Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text provides the procedural instructions for the authorization (anujñā) of the deity Dudsolma (Vetālī). The work functions as a liturgical manual, guiding the practitioner through the necessary preliminary and central stages of a permission ritual. It begins with a formal homage to the Yogācāra-ākāśa and the establishment of the participants in refuge and bodhicitta. The ritual architecture involves the visualization of the deity's nature as an offering cake (torma) placed upon a multicolored pedestal. The text culminates in a specific command directed toward the protector, charging the entity to uphold the vows, protect the teachings, and remove obstacles for a designated disciple. By following these instructions, the reader commits to a formalized relationship with the protector, transforming the deity's role into one of active service and guardianship under the authority of the practitioner's lineage.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the authorization of the deity Dudsolma, the rjes su gnang ba'i cho ga belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Vanaratnapāda, who is also named as one of the translators alongside ’tsho ba’i btsun pa bsod nams rgya mtsho’i sde. Preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཤ), the text is situated within the Other Wisdom Tantras collection and extends over three pages. The work enacts a liturgical procedure that begins with homage to the Yogācāra-ākāśa and the establishment of refuge and awakening mind. It guides the practitioner through the visualization of the deity Dhūmāṅgārī upon a sun disk and lotus, utilizing an offering cake to facilitate a formal command. This process charges the protector to guard the teachings, uphold vows, and remove obstacles for a specific disciple, ensuring the fulfillment of desired aims. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the precise procedural instructions for establishing a formalized relationship of guardianship and service between the practitioner and the protector, as transmitted through the lineage of Nāropa.
Sanskrit title
not recorded
Indian author
Vanaratnapāda
Tibetan translators
Vanaratnapāda, ’tsho ba’i btsun pa bsod nams rgya mtsho’i sde
The text is significant as it illustrates the mechanism of 'authorization' in Indo-Tibetan ritual practice, where a protector is formally bound to a practitioner. For the modern reader, it demonstrates the intersection of visualization, offering, and command in the management of spiritual protectors.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and Preliminaries
Includes the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, homage to Yogācāra-ākāśa, and the initial steps of refuge, bodhicitta, and torma visualization.
3
The Command
The specific verbal instructions given to the protector to ensure the guardianship of the disciple and the fulfillment of aims.
Themes
Ritual Authorization (1-3)
Protector Command (3)
Visualization and Offering (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Anujñāvidhiḥ. In the language of Tibet: Rjes su gnang ba’i cho ga (The Ritual of Authorization). Homage to the glorious Yogācāra-ākāśa!
Having bowed deeply to the primordial protector, I shall now explain the authorization of Dudsolma, which has come down in succession from the feet of Nāropa.
First, one should prepare an offering cake (torma) endowed with foods to be chewed, bitten, sucked, licked, and drunk. Having perfectly pleased the Blessed Lady Dudsolma through the ritual to be explained—offering and praising her—one should request the desired activity.
Then, fortunate disciples who wish to receive the authorization should offer a maṇḍala to the guru. With a garland of flowers upon their heads, kneeling with their knees on the ground and palms joined, they should recite:
"Lord of the maṇḍala, arisen from the outer, secret, and other [sources],
Abiding upon the seat of the reality of space, joined with me and the consort,
To the lotus feet of Yogācāra-ākāśa, the accomplished one,
I prostrate with a mind that follows [the path] for the sake of the Victors."
At the conclusion of this recitation, they should be made to supplicate three times: "O Lord of the Wheel, Yogācāra-ākāśa, until the ocean of existence, which has become a sea of suffering, is utterly destroyed, and until the nirvāṇa of supreme great bliss is realized, please grant me the authorization and blessings of the Blessed Lady Dudsolma in order to pacify all obstacles."
Immediately thereafter, having established them in the taking of refuge and the generation of the awakening mind by means of the words, "Homage to the Guru Buddha," and so forth, one should visualize the nature of the deity upon their heads as an offering cake (torma). Upon a multicolored eight-petaled lotus and a sun disk, from the syllable HŪṂ arises Dhūmāṅgārī. She is smoke-colored, standing with her left leg extended. She has one face and two arms, with three red, round eyes and bared fangs. Her right hand brandishes a sword from a khaṭvāṅga, and her left holds a skull-cup filled with blood. Her orange-red hair blazes upward, and she wears a lower garment of red silk. She is adorned with the six mudrās and a garland of vertebrae. One should visualize her as having a terrifying form and being surrounded by a fiercely blazing mass of fire.
Then, recite "OṂ DHŪMĀṄGĀRĪYE SŪṂ SVĀHĀ" twenty-one times. Recite these verses three times:
"Homage to you, the Mistress of the yoga that liberates sentient beings!
Homage to you, who causes countless beings to cross over!
I bow to the Mother, the nature of the single universal self!
I bow to the Mother, the self-nature of the certain single reality!"
While reciting these, one should fumigate with incense such as guggulu and invoke the descent of blessings with the sound of musical instruments such as drums. Following that, having correctly proclaimed the names of the lineage gurus beginning with Vajradhara, [one should address her as]: "O Bhagavatī, Yoginī Dhūmāṅgārī!"
"By means of these, remember your vows and do not transgress the command; guard your samaya! Protect the teachings! Subdue all enemies and obstructors of the disciple [Name]! Follow [Name] and bring all desired aims to perfect fulfillment!" Thus one should command them. Then, they should respond, "We shall act exactly as you have commanded; we shall bring your desired aims to perfect fulfillment," and they should be made to listen to this promise. Then, the torma should be placed back in its original location, and the Bhagavatī should be perfectly worshipped and praised, viewing her as having become truly delighted. Following that, the sādhana that is to be explained should be recited. Then, the gaṇacakra should be performed:
"By means of the Vajra [Dhūmāvatī], one should please [the deity];
One should satisfy the Saṅgha with a feast;
And one should satisfy the destitute and the protectorless.
This is the ritual of the authorization.
Composed by the great accomplished paṇḍita, Śrī Vanaratna."
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.