Toh 1740 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

A Sādhana of Secret Tārā

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

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1740
Genre: Sādhana
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 028_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཤ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,873 Tibetan characters · 510 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 text is a ritual manual, or sādhana, dedicated to the practice of Secret Tārā. Its primary objective is the attainment of both common and supreme accomplishments (siddhis), as well as the mitigation of obstacles and harms. The work functions as a prescriptive guide for the practitioner, combining liturgical invocations with specific behavioral requirements. It outlines a system of achievement based on numerical cycles—specifically four, one, or seven—and emphasizes the necessity of ritual offerings, such as torma. Crucially, the text commits the practitioner to a regime of secrecy regarding their identity, speech, and conduct, suggesting that the efficacy of the practice is contingent upon the maintenance of esoteric boundaries. The inclusion of a specific seed syllable mantra indicates a focus on the sonic and meditative triggers required to induce the descent of the fire of bliss, marking the transition from preparatory ritual to internal experiential realization.

Provenance

About this text

A ritual manual for the practice of Secret Tārā, the Tārāguhyasādhana belongs to the genre of sādhana and is situated within the Other Wisdom Tantras collection. The work is attributed to the Indian author Śāśvatavajra. It entered the Tibetan tradition through the efforts of the translators Ratnadhara and lo tsa ba rma, and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཤ, where it extends over two pages. The text enacts a system for attaining supreme and common accomplishments, as well as the pacification of harms and obstacles, through the four activities. It prescribes a rigorous regime of secret conduct, requiring the practitioner to keep their name and speech hidden while performing ritual offerings of torma. The practice centers on the use of a seven-syllable mantra to induce the descent of the fire of bliss and the meditation on coemergent bliss. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan work to examine the specific sonic and meditative triggers, such as the seed syllables and the radiation of light from the A within the E, that are intended to summon the qualities necessary for spiritual achievement.

Sanskrit title: Tārāguhyasādhana
Indian author: Śāśvatavajra
Tibetan translators: Ratnadhara, lo tsa ba rma
Canonical collection: Other Wisdom Tantras
Genre: Sādhana
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, “A Sādhana of Secret Tārā” (Toh 1740), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1740

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant as it represents the intersection of deity yoga and the secrecy traditions of Vajrayāna Buddhism. For the modern reader, it illustrates the traditional Buddhist conceptualization of 'accomplishment' as a result of precise ritual adherence and the strategic use of secrecy to protect the potency of the practice.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction and Purpose	Provides the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles, an invocation to Avalokiteśvara, and the goals of the practice.
2	Ritual Instructions	Details the mantra, the numerical requirements for siddhi, offering protocols, and the requirement for secret conduct.

Themes

Siddhi (Accomplishment) (1-2)
Esotericism and Secrecy (2)
Ritual Offering (2)

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

AnuvādaA Sādhana of Secret Tārā·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཏཱ་ར་གུ་ཧྱ་སཱ་དྷ་ནཾ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། སྒྲོལ་མའི་གསང་བའི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས། མགོན་པོ་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། མཆོག་དང་ཐུན་མོང་འདོད་པ་དང་། ། བར་ཆོད་ཉེར་འཚེ་ཞི་བ་དང་། ། འདོད་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་འཕེལ་འགྱུར་ཞིང་། ། ཕྲིན་ལས་རྣམ་བཞི་བསྒྲུབ་པའི་ཕྱིར། ། ལྷ་མོ་གསང་བའི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་བཤད། ། དང་པོ་ཉམས་པའི་སྐྱོན་བྲལ་ཞིང་། ། བརྩོན་འགྲུས་ལྡན་པའི་སྐྱེས་བུ་ཡིས། ། ཤིན་ཏུ་དབེན་པའི་ས་ཕྱོགས་སུ། ། མཎྜལ་ཁྲུ་གང་ཚད་དུ་བྱ། ། དྲི་ཆེན་དྲི་ཆུས་ཆག་ཆག་གདབ། ། མཆོད་པ་ལྔ་ལྡན་རས་རིས་དགྲམ། ། ཕྱི་ནང་བར་ཆོད་ཞི་བར་བལྟ། ། སྟན་ལ་ལེགས་འདུག་ནུབ་ཏུ་བལྟ། ། སྐད་ཅིག་ལྷ་བསམ་འོད་ཀྱིས་སུ། ། སྲིད་གསུམ་ཞིང་སྦྱངས་སྤྱན་དྲངས་ལ། ། ཡན་ལག་བདུན་པོས་རྒྱུད་དག་བྱས། ། ཚད་མེད་བཞི་བསམ་སྟོང་ཉིད་བསྒོམ། ། ཨ་ལས་མེ་བྱུང་གྲུ་གསུམ་དབྱིབས། ། དཀར་པོ་བསམས་ལ་དེ་སྟེངས་སུ། ། ཨ་བསམ་ཞུ་བས་ལྷ་མོ་བསྐྱེད། ། མདོག་སྨུག་བོང་ཐུང་ཐོད་ཕྲེང་ཅན། ། ཞལ་གཅིག་ཕྱག་གཉིས་དགོད་པའི་གདངས། ། རུས་པའི་ཕྲེང་བས་སྐུ་བརྒྱན་ཅིང་། ། མེ་དཔུང་འབར་བའི་གདན་ལ་བཞུགས། ། ཕྱག་གཡས་མདའ་གཞུ་རབ་ཏུ་འཛིན། ། ཨུཏྤལ་ཐོད་པ་བྱང་སེམས་གང་། ། གཡོན་པ་ཐོད་དཀར་འཛིན་པ་བསྐྱེད། ། སྙིང་གར་ཨེ་ཡི་ཆ་བྱད་ལ། ། ཨ་ཡི་མཚན་མ་འོད་འཕྲོས་པས། ། ཡེ་ཤེས་དྲངས་པ་མཆོད་པ་ནི། ། ཚིག་ཏུ་མ་ཡིན་བློ་ཡིས་དབུལ། ། བཞིས་བསྟིམ་བྱིན་བརླབ་དབང་བསྐུར་བྱ། ། བསྐྱེད་ལ་གསང་སྔགས་ཡིད་ལ་བཟླས། ། ཁ་དོག་ལྔ་ལྡན་སྙིང་གར་བསམ། ། ཆེད་དུ་བཟླས་པ་བྱ་བ་ནི། །

In the language of India: Tārā-guhya-sādhana. In the language of Tibet: Sgrol ma’i gsang ba’i sgrub thabs (The Secret Sādhana of Tārā). Homage to the Protector Avalokiteśvara! For the sake of attaining the supreme and common accomplishments, pacifying obstacles and harms, increasing the qualities of sensory desire, and accomplishing the four activities, I shall explain the secret sādhana of the goddess. First, a person free from the faults of degeneration and endowed with diligence should prepare a maṇḍala one cubit in size in a very secluded location. Sprinkle it with the great fragrance and the fragrant water, and spread out a cloth painting endowed with the five offerings. Visualize that outer and inner obstacles are pacified. Sit properly on a seat facing west. In an instant, visualize the deity; with light, purify the realms of the three worlds and invite the deities. Purify the continuum through the seven-limbed practice. Meditate on the four immeasurables and then on emptiness. From the syllable A, a fire arises in a triangular shape; visualize it as white. Above that, visualize an A; as it melts, the goddess is generated. She is dark brown and short, wearing a garland of skulls. She has one face and two hands with a smiling expression. Her body is adorned with bone ornaments, and she sits upon a seat of blazing masses of fire. Her right hand firmly holds a bow and arrow; her left holds a white skull-cup filled with bodhicitta and an utpala flower. Thus she is generated. At the heart, in the form of the syllable E, is the mark of the syllable A. Light radiates from it, inviting the wisdom beings. The offering is not made with words, but is presented mentally. Through the four [seals], they are absorbed, blessed, and empowered. Having generated her, recite the secret mantra mentally. Visualize it in five colors at the heart. As for the specific recitation:

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.

definitionསྒྲོལ་མ “Tārā” — Female bodhisattva of compassion; the chief goddess of the activity family, personifying the true nature of the element wind; one of the five goddesses personifying the five “hooks of gnosis.”

definitionསྒྲུབ་ཐབས “sādhana” — Derived from the Sanskrit verb √sādh , “to accomplish,” the term sādhana most generically refers to any method that brings about the accomplishment of a desired goal. In Buddhist literature, the term is often specificall

homonymལྷ་མོ is rendered “goddess” here; the glossary also records devī, Devī for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionལྷ་མོ “goddess” — The “ apsarases ” are popular figures in Indian culture, they are said to be goddesses of the clouds and water and to be wives of the gandharvas . However, in the Kāraṇḍavyūha , they are presented as the female equivalen

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

periodམེ → “fire”. In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not capitalise the element.

homonymམེ is rendered “fire” here; the glossary also records Āgneya, Analā, Acalā for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམེ “fire” — Classified as a “ lord of beings ” ( prajāpati ).

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

termསྒྲོལ་མ → Tārā

termསྒྲུབ་ཐབས → sādhana

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termལྷ་མོ → goddess

termལྷ → god

termམེ → fire

ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཨ་དྷི་སི་ཏུ་ཧཱུཾ། འབྲུ་བདུན་དངོས་གྲུབ་འབྱུང་བར་བྱེད། ། བཞིའམ་གཅིག་དང་བདུན་པ་གྲུབ། ། ཐུན་བར་གཏོར་མ་ཡང་ཡང་དབུལ། ། མིང་དང་གཏམ་ཡང་གསང་སྤྱོད་བྱ། ། བཞི་ལས་མེ་སུར་བདེ་བ་དབབ། ། བསྐྱིལ་ལ་ལྷན་སྐྱེས་བདེ་བ་བསྒོམ། ། ཨེ་ཡི་ཨ་ལས་འོད་འཕྲོས་པས། ། འདོད་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དེ་བཀུག་ལ། ། མཚན་ལྡན་སྣོད་དུ་བཀུག་བྱས་ལ། ། རྟགས་རྫོགས་ལོངས་སྤྱོད་གཞན་དུ་མིན། ། ཕྲིན་ལས་རྣམ་བཞི་སྐབས་དང་སྦྱར། ། རིན་ཆེན་དང་འདྲ་སྒྲུབ་པའི་ཐབས། ། འཇིགས་པ་ཀུན་སྒྲོལ་བདེ་བ་སྟེར། ། ནད་མེད་གནོད་རྣམས་རང་བཞིན་འགྱུར། ། ཕོངས་པ་ཀུན་སྒྲོལ་འབྱོར་པར་ལྡན། ། སངས་རྒྱས་ཀུན་གྱིས་དབང་བསྐུར་འགྱུར། ། སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་ཕྱིར་བཀོད། ། ལྷག་པའི་ལྷ་ཡི་ཞལ་མཐོང་ཤོག། བར་ཆོད་ཉེ་བར་ཞི་གྱུར་ནས། ། འགྲོ་རྣམས་དེ་ཡི་ཞལ་མཐོང་ཤོག། སྒྲོལ་མ་གསང་བའི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས། དཔལ་རྟག་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་ལུང་བསྟན་པས་བཀོད་པ། གསང་བ་ཟ་མ་ཏོག་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་མཁན་པོ་ར་ཏ་དྷ་ར་དང་། ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་རྨས་བསྒྱུར་བའོ། །

OṂ ĀḤ ADHISITU HŪṂ. The seven syllables bring about the attainment of siddhis. Accomplishment is achieved through four, one, or seven. Between sessions, offer the torma again and again. Keep your name and speech secret, and engage in the secret conduct. From the four, the fire of bliss descends. Retaining it, meditate on coemergent bliss. Light radiates from the A within the E, summoning the qualities of sensory desire. Having summoned them into a qualified vessel, enjoy them once the signs are complete, but not otherwise. Apply the four activities according to the occasion. This method of accomplishment is like a precious jewel; it liberates from all fears and bestows bliss. Illness and harms are naturally transformed. It liberates from all poverty and provides prosperity. One will be empowered by all the Buddhas. This sādhana is arranged for the benefit of beings. May the face of the supreme deity be seen! May obstacles be pacified, and may all beings see that very face. The Secret Sādhana of Tārā, arranged by the glorious Śāśvatavajra according to the prophecy. This concludes the "Secret Casket." Translated by the Indian abbot Ratnadhara and the translator Rma.

structureColophon: closes the text and names the translators or author.

terminologyགཏོར་མ → “offering cake”. 'Torma' is defensible for specialists; in a general text 'offering cake' says what it is.

homonymགཏོར་མ is rendered “offering cake” here; the glossary also records Bali, oblation, bali offering for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionགཏོར་མ “offering cake” — Bali wrested control of the world from the devas , establishing a period of peace and prosperity with no caste distinction. Indra requested Viṣṇu to use his wiles so that the devas could gain the world back from him. He

terminologyསངས་རྒྱས → “buddha”. The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carried by context, not by a suffix.

homonymསངས་རྒྱས is rendered “buddha” here; the glossary also records Awakened, awakened, Buddha for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionསངས་རྒྱས “buddha” — The Indic term buddha means "The Awakened One" and is used in Buddhism as an epithet for the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama as well as other spiritually enlightened beings in general. “ Buddha ” is the past partici

terminologyམཁན་པོ → “abbot”. In colophons it is the Indian preceptor who authorised the translation; 'abbot' is wrong there. Use 'preceptor' in colophons.

homonymམཁན་པོ is rendered “abbot” here; the glossary also records upādhyāya, Preceptor for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམཁན་པོ “abbot” — A person’s particular preceptor within the monastic tradition. They must have at least ten years of standing in the saṅgha, and their role is to confer ordination, to tend to the student, and to provide all the necessary

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: offering cake; god

termགཏོར་མ → offering cake

termམེ → fire

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

termསྒྲུབ་ཐབས → sādhana

termལྷ → god

termསྒྲོལ་མ → Tārā

Terminology used in this text (11)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
སྒྲོལ་མ	Tārā	2
སྒྲུབ་ཐབས	sādhana	2
ལྷ	god	2	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
མེ	fire	2	In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not c
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
ལྷ་མོ	goddess	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
མཆོད་པ	offering	1
གཏོར་མ	offering cake	1	'Torma' is defensible for specialists; in a general text 'offering cake' says what it is.
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
མཁན་པོ	abbot	1	In colophons it is the Indian preceptor who authorised the translation; 'abbot' is wrong there. Use 'preceptor' in colop

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.

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