the promised material rewards of diligent practice.
Themes
Deity Yoga (2, 4)
Mantra Recitation (3)
Ritual Offerings (3)
Material and Spiritual Gain (4)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Vajraghoṇasādhana. In the language of Tibet: rDo rje phag mo’i sgrub thabs (The Sādhana of Vajravārāhī). Homage to the Venerable Vajravārāhī!
First, the practitioner, having received the instructions in the presence of the Guru, should sit on a comfortable seat in a pleasant location. Having preceded this with the taking of refuge, one should meditate on the four brahmā abodes.
Following that, one should contemplate all phenomena as emptiness and consecrate them with the mantra: oṃ śūnyatājñānavajrasvabhāvātmako ’haṃ. Then, with oṃ hrīṃ ghātaya sarvaduṣṭān hūṃ phaṭ svāhā, one should offer a torma to the deity of the support in front. With oṃ āḥ hrīṃ hūṃ ha haḥ, one should offer incense of powdered human flesh and then meditate on concentration.
Then, from the state of emptiness, a red syllable hrīḥ completely transforms, and I myself appear as Vajravārāhī with a sow’s face, one face and four arms. Her three eyes are red and round. She stands upon a corpse in the posture with the right leg extended and the left drawn in. Her body is naked, and her orange-red hair is tied upward. She is adorned with a crown of five dry skulls and the five mudrās. Her two right hands hold a vajra and a vajra hook; her two left hands hold a skull-cup filled with the blood of the four Māras and a vajra lasso. She leans a khaṭvāṅga against the crook of her left arm. She has a frowning brow and bared fangs, a large belly, and a lolling tongue. She wears a long necklace of fifty human heads.
One should meditate on the goddess in an extremely terrifying form. In the center of a blazing triangular mountain of fire at her navel is a red four-petaled lotus. In its center is the syllable HRĪḤ, blazing like the fire at the end of an eon. From its total transformation, one should visualize Vajravārāhī, red in color, with the hand implements and posture as previously described. At her heart, one should visualize the seed-syllable HRĪḤ as a mark, and on the four petals, skull-cups filled with nectar.
With light rays from the HRĪḤ at the heart, the wisdom-being deity is invited into the space in front. Having made offerings with water for the mouth and so forth, and having performed prostrations, taking refuge, confessing misdeeds, rejoicing in virtue, dedicating merit, and generating the mind of supreme awakening, one should view her as inseparable from the commitment-being at the navel. If one wishes to confer empowerment, light rays radiating from the HRĪḤ invite the five families together with their retinues. Through the conferral of empowerment, Vairocana is established as the lord of the family.
Then, the mantra should be recited. With light emanating from the sow’s face, the red mantra garland gathers all the powers and essences of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions, the siddhas, the vidyādharas, and the potency of jewels, medicines, and so forth. These are absorbed into the mantra garland. The mantra garland enters through the lotus, travels through the path of the dhūtī, and emerges again from the mouth; one should visualize this like a circling firebrand.
OṂ HŪṂ HRĪṂ HĀṂ. This is the essence mantra. OṂ VAJRAVĀRĀHĪ ĀVEŚAYA SARVA DUṢṬĀN HRĪṂ SVĀHĀ. This is the near-essence mantra. One should diligently recite the preliminary service one hundred thousand times. With the mantra OṂ HRĪṂ HŪṂ HAḤ HĪḤ PHEṂ PHEṂ PHEṂ PHAṬ, one should offer a torma at night for the purpose of pacifying all Māras. Following that, having made perfect offerings:
For the sake of the utterly pure expanse of reality (dharmadhātu), you who sport with the right leg extended upon a corpse lying on its back, and with the left leg drawn in, you who are the pure expanse of reality itself—homage with my crown to you, who have arisen from suchness.
O Goddess, upon the lotus in your hand is this skull-cup, completely filled with a mass of blood. Set between the reflections of two youthful suns, it is thought to be exquisitely beautiful with the radiance of the moon.
Thinking, "I shall destroy your unimpeded, base intellect," this vajra held in your right hand, which is worthy of universal homage, is positioned so that its points face upward, bringing relief to the gods.
O Goddess born from the syllable HRĪḤ, your head is beautifully adorned with a garland of white dry skulls. Your supreme body is intensely radiant like the fire at the end of an eon, and you wear a necklace of hanging fresh heads. To your left, you hold a khaṭvāṅga adorned with banners, jewels, and a lasso; in your right hand is an iron hook. To you, who are always bowed to, I prostrate with my head.
Having offered praise in this way, one should pray for the desired aims, dedicate the virtue toward awakening, and maintain the pride of the goddess throughout all activities. Whoever meditates with diligence upon the face of Vajravārāhī will obtain clothing, food, drink, wealth, grain, vast lands, palatial mansions, divine bedding, ornaments, maidens, and various forms of knowledge. Through the mantra-knowledge of one who is extremely diligent, the three worlds will be brought under control without difficulty, and ultimately, unsurpassed awakening will be attained. This concludes the Sādhana of Vajravārāhī composed by the great Paṇḍita of Eastern India, Śrī Vanaratna. It was translated by that same Paṇḍita and the translator Mañjuśrī Jñāna.