Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This fragmentary text provides a concise instructional guide for the practitioner during the process of dying. It begins with a devotional invocation to Tārā and immediately transitions into a series of imperative directives designed to stabilize the mind at the moment of death. The text argues that a successful transition requires the total abandonment of attachments and the active cultivation of bodhicitta. Methodologically, it prescribes a combination of external ritual action, such as making offerings, and internal meditative visualization. Specifically, it instructs the practitioner to visualize the dissolution of the four physical elements as a process of merging with four deities. By framing the physiological collapse of the body as a meditative exercise in dissolution, the text commits the reader to a disciplined mental state that transforms the experience of death into a spiritual practice of non-attachment and focused awareness.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise providing instructions for the process of dying, the 'chi ka ma'i nyams len/ belongs to the tradition of the Other Wisdom Tantras. The work is attributed to the Indian author Śākyaśrībhadra. It entered the Tibetan corpus through the efforts of translators including Śākyaśrībhadra and lo tsa ba byams pa’i dpal, and is preserved in the classical Tibetan Tengyur, volume ཤ, where it extends over two pages. The work enacts a spiritual discipline for the moment of death, beginning with an invocation to Tārā and directing the practitioner to abandon all attachments. It argues that the transition should be managed through the cultivation of bodhicitta and the performance of offerings. Methodologically, it prescribes a meditative visualization of the dissolution of the four elements and consciousness as deities, culminating in the experience of luminosity. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific meditative techniques used to transform the physiological collapse of the body into a disciplined spiritual exercise, ensuring the mind remains stable during the final stages of life.
The work is significant as it exemplifies the Indo-Tibetan tradition of death-meditation, where the dissolution of the elements is viewed as a critical opportunity for liberation. For the modern reader, it illustrates the application of Buddhist phenomenology to the biological process of dying.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Instructions for the Dying Process
A set of directives covering the abandonment of attachment, the performance of offerings, the cultivation of bodhicitta, and the visualization of elemental dissolution.
Themes
Non-attachment (1)
Bodhicitta (1)
Elemental Dissolution (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
Homage to the Venerable Tārā!
When the time comes to die,
Completely abandon all attachments,
First perform whatever offerings you can afford,
And meditate firmly on the mind of awakening (bodhicitta).
Meditate on the dissolution of the four elements as the four deities;
The dissolution of consciousness as the mental deity;
The dissolution into luminosity as luminosity itself;
And the dissolution of the generation stage as the completion stage.
When the body’s strength fails and a mirage appears,
Meditate on the Guru at the heart.
When the nine orifices dry up and smoke appears,
Meditate on Vajrasattva at the navel.
When the warmth subsides and fireflies appear,
Meditate on Amoghasiddhi at the secret place.
When the breath ceases and a flickering lamp is seen,
Meditate on Hayagrīva at the brow.
When life is gone and one is like the sky,
All are gathered in the supreme deity;
Thereafter, in the uncontrived state, without coming or going,
Meditate as much as you are able.
Finally, the two seeds of the father and mother
Become the white and red drops, the sun and moon.
In the center of their union, visualize your own mind
As the life-force seed-syllable, the letter TĀṂ.
Through the radiating and reabsorbing of various light rays,
Make offerings to the assembly of Noble Ones and act for the benefit of beings.
Having brought the twelve deeds to completion,
You will attain buddhahood in whichever realm you desire.
During life, by relying on the vital winds (prāṇāyāma),
Meditate on the seven dissolutions in their proper order.
Since they will actually dissolve at the moment of death,
It is held that accomplishment is achieved simply by not forgetting them.
This practice for the dying, based on the pith instructions of the Venerable Ārya Tārā, was translated by the translator Jampé Pal from the presence of the Kashmiri Śākyaśrībhadra, who was without rival on the face of the earth, the glorious Lord of Dharma.
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.