Toh 1719 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Ritual for Offering a Skull-cup

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

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1719
Genre: Ritual
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 028_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཤ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,607 Tibetan characters · 452 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 ritual text, titled Kapālapūjāvidhi-nāma in Sanskrit and Thod pa mchod pa’i cho ga in Tibetan, provides a prescriptive guide for performing offerings to a skull-cup, which the text identifies as the great alms-bowl. The procedure begins with an invocation to the Yoginī of the Great Field and the preparation of a vessel containing the five nectars. The ritual then moves into a phase of obstacle pacification and the use of specific mudras—the joining of the thumb and ring finger—accompanied by the recitation of the seed syllables Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ. The practitioner is committed to a visualization process wherein substances are transformed into nectar and subsequently offered to a central maṇḍala along with flowers. The text functions as a technical manual for a specific tantric offering, emphasizing the transformation of material substances into purified offerings through a combination of physical gesture, mantra, and meditative visualization.

Provenance

About this text

A ritual guide for offering the great alms-bowl, the Kapālapūjāvidhi (Tibetan: thod pa mchod pa'i cho ga) belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work was translated into Tibetan by Kaśmīri Parahita and lo tsA ba nag tsho dge slong shes rab rgyal mtshan. It is preserved in volume ཤ of the Tengyur, where it is situated within the Other Wisdom Tantras collection and extends over two pages. The text enacts a precise liturgical procedure beginning with homage to the Yoginī of the Great Field and the preparation of vessels filled with the five nectars. It prescribes the pacification of obstacles through the recitation of the syllables Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ and the use of a mudra involving the thumb and ring finger to visualize the melting of substances into nectar. These purified offerings, along with flowers, are then presented to a central maṇḍala. A scholar or serious reader consults this manual to understand the technical application of tantric offerings and the specific ritual transformations required to convert material substances into nectar according to the tradition.

Sanskrit title: Kapālapūjāvidhi
Indian author: not recorded
Tibetan translators: Kaśmīri Parahita, lo tsA ba nag tsho dge slong shes rab rgyal mtshan
Canonical collection: Other Wisdom Tantras
Genre: Ritual
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, “Ritual for Offering a Skull-cup” (Toh 1719), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1719

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its illustration of the intersection between material objects, such as the skull-cup, and the internal meditative processes of nectar transformation common in Vajrayana practice. It reflects the tradition's use of unconventional substances and symbolic vessels to achieve spiritual goals. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of the precise ritual choreography required in Indo-Tibetan tantric traditions.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction and Preparation	Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, an invocation to the Yoginī of the Great Field, and instructions for preparing the five nectars.
2	Ritual Execution	Details the prayers for pacifying obstacles, the use of mudras and mantras for nectar transformation, and the offering of flowers to the maṇḍala.

Themes

Ritual Transformation (2)
Tantric Offerings (1-2)
Mudra and Mantra (2)

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

AnuvādaRitual for Offering a Skull-cup·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཀ་པཱ་ལ་པཱུ་ཛི་བི་དྷི་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། ཐོད་པ་མཆོད་པའི་ཆོ་ག་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། ཞིང་ཆེན་གྱི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། ལྷུང་བཟེད་ཆེན་པོའི་མཆོད་པའི་ཆོ་གའོ། ། དེ་ཉིད་བདུད་རྩི་ལྔས་གང་བའི་སྣོད་དང་། གཞན་གཉིས་ཀྱང་བཤམས་ལ། རང་རང་གི་ཆོ་ག་ལྟར་བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབས་ལ། དེའི་སྟེང་དུ་མཆོད་པའི་གནས་ལ། རང་གི་ཡི་དམ་ལྷ་གང་ཡིན་པའི་གདན་པདྨ་དང་། ཉི་མའམ་ཟླ་བའམ་བདུད་དམ་རོ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ལ། རང་རང་གི་ས་བོན་གྱི་ཡི་གེ་ལས་ཕྱག་མཚན་ས་བོན་གྱིས་མཚན་པ། དེ་ལས་སྤྲོས་བསྡུས་པས་ཡོངས་སུ་གྱུར་པ་ལས། དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྱི་འཁོར་ལོའམ། ལྷ་རྐྱང་པ་བསྐྱེད་ལ། ཡེ་ཤེས་པ་དགུག་པ་དང་། གཞུག་པ་དང་། བཅིང་བ་དང་། དབང་དུ་བྱའོ། ། དབང་བསྐུར་ནས་རིགས་ཀྱི་བདག་པོས་རྒྱས་གདབ་བོ། ། གཡོན་གྱི་ལྷ་ཡི་དམ་གྱི་ལྷ་གཞན་བསྒོམ། གཡས་ཀྱི་པཾ་ལས་པདྨ། རཾ་ལས་ཉི་མའི་སྟེང་དུ་ཧཱུཾ་ལས་སྣ་ཚོགས་རྡོ་རྗེའི་ལྟེ་བ་ལ་ཧཱུཾ་གིས་མཚན་པ་དེ་ལས་སྤྲོས་བསྡུས་པ་ལས། བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་བདུད་རྩི་འཁྱིལ་པ་ཞལ་གསུམ་པ་གཡས་དཀར་གཡོན་དམར་དབུས་སྔོ། སྤྱན་གསུམ་དམར་བ། མཆེ་བ་གཙིགས་པ། དབུ་སྐྲ་དང་སྨ་ར་སེར་བ། གཡས་དང་པོ་ན་སྣ་ཚོགས་རྡོ་རྗེ། གཉིས་པ་ན་འཁོར་ལོ། ། གསུམ་པ་ན་རལ་གྲི། གཡོན་དང་པོ་ན་སྡིགས་མཛུབ་དང་དྲིལ་བུ། གཉིས་པ་ན་ཞགས་པ། གསུམ་པ་ན་དགྲ་སྟ། ཞབས་གཡོན་བསྐུམ་པ། གཡས་བརྐྱང་བ། སྟག་གི་པགས་པའི་ཤམ་ཐབས་ཅན། སྦྲུལ་གྱིས་བརྒྱན་པ། མེ་དཔུང་འབར་བའི་དབུས་ན་བཞུགས་པ་བསྒོམ་མོ། ། དེ་ནས་མེ་ཏོག་ལ་སོགས་པས་མཆོད་དོ། །

In the language of India: Kapālapūjāvidhi-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Thod pa mchod pa’i cho ga zhes bya ba (The Ritual of Offering the Skull). Homage to the Yoginī of the Great Field. This is the ritual for offering the great alms-bowl. One should arrange a vessel filled with the five nectars, as well as two others, and consecrate them according to their respective rituals. Upon that, at the place of offering, one should visualize the seat of one’s own chosen deity (yidam)—a lotus, and either a sun, a moon, a demon, or a corpse—upon which is the seed-syllable of the deity, marked with its hand-symbol (mudrā). From the radiation and reabsorption of that, the maṇḍala circle or the solitary deity is generated. Then, the wisdom beings are summoned, absorbed, bound, and brought under control. Having conferred empowerment, one should seal them with the Lord of the Family. One meditates on the other chosen deity to the left. To the right, from the syllable paṃ comes a lotus, and from raṃ comes a sun; upon this, from hūṃ comes a crossed vajra marked with hūṃ at its hub. From the radiation and reabsorption of that, one meditates on the Blessed One Amṛtakuṇḍalī, with three faces: white on the right, red on the left, and blue in the center. He has three red eyes and bared fangs. His hair and beard are yellow. In his first right hand is a crossed vajra, the second a wheel, and the third a sword. In his first left hand is a threatening gesture (tarjanī) and a bell, the second a noose, and the third a battle-axe. His left leg is drawn in and his right is extended. He wears a tiger-skin loincloth and is adorned with snakes, dwelling in the midst of a blazing mass of fire. Then, one should make offerings with flowers and so forth.

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.

periodལྷ → “god”. Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.

homonymལྷ is rendered “god” here; the glossary also records deva, divine being, God for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionལྷ “god” — In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine ‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who atten

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.

homonymདཀྱིལ་འཁོར is rendered “maṇḍala” here; the glossary also records inner circle, maṇḍalaka, disk for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionདཀྱིལ་འཁོར “maṇḍala” — A small ritual space, usually on the ground which is smeared with cow-dung and other substances, where offerings are made. Although the term sometimes lacks the - ka ( kan ) suffix, it is not to be confused with the pant

terminologyཡེ་ཤེས → “wisdom”. Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty on the path.

homonymཡེ་ཤེས is rendered “wisdom” here; the glossary also records awareness, Wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཡེ་ཤེས “wisdom” — The term jñāna is formed by the root jñā , meaning “to know,” “to know of,” “to understand,” “to be aware of,” with the addition of the pratyaya lyuṭ , which can be interpreted as having different values (the instrument

terminologyབཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས → “the Blessed One”. 84000 harmonises on 'the Blessed One'. Do not alternate with 'Bhagavān' inside one text.

homonymབཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས is rendered “the Blessed One” here; the glossary also records blessed, Blessed One, bhagavān for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

termམཆོད་པ → offering

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termཡི་དམ → yidam

termལྷ → god

termཟླ་བ → moon; month

termདཀྱིལ་འཁོར → maṇḍala

དེ་ནས་བར་ཆད་ཞི་བར་གསོལ་བ་གདབ་བོ། ། མཐེ་བོ་དང་སྲིན་ལག་སྦྱར་བ་བཅུག་ལ། ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུཾ་ལན་གསུམ་བཟླས་པས་བདུད་རྩིར་ཞུ་བར་བསྒོམ་མོ། ། དེ་ནས་དབུས་མའི་མཎྜལ་ལ་མེ་ཏོག་ལ་སོགས་པས་མཆོད་དོ། ། དེ་ནས་བདུད་རྩིའི་མཆོད་པའི་རང་གི་ལུགས་ལྟར་བཟླ་ཞིང་དབུལ་ལོ། ། ཡང་ལྷ་གཞན་གྱི་ལ་མེ་ཏོག་ལ་སོགས་པས་མཆོད་པ་དང་། ཡང་བདུད་རྩིས་མཆོད་དོ། ། དེ་ཞུ་བས་ཡང་དབུས་མ་ལ་མཆོད་དོ། ། དེ་ལྟར་མ་འབྱོར་ན་ཡང་ཅི་འབྱོར་པའི་སྣོད་གཅིག་ཏུ་བདུད་རྩི་བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབས་ལ། ལྷུང་བཟེད་ལ་མཆོད་དོ། ། དེ་ནས་འདོད་པའི་དོན་ལ་གསོལ་བ་གདབ་བོ། ། ཐོད་པ་མཆོད་པའི་རིམ་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

Then, one should offer prayers for the pacification of obstacles. Inserting the thumb and ring finger together, one should recite "Oṃ Āḥ Hūṃ" three times and meditate that [the substance] melts into nectar. Then, one should make offerings of flowers and so forth to the central maṇḍala. Then, one should recite and present the nectar offering according to one's own tradition. Furthermore, one should make offerings of flowers and so forth to the other deities, and again offer the nectar. As that melts, one should again make offerings to the central [deity]. If such [materials] are not available, one should likewise bless the nectar in a single vessel as best as one can and offer it to the alms bowl. Then, one should offer prayers for one's desired aims. This concludes the sequence of offering the skull cup.

Terminology used in this text (9)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
མཆོད་པ	offering	2
ལྷ	god	2	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
ཡི་དམ	yidam	1
ཟླ་བ	moon; month	1	In calendrical and cosmological passages ཟླ་བ is 'month' (twelve months to a year) or 'moon', not the god Candra. Candra
དཀྱིལ་འཁོར	maṇḍala	1
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	1	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས	the Blessed One	1	84000 harmonises on 'the Blessed One'. Do not alternate with 'Bhagavān' inside one text.
མེ	fire	1	In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not c

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