Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This sādhana provides a ritualized procedure for the visualization and propitiation of the deity White Ekajaṭī. The text guides the practitioner through a series of precise mental constructions, beginning with the emergence of the goddess from the seed syllable HŪṂ and detailing her specific iconographic attributes, including her posture and her adornments composed of eight fierce nāgas. The ritual structure commits the reader to a process of deity yoga that integrates external offerings—such as flowers and incense—with internal energetic visualizations. Specifically, the practitioner is instructed to visualize a cyclical flow of the syllable HRĪṂ between the mouth and the navel. By combining the cultivation of loving-kindness toward all sentient beings with these complex somatic and symbolic visualizations, the text aims to transform the practitioner's consciousness through the identification with and invocation of the deity's power.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the propitiation of the deity White Ekajaṭī, the Śuklaikajaṭīsādhana belongs to the genre of sādhana and is situated within the Other Wisdom Tantras. The work is attributed to the Indian author Lalitagupta. It entered the Tibetan tradition through the translation of Dānaśīla (III), and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཤ, where it extends over four pages. Written in classical Tibetan as the ral gcig ma dkar mo'i sgrub thabs, the work enacts a precise process of deity yoga. It guides the practitioner in visualizing the goddess arising from the syllable HŪṂ, detailed through her red eyes and her adornments of eight fierce nāgas, including Karkoṭaka and Takṣaka. The ritual procedure integrates the offering of incense and flowers with the cultivation of the four immeasurables—loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity—alongside the confession of misdeeds and the rejoicing in merit. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific iconographic requirements and the meditative sequence used to visualize the goddess standing upon a corpse, thereby engaging with the somatic and symbolic structures of this particular tantric practice.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Sādhana of White Ekajaṭī” (Toh 1732), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1732
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text is significant as it illustrates the intersection of tantric iconography and internal energy work within the Indo-Tibetan tradition. It demonstrates how specific deities are linked to seed syllables and somatic paths to achieve spiritual goals. For the modern reader, it serves as a primary example of the precise technical requirements of Buddhist ritual visualization.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1, 3
Deity Visualization
Description of the goddess's emergence from the syllable HŪṂ, her physical posture, and her adornments consisting of various colored nāgas.
2
Ritual Offerings and Intent
Instructions on visualizing sentient beings, granting blessings, and making offerings of incense and flowers.
4
Internal Energetic Practice
Visualization of the syllable HŪṂ in the navel and the cyclical movement of the syllable HRĪṂ through the body.
Themes
Iconography and Ornamentation (1, 3)
Seed Syllables and Mantric Visualization (1, 2, 4)
Compassion and Universal Benefit (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Śukla-ekajaṭī-sādhana. In the language of Tibet: The Sādhana of White Ekajaṭī. Homage to Ekajaṭī!
Within a supreme vessel resting upon a lotus, there is a White Goddess arisen from the syllable HŪṂ. With her right leg extended and her left drawn in, she stands with her breasts fully developed and her two eyes perfectly red. With her right hand she holds a rosary of human bone, and with her left she holds a blue utpala flower with its bud unopened. May the goddess who possesses tawny matted locks always protect you!
Adorned with a crown of the eight terrifying nāgas and the Lord of the Mind, she smiles with a tongue quivering, entirely filled with the flavor of compassion. She wears a garment of the skin of the enemy of wild beasts. May such a Tārā destroy the darkness of ignorance!
Having bowed at the lotus feet of the glorious, non-dual Vajra Guru, I, Rolpa Sapa, shall describe the sādhana of Tārā.
First, the mantra practitioner should perform the rinsing of the mouth and so forth, and then sit upon a comfortable seat. In a place strewn with fragrant flowers, he should arrange whatever offerings are available and visualize a white HŪṂ at his own heart. From that white HŪṂ, one should imagine five-colored light rays radiating from the pores of one's skin and from the openings of the mouth and so forth. These light rays illuminate infinite world systems, as numerous as the sands of the river Gaṅgā, and then [invite] the Bhagavatī residing in Akaniṣṭha, who possesses the body color and other attributes to be described.
One should visualize that all sentient beings who supplicate me are simultaneously present before me, and think, "I shall grant them my blessings." Then, emanating flowers, incense, perfumes, garlands, and so forth from the syllable HŪṂ, one makes offerings. Following that, one should practice loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity; present offerings; confess misdeeds; rejoice in merit; and go for refuge to the Three Jewels, and so on. One should offer flowers and the rest, consecrated with the mantra OṂ VAJRA PUṢPE ĀḤ HŪṂ, while inserting the respective names. Then, one should meditate on the nature of oneself and all phenomena as being primordially unborn and empty, reciting: OṂ SVABHĀVA ŚUDDHAḤ SARVA DHARMĀḤ SVABHĀVA ŚUDDHO ’HAṂ. OṂ ŚŪNYATĀ JÑĀNA VAJRA SVABHĀVA ĀTMAKO ’HAṂ. Then, through the power of aspiration, the syllable A completely transforms into a red lotus. In its center, the syllable ṬAṂ completely transforms into a skull-cup, radiant like a water-crystal gem and completely filled with blood. In its center is a white syllable HŪṂ endowed with five-colored light rays. Visualize that this most beautiful [syllable] completely transforms into a blue utpala flower, its bud unopened, blessed by the syllable HŪṂ. From the complete transformation of these, one arises as the body of the Bhagavatī, with one face and two hands. Her body is white, and she wears a tiger-skin lower garment. Her right hand holds a rosary of human bone, and her left holds an unopened blue utpala flower. Her tawny matted hair is tied upward, spreading extensively as far as the abode of Brahmā.
Adorned with the eight fierce nāgas: with blue Karkoṭaka as a crown, red Takṣaka as a necklace, yellow Nanda and Upananda as earrings, white Ananta as a sacred thread, white Vasuki as a belt, and white Śaṅkhapāla as bracelets; with red Padma and Mahāpadma as anklets; adorned with necklaces, anklets, a crown, and a sash; standing upon a corpse with the right leg extended and the left drawn in; extremely terrifying, with fangs slightly bared and the tongue curled; the crown of his head adorned with the glorious Akṣobhyavajra; and possessing a mind of great love and compassion—one should meditate on him.
Visualizing that the light rays from the white HŪṂ at one’s own heart summon the maṇḍala of the Wisdom Consort, one then performs the summoning, entering, binding, and subjugating with the syllables JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ, viewing her as inseparable from the Wisdom Consort, like water and milk mixed together. Then, upon the lotus at the Venerable Lady’s heart, one should visualize the syllable HRĪṂ, the color of pure crystal, emitting hundreds of thousands of light rays. If one becomes weary from meditation, one should recite the mantra mentally, endowed with its meaning, avoiding being too fast, too slow, unclear, or incomplete. Regarding the extraction of the mantra: it is the fourth letter of the seventh group, perfectly joined with fire (RA), adorned with the vowel I, and beautified by the crescent moon and the bindu. One should recite it as desired.
In the center of the navel, upon an eight-petalled lotus, one should visualize a blazing syllable HŪṂ. Then, visualize the beads of the rosary in the form of the syllable HRĪṂ. Imagine that they emerge continuously from one’s mouth, enter the path of the navel, and return through the mouth. One should recite this single-syllable king of mantras, which, like a wish-fulfilling jewel, destroys all sins and epidemics, and performs the activities of magnetizing, summoning, and agitating beings—the speech of the Buddha recited by Sthiramati. By reciting one hundred thousand repetitions of such a mantra, one will become a poet. One will become capable of retention, possess vajra-like speech, have great wealth, long life, and become learned in all treatises. Like the lord of garuḍas, one will undoubtedly neutralize the poisons of the three realms and swiftly attain unsurpassed enlightenment. OṂ ĀḤ HRĪṂ HŪṂ HAṂ HA. If this king of mantras bestows even buddhahood itself, what need is there to mention other siddhis? OṂ ĀḤ HRĪṂ HŪṂ GHĀTAYA SARVA VIGHNĀN HŪṂ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ. With this mantra, the torma should be offered. This concludes the Sādhana of the Blessed Lady Ekajaṭī Śvetā, originating from the glorious Advayavajra and composed by the master Lalitavajra. It was translated at Ṛṣi-Ṣiṅga-ri, a site of attainment in the Middle Country, by the great Paṇḍita Dānaśīla of Varendra in Eastern India.
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.