Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This sādhanā, attributed to Dīpaṃkaraśrībhadra, provides a ritual method for establishing a protective wheel to safeguard a specific individual. The text functions as a technical manual, instructing the practitioner to invoke Mañjuśrī Yamāntaka and construct a protective mandala through the spatial arrangement of seed syllables and mantras across multiple tiers. The ritual process commits the reader to a precise combination of linguistic formulas, mudrās, and visualizations, specifically targeting the eyes and face to activate the protective power of the deities. By transforming mantras into deity forms, the practitioner aims to create a spiritual barrier. The work concludes with a dedication of merit, shifting the focus from the protection of a single individual to the universal protection of all sentient beings from the four māras, thereby framing a specific protective rite within the broader soteriological goal of Buddhist practice.
Provenance
About this text
A sādhanā providing a ritual method for establishing a protective wheel, the Rakṣācakrasādhanopāyikā belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Dīpaṃkarabhadra. It was translated into Tibetan by zhu chen gyi lo tsa ba ’gos lhas btsas and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume མི, where it is situated within the Other Skillful Means Tantras collection. Spanning three pages in this edition, the text enacts a technical process of spiritual safeguarding. It instructs the practitioner to invoke Mañjuśrī Yamāntaka and construct a protective mandala by arranging mantras and seed syllables across multiple tiers. The ritual requires a precise coordination of linguistic formulas and mudrās—specifically those associated with the eyes, face, and crown—to transform mantras into deity forms that create a spiritual barrier for a designated individual. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine the specific intersection of mantra-based visualization and somatic gesture used to pacify obstacles and activate protective power within the Indo-Tibetan ritual corpus.
The work is significant as an example of the intersection between mantra-based protection rites and the complex iconography of Mañjuśrī Yamāntaka. It demonstrates the technical application of the 'protective wheel' (rakṣācakra) tradition, where spatial geometry and sound are used to manipulate spiritual energy for defensive purposes.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Invocation
Homage to Mañjuśrī Yamāntaka.
2
Ritual Construction
Instructions for inserting the subject's name and arranging mantras across the tiers of the protective wheel.
3
Activation
Instructions for using mudrās and mantras to invite deities into the form of the mantras.
4
Dedication
Dedication of merit for the protection of all beings and colophon.
Themes
Protective Rituals (2-3)
Mantra and Mudrā (2-3)
Universal Compassion (4)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Rakṣāsādhanopika. In the language of Tibet: Sruṅ ba’i ’khor lo sgrub pa’i thabs (The Method for Accomplishing the Protective Wheel). Homage to Mañjuśrī Yamāntaka!
Having prostrated again and again to Mañjuśrī Yamāntaka, the protector and enemy of the Lord of Death, I shall explain the sublime protection that pacifies obstacles. In order that the practice of one who has completed the ritual of approach may bear fruit, I shall now perform the activities of protection.
In a most auspicious and supreme location, having bathed and anointed oneself with fragrant unguents, one should don the finest garments and put on ornaments. Seated in the cross-legged posture upon a comfortable cushion and facing east, endowed with a beneficial mind and loving-kindness, one should joyfully generate oneself as the desired deity. Having accumulated the collection of merit, one should merge it with non-duality. One should recite the mantra with signs and offer the torma.
Upon a fresh and pure cloth, one should apply sandalwood and camphor. For a man, saffron is used to pacify [obstacles]; for a woman, it is gallstone. For pacifying hail and the like, as well as for all diseases and harms, one should properly use saffron. The pen for drawing these should be made of gold, silver, or other auspicious materials.
As for the sequence of drawing them: in the afternoon, having well prepared a maṇḍala and provided with offerings, one should draw it correctly. One should utter the words of truth and then draw. Eight great lines should be correctly laid out. Three circles are drawn, and the outermost is surrounded by a skull. Short lines should also be laid out, forming nine, twelve, and sixteen squares. In the central nine-square grid, one should place Ya in the center, Kṣe in the east, Ma in the south, Me in the west, and Da in the north; then in the four intermediate directions...
Insert the name of the person to be protected after rakṣa rakṣa. Starting from the east of the second tier: ya ca ni ra dza sa do ru ṇa yo ni rā. Starting from the east of the third tier, in the first square of the east: oṃ hrīḥ ṣṭrīḥ vikṛtānana hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā. [Name] rakṣa rakṣa. In the second square below that: [Name] rakṣa rakṣa. In this manner, one should arrange the sixteen squares, repeating the insertion of the name in each.
The wheel thus drawn is made in two ways: clockwise and counter-clockwise. The clockwise direction follows the movement of the earth, while the counter-clockwise follows the movement of the sky. Align the mantras and syllables head-to-head, writing them evenly and then rolling them up. Place this inside a perfectly clean earthen bowl, wrap the exterior with beeswax, and insert it into a mixture of ghee and honey. Wrap it seven times with a white thread spun from wool.
On a white maṇḍala measuring one cubit, smear the five products of a cow and fragrant scents. Place the joined earthen bowls upon it. From the state of emptiness, a bindu arises; from that, the syllables, hand-symbols, and bodies. All are generated with three faces and twice that many arms, complete with their respective colors and hand-symbols, together with their consorts in bliss. Perform the empowerment and blessings according to the ritual.
Through the light rays of one’s own hūṃ, summon the complete wisdom wheel. Perform prostrations, offerings, and so forth, and take the vows. Then, through non-dual light rays, merge the samaya wheel into non-duality. Offer the outer, inner, and secret offerings. Then, recollecting compassion, they melt into light for the purpose of protection. From the bindus, they become syllables.
The deities abide in the form of mantras. To them, these blessings should be performed. With the mudrā of the eyes, one recites: HŪṂ YAMĀNTAKṚT VAJRADHARMĀKṢU PRAVEŚAYA. With the knowledge of the mudrā of the face, one recites: OṂ YAMĀNTAKA DEVA ŚODHAYA TRAṂ PRAVEŚAYA PHAṬ. Having properly formed the mudrā at the crown, one recites: OṂ YAMĀNTAKA VA. With the mudrā of greatness, one recites: OṂ GUHYA GULAṂ. Then, having performed offerings and praises, one should recite the secret mantra with the visualization of emanation and reabsorption. This is applied for the purpose of protection.
Then, having taken a clay bowl and wrapped it in beeswax, or else having smeared it with lac, one should anoint it with mixed fragrances. The subject to be protected should be bathed, adorned with ornaments, anointed with fragrance, and placed upon a maṇḍala. Having invoked the truth, a man should be placed on the left, and those who are not brave on the right.
For a yogin who wishes to protect against the armies of adversaries, fire, water, disease, and so forth, as well as wind and hail, one should prepare a maṇḍala in a very clean and elevated place, well-anointed and strewn with flowers. This should be hung upon the tip of a victory banner. One should make perfect offerings three times each day, reciting the secret mantra with words of exhortation. One should constantly offer torma and scatter the ashes of the fire sacrifice in the ten directions. With the exhortations of the desired wheel, these will be thoroughly pacified. Since this is the supreme of all protections, the yogin should apply themselves to it. This sublime ritual of all protections was composed for the sake of practitioners and sentient beings.
By whatever slight virtue I have gained through this, may all beings be protected from the harm of all four māras. This concludes the work composed by the glorious Dīpaṃkaraśrībhadra.
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.