Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This sādhanā provides a ritual manual for the practice of Mahāmāyā (the Great Illusion). The text guides the practitioner through a sequence of visualization and meditative stages designed to transform ordinary perception into a divine state. It begins with an invocation of Vajrasattva and the establishment of a sacred geography, specifically the visualization of five charnel grounds. The ritual proceeds to the construction of a complex mandala featuring a four-faced deity and associated goddesses, followed by the reception of a great empowerment involving the Buddha Akṣobhya and the recitation of the seed syllable Hrīḥ. The practice culminates in a sophisticated internal yoga focusing on the manipulation of the formless deity and the movement of bindu to generate great bliss. By following these instructions, the reader commits to a rigorous path of ascetic conduct, silent recitation, and advanced energetic yoga aimed at achieving a specific state of meditative absorption and bliss.
Provenance
About this text
A sādhanā dedicated to the practice of the Great Illusion, the Mahāmāyāsādhana is a ritual manual attributed to the Indian author Kaśmīri Ratnavajra. The work was translated into the Tibetan language by Jñānaśrībhadra and the monk lo tsa ba dge slong ’phags pa shes rab. It is preserved in the Tengyur, specifically within volume ཡ, where it comprises five pages and is categorized under the Other Wisdom Tantras. The text enacts a complex ritual process that begins with an invocation of Vajrasattva and the visualization of a sacred geography consisting of eight charnel grounds, including Caṇḍogra and Khaṭvāṅga. It further guides the practitioner in visualizing a four-faced deity and associated goddesses upon petals, integrating these forms into a meditative practice. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan translation to examine the specific iconographic details and ritual instructions used to transform ordinary perception into a divine state through the visualization of the Victorious One through Illusion.
Sanskrit title
Mahāmāyāsādhana
Indian author
Kaśmīri Ratnavajra
Tibetan translators
Jñānaśrībhadra, bod kyi lo tsa ba dge slong ’phags pa shes rab
The work is significant as it illustrates the integration of external ritual visualization, mantra recitation, and internal energetic yoga characteristic of Vajrayāna Buddhism. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of how the concept of illusion is operationalized as a meditative tool to dismantle ordinary cognitive constructs.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Invocation and Setting
Homage to Vajrasattva and the visualization of the five charnel grounds.
3
Deity Visualization
Description of the four-faced deity's attributes and the associated goddesses.
4
Empowerment and Recitation
The process of receiving empowerment from Akṣobhya and the use of the seed syllable Hrīḥ.
5
Internal Yoga
Instructions on the yoga of the formless deity and the generation of great bliss through bindu.
Themes
Sacred Geography (2)
Deity Yoga and Visualization (3-4)
Energetic Transformation and Bliss (5)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Mahāmāyāsādhana. In the language of Tibet: Sgyu ’phrul chen mo’i sgrub thabs (The Sādhana of the Great Illusion). Homage to the glorious Vajrasattva!
To the Great Illusion, who is exquisitely graceful,
Who laughs with the various illusions,
Who possesses the power of compassion and joy,
To the Victorious One through Illusion, I prostrate.
To the one who is the great bliss arising from
The three sufferings that afflict the three realms,
To the excellent Guru, adorned with reality,
Whose great compassion is the supreme awareness, I bow.
Following the Great Illusion,
For those who wish to accomplish
The Vajra [deity] who possesses the power of compassion,
I have composed this sādhana.
Within the heart, upon a moon,
Visualize the moon-disk and your own seed-syllable.
As its light touches the body,
The application of mindfulness to the body arises.
From the transformation of that,
Regarding the appearance of the body and the world of existence,
One should respectfully make offerings
To all the gods and Buddhas before one.
One should recite the three verses
Beginning with the Three Jewels.
Having meditated on the four Brahmā abodes
And having meditated on emptiness,
One should also recite the secret mantra.
Having recalled the protection mantra,
Visualize the vajra fence and so forth.
Within that which is entered into the Dharmadhātu,
One should visualize the arising of the elements.
Having meditated on Mount Meru above,
From the transformation of the elemental Meru,
Visualize the celestial palace,
Situated with four corners,
Just as it appears in all the tantras.
The outer directions and intermediate points are adorned with charnel grounds. Their names and characteristics shall be explained here according to the scriptures. The first is Caṇḍogra, the second is Khaṭvāṅga, the third is Jvālākula, the fourth is called Jvalita, and the fifth is called Kapāla. The sixth is Aghora, the seventh is Aṭṭahāsa, and the eighth is considered to be Vikṣepa. The first is called Dagdha, the second is Adagdha, the third is Khaṇḍa, and the fourth is Akhaṇḍa. The fifth is explained as Bhīma, the sixth is Bhairava, the seventh is Śūlākṣepa, and the eighth is called Lāsya. Hawks, jackals, owls, fierce dogs, rākṣasas, boars, vetalas, and wrathful, arrogant women—these eight perfectly surround the central lord. In the center of the celestial palace, one should visualize a red lotus. In its center is a great moon maṇḍala from which [the deity] emerges. In its center, by meditating on the five seed-syllables in sequence, and having performed the radiation and reabsorption from them, the five selves arise from the five seed-syllables. Possessing the five wisdoms, the pervasive lord has four faces and four arms. With three eyes, his body is black and green; he dwells in the dance posture of half-lotus. Adorned by a host of goddesses, he is perfectly endowed with the six mudrās. His limbs are smeared with the dust of ashes, he wears a girdle of bone fragments, and is adorned with a garland of fresh skulls. Blue, yellow, white, and green...
Possessing four faces, holding a skull-cup and a khaṭvāṅga, and likewise holding a bow and arrow, he is endowed with the moods of the erotic and so forth, in both forward and reverse order. One should visualize four goddesses, possessing the colors of the four faces, upon the four petals. Having four faces and four arms, their three eyes are identical to those of the principal deity. All four faces in the east are in harmony with the principal of their respective families. In the left hands are a bell and a khaṭvāṅga; in the right hands of the goddesses are a vajra and a skull-cup. On the second petal in the south is the yellow-faced one, whose colors are yellow, blue, white, and green, abiding in these colors. In the upper left hands she holds a skull-cup and a jackal; in the right hands are a jewel and a spear. She is the Jewel Ḍākinī of the water element. On the third petal in the west is the one whose nature is the fire element, radiant with the luster of white and red. She is the Lotus Ḍākinī of the yogins, with four faces of white, blue, deep yellow, and green. She holds a variegated lotus and an arrow, and in her left hands she holds a skull-cup and a bow. On the petal in the northern direction is the Variegated Ḍākinī of the yogins, with four faces of green-blue, yellow, and white, and four arms. She always holds a sword and a hand-drum in her right hands, and in her left hands she holds a skull-cup and a noose. She is the Ḍākinī of the wind element; thus one should meditate. One should place whichever is their respective seed-syllable, and having meditated on the body through the mantra, the great wisdom maṇḍala—
One should contemplate the great empowerment. Upon the head of the principal deity is Akṣobhya. Having offered, praised, and tasted the amṛta, one should perform the recitation and observe the ascetic conduct. One should perform the silent recitation, the form of the recitation of the syllable Hrīḥ, and for the Yoginīs such as Aṃ and the rest, continuously with the inhalation, endowed with the end of the eighth [vowel], together with the sixth and the bindu. The yogi, with the exhalation, should abandon both meditation and non-meditation. Through the mantra, the form, and the nature of the dharma, one becomes the leader of the yogic world. Furthermore, one should practice the vajra recitation, the recitation, and the meditation on Vajradhara. Having performed the second recitation, through immeasurable meditative equipoise, one finally abides by means of the three syllables at the end of the eighth. Together with the short syllable U, the supreme syllable is the most excellent. The Yoginīs such as A and the rest are perfectly joined with the syllable Hrīḥ. Endowed with the end of A, together with the five seed-syllables and their purposes, having opened the lotus, one should meditate on the syllables. Having thus conceptualized the yoga, the Vajra-holder accomplishes the desired goal. Then, blessed by the mantra, that great yoga is in meditative equipoise. By means of the branch of insight into the nature, within the sphere of the secret anthers, one should apply oneself to the lines abiding at the navel. Having equalized the vowels and consonants, the mantra practitioner, through the blazing and so forth, should bind the lion-yoga mudrā and cause the inner heat (caṇḍālī) to enter.
Having performed the yoga of the formless deity,
And having perfectly transformed it through conceptual thought,
At the end of the eighth [breath], together with the bindu,
Great bliss will flow forth.
Having practiced this twice or thrice,
When great bliss flows forth,
The yogi should rest.
Furthermore, having summoned the yogi,
The yoginī rouses him:
"O, supreme equal Vajra,
May the lotus of light open!
A-la-la-la-la (ha, ho)!
Perform the dance of the great bliss of supreme delight!
Just as the light of the sun causes the lotus to fully open,
Perform the dance of the great bliss of supreme delight!"
Thus, his mind having become delighted,
He displays the great, majestic grace.
In the midst of the assembly of goddesses,
He sports with the joy of delight.
By the merit of composing this sādhana,
May all wandering beings
Attain the nature of the Lord,
The Sovereign of the Great Illusion.
This concludes the Sādhana of the Great Illusion composed by the great master, the glorious Ratnavajra. It was translated by the great Indian scholar Abbot Jñānaśrībhadra and the Tibetan translator, the monk Ārya Sherab.