Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This sādhanā provides a comprehensive ritual manual for the propitiation and deployment of the deity Mahākālī. The text functions as a technical guide, moving from the construction of a geometric mandala and the visualization of the deity's skeletal, wrathful form to the performance of specific offerings and mantra recitations. It commits the practitioner to a rigorous set of meditative and physical actions, including the use of tormas and the invocation of the deity's assembly. Beyond devotional praise and the request for longevity and resources, the text explicitly details the use of Mahākālī for aggressive purposes. It instructs the practitioner in the application of 'black side' activities, specifically the ritual destruction of enemies through the manipulation of life-force (bla) on birch bark and the visualization of the victim's death. The work thus bridges the gap between internal meditative absorption and external ritual magic intended to exert power over others.
Provenance
About this text
A sādhanā for the accomplishment of the Glorious Black Goddess, the Śrīdevīmahākālīsādhanopāyikā is a ritual manual attributed to the Indian author Nāropa. The work was translated into the Tibetan language by Lokaśrī and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཤ, where it comprises eleven pages. Within the Tibetan Buddhist canon, it is categorized among the Other Wisdom Tantras. The text enacts a detailed ritual process for the practitioner, beginning with the preparation of requisites in locations such as charnel grounds or ravines. It provides technical instructions for the construction of a geometric mandala involving specific colors and seed-syllables, such as HŪṂ and BHYOḤ, and guides the practitioner through the visualization of nectar and the stability of the syllable Aṃ. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine the precise intersection of meditative visualization and ritual application. The text serves as a primary source for understanding the deployment of Mahākālī, bridging the gap between internal devotional practice and the external application of ritual power, including the use of mantra and the manipulation of life-force for specific ends.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Sādhana of the Glorious Goddess Mahākālī” (Toh 1781), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1781
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text is significant as an example of the wrathful tradition within Indo-Tibetan ritual practice, illustrating the integration of Buddhist tantric visualization with folk-magic elements. It demonstrates the role of the 'black side' of ritual activity, where the deity is utilized not only for spiritual liberation but for the pragmatic, often violent, removal of obstacles and enemies.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-3
Ritual Preparation and Mandala Construction
Instructions on arranging ritual requisites and the precise coloring and lettering of the mandala's geometric center.
4-8
Deity Visualization and Invocation
Detailed descriptions of Mahākālī's physical appearance, her mount, and the process of inviting deities into the ritual space.
6-9
Offerings and Praise
The presentation of the five offerings and tormas, accompanied by specific mantras and prayers for the pacification of suffering.
10-14
Ritual Magic and Aggressive Application
Instructions for binding enemies, using birch bark and bla-stones to command death, and the visualization of the target's demise.
Themes
Wrathful Iconography (4, 7)
Ritual Geometry and Mantras (2, 3, 5, 6)
Ritual Violence and Harm (10, 12, 13, 14)
Life-force (Bla) Manipulation (12)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaA Sādhana of the Glorious Goddess Mahākālī·
In the language of India: Śrīyadevīkālīsādhanopika. In the language of Tibet: dPal lha mo nag mo’i sgrub thabs (The Sādhana of the Glorious Black Goddess). Homage to the Glorious Black Goddess!
A yogin who wishes to accomplish the Glorious Goddess should arrange the necessary ritual requisites in abundance. Then, having gone to a charnel ground, the foot of a solitary tree, a ravine, an empty house, or any secluded place, one should first offer torma to all the worldly gods and spirits, such as the guardians of the directions, and present a full libation of golden drink.
Next, one should construct a mandala in the shape of an e (a triangle), measuring one cubit in each direction and one cubit in height. Upon this, a three-tiered platform should be made. The middle tier should be fashioned into three crescents, and the bottom tier into a triangle. On each of the three corners of the bottom triangle, place the skull of a person who died without issue, or any skull as appropriate, with the opening facing upward. Inside each skull, write a black letter ya using charcoal from a funeral pyre. On the outside of each skull, write a red letter ma using blood.
The three crescents should also be smeared with red pigment. The triangle should be colored red. If the work is not done well, there are faults such as these: if the lines are too thick, the master and disciples will suffer many illnesses; if the lines are too thin, the master and disciples will lose their wealth; if the lines are crooked, conflict will arise in the region; and if the lines are interrupted, the master and disciples will die prematurely. Therefore, using a brush the thickness of a medium-sized bamboo pen, draw the lines circling from the right.
As for the application of the colors, apply them up to twice the size of the triangle. Make the inner triangle black and the outer triangle red. At each of the tips of the inner triangle, draw a half-vajra as a mark. In the center of the syllable E, write the mantra seed-syllable HŪṂ using a mixture of great ashes and dried blood. On the three inner corners, write a BHYOḤ—the life-essence of all the mamo goddesses—each one.
Then, mix the juice of datura, the blood of a black goat, and the blood of a black hen; blend them in equal parts, grind them finely, and combine them with pigment. On a cloth from a charnel ground, paint the form of the glorious goddess and request her to be seated in the center of the E-shaped maṇḍala. There, gather the five types of offering materials, such as incense, and present the offerings. Furthermore, meditate on yourself as the samaya goddess. First, visualize in the center of the yogin’s heart a four-petaled lotus, or alternatively, an eight-petaled lotus with its central core. In the center of that lotus’s core, visualize a blazing letter OṂ together with its bindu. Above that, visualize the letter RAṂ; through its brilliance, the RAṂ itself blazes like fire. Imagine that this fire burns the body of your conceptual self until it is reduced to ashes.
Then, in the center of those ashes, with a peaceful mind, visualize the letter AṂ, the nature of the life-force, residing in the center of the previous lotus core. Above that, visualize the letter VAṂ. Then, from the complete transformation of that VAṂ, visualize a white vase from which a stream of nectar flows.
Then, from the syllable Aṃ, which is explained as the life-force of the past, a stream of nectar flows and sprinkles down. By that water, the syllable Aṃ, explained as the supreme of all syllables, becomes especially stable and firm, and it becomes endowed with majesty. One should visualize it as being like the moon, snow, milk, a kunda flower, a white cloud, or a conch shell. Then, by reciting the mantra of the name of the glorious goddess: Oṃ mahākālī devī kālī vikṛnta kālaratri caṇḍarūpiṇi hūṃ phaṭ, one should establish the seed-syllable Oṃ of the mantra as the deity and transform it into the body of the Great Glorious Goddess. She should be meditated upon as follows: her body is black, as dark as a srin insect or a bumblebee; she is extremely alluring; she has a skeleton body, one face, four arms, and two legs. In her first right hand she holds a sword, and in the lower one a bhandha skull-cup filled with blood. She brandishes a khaṭvāṅga. In her first left hand she holds a śakti, and in the lower one she holds a triśūla with a silk streamer hanging from its neck. She has a stiff human corpse in her mouth and bares four fangs. Her three red eyes are turned backward to gaze. Her hair is matted and bristling upward, with a lock curling to the left. Her hair is adorned with snakes and a garland of skulls. On her right ear, a snake’s neck rings a bell; on her left ear, the red mane of a lion. Behind both ears, flower and red silk diadems flutter. She wears a necklace made of the skulls of asuras and others. She is draped in a raw elephant hide as an upper garment, and a raw cowhide cut into strips.
Her lower body is wrapped in a skirt of yellow woolen cloth, marked with drops of blood and fat. She has a girdle made of the intertwined bodies of nāga kings, and her two feet are adorned with iron chains. She sits in a playful cross-legged posture atop a white-faced donkey. In the midst of the eight charnel grounds, she utters a sound like that of a conch or a dragon, subjugating all the mātṛkās, ḍākinīs, and piśācas. Meditate on her in this way.
In the center of the heart of that clearly visualized deity, meditate on a heart-fire or a spark of fire, about the size of one’s own four fingers, in the shape of an egg. In the center of that egg, meditate on a HŪṂ accompanied by a sun and moon maṇḍala. Furthermore, visualize the bindu of the HŪṂ as the sun maṇḍala and the crescent moon of the HŪṂ as the moon maṇḍala. Below that, imagine that light rays emanate from the HŪṂ, which become a garland of the syllables of the mantra. Meditate on them encircling that very HŪṂ. By looking at that HŪṂ and through the application of clarity, familiarity, and habituation, meditate exclusively on the trident.
Thus, while visualizing oneself as the samaya goddess, imagine that from the place of accomplishment, the natural goddess—exactly as before—arrives. She is surrounded by a retinue of naked black women with matted hair, adorned with skull ornaments around their necks. In her right hand she holds a human heart, and in her left she holds a kapāla filled with rakta. In the center of each of their hearts, imagine there is an inconceivable number of the life-essence syllable BHYOḤ. Visualize them all arriving.
Having thus invited [the deities] into the sky, they should be dissolved individually into the mantra seeds HŪṂ and BHYOḤ in the center of the E in front, whereby they are to be formed into the bodies of the mudrās. Furthermore, this should be done with the mantras for summoning, entering, binding, and bringing under control: DṚŚYA JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ / SAMAYA STVAṂ / SAMAYA HOḤ. Having recited these, one should meditate on them manifesting their actual forms. If they do not manifest in that way, one should press them by reciting the mantra: OṂ HŪṂ BHYOḤ / E ĀRALLI HRĪḤ JAḤ. Even if they do not appear directly, one should command: "Accomplish whatever I desire in my mind!" Then, when performing the activities of the mantra, one should bestow the samaya of the family. The samaya water should be consecrated with the mantra and given. This is the samaya mantra: OṂ HANA HANA VAJRA SAMAYA MATIKRAMANAN HŪṂ PHAṬ. Having given the samaya water, one commands: "Goddess, if you transgress this samaya, until you obey as commanded, you will be subjected to great torment. This samaya water will also become the great poison hālāhala; by seeing it, you will vomit blood. The great Vajra Devourer will tear out your heart, and you will die an untimely death. You will be killed by yakṣas, and you will be split apart. You will become the great Devourer of Wrath and the Great Terrifier. The great Vajra of the Great Glorious One will rip open your heart, and you will be burned by the blazing Vajra of Glorious Fire, your body reduced to ashes. You will be cast out from your respective abodes and reborn in the Avīci Hell." Thus, the samaya is imposed.
Then, present the five offerings and the torma to the glorious goddess. Recite: Oṃ hūṃ śrīye devī kāli mahākāli hūṃ bhyoḥ | oṃ vajra puṣpe pūja megha samudra spharaṇa samaye hūṃ phaṭ and offer flowers. Recite: Oṃ vajra dhūpe pūja megha samudra spharaṇa samaye hūṃ phaṭ and offer incense to her nose. Recite: Oṃ vajra dīpe pūja megha samudra spharaṇa samaye hūṃ phaṭ and offer a lamp to her eyes. Recite: Oṃ vajra gandhe pūja megha samudra spharaṇa samaye hūṃ phaṭ and offer scented water to her heart. Recite: Oṃ vajra naivedya pūja megha samudra spharaṇa samaye hūṃ phaṭ and offer the divine food into her hands.
Then, offer a torma containing the flesh and blood of a black goat, the flesh and blood of a black hen, and whatever other various types of blood are available, along with various foods such as meat and alcohol. Recite: Mahā māṃsa khāhi | mahā gorocana khāhi | mahā vasuta khāhi | idaṃ baliṃ gṛhṇa gṛhṇa pāya hūṃ phaṭ svāhā and present the torma.
Once the offerings are complete, offer praise. Play the flute or the thighbone trumpet, beat the hand-drum or the skull-drum, and praise her with a melodious voice:
*Oṃ! Glorious goddess, invincible mistress of the three realms,
Though you are intent on the liberation of your own purpose,
Through the power of compassion, you act for the benefit of beings
With various forms of wisdom attained in the subsequent state.
Goddess, your body is black, the color of a rain cloud,
The form of a black night, exceedingly fierce.*
Extremely alluring, with a body of skeletal bones, she has one face, four arms, and a majestic form with two legs. Her matted hair stands upright, while a braid curls to the left. Her waist is encircled by snakes, and she wears a garland of skulls. On the back of her ears are flowers and a black silk crown. Intoxicated by the wine of blood, the whites of her eyes are red. With a human corpse placed in her mouth, she bares four fangs. Gaping wide, she is utterly delighted by blood. From the neck of a snake on her right ear, she rings a bell; having subdued the malevolent, she proclaims the voice of Brahmā. Her left earring is the red mane of a lion; as a hero, she proclaims the lion’s roar throughout the three realms. Of her four arms, the first right holds a sword, and the lower one holds a skull-cup filled with red blood. The first left holds a śakti weapon, and the lower one brandishes a silk streamer from the neck of a triśūla. With the śakti and sword weapons, she has slain [enemies], and wears a necklace of asura skulls. She wears a raw elephant hide as an upper garment, and her lower body is draped in a cut-out raw cowhide. Half of this is wrapped as a yellow woolen skirt. She has a waistband made of intertwined nāga lords. Her two legs are beautifully adorned with iron chains. Marked with drops of red blood and fat, she rides a white-faced donkey and roams the charnel grounds at night. Her donkey’s hooves possess the speed of lightning; in a single instant, she circles the three realms. With a voice like the sound of a conch or thunder, she brings under her power the mamos, ḍākinīs, and flesh-eaters. She dwells eternally in the palace of Yama in the southern direction. From the sacred ground, she beholds the two form bodies.
Having attained mastery in meditative absorption, you went to the abodes of the form realm; the King of Brahmā and others prostrated to you. Having gained power over others, you reached the furthest reaches of the desire realm; you joyfully embrace the body of Maheśvara. When you went to the four abodes of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, the gods and Śakra prostrated to you. When you brought ruin to the asuras, all the lords of the asuras prostrated to you. When your supreme body was entwined with the great Mount Meru, the sun and moon rose from the direction of your navel. The Four Great Kings and others prostrated to you. You can cause fire to blaze from the depths of the ocean and dry up the sea; all the lords of the underworld prostrated to you. By your display of these miraculous feats, O Goddess, the māras, heretics, and kings tremble and bow down; the hosts of mamos and rākṣasīs roar and laugh. From the precious pavilion, the celestial palace of the heart, the light rays of the stacked maṇḍalas of the sun and moon blaze forth. Having gathered the essence of the worlds of the ten directions, you cause it to dissolve into the solar maṇḍala. With the vapors of poison, you provoke the four hundred and four diseases of the dark side; therefore, O Mistress of Disease, gather under oath. Having gathered the essence of the nectar of the worlds of the ten directions, you cause it to dissolve into the lunar maṇḍala. With the vapors of nectar, you uproot the four hundred and four diseases of the white side; O Queen of Medicinal Nectar, gather under oath. Whoever has faith in you is dearer to you than a mother; therefore, O Sole Mother, Mistress of Disease, and Chief of Medicine, [protect me].
Goddess, I constantly praise you. In the presence of the Buddha Śākyamuni, from now until the end of saṃsāra, in order to pacify the diseases, sufferings, and so forth of the white side, increase my lifespan and resources. Summon and bring under control the forces of the black side. These activities, such as driving mad, causing possession, and killing, shall be accomplished in order to protect the Teachings. If I should transgress this, I would be deceiving the command of the Victorious One; may the vajra of the Victors of the three times crush my head! Having thus made this vow in the presence of the Victorious One, act swiftly according to your promise. Upon me, the yogi, and my retinue, let fall a continuous rain of nectar from your mouth. Pacify the collection of sufferings such as disease. Increase my lifespan, power, and resources. Increase the heaps of material wealth, harvests, and grain, and increase the precious livestock and animals. As for the enemy who slanders the guru, slanders the status of the Three Jewels, and creates obstacles to my virtue—this evil-doer named so-and-so—blow the wind of poison from within your heart. Stir up the diseases of the four humors from within. Let the four limbs fall to the ground and strike out. Make them vomit the internal blood of the five solid and hollow organs. Make the evil-doer and his retinue beat their great breasts. Make them cry out in lamentation and wailing to the heavens. With the poisoned arrow of death, bring about madness, possession, and killing. Send down evil omens such as wild beasts and garuḍas. Swiftly perform this activity of protecting the Teachings! Oṃ ruru ro ru vitiṣṭha vadhotsi.
KĀMALARAKṢASI HŪṂ BHYOḤ / [Name] MĀRAYA HŪṂ PHAṬ / Recite this, bind the samaya, and sprinkle it upon the torma. Recite it one hundred and eight or twenty-one times, and perform all the praises, such as the dhāraṇī of the goddess. Then, abiding in the yoga of the goddess, one should constantly recite this secret mantra of the essence, which accomplishes all purposes: neither too fast, nor too slow, neither indistinct, nor with the vowel signs (vyañjana) impaired, but having abandoned distracted thoughts, one should recite. OṂ HŪṂ ŚRĪYADEVĪ KĀLĪ MAHĀKĀLĪ HŪṂ BHYOḤ / OṂ ARALLI HRĪṂ JAḤ / Recite these syllables clearly; maintain the pride of thinking that all mantra recitation is the speech of the goddess. Visualize that the sound of the mantra also issues from the mouths of all the emanated goddesses of oneself. By applying oneself to the recitation, all of these will become recitation. This is the mantra for the preliminary service; by reciting it seven hundred thousand times, or three hundred thousand, or five hundred thousand, all activities will be accomplished. Furthermore, having recited ten thousand mantras, offer a torma each time. Forming fists and extending the two index fingers like fangs at the left and right sides of the mouth, recite OṂ BHYĀVAVATALI VATALI TSE seven or three times, and say: "Oṃ, Mistress of the charnel ground, face of siddhi, fierce one, terrifying one, mouth of the hungry ghost, protector of samaya, lover of blood!"
The one who utters the sound kili, the one who has completed the union, in the midst of the charnel ground, the forest of corpses, together with her assembly and messengers, the fierce and wrathful Dudsolma: please partake, please accept, O deity of samaya! Please act to move from place to place. Whatever I desire in my mind, may you bring that to accomplishment. Whatever actions I perform, may you assist in them all.
Reciting: HŪṂ GṚHṆA GṚHṆA SARVA DUṢṬĀṂ BHAKṢA BHAKṢA PHROṂ PHROṂ PHROṂ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ, one should snap the fingers three times and dismiss her. One should understand that this continuity should be maintained until the recitation is complete. Recite in that manner until weariness arises; if weariness arises, perform a praise, present offerings, prostrate, and request the goddess to depart.
Having first presented great offerings to the glorious Black Goddess and completed the approach retreat, the yogi who has received the prophecy and obtained the signs should first recite the essence mantra one hundred thousand times. Then, having offered praise, one should apply it to the activities.
Then, if one is to perform the activities of driving mad or killing: take earth from an anthill, earth from a riverbank, earth from a charnel ground, warm ashes from a charnel ground, and charcoal from a charnel ground. Mix these substances together, grind them finely, knead them with donkey urine, and fashion an image of the target. If there are no herbs, use the fruit of the lung-thang-tse plant, mixed with poison, mustard seeds, salt, and blood.
Write the name, clan, and the bla (life-force) of the person’s lineage upon birch bark. On the body of that bla-figure, write the name and clan of the enemy along with the imperative command, “Kill!” Write: “HŪṂ [Name] MĀRAYA PHAṬ! UṂMANTAKURU PHAṬ!” Place this together with the bla-stone and insert it into the heart of the effigy. Furthermore, mix the aforementioned substances with the three hot spices and black sulfur; grind them finely, mix them with donkey urine, and smear it all over the effigy. Then, place it inside the skull of a predator and set it in the center of the maṇḍala. Summon the target and dissolve them into the effigy. Contemplate that it is indeed that very person and perform the ritual upon it. Since in India and beyond they use a single-pronged impaling stake for killing, here too one should forge a single-pronged stake from iron. When this is done, it is the goddess; insert it upward from the anus of the effigy and let it emerge from the mouth. Then, if one recites the mantra three hundred thousand times, the enemy will be destroyed. At that time, one should visualize that from the syllable KAṂ in the center of the victim’s heart, a black, hideous scorpion arises, drinking the heart-blood and eating the flesh from the center of the heart-lamp. Furthermore, from the light rays of the HŪṂ within the heart-lamp of oneself visualized as the Glorious Goddess, red JAḤ syllables spiral and radiate into the ten directions; from their gathering and complete transformation, one should visualize an iron female wolf with a shaggy mane.
Visualize that the central channel of the victim's heart is pierced and the blood is drunk, and recite the mantra: OṂ HŪṂ ŚRĪYE DEVĪ KĀLI KĀLI MAHĀKĀLI HŪṂ BHYOḤ | MĀMA ŚATRŪṂ AMUKAṂ MĀRAYA MĀRAYA HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ PHAṬ. Recite this one hundred times. As for the substances: finely grind together the root of kanaka, black cumin, indrayava, yakṣahasta, śigru, red jīvaka, charcoal from a charnel ground, and burnt salt; consecrate this powder mixture and strike the effigy with it. Heat a fierce vajra-kīla until it is glowing red and strike it into the heart. Then, cut the effigy into pieces with a sharp weapon and grind it into powder. If unmada fruit is available, that is best; if not, grind one hundred and eight laṅta-tse fruits in sour gruel, mix them with the powder of the effigy, and perform a fire offering in a fire of thorns while facing south, with hair disheveled and naked, in the ritual application of the Goddess Śrī. The mantra for this is: OṂ HŪṂ ŚRĪYE DEVĪ KĀLI KĀLI MAHĀKĀLI HŪṂ BHYOḤ | MĀMA ŚATRŪṂ AMUKAṂ MĀRAYA PHAṬ | UNMANTHAṂ KURU HŪṂ PHAṬ. Recite this one hundred and eight times, in coordination with the substances, one hundred and eight times. If one acts in this way, the victim will become insane. It is also said that if one takes those very ashes and strikes them upon the crown of the victim's head, they will remain insane for twenty-one years. Furthermore, in my own dream-visions, even a wrathful black maiden who binds someone with fetters—
One should know that on a dark night, the target will die within seven days and go to the realm of Yama. Even if it should take a little longer, one should perform this meditative concentration for seven days and nights. One should visualize the body of the target as withered and emaciated, its complexion faded and stained, its hair disheveled and greasy, with semen, sweat, and blood trickling down, and trembling in appearance. Alternatively, visualizing it directly, from the hūṃ at the heart of oneself abiding as the goddess, light rays like the rays of the sun and sparks of fire emerge. Blazing like the fire at the end of an eon, with roaring, crackling, and crackling sounds, it becomes the fierce syllable hūṃ. From that hūṃ, one should visualize a blazing vajra-needle. That blazing vajra-needle enters the anus of the enemy, pierces the heart, and emerges from the mouth or the Brahma-aperture at the crown of the head, blazing intensely. At the end of the essence mantra, one should append: amukam hana hana, daha daha, hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ phaṭ, and visualize the target falling face down. If even the Great God dies by such meditative concentration, what need is there to mention a human being dwelling in saṃsāra? This concludes the Sādhana of the Ḍākinī Dhūmāṅgārī composed by the great scholar Nāropa. Translated by Lokashrī. This is the corrected version from the personal manuscript of the Lord Marpa Lotsāwa.
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.