Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text outlines a procedure for generating merit on behalf of a deceased person during the forty-ninth-day transitional period. The text instructs the practitioner to establish a physical focal point, such as a garment or name-card, and to prepare traditional offerings including maṇḍalas and torma cakes. The process involves a visualization practice where light dissolves into the heart of the subject to purify habitual obscurations of body, speech, and mind. The ritual concludes with recitation, aspiration prayers, and the dedication of merit. By following these steps, the practitioner commits to a structured meditative and offering-based intervention intended to benefit the consciousness of the deceased during the bardo period, shifting the focus from the physical body to the purification of the mental stream through external supports and internal visualization.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual procedure for the forty-ninth day, the bdun tshigs kyi cho ga is a work of the classical Tibetan period belonging to the Other Wisdom Tantras. It is attributed to the Indian author Kāṇha, also known as Kāṇhapā. The text is preserved in the Tengyur, specifically volume ཡ, where it extends over two pages. The work enacts a method for generating roots of virtue for the benefit of a deceased person during their forty-ninth-day transitional period. The practitioner is instructed to utilize a physical support, such as a garment or name-card, and to arrange offerings including torma cakes and a maṇḍala. Through the visualization of a meditational deity and the wisdom maṇḍala, light is directed into the heart of the subject to purify the habitual obscurations of body, speech, and mind. This process concludes with recitation, aspiration prayers, and the dedication of merit, facilitating the movement of the consciousness of the object of practice. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific meditative and offering-based interventions used to benefit the consciousness of the deceased through the purification of the mental stream.
The text is significant as it illustrates the Tibetan Buddhist belief in the intermediate state between death and rebirth and the efficacy of merit transfer. It demonstrates the integration of physical offerings with mental visualization to influence the trajectory of a deceased individual's consciousness.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Preparations
Instructions on establishing a physical support and arranging ritual offerings.
2
Purification and Dedication
Guidelines for visualization, recitation, and the dedication of merit to the deceased.
Themes
Merit Transfer (1-2)
Purification of Habitual Tendencies (2)
Ritual Offerings (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
The Ritual for the Forty-Ninth Day
If one is to perform roots of virtue for the sake of someone who has passed away during the forty-ninth-day period, one should rely upon a support such as a name-card or a garment. Then, arrange a maṇḍala, offerings, and torma cakes according to the source text. Next, meditate on oneself as the meditational deity and invite the wisdom maṇḍala, visualizing it in the sky before you. Present the various special offerings and dedicate the torma to the ḍākinīs. Then, offer praises and make supplications for the desired aims.
Then, light rays radiate from the seed syllable at one’s own heart. With the hook of light rays, summon the consciousness of the deceased in the form of a short letter A and dissolve it into whichever support has been used. Visualize that very support as the ripened body. Again, light rays radiate from the seed syllable at one’s own heart and dissolve into the heart of the subject to be accomplished, thereby purifying the obscurations of the habitual tendencies of karma and afflictions. Visualize the body as becoming as pure as crystal.
Then, the goddesses of awareness from the wisdom maṇḍala visualized in the sky confer initiation with streams of nectar from the vases they hold in their hands. Contemplate that all obscurations are thereby cleansed. Next, perform the recitation. Visualize that from the seed syllable at one’s own heart, the mantra garland circles in the manner of a coiled snake. Then, perform the recitation of whichever mantra garland is appropriate. Light rays radiate from the mantra garland.
Visualize that [the light] dissolves into the heart of the object of practice, purifying all stains of the obscurations of the habitual tendencies of body, speech, and mind, and perform the recitation. Then, offer aspiration prayers and dedicate the roots of virtue. Next, the consciousness of the object of practice, in the form of a short a, is lifted up by a wind maṇḍala and dissolves into the heart of the central deity abiding in space; thus, the transference is performed. If there is no physical support, visualize that very body of karmic maturation as if it were actually present, and perform the visualization according to the previous tantra. This should be done for all seven [sessions]. This concludes the work composed by the great master Kṛṣṇācārya.