Toh 1760 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

An Inner Sādhana of the Glorious Mahākāla

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

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 1760
Genre: Sādhana
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 028_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཤ.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,612 Tibetan characters · 427 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 provides a concise ritual manual for the inner sādhanā of the deity Mahākāla. It outlines a specific sequence of meditative and ritual actions designed to facilitate the practitioner's accomplishment of the deity. The process begins with the requirement of a secluded environment and proceeds through the visualization of the deity's iconography, specifically noting the five mudrās and the presence of eight great nāgas. The text commits the reader to a rigorous set of tantric procedures: the generation of the samaya-being, the invitation and praise of the wisdom-being, and the presentation of offerings. The ritual concludes with the technical application of seed syllables—JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ and OṂ VA—to effect the summoning, absorption, and subsequent blessing of the practitioner's body, speech, and mind. By following this structured protocol, the yogin aims to unify their own consciousness with the wisdom-being of the Glorious Mahākāla.

Provenance

About this text

A ritual manual for the inner sādhanā of the deity Mahākāla, the Śrīmahākālāntarasādhana belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work was translated into Tibetan by Abhayākaragupta and lo tsA ba tsa mi chen po. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཤ, where it is situated within the Other Wisdom Tantras collection and extends over three pages. The text enacts a precise sequence of meditative and ritual actions for the yogin seeking to accomplish the Black One. This process begins with the preparation of a secluded environment and the generation of the mind of enlightenment, followed by the visualization of the deity adorned with five mudrās and eight great nāgas. The practitioner is guided through the generation of the samaya-being, the invitation of the wisdom-being, and the performance of offerings and praise. The ritual concludes with the application of specific seed syllables—JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ and OṂ VAJRA KĀVUVA MAHĀKĀLA HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ—to effect summoning, absorption, and the blessing of the three secrets of body, speech, and mind. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the technical application of tantric procedures and the specific iconographic requirements associated with the practice of Mahākāla.

Sanskrit title: Śrīmahākālāntarasādhana
Indian author: not recorded
Tibetan translators: Abhayākaragupta, lo tsA ba tsa mi chen po
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, “An Inner Sādhana of the Glorious Mahākāla” (Toh 1760), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1760

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant as a representative example of the sādhanā genre, illustrating the precise intersection of visualization, mantra, and mudrā in Indo-Tibetan ritual practice. For the modern reader, it demonstrates the technical methodology used to transform the practitioner's perceived identity into that of a protector deity.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Preliminary and Visualization	Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, offers homage, and specifies the necessary environment for the yogin.
2	Ritual Procedure	Details the iconographic markers of the deity and the sequence of generation, invitation, offering, and the use of seed syllables for absorption and blessing.

Themes

Deity Yoga (1-2)
Ritual Iconography (2)
Mantra and Seed Syllables (2)

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

AnuvādaAn Inner Sādhana of the Glorious Mahākāla·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཤྲཱི་མ་ཧཱ་ཀཱ་ལ་བི་ཏ་ར་སཱ་དྷ་ནཾ་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། དཔལ་མགོན་པོའི་ནང་སྒྲུབ་ཅེས་བྱ་བ། དཔལ་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། ནག་པོ་བསྒྲུབ་འདོད་རྣལ་འབྱོར་གྱིས། ། ཡིད་དང་མཐུན་པའི་དབེན་གནས་སུ། ། རྟེན་དང་མཆོད་པའི་རྫས་བཤམས་ཏེ། ། དང་པོ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་ལ། ། མདུན་དུ་སྐད་ཅིག་འདབ་བརྒྱད་སྟེང་། ། དཔལ་ལྡན་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ། ། ལྷ་མོ་བརྒྱད་ཀྱིས་བསྐོར་བ་ཡང་། ། བྱ་རྒོད་མགོ་དང་ཁྱུང་གི་མགོ། ། ཁྭ་ཡི་གདོང་དང་འུག་པའི་གདོང་། ། དེ་བཞིན་ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་ལྷ་མོའོ། ། ཕག་གི་གདོང་དང་ཁྱི་གདོང་མ། ། སྤྱང་ཀི་སྟག་གི་གདོང་ཅན་བཞི། ། མཚམས་ཀྱི་ལྷ་ནི་ཤེས་པར་བྱ། ། ཀུན་ཀྱང་ནག་མོ་གྲི་ཐོད་ཐོགས། ། པདྨ་རོ་དང་ཉི་སྟེང་ན། ། ཞབས་གཉིས་བརྐྱང་བསྐུམ་ཚུལ་དུ་བཞུགས། ། དེ་ལ་བདུན་པོ་རྣམ་དག་གིས། ། མཆོད་ལ་གསོལ་བ་བཏབ་བྱས་ལ། ། རང་བཞིན་གནས་སུ་གཤེགས་སུ་གསོལ། ། རང་ཉིད་ཡི་དམ་གསལ་བའི་མདུན། ། སྟོང་པའི་ངང་ལས་པཾ་དང་རཾ། ། པདྨ་ཉི་མའི་སྟེང་དུ་ཧཱུཾ། ། འཕྲོས་འདུས་གྲི་གུག་ཧཱུཾ་གིས་མཚན། ། འོད་འཕྲོས་དོན་བྱས་སླར་འདུས་ནས། ། ས་བོན་ཕྱག་མཚན་གྱུར་པ་ལས། ། དཔལ་ལྡན་མགོན་པོའི་སྐུར་གྱུར་ཏེ། ། ཞལ་གཅིག་སྤྱན་གསུམ་སྨིན་མ་འཁྱོག། ཁྲོ་གཉེར་ཞལ་གདངས་མཆེ་བ་གཙིགས། ། དབུ་སྐྲ་དམར་སེར་གྱེན་དུ་འབར། ། ཕྱག་བཞི་གཡས་གཉིས་གྲི་གུག་དང་། ། རལ་གྲི་འབར་བ་འཛིན་པའོ། ། གཡོན་གྱི་ཕྱག་གཉིས་ཐོད་ཁྲག་དང་། ། མདུང་རྩེ་གསུམ་པ་བསྣམས་པའོ། ། ཞབས་གཉིས་ཕྱེད་སྐྱིལ་འགྱིང་བག་ཅན། ། སྟག་ཤམ་མགོ་ཕྲེང་དོ་ཤལ་བྱས། །

In the language of India: Śrī Mahākāla-vitara-sādhana-nāma. In the language of Tibet: dPal mgon po’i nang sgrub ces bya ba (The Inner Sadhana of the Glorious Protector). Homage to the glorious Mahākāla! A yogin who wishes to accomplish the Black One should, in a secluded place agreeable to the mind, arrange the supports and the substances of offering. First, generate the mind of enlightenment. In front, in an instant, upon an eight-petaled lotus, is the glorious Mahākāla, surrounded by eight goddesses: the vulture-headed, the garuḍa-headed, the crow-faced, and the owl-faced—these are the goddesses of the cardinal directions. The pig-faced, the dog-faced, the wolf-faced, and the tiger-faced—these four are to be known as the goddesses of the intermediate directions. All are black, holding flaying knives and skull-cups. They stand upon lotuses, corpses, and sun disks, with their two legs in the posture of one extended and one bent. Having made offerings and supplications to them through the sevenfold purification, request them to return to their natural abodes. In front of oneself, clearly visualized as the yidam, from the state of emptiness arise the syllables Paṃ and Raṃ. Upon a lotus and sun disk is the syllable Hūṃ. From its radiation and reabsorption, a curved knife marked with Hūṃ appears. Light radiates, performs the benefit of beings, and reabsorbs, whereby the seed syllable and hand-symbol transform into the body of the glorious Protector. He has one face, three eyes, and arched eyebrows. With a frowning expression, his mouth is open and his fangs are bared. His orange-red hair blazes upward. His four right hands hold a curved knife and a flaming sword. His two left hands hold a skull-cup of blood and a trident. His two legs are in the half-lotus posture with a majestic bearing. He wears a tiger-skin skirt, a garland of heads, and a necklace.

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.

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

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termམཆོད་པ → offering

termལྷ་མོ → goddess

termལྷ → god

termཡི་དམ → yidam

ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ལྔ་དང་ལྡན་པ་ལ། ། ཀླུ་ཆེན་བརྒྱད་ཀྱིས་སྐུ་ལ་བརྒྱན། ། དེ་ལྟར་དམ་ཚིག་གསལ་བསྐྱེད་ལ། ། ཡེ་ཤེས་སྤྱན་དྲངས་མཆོད་ཅིང་བསྟོད། ། ཛཿཧཱུཾ་བཾ་ཧོཿས་དགུག་གཞུག་བྱ། ། སྐུ་གསུང་ཐུགས་གསུམ་བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབ། ། ཨོཾ་བཛྲ་ཀ་ཝཱུ་བ་མ་ཧཱ་ཀཱ་ལ་ཧཱུཾ་ཧཱུཾ་ཕཊ། མན་ངག་བཞིན་དུ་བཟླས་པར་བྱ། ། སྐྱོ་ན་གཏོར་མ་ཕུལ་བྱས་ལ། ། མཆོད་བསྟོད་གསོལ་བཏབ་ཡེ་ཤེས་གཤེགས། ། དམ་ཚིག་བསྡུས་ལ་དགེ་བ་བསྔོ། ། དགེ་རྩས་བར་ཆད་ཀུན་བསལ་ནས། ། བསྟན་པ་དར་ཞིང་རྒྱས་པར་ཤོག། མགོན་པོ་བྱ་རོག་གདོང་ཅན་གྱི་ནང་སྒྲུབ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། པཎྜི་ཏ་ཨ་བྷ་ཡཱ་ཀ་ར་དང་། ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཙ་མི་ཆེན་པོས་བསྒྱུར་བའོ། །

Adorned with the five mudrās, his body is decorated by the eight great nāgas. Having thus clearly generated the samaya-being, invite the wisdom-being, make offerings, and offer praise. Perform the summoning and absorption with JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ. Bless the three secrets of body, speech, and mind. OṂ VAJRA KĀVUVA MAHĀKĀLA HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ. Recite the mantra according to the pith instructions. When weary, offer the torma, perform offerings and praise, and request the wisdom-being to depart. Dissolve the samaya-being and dedicate the virtue. Through this root of virtue, may all obstacles be cleared away, and may the teachings flourish and spread. This concludes the Inner Sadhana of the Protector Crow-Faced One. Translated by Paṇḍita Abhayākara and the great translator Tsami.

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

terminologyཀླུ → “nāga”. Serpent-deities, not 'dragons'. The Old Tibetan spelling ཀླུ is stable.

definitionཀླུ “nāga” — A supernatural being usually depicted as having the top half of a human and the bottom half of a snake. However, the nāga has a myriad of associations within Buddhism and Indian traditions in general; the term may be ass

homonymདམ་ཚིག is rendered “samaya” here; the glossary also records sacred vow, commitment, samaya vows for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionདམ་ཚིག “samaya” — Literally, in Sanskrit, “coming together.” Samaya refers to precepts given by the teacher, the corresponding commitment by the pupil, and the bond that results, which can also be the bond between the practitioner and the

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

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

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: offering cake

termཀླུ → nāga

termདམ་ཚིག → samaya

termཡེ་ཤེས → wisdom

termགཏོར་མ → offering cake

Terminology used in this text (9)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
མཆོད་པ	offering	1
ལྷ་མོ	goddess	1
ལྷ	god	1	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
ཡི་དམ	yidam	1
ཀླུ	nāga	1	Serpent-deities, not 'dragons'. The Old Tibetan spelling ཀླུ is stable.
དམ་ཚིག	samaya	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
གཏོར་མ	offering cake	1	'Torma' is defensible for specialists; in a general text 'offering cake' says what it is.

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