Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
Binding All Ghosts with Vajras is a ritual manual attributed to Kṛṣṇapāda and extracted from the Black Yamāri Tantra. The text provides a specific praxis for the subjugation of pretas (hungry ghosts) through the application of mantra and visualization. It instructs the practitioner to perceive these entities as terrified and tormented while reciting a series of seed syllables and mantras associated with the deity Yamāntaka, the conqueror of death. The work commits the reader to a specific ritualized approach involving the use of the vajra-kīla and the performance of these actions within a cemetery setting. By framing the practice within the tradition of the Black Yamāri, the text positions the ritual as a method of spiritual coercion and protection, utilizing the power of a wrathful deity to bind and control disruptive spirits.
Provenance
About this text
Extracted from the four hundred and fifty verse Tantra of Black Yamāri, the Sarvapretavajrapāśa is a treatise focused on the ritual binding of pretas. The work is attributed to the Indian master Kṛṣṇa Paṇḍita, also referred to as Kṛṣṇapāda. It was translated into the Tibetan language by Prajñājñānakīrti, who is described as a yogi performing a self-translation. This classical Tibetan version is preserved in the Tengyur, volume མི, where it comprises two pages and is categorized within the Other Skillful Means Tantras. The work enacts a specific praxis for the subjugation of hungry ghosts through the application of mantra and visualization, invoking the power of the glorious Yamāntaka. The practitioner is instructed to perceive these entities as terrified and ablaze while reciting seed syllables and performing ritual actions, such as drawing a crossed vajra on a cemetery slate smeared with scents and poison. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific methods of spiritual coercion and protection associated with the Black Yamāri tradition, particularly the use of the vajra-kīla and the ritualized approach to controlling disruptive spirits within a cemetery setting.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Binding All Ghosts with Vajras” (Toh 1957), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh1957
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as it illustrates the application of the Yamāntaka cycle to the specific problem of preta management. It provides insight into the intersection of tantric deity yoga and the ritualized control of spirits in the Indo-Tibetan tradition.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and Mantra
Provides the Indian and Tibetan titles, an invocation to Yamāntaka, and the specific mantras and visualizations required for the approach practice.
3
Colophon
Contains a final praise to the Protector and identifies the author as Kṛṣṇapāda and the translator as Prajñāśrījñānakīrti.
Themes
Subjugation of Pretas (1-2)
Mantra and Visualization (2)
Lineage and Attribution (3)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Sarvapreta-vajrapāśaka. In the language of Tibet: Yi-dwags thams-cad rdo-rjes bcings-pa (Binding All Pretas with the Vajra). Homage to the glorious Yamāntaka!
The supreme master of the Lord of Death taught the mantra for the approach practice: "Perform the complete application for one hundred thousand [recitations]. Beginning from the seventh day of the waning moon, recite until the ninth. If even the Lord of Death himself is bound, what need is there to mention others?"
Within a vessel twenty finger-widths in height, triangular in shape with a width of ten finger-widths and a depth of ten, with a rim of three finger-widths projecting outward, and a base of three finger-widths in both width and height: smear the interior with charcoal from a charnel ground, and smear the two [sides] up to three finger-widths with blood. Inside a skull of a black person of no lineage, smeared with blood and poison, make a large secret opening like a window at the aperture of Brahma.
Upon a green double-dharmodaya, surrounded by a vajra fence as a perimeter, arrange the six syllables of the body. In the center, write the name of the target. Below, as a support for the suppression, draw Mount Meru with its eight peaks upon a cloth from a corpse in a charnel ground, complete with a golden foundation. Mark it with a crossed vajra, and write the syllables HŪṂ, LAṂ, and HŪṂ. Tie it with four cords at the grid intersections. Scatter the hot substances, iron filings, and so forth, while reciting the three syllables.
From the syllable OṂ, within the center of the dharmodaya, the emanated wrathful deities summon and fix [the target]. The earth, Mount Meru, the vajra, and oneself as Yamāntaka suppress [the target].
Behold them as terrified, tormented, and ablaze. OṂ KĀLARŪPA HŪṂ. OṂ HRĪḤ ṢṬRĪḤ VIKṚTĀNANA HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ. OṂ NṚ MĀRA NṚ MĀRA. HṚD DIŚRĪ DIŚRĪ. YAMA KHRAG TSUL BA BAṂ. SIRI SIRI. RIL DAṂ DUṂ PU. NAG PO TI PA RA NA ŚAG NAṂ. NYING LA THOD PA PRA ŚAG NAṂ. VAJRA KĪLI KĪLIYA.
Then, upon a cemetery slate, having smeared it with scents and the like mixed with poison, draw a crossed vajra. In the center, place the syllable NṚ, and at the tips, the syllable JAḤ. By arranging these, cover the opening and suppress it. Also, apply the seal of great ashes and poison.
HŪṂ! All you hosts of obstructors born from body, speech, and mind, listen! Now, the glorious Vajradhara applies the wheel of suppression. With a blazing vajra body, he suppresses those born from the three places. If any should transgress against me, they will be destroyed; it shall not be otherwise.
The wheel, the jewel, the lotus, and likewise the others are also described. With the stride of the vajra steps, utter these words of extreme suppression:
"You, sentient being of evil karma and sin, I entrust you to the hands of Yama! I bind you in the depths of the ocean! I suppress you with the weight of Mount Meru! I purify you within the four elements! I hide you in the hearts of the Nāga kings! Do not transgress this!
If you should generate the mind of enlightenment and, with faith, worship the Protector within the teaching of Śākyamuni, I shall show you the truth. This great application of the suppressing vajra is that which clears away the obstacles of the yogi."
Homage and praise to that Protector, the Great Powerful One, who is invincible by others. This concludes the work composed by the master Kṛṣṇapāda, extracted from the four hundred and fifty [verse] Tantra of Black Yamāri. It is the self-translation of the yogi Prajñāśrījñānakīrti.
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.