Toh 1698 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Meditation on Emptiness

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1698
Genre: Treatise
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 028_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཤ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,830 Tibetan characters · 490 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

This technical manual, titled Meditation on Emptiness (Śūnyatābhāvanā), provides instructions for a somatic meditative practice aimed at manipulating the subtle body. The text directs the practitioner to employ specific yogic techniques, including the application of the fierce caṇḍālī (tummo) at a specific seed syllable and the use of prāṇāyāma to redirect vital winds into the central channel. By abandoning the solar and lunar channels and utilizing breath retention to stabilize the bindu, the practitioner is led toward a state of recollective visualization where rays of light emerge from their own form. The work commits the reader to a rigorous discipline of energetic control and visualization, suggesting that the realization of emptiness is pursued here through the physiological transformation of the subtle body rather than through purely conceptual or philosophical analysis.

Provenance

About this text

A treatise on the cultivation of emptiness, the Śūnyatābhāvanā belongs to the tradition of the Other Wisdom Tantras. The work is attributed to the Indian author Tathāgatarakṣita. It entered the Tibetan tradition through the efforts of translators including Tathāgatarakṣita and cog gru lo tsa ba mya ngan med pa’i dpal, and is preserved in the classical Tibetan period within volume ཤ of the Tengyur. The work enacts a somatic meditative process focused on the manipulation of the subtle body. It directs the practitioner to apply the fierce caṇḍālī at the letter E and employ prāṇāyāma to redirect vital winds into the central channel. By abandoning the solar and lunar channels and utilizing breath retention to stabilize the bindu, the practitioner engages in a visualization where rays of light emerge from their own form and dissolve into a lotus and moon. A scholar or serious reader consults this three-page text today to examine a rigorous discipline of energetic control and visualization, wherein the realization of emptiness is pursued through the physiological transformation of the subtle body rather than through purely conceptual or philosophical analysis.

Sanskrit title: Śūnyatābhāvanā
Indian author: Tathāgatarakṣita
Tibetan translators: Tathāgatarakṣita, cog gru lo tsa ba mya ngan med pa’i dpal
Canonical collection: Other Wisdom Tantras
Genre: Treatise
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཤ
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “Meditation on Emptiness” (Toh 1698), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1698

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant as it illustrates the intersection of emptiness philosophy and the tantric subtle body system in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. It demonstrates how the realization of śūnyatā is often operationalized through the manipulation of winds and channels to induce non-ordinary states of consciousness.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Preliminary and Energetic Activation	Invocation to Tārā and instructions on activating the caṇḍālī at the letter E.
2	Breath Control and Visualization	Instructions on prāṇāyāma, the redirection of winds into the central channel, and the emergence of light.

Themes

Subtle Body Manipulation (1-2)
Prāṇāyāma and Breath Retention (2)
Luminous Visualization (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaMeditation on Emptiness·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཤཱུ་ནྱ་ཏཱ་བྷཱ་བ་ན། བོད་སྐད་དུ། སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་བསྒོམ་པ། མེ་ཏོག་ཕྲེང་འཛིན་སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། གཏུམ་མོ་ཨེ་ཡི་སྦྱོར་བ་ཡིས། ། ལུས་ཀྱི་བ་སྤུ་ཆེར་ལྡང་ཞིང་། ། ཡང་དག་ལྟ་བ་གོམས་གྱུར་པ། ། དེ་ཉིད་ཆོས་རྣམས་ཆོས་ཉིད་མཛོད། ། དེ་ལྟར་སྒྲུབ་པའི་ཐབས་ལན་མང་དུ་གོམས་པར་བྱས་ལ་བསྙེན་པ་འབུམ་ཕྲག་བཅུ་སྔོན་དུ་སོང་བའི་གང་ཟག་གིས་རིའི་ཕུག་ལ་སོགས་པ་དབེན་པའི་གནས་སུ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་བསྒོམ་པའི་རིམ་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པར་བྱ་སྟེ། དེ་ཡང་སྐད་ཅིག་གིས་བདག་གི་སྙིང་གར་པཾ་ལས་པདྨ་ཨ་ལས་ཟླ་བའི་སྟེང་དུ་དབྱངས་དང་གསལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཡི་གེས་ཏཱཾ་ཀུ་མུ་ཏ་དཀར་པོ་ལྟ་བུ་ལ་ཀུན་ནས་བསྐོར་བ་ལས་འོད་འཕྲོས་པས་ཕྱོགས་བཅུའི་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཞི་བར་བྱས་ཏེ་སླར་ལོག་པ་ཏཱཾ་ལ་ཐིམ་པར་བལྟའོ། ། དེ་མ་ཐག་ཏུ་བདག་ཉིད་འཕགས་མ་སྒྲོལ་མ་མེ་ཏོག་ཕྲེང་འཛིན་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་སྐུ་མདོག་དཀར་མོ་སྟོན་ཀའི་སྤྲིན་མེད་པའི་ཟླ་བ་ལྟ་བུ་ལང་ཚོ་ལ་བབ་པའི་ཆ་ལུགས་འཛིན་པ། གཡས་མཆོག་སྦྱིན་པ་གཡོན་པ་ཨུཏྤལ་སྔོན་པོ་ཁ་དུ་མར་གྱེས་པ་འཛིན་པ། རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རྒྱན་སྣ་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས་སྐུ་མཛེས་པར་བྱས་པ། པདྨ་དང་ཟླ་བའི་སྟེང་དུ་སྐུ་བརྩོན་པས་བཞུགས་པ་ལ་སེམས་གཏད་དེ་བསྒོམ་པར་བྱའོ། ། དེ་ཉིད་འོད་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པ་ལས། ། རང་རིག་རྣམ་པ་གཞན་མེད་དེ། ། གཡས་དང་གཡོན་གྱི་ལམ་གཉིས་དགག། རང་སེམས་དབུ་མའི་ལམ་དུ་གཞུག། དཔལ་ལྡན་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་ལས། ། བསམ་གཏན་གྱིས་ནི་ཕྱི་རོལ་དངོས་པོ་བཏང་ནས་སེམས་དེ་བརྟན་པར་ཡང་ནི་བྱེད།

In the language of India: Śūnyatābhāvanā. In the language of Tibet: Stong pa nyid bsgom pa (Meditation on Emptiness). Homage to Tārā, the Holder of the Flower Garland. Through the application of the fierce caṇḍālī at the letter E, the hairs of the body stand on end. For one who has familiarized themselves with the authentic view, that very state is the treasury of the dharmatā of all phenomena. Thus, an individual who has repeatedly familiarized themselves with the means of accomplishment and has completed a preliminary retreat of one million recitations should enter the stages of meditating on emptiness in a secluded place, such as a mountain cave. Furthermore, in an instant, from the syllable Paṃ at one’s heart, a lotus arises, and upon it, from the syllable A, a moon disc. Upon this, the letters of the vowels and consonants surround a white Tāṃ like a water lily (kumuda). Light radiates from it, pacifying the suffering of all sentient beings in the ten directions, and returning, it dissolves back into the Tāṃ. Immediately thereafter, one should meditate by focusing the mind on oneself as the Noble Tārā, the Holder of the Flower Garland. Her body is white, like an autumn moon free of clouds, and she maintains the appearance of youthful vigor. Her right hand is in the gesture of supreme generosity (varada), and her left holds a blue utpala flower with many blossoms. Her body is beautifully adorned with various precious ornaments, and she sits firmly upon a lotus and moon disc. From that very form of light: Self-awareness has no other aspect; Block the two paths of the right and left, And cause one’s own mind to enter the central channel. From the glorious Kālacakra: Through meditative concentration, having abandoned external objects, one makes the mind stable.

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

definitionསྟོང་པ་ཉིད “emptiness” — Emptiness denotes the ultimate nature of reality, the total absence of inherent existence and self-identity with respect to all phenomena. According to this view, all things and events are devoid of any independent, intr

definitionསྒྲོལ་མ “Tārā” — Female bodhisattva of compassion; the chief goddess of the activity family, personifying the true nature of the element wind; one of the five goddesses personifying the five “hooks of gnosis.”

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti . It may mean the Buddhist teachings, the awakened qualities which buddhas and bodhisattvas acquire, phenomena or thing

terminologyཆོས་ཉིད → “the nature of phenomena”. Not 'dharma-nature' in running prose; 84000 harmonises on 'the nature of phenomena'.

homonymཆོས་ཉིད is rendered “the nature of phenomena” here; the glossary also records true nature of things, suchness, basic nature for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས་ཉིད “the nature of phenomena” — The real nature, true quality, or condition of things. Throughout Buddhist discourse this term is used in two distinct ways. In one, it designates the relative nature that is either the essential characteristic of a spec

periodཟླ་བ → “moon; month”. In calendrical and cosmological passages ཟླ་བ is 'month' (twelve months to a year) or 'moon', not the god Candra. Candra is the rendering only where the text addresses or names the deity — a sūtra listing the moon as a time unit is not naming a god.

homonymཟླ་བ is rendered “moon; month” here; the glossary also records Candrā, Candramas, Moon for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཟླ་བ “moon; month” — The deity of the moon, as well as the moon itself. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha , when Avalokiteśvara emanates Candra , it is the deity that is meant.

definitionསྡུག་བསྔལ “suffering” — The first of the four truths of the noble ones. The term “suffering” includes all essentially unsatisfactory experiences of life in cyclic existence, whether physical or mental. These comprise (1) the suffering of suffer

termསྟོང་པ་ཉིད → emptiness

termསྒྲོལ་མ → Tārā

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termཆོས → dharma

termཆོས་ཉིད → the nature of phenomena

termཟླ་བ → moon; month

སྲོག་དང་རྩོལ་བས་ཉི་ཟླ་སྤངས་ནས་མུན་པ་ཅན་དུ་སྲོག་རླུང་རྒྱུ་བར་བྱེད། འཛིན་པའི་ཡན་ལག་གིས་ནི་ཐིག་ལེར་དབུགས་ཀྱི་འབྱུང་འཇུག་དམན་པར་ཡང་བྱས་ནས། རྗེས་དྲན་རང་གི་གཟུགས་ལས་མཁའ་ལ་རི་བོང་ཅན་བཞིན་འོད་ཟེར་ཆེན་པོ་འབྱུང་། འོད་ཀྱི་ཕུང་པོ་སྐུ་ལ་ཐིམ། ། སྐུ་ཡང་པདྨ་ཟླ་བ་ལ། ། དེ་ཉིད་དབྱངས་དང་གསལ་བྱེད་ལ། ། དེ་ཡང་ཡི་གེ་ཏཱཾ་ལ་བསྡུ། ། ཏཱཾ་ཡང་ཐིག་ལེ་ཉིད་ལ་ཐིམ། ། ཐིག་ལེ་སྟོང་པའི་ཡི་གེ་མེད། ། དེ་ཉིད་སེམས་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད་དོ། ། རང་སེམས་གདོད་ནས་མ་སྐྱེས་ཕྱིར། ། རྟག་སོགས་བརྟགས་པ་ག་ལ་འཇུག། དེ་ཉིད་སྤྲོས་པས་དབེན་པའི་ཕྱིར། ། ཅུང་ཟད་བསྒོམ་ཀྱང་བདག་གཞན་གྱི། ། རྟོག་པ་སྣ་ཚོགས་འགག་པར་འགྱུར། ། རྒྱུན་དུ་བསྒོམས་པ་སྨོས་ཅི་དགོས། ། དེ་ལྟར་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ལ་བློ། ། མཉམ་པར་གཞག་པའི་མཐུ་ཆེན་བགྱིས། ། ཡང་དང་ཡང་དུ་གོམས་བྱས་ན། ། མྱུར་དུ་བྱང་ཆུབ་རེག་པར་འགྱུར། ། སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་བསྒོམ་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

By means of prāṇāyāma, the sun and moon are abandoned, and the vital wind is made to flow into the "dark" [central channel]. By the branch of retention, the movement of the breath into and out of the bindu is diminished. Through recollection, from its own form, great rays of light emerge like the moon in the sky. The mass of light dissolves into the body; the body dissolves into a lotus and moon; that dissolves into the vowels and consonants; those are further condensed into the syllable TĀṂ. TĀṂ dissolves into the bindu itself. The bindu is the letterless emptiness. That is the very nature of the mind. Because one's own mind is primordially unborn, how could imputations such as permanence apply? Because that very reality is devoid of conceptual elaboration, even if one meditates only slightly, the various conceptualizations of self and other will cease. What need is there to mention meditating continuously? Thus, by exerting the great power of the mind in meditative equipoise upon suchness, and by becoming familiar with it again and again, one will swiftly touch enlightenment. This concludes the meditation on emptiness.

Terminology used in this text (8)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
སྟོང་པ་ཉིད	emptiness	2
ཟླ་བ	moon; month	2	In calendrical and cosmological passages ཟླ་བ is 'month' (twelve months to a year) or 'moon', not the god Candra. Candra
སྒྲོལ་མ	Tārā	1
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
ཆོས	dharma	1	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
ཆོས་ཉིད	the nature of phenomena	1	Not 'dharma-nature' in running prose; 84000 harmonises on 'the nature of phenomena'.
སྡུག་བསྔལ	suffering	1
ཕུང་པོ	aggregate	1

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 028_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཤ.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).

Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.

Anuvāda · NaxiAI