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 wrathful manifestation of Ārya Tārā. The work guides the practitioner through a process of imaginative transformation, beginning with the emergence of the deity from the seed syllable HŪṂ and culminating in the practitioner's own identification with the deity. The text specifies the iconographic details of the wrathful form—including the extended left leg, the garland of heads, and the blue lotus—to facilitate precise visualization. By committing to the correct recitation of the supreme mantra and the practice of emanation and absorption, the reader is led toward a state of realization. The text positions the practitioner not merely as a devotee, but as a learned poet and meditator, suggesting that the path to attainment requires a synthesis of technical precision in visualization and stable mental concentration.
Provenance
About this text
A sādhana focused on the Noble Wrathful Tārā, this work serves as a liturgical manual for deity yoga within the classical Tibetan tradition. The text is attributed to the Indian author Śāśvatavajra. It was translated into Tibetan by Vanaratnapāda and dge slong chos smra ba bsod nams rgya mtsho’i sde, and is preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཤ) as part of the Other Wisdom Tantras collection, where it occupies three pages. The work enacts a process of imaginative transformation, guiding the practitioner to visualize the deity arising from the seed syllable HŪṂ. It details the iconography of the wrathful form—characterized by a protruding belly, a garland of heads, and a foot pressed against a corpse—and instructs the practitioner to identify as Tārā through the application of emanation, absorption, and the correct recitation of the supreme mantra. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the technical precision of visualization and the synthesis of mental concentration required to attain realization, as the practice positions the meditator as a learned poet seeking the realization of the deity's radiance and power.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Sādhana of the Wrathful Ārya Tārā” (Toh 1728), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1728
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as it illustrates the integration of wrathful iconography within the Tārā tradition, moving beyond the more common peaceful depictions. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of the 'transformation' mechanism in Vajrayāna practice, where the practitioner replaces their ordinary identity with a divine archetype to achieve spiritual realization.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Invocation and Emergence
Contains the titles in Sanskrit and Tibetan, an homage to Ekajaṭī, and the initial visualization of the deity arising from a seed syllable.
2
Deity Visualization
Detailed iconographic description of the wrathful Tārā, focusing on her physical attributes and ornaments for the practitioner's self-transformation.
3
Practice and Realization
Instructions on mantra recitation, the mental state of the practitioner, and the goal of attaining realization through meditation.
Themes
Deity Yoga and Transformation (2)
Wrathful Iconography (1-2)
Mantra and Meditation (3)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Āryogra-tārā-sādhana-nāma. In the language of Tibet: ’Phags ma sgrol ma drag mo’i sgrub thabs zhes bya ba (The Sādhana of the Noble Wrathful Tārā). Homage to the Bhagavatī Ekajaṭī!
From the syllable HŪṂ, she arises with her left leg extended, her foot pressed against the heart of a corpse. With a most fiercely laughing hand, she holds a sword, an utpala, and a curved knife. Black, stout, and short, with a vast, wide, and fierce mass of orange-red matted hair, adorned with nāgas and a kapāla, she who deludes the three worlds—mount me!
Having bowed to the Chinese-style Tārā who liberates the three realms of existence, I shall describe the ritual of her sādhana according to the oral instructions of the guru. In a place such as a solitary lingga, a charnel ground, or a house that is always empty, the yogin who is liberated from the three realms of existence should practice. Sitting properly upon a soft seat made from the corpse of a child or otherwise with a soft cushion, one should accomplish the supreme siddhi.
Through the yoga of the instantaneous mode, one should visualize the three vajras in the three places while in meditative equipoise. From that, light rays radiate forth, repeatedly clarifying the sentient beings who dwell in the three realms of existence. Gathering them back again in various ways, one should contemplate them as being entirely emptiness. Then, one recites the secret mantra of the nature of the Victors, beginning with ŚŪNYATĀ. Then, one visualizes a red lotus arising from the syllable ĀḤ in the sky. Furthermore, upon that, one should visualize a vessel of lotus arising from the syllable TĀṂ. In its center, having visualized a syllable HŪṂ like a deep blue sapphire, one should look upon a curved knife arising from that HŪṂ, adorned with the seed syllable.
One should visualize oneself as Tārā, completely transformed from the curved knife (kartṛkā). With her left leg extended, she is adorned with a garland of terrifying heads. Stout and short, she is fearsome with a protruding belly and is beautified by a blue lotus. She has one face and three eyes, a fierce laugh, and is a noble lady of excellent radiance. With great joy, she tramples upon a corpse and is adorned by the eight nāgas. Her eyes are red and round, and she is wrapped in a lower garment of tiger skin. Adorned with the five mudrās, she possesses the perfection of fresh youth. With a flickering tongue and bared fangs, she is terrifying; she has four arms, holding a sword and a curved knife in her right hands, and an utpala and a skull-cup in her left. Her single lock of hair is orange-red and tied upward, with Akṣobhya as her crown ornament. Through the perfection of the power of meditation, the yogi becomes a great poet. If even one who is deluded and dull strives in the flavor of meditation, by reciting the mantra one hundred thousand times, they will attain eloquent speech. At the heart, one should place these three syllables of the great mantra, with the syllable phaṭ at the end. Possessing five-colored light rays, it burns the fuel of ignorance. Following the conduct of the yogic practitioners, I shall describe the ritual for extracting that very essence. First, the letter sa is adorned with the fourth vowel (ī). Mounted upon the letter ra, it radiates light and is perfectly endowed with the moon-bindu (ṃ). Then, the letter tāṃ is adorned with the fourth vowel (ī) above it. Joined with the long ū, it is further endowed with the letter haṃ. Then, by adding the syllable phaṭ, the complete mantra is accomplished. The wise should visualize it in the place of the sword and the garland of human bones.
Through the application of emanation and absorption, recite the supreme mantra correctly. With a stable mind, visualize yourself as a learned and great poet. Through constant familiarity with meditation, one will undoubtedly attain [realization]. Whatever merit has been accumulated by me through composing this sādhana of Tārā, by that may all living beings become learned in the teaching of the Victorious One. This was composed by the venerable Nityavajra; whatever errors are herein, it is fitting for the supreme beings to forgive them. This concludes the sādhana of Ekajaṭī. Translated from the presence of the great Paṇḍita of Eastern India, Vanaratna, by the monk and Dharma-preacher Sönam Gyatso De.
OṂ HRĪṂ EKAJAṬĪMAMONĀTĀYA SARVASATTVĀNĀṂ ŚĀNTIṂ KURU PUṢṬIṂ KURU RAKṢAṂ KURU MAHĀTAKṢAKANĀGĀDHIPATYE IMAṂ BALIṂ GṚHṆA GṚHṆA GṚHṆĀPAYA GṚHṆĀPAYA PARAVIDYĀKARṢAYĀ KARṢAYA ṬAṬA ṬAṬA CCHEDA CCHEDA CCHEDAYA CCHEDAYA OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ. This is the mantra for the bali offering.
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.