Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text is a sādhana, a liturgical manual for deity yoga, focused on the visualization and realization of a specific female deity identified as the Solitary Heroine. The work begins by establishing the ritual's title in both Sanskrit and Tibetan and offering homage to Tārā. It outlines a progressive meditative process, starting with the foundational realization of emptiness before moving toward the construction of the deity's form. The text commits the practitioner to a detailed visualization of the deity's iconographic attributes, including her red complexion, her association with the Buddha Amoghasiddhi, and her adornments of bone, tiger skin, and human heads. By prescribing the specific implements she holds—such as the khaṭvāṅga and bell—the text guides the practitioner in transforming their ordinary perception into a sacred landscape centered on the yoginī's form.
Provenance
About this text
A sādhana for the visualization of the Solitary Heroine, the Ekavīrayoginīsādhana is a liturgical manual belonging to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Ḍākiṇī Vajraśālinī. It was translated into Tibetan by Kaśmīri Parahita and the monk Shes rab rgyal mtshan, and is preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཤ) within the collection of the Other Wisdom Tantras. Spanning three pages in this edition, the text enacts a progressive meditative process that begins with the awakening of emptiness and the gathering of the seed-syllable. It guides the practitioner through the construction of the deity's form, detailing her red complexion, her crown of Amoghasiddhi, and her adornments of bone, tiger skin, and human heads, while specifying the khaṭvāṅga and bell she holds. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine the precise iconographic requirements and ritual stages necessary to transform ordinary perception into a sacred landscape centered on the yoginī's form, beginning with an homage to the Venerable Tārā of the Great Realm.
Sanskrit title
Ekavīrayoginīsādhana
Indian author
Ḍākiṇī Vajraśālinī
Tibetan translators
Kaśmīri Parahita, bod kyi lo tsa ba dge slong shes rab rgyal mtshan
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Sādhana of the Single-Deity Yoginī” (Toh 1710), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1710
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as an example of Vajrayāna ritual technology, demonstrating the integration of emptiness and form. For the modern reader, it provides primary evidence of the specific iconographic markers used to signify tantric power and the role of female deities in Indo-Tibetan meditative practice.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Preliminary
Contains the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, an invocation to Tārā, and the initial instruction on the awakening of emptiness.
2
Deity Visualization
Detailed description of the deity's physical attributes, implements, ornaments, and crowning figure.
Themes
Iconography of the Yoginī (2)
The Union of Emptiness and Form (1-2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Ekavīrayoginīsādhananāma. In the language of Tibet: dPa’ bo gcig pa’i rnal ’byor ma’i sgrub pa’i thabs zhes bya ba (The Sādhana of the Solitary Heroine). Homage to the Venerable Tārā of the Great Realm.
It is said: "First is the awakening of emptiness; second, the perfect gathering of the seed-syllable; third, the perfect completion of the form-support; fourth, the sequential arrangement of the syllables."
First, one should first visualize great compassion, the desire to attain buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. By reciting: oṃ śūnyatājñānavajrasvabhāvātmako ’haṃ, one should meditate on the non-conceptual emptiness that is the nature of emptiness.
Second: In the center of great emptiness, from paṃ arises a multicolored eight-petaled lotus. In its center, from a arises a moon, and upon that, one should visualize a large sun maṇḍala arising from raṃ. In its center, from a red tāṃ, there arises a red lotus with a stalk marked by tāṃ.
Third: Light rays radiate from that, making offerings to all the heroes and yoginīs and purifying the sins and obscurations of all sentient beings. As they gather back and dissolve, one should generate oneself as the body of the Venerable Lady. She has four faces and eight arms. The right face is blue, the left is green, and the central face is red. The upper face is a peaceful yellow. The three wrathful faces have three round red eyes each and bared fangs. Of the eight arms, the first right holds a vajra, the second a sword, the third a kapāla, and the fourth a ḍamaru. The first left holds an utpala, and the second a jewel.
In the third [hand] is a khaṭvāṅga, and in the fourth is a bell. Her body is intensely red, and she is crowned by Amoghasiddhi. Above her forehead are five skull-cups, and she wears a necklace of fifty human heads. She is adorned with bone ornaments and wears a lower garment of tiger skin. One should visualize her seated upon a lotus, moon, and sun disk in the dancing posture of half-lotus.
Fourth, one should meditate on a white OṂ upon a moon at the crown, a red ĀḤ upon a red lotus at the throat, and a blue HŪṂ upon a five-pronged vajra at the heart.
As for the recitation: at the lower part of the heart, upon a sun maṇḍala, visualize a red utpala flower with a red TĀṂ at its stem. From that, a mantra garland together with red light rays is emanated, purifying the sins of sentient beings and causing them to attain all happiness. [The rays] gather back and enter through the mouth, dissolving into the hand symbol and the seed syllable. One should imagine that realization is born within oneself.
In that same way, visualize this again and again, and recite as much as possible: OṂ TĀRE TUTTĀRE TURE HŪṂ PHAṬ. When concluding, one should say, "May all sentient beings attain perfect buddhahood." Then, one should familiarize oneself with all daily activities through the divine pride of Tārā.
This concludes the sādhana of the Sole Heroine Yoginī. Translated by the Paṇḍita Parahita and the Tibetan translator, the monk Sherab Gyaltsen.
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.