Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text is a ritual manual (sādhana) designed to align the practitioner's experience with the Mahāmāyā Tantra. It guides the practitioner through a process of deity yoga, beginning with the cultivation of bodhicitta and the perception of sentient beings as illusory. The ritual involves the visualization of a central blue deity arising from the seed syllable HŪṂ, accompanied by a complex mandala featuring figures such as Ratna-ḍākinī and Padma-ḍākinī. The text commits the reader to a series of precise meditative operations: summoning the wisdom maṇḍala, merging it with the self to achieve the fruit of practice, and utilizing specific sounds and mudras to facilitate the dissolution of deities into a state of bliss. The process concludes with a transition from internal visualization to external activity, where the practitioner engages in alms-gathering and teaching while maintaining the view that both self and others are Heruka and that all activities are illusory in nature.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual designed to align the practitioner's experience with the Mahāmāyā Tantra, the Mahāmāyātantrānusāriṇīherukasādhanopāyikā belongs to the genre of sādhana. The work is attributed to the Indian author Kukuripa. It was translated into the Tibetan language by Anīlavajra and bod kyi lo tsa ba ’gos lhas btsas, and is preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཡ) within the Other Wisdom Tantras collection. This classical Tibetan text enacts a process of deity yoga, beginning with the cultivation of bodhicitta and the perception of sentient beings as illusory. It guides the practitioner through the visualization of a central blue deity arising from the seed syllable HŪṂ, accompanied by a complex mandala featuring figures such as Ratna-ḍākinī and Padma-ḍākinī. The ritual involves summoning the wisdom maṇḍala and merging it with the self to achieve the fruit of practice, utilizing specific sounds and mudras to facilitate the dissolution of deities into a state of bliss. The process concludes with a transition from internal visualization to external activity, such as teaching and alms-gathering. A scholar or serious reader consults this five-page work today to examine the precise meditative operations and visualizations required to transition from internal ritual practice to external activity while maintaining the view.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Heruka Sādhana in Conformance with the Mahāmāyā Tantra” (Toh 1627), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1627
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as a practical application of the Mahāmāyā Tantra's philosophy, specifically the view of reality as an illusion. It demonstrates the integration of complex visualization, mantra, and mudra to transform ordinary perception into the experience of a deity.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-3
Preliminary and Visualization
Includes the title, homage, the intention for liberation, and the detailed visualization of the central deity and the surrounding ḍākinīs.
4-5
Ritual Integration
Describes the summoning of the wisdom maṇḍala, the merging of the maṇḍala with the practitioner, and the use of phaṭ and mudras to achieve a state of bliss.
6
Post-meditative Activity
Outlines the transition to external activities such as teaching and alms-gathering while maintaining the illusory view.
Themes
Illusion (māyā) (2, 6)
Deity Yoga and Visualization (2-3)
Non-duality and Integration (4-5)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaA Heruka Sādhana in Conformance with the Mahāmāyā Tantra·
In the language of India: Mahāmāyātantrānugataherukasādhana-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Sgyu 'phrul chen mo'i rgyud kyi rjes su 'brang ba'i he ru ka'i sgrub pa'i thabs (The Sādhana of Heruka Following the Mahāmāyā Tantra). Homage to the Blessed One, the Glorious Vajraḍākinī!
Victorious one, the very nature of the Great Illusion,
To Vajraḍākinī I prostrate;
I shall explain the stages of the sādhana
Which summarizes her scriptural tradition.
One who possesses faith, love, and compassion,
Having set the mind upon perfect awakening,
Endowed with generosity, discipline, and so forth,
With a mind equanimous toward the eight worldly concerns,
And through the knowledge that bestows the accomplishments of the mantra tantras,
Should enjoy the conduct of yoga in accordance with it.
Seated in a comfortable place,
Having placed a sun disk and the syllable HŪṂ at the heart,
One should present offerings arising from light rays
To the Lord before oneself,
And perform the confession of misdeeds and so forth.
Then, one should meditate on emptiness,
Reciting mentally: OṂ ŚŪNYATĀ-JÑĀNA-VAJRA-SVABHĀVA-ĀTMAKO ’HAṂ.
In the sky, upon a red four-petaled lotus
Situated on a sun disk,
One should visualize five white drops.
First, having performed the radiation and reabsorption,
One should visualize the four Ḍākinīs,
Who possess the nature of great love, compassion, and so forth,
As they were previously cultivated,
Emerging from the drops in the four directions,
In a dancing manner, embracing in joy.
One should contemplate them being exhorted:
HA LE HI VI YA SI A |
KA MA LU PRA BA YU VAJRE |
A LA LA LA LA HO |
MA HĀ SU TE NA |
A RA HA NI TE NA |
RA VI KI RA ṆA |
PRA PHU LI YU LA |
Kamalumahāsute na. Then, with the intention to liberate sentient beings from the suffering of saṃsāra, one should perceive those beings as being like an illusion. From the central drop, the blue [deity] arises from the seed syllable HŪṂ, the embodiment of compassion, the master of the five wisdoms and the three bodies, supremely joyful and beautiful. He has four faces and four arms, his limbs smeared with ashes. The central face is blue like the body; the right face is yellow; the back face is white and appears red; the left blazes like emerald. With three eyes, he is adorned with the five mudrās, such as the human skin and so forth. His tawny hair stands erect, and he wears a high crown of skulls with Akṣobhya at the center. In his right hands, he holds a kapāla and an arrow; in his left, a khaṭvāṅga and a bow. Emitting a mass of tens of millions of light rays, he performs the deeds of a Buddha for the benefit of beings. He is the self-manifest Buddha Ḍākinī, who constantly embraces him with the joy of desire. One should visualize Heruka as a dancer, gazing at the four goddesses with his faces.
The names and characteristics of the Ḍākinīs shall now be explained. On the eastern petal is Vajraḍākinī, blue in color, with four faces: blue, yellow, white and red, and green. She is the purity of the earth element, the mirror-like wisdom, and so forth. In her right hands, she holds a vajra and a kapāla; in her left, a bell and a khaṭvāṅga. On the southern petal is [the goddess] whose nature is the wisdom of equality and the water element, and so forth.
The glorious Ratna-ḍākinī holds a precious victory banner and a trident in her right hands, while her left hands firmly grasp a kapāla and the throat of a jackal. She has four faces: yellow, blue, white and red, and green. On the western petal is Padma-ḍākinī, white and red, whose nature is the wisdoms of fire and individual discernment, and so forth. She is youthful and beautiful, with faces that are white and red, like molten gold, blue, and green. In her right hands she holds a variegated lotus and an arrow; in her left, a kapāla and a bow. On the northern petal is Viśva-ḍākinī, green, with green, yellow, white, and blue faces. She is the Viśva-ḍākinī purified of the wind element and so forth. In her right hands she holds a sword and a ḍamaru; in her left, a noose and a kapāla. All these goddesses have three eyes, four faces, and four arms. They possess the expressions of charm and so forth, blaze with the major and minor marks, and abide upon sun seats. They are like the dance of the Protector, endowed with the five mudrās and so forth.
Having performed the placement upon the six limbs, through the summoning of the Protector and so forth, there is the empowerment, the offering to the Victorious Ones, the praise, the passion, and so forth. One should place [the syllables] at the forehead, the throat, the two eyes, the ears, the nose, and the heart. These are: Oṃ, A, Ā, Khe, Ci, Ra. Having placed Hūṃ upon the letter Ra, through the swift union of the vajra—
Summon the wisdom maṇḍala, and having first performed the offering of the drinking water and so forth, one should cause it to enter into oneness with oneself. By making the maṇḍala one, the extraordinary accomplishment of the fruit will arise. Just as the substance of gold is achieved by anointing copper and other metals with their essences, so too, by the light rays of the essence from the heart, one exhorts the Protectors residing in the directions. The vidyās arising from those light rays, with vases filled with the water of nectar, confer initiation upon the crown of one's head, with Akṣobhya as the primary crown ornament. To the excellent consorts as well—Vairocana, Ratneśvara, Amitābha, and Amoghasiddhi—one should offer supreme goddesses whose hands are busy with sublime offerings, and having offered to them together with the yoginīs, one should praise oneself as Heruka:
"I prostrate to the glorious Heruka, who bares his fangs and is most terrifying, adorned with garlands of mantra flowers, and who partakes of the great flesh." These are the songs of praise.
At the head, navel, secret place, and the two thighs, and so forth in sequence, one should visualize the seed syllables of the five families: Oṃ, Hūṃ, Svā, Āḥ, and Hā. A red syllable Hrīḥ is the lotus, and from Bhrūṃ arises a yellow pericarp. Like the glorious Buddha-Ḍākinī, one should visualize the four goddesses and the rest, who gaze with passion and are filled with joy, exhorted by the melody of song. "Oṃ" is the jewel, "Hūṃ" is the vajra; through the performance of various deeds and so forth, one should initiate this joy that causes the Victorious Ones to be impassioned.
By the sound of phaṭ and the movement of the vajra and lotus,
Having summoned [the deities], they should be caused to enter.
The hosts of Victors, through bliss,
Melt and emerge as the vajra.
Then, according to the ritual of the tongue,
One should experience one’s own mind from the lotus.
At the heart, the actual four elements
Are a red four-petaled lotus.
Upon the sun and moon, at the bindu,
The union is rotated intensely.
A line like a lotus-fiber thread
Spreads across the front, including the half-measure.
Emerging with sound from above,
It then enters the aperture of the moon.
Regarding the subsequent going and coming,
Having spoken, one should emanate.
Restraining the vital breath and effort,
The mantra is likewise withdrawn.
By the sound of the three syllables,
There is the entry, the emergence,
And the upward-moving wind;
One should emerge with the sound of the syllable oṃ.
Having entered for the sake of entry,
The subtle wind of abiding remains in the abiding,
Situated in the center of the white bindu.
At the navel, through the vowels and consonants,
The seven qualities of the half-measure line.
Entering, abiding, and emerging,
Slowly and slowly, without going elsewhere,
One should meditate with a mind of intense application.
Oṃ āḥ hūṃ. This is the mantra for the recitation of the three syllables.
Having performed the desired offerings and so forth,
One arises.
Seeing that very reality and being liberated,
One looks upon the suffering of beings
And should fully dedicate the bliss.
By whatever merit I have performed,
May I meditate upon Vajraḍāka,
And through that, may I become the lord of Vajraḍāka.
May the protection of beings be attained in abundance!
Having arisen, one should perform alms-gathering and so forth, as well as listening and explaining the teachings. Having visualized oneself and others as Heruka, one should engage in activities as if they were like an illusion.
Having blessed the food with the syllable HŪṂ, within a kapāla arisen from the syllable A, one visualizes a wheel of fire below from the syllable RAṂ, which blazes and purifies it of stains. Above that, one contemplates the syllable OṂ. Having clearly consecrated the form of the nectar, one visualizes a vajra at the tip of the tongue and, having drawn it in, satisfies oneself with it.
OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ GUHYA BHAKṢA BHAKṢA HAṂ. This is the mantra for tasting the nectar. At the time of bathing, as before, one should meditate on the empowerment ritual as before. In all four sessions, one should meditate and remain in meditative equipoise in that manner.
By whatever merit I have gained from composing this sādhana of Vajraḍāka, may all beings become beautiful by practicing in that same way. This concludes the sādhana of Heruka following the Mahāmāyā Tantra, composed by the master Kukuripa.