Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text outlines the procedural requirements for the performance of a maṇḍala offering. The work establishes a hierarchical sequence of practice, mandating that the practitioner first maintain meditative equipoise while performing the maṇḍala of the guru before proceeding to the maṇḍala of the yidam deity. The text integrates formal liturgical elements, including traditional homages to the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the specific guru. By framing the guru as the source of primordial wisdom and the light of suchness, the text commits the reader to a practitioner-teacher relationship based on devotion and the recognition of the guru as the primary catalyst for spiritual illumination. The fragments suggest a structure that moves from general veneration to specific ritualized offerings, emphasizing the necessity of mental stability and devotional alignment as prerequisites for the subsequent deity-focused rituals.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the performance of the maṇḍala, the Maṇḍalavidhi belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. Attributed to the Indian author Niṣkalaṅkavajra, the work was translated into Tibetan by Atulyadāsa and the lo tsa ba dge slong blo ldan shes rab. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume མི, where it is situated within the Other Skillful Means Tantras and extends over three pages. The work enacts a specific liturgical sequence, mandating that the practitioner first maintain meditative equipoise while performing the maṇḍala of the guru before proceeding to the maṇḍala of the yidam deity, the maṇḍala for recitation, and subsequent offerings. By integrating formal homages to the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the guru—who is characterized as the source of primordial wisdom and the light of suchness—the text establishes a practitioner-teacher relationship rooted in devotion. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the procedural requirements of maṇḍala offerings and the necessity of mental stability and devotional alignment as prerequisites for ritual practice.
The work is significant for illustrating the primacy of the guru in Vajrayana ritual praxis, where the teacher is positioned as the gateway to the yidam. For the modern reader, it demonstrates the intersection of meditative state and formal ritual action in Indo-Tibetan traditions.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Preliminary Instructions
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and specifies the required sequence of maṇḍala offerings.
2
Guru Homage
A devotional address to the guru, praising his role in illuminating the practitioner with primordial wisdom.
Themes
Ritual Hierarchy (1)
Guru Devotion (2)
Meditative Equipoise (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Maṇḍalavidhiḥ. In the language of Tibet: Maṇḍala-gyi cho-ga (The Ritual of the Maṇḍala). Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Having always performed the maṇḍala of the guru while in meditative equipoise, one should perform the maṇḍala of the yidam deity, the maṇḍala for recitation, and the offerings and so forth. Now, one should perform the maṇḍala of the guru. In that regard, in the center: Oṃ haṃ sumahāmerave namaḥ. In the east: Oṃ yaṃ pūrvavidehāya namaḥ. In the south: Oṃ raṃ jambudvīpāya namaḥ. In the west: Oṃ laṃ aparagodānīye namaḥ. In the north: Oṃ vaṃ uttarakurave namaḥ. In the southeast: Oṃ yaḥ upadvīpāya namaḥ. In the southwest: Oṃ raḥ upadvīpāya namaḥ. In the northwest: Oṃ laḥ upadvīpāya namaḥ. In the northeast: Oṃ vaḥ upadvīpāya namaḥ.
Furthermore, in the east of the center: Oṃ ya gajaratanāya namaḥ. In the south: Oṃ ra puruṣaratanāya namaḥ. In the west: Oṃ la aśvaratanāya namaḥ. In the north: Oṃ va strīratnāya namaḥ. In the southeast: Oṃ yā khaḍgaratanāya namaḥ. In the southwest: Oṃ rā cakraratanāya namaḥ. In the northwest: Oṃ lā mahāmaṇiratnāya namaḥ. In the northeast: Oṃ vā mahānidhibhyo ratnāya namaḥ.
All of these should be visualized according to their forms. Having made offerings, one should look toward the guru in front, offer all of this to the guru, and perform prostrations preceded by a handful of flowers: Oṃ āḥ.
Homage at the lotus feet of the glorious guru, who brings forth the light of authentic primordial wisdom.
"Hūṃ! To the sun-like guru, I prostrate with devotion—
He who, through the light of his kindness, has illuminated me,
And who, with the light of the collection of precious suchness, has destroyed the darkness,
So that I may behold the faultless vision through his playful manifestation."
Thus, one should offer praise. This is the ritual of the maṇḍala of the guru.
It is also taught in the Great Tantra of the Primordial Buddha: "Since placing a reading stand and so forth upon one’s own yidam deity is prohibited, I shall describe the maṇḍala of the maṇḍala as taught in that very [tantra]:
'In the east is Pūrvavideha;
In the southern direction is Jambudvīpa;
In the west is Aparagoyānī;
In the north is Uttarakuru.
In the center is Mount Meru, and in the intermediate directions,
One should worship those continents with the aforementioned mantras.
Above that, one should respectfully recite
The Prajñāpāramitā and other [teachings].
Having performed offerings and so forth to them,
One should practice all of these in their true nature.'"
This is the ritual of the maṇḍala of recitation. "Oṃ vajramaṇḍala muḥ" is the request for the two maṇḍalas to depart. The maṇḍala of the yidam deity should be understood from the texts of their respective sādhanas.
This concludes the work composed by the great master Śrī Vimalavajra. It was translated by the Indian abbot Aduladhasa and the translator, the monk Loden Sherab.
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.