Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text is a sādhana, a liturgical manual for deity yoga, centered on the fierce manifestation of Yamāri known as the Savage Sword-Wielder. The provided fragments outline the initial stages of a ritual process designed to transform the practitioner's ordinary perception into a divine identity. The text begins with a formal invocation and the visualization of the deity arising from emptiness, establishing the non-dual nature of the vajra body. It then proceeds to a technical phase of energy integration, where the practitioner uses specific seed syllables and mantras to draw external desire deities into their own body. This process culminates in an offering ritual, where the practitioner visualizes a stream of wisdom emanating from the heart to honor the Tathāgatas. By following these instructions, the reader commits to a rigorous mental discipline of visualization and mantra recitation intended to transmute desire and aggression into enlightened awareness through the identification with a wrathful deity.
Provenance
About this text
A sādhana centered on the fierce manifestation of Yamāri known as the Savage Sword-Wielder, the Gaṇḍakhadgayamārisādhana is a liturgical manual for deity yoga. The work is attributed to the Indian author Atīśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. It was translated into the Tibetan language by Prajñājñānakīrti and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume མི, where it is situated within the Other Skillful Means Tantras collection. Spanning two pages in this edition, the work enacts a ritual process designed to transform the practitioner's ordinary perception into a divine identity. The practice begins with a formal invocation and the visualization of the deity arising from peaceful emptiness to establish the non-dual nature of the vajra body. It then proceeds to a technical phase of energy integration, utilizing specific seed syllables and mantras to draw external desire deities into the practitioner's own body, culminating in an offering ritual where a stream of wisdom emanates from the heart to honor the Tathāgatas. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the rigorous mental discipline of visualization and mantra recitation required to uphold the Buddha-vajra conduct.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Sādhana of the Savage Sword-Wielding Yamāri” (Toh 1950), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1950
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as it exemplifies the use of wrathful imagery and the integration of desire-based energies within the Vajrayana tradition. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of how tantric ritual utilizes somatic visualization and phonetic formulas to achieve psychological and spiritual transformation.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Invocation and Visualization
Contains the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, an homage to Vajrasattva, and the beginning of the deity's visualization from emptiness.
2
Ritual Integration and Offering
Details the use of mantras to absorb desire deities and the visualization of wisdom-offerings to the Tathāgatas.
Themes
Deity Yoga (1-2)
Transmutation of Desire (2)
Emptiness and Form (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaA Sādhana of the Savage Sword-Wielding Yamāri·
In the language of India: Caṇḍakhaḍgayamārisādhana-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Ral gri gshin rje gshed gtum po’i sgrub thabs zhes bya ba (The Sādhana of the Fierce Yamāri with the Sword). Homage to the glorious Vajrasattva!
From the peaceful emptiness, the vajra body arises;
The face of the fierce one who brings an end to the Māras,
Possessing great compassion that cares for sentient beings—
To the Great Sword, I bow and shall explain.
Having generated the deity through instantaneous recollection,
One should focus on the sublime and gather the accumulations.
With the four immeasurables as the preliminary,
One meditates on emptiness and the wheel.
The lotus has sharp rays of light;
From the syllable RAṂ, the powerful body is formed.
Its color is like emerald green,
With a blue and a white face on the right and left.
Holding a curved knife, a sword, a wheel,
A skull-cup, a jewel, and a lotus.
Adorned with the ornaments of a hero and nāgas,
With hair standing upright in the midst of a mass of fire,
Clad in a tiger skin and with the left leg extended—
Such is the generated body.
At the heart, from HŪṂ, is the Vajra Mind;
At the throat, from ĀḤ, is the Vajra Speech;
At the crown, from OṂ, is the Vajra Body.
They are blue, red, and white, and possess weapons.
At the eyes is white KṢIṂ, the Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha;
At the ears is blue JRIṂ, the Vajra-holder;
At the nose is yellow KHAṂ, the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha;
At the tongue is red GAṂ, the Lord of the World;
At the forehead is green KAṂ, the Bodhisattva Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin;
At the bridge of the nose is white SAṂ, the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.
One should invite the deities, offer worship, and perform the blessing:
OṂ SARVA-TATHĀGATA-KĀYA-VĀK-CITTA-VAJRA-SVABHĀVA-ĀTMAKO ’HAṂ.
Through Vajrasattvī and the others,
The empowerment is conferred, and at the crown is Yamāntaka.
Exhort the desire deities with the mantras of the four gates, and cause them to enter one’s own body: MUṄGARA JĀḤ, DAṆḌA HŪṂ, PADMA VAṂ, KHAḌGA HOḤ. At the heart, the stream of melting wisdom emanates from the pores of the skin and performs the offering: OṂ SARVA-TATHĀGATA-PŪJA-VAJRA-SVABHĀVA-ĀTMAKO ’HAṂ. From the vajra of HŪṂ, you possess great diligence; you uphold the Buddha-vajra conduct; you are the Sage who brings activities to completion. Homage to you, Vajra-Diligence! Having partaken of the nectar, perform the recitation with the visualization of emanation and reabsorption: OṂ VAJRA-KHAḌGA-DHṚK HŪṂ HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ. As the elements dissolve in succession, purify them into the three syllables and meditate on the vajra-like samādhi in which pleasure and suffering are not perceived. Without regard for gain or honor, and out of compassion for sentient beings, I have composed this Sādhana of the Vajra-Sword. Through this, may the state of renunciation be attained. This concludes the Sādhana of the Fierce Yamāntaka, the Vajra-Sword.
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.