Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This sādhana provides a ritual procedure for the empowerment and practice associated with the deity Vajragaurī. The text instructs the practitioner in the precise construction of a mandala, specifically detailing the subjugation of eight great nāgas who are pinned down by kīlas and trampled by the deity. The ritual logic moves from the spatial arrangement of the mandala to the manipulation of internal and external elements; the practitioner is directed to release wind into a specific mandala to generate heat and fire. This process is designed to transform the poisonous vapors of the nāgas and the ocean into rain-clouds. By committing to these visualizations and energetic manipulations, the practitioner seeks to harness and transmute volatile elemental forces through the power of the deity, shifting the environment from one of toxicity to one of ritual efficacy.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the empowerment of the deity Vajragaurī, the Vajragauryanugrahasādhana belongs to the genre of sādhana and the classical Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Śrīdhara. It was translated into Tibetan by Vibhūticandra and glo bo lo tsa ba dge slong shes rab rin chen, 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 work enacts a complex ritual procedure centered on the construction of a mandala and the subjugation of eight great nāgas. Through the visualization of these beings pinned by kīlas and trampled by Vajragaurī, the practitioner manipulates elemental forces, releasing wind to generate heat and fire to transform poisonous vapors into rain-clouds. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific ritual logic used to transmute volatile environmental and elemental forces into ritual efficacy through the power of the deity.
Sanskrit title
Vajragauryanugrahasādhana
Indian author
Śrīdhara
Tibetan translators
Vibhūticandra, glo bo lo tsa ba dge slong shes rab rin chen
The text is significant for its depiction of the subjugation of nāgas, reflecting a broader Buddhist tradition of taming worldly spirits to serve the dharma. For the modern reader, it illustrates the complex intersection of elemental alchemy and deity yoga in Vajrayāna practice.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and offers homage to Yamāntaka.
2
Mandala Construction
Describes the visualization of eight nāgas being subdued by kīlas and trampled by Vajragaurī.
3
Elemental Transformation
Details the use of wind and fire to transform poisonous vapors into rain-clouds.
Themes
Subjugation of Nāgas (2)
Elemental Manipulation (3)
Deity Yoga (1-2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
The Sādhana of Vajragaurī
In the language of India: Vajragaurī-anugraha-sādhana-nāma. In the language of Tibet: rDo rje dkar mo’i rjes su ’dzin pa’i sgrub thabs zhes bya ba (The Sādhana of the Empowerment of Vajragaurī). Homage to the glorious Yamāntaka!
A mantra practitioner who wishes to accomplish Vajragaurī should sit on a comfortable seat in a place conducive to the mind. With great compassion for all sentient beings, they should perform the practices from the homage up to the meditation on equanimity. Then, following the preliminary cultivation of emptiness, upon a multicolored lotus and moon disc, from a yellow syllable RU and a sword, [the deity] arises with a body the color of gold. She has three faces and six arms; the central, right, and left faces are yellow, red, and white, respectively. In her right hands, she holds a sword, a vajra, and a curved knife (kartṛka). In her left hands, she holds a wheel, a lotus, and a skull-cup. She has three eyes, a crown of garlands of heads, and a necklace of fifty human heads hanging down. She is adorned with the five mudrās and possesses the flavors of the graceful and so forth. With her left leg extended, she stands upon a moon disc and the yellow syllable RU.
The root mantra is: OṂ GAṂ BHIRAVAJRA KARTITA GHA GHA HŪṂ RAKTA ŚOṆITA PRIYE GAURĪYE VIGHNAṂ JA HRĪḤ. One should recite this one hundred thousand times with one-pointed concentration. Then, in order to accomplish the activities, one should first perform the approach (sevā) until the signs are obtained. Once that is accomplished, one should perform the practice with the mantra. Then, in an open place, one should construct a maṇḍala, which is a celestial palace consisting of an eight-petaled lotus together with a central hub.
On the eight petals, one should draw the forms of the eight great nāgas, each with its tail pinned down by a kīla born from the syllable RA. In his right hand, he holds a nāga-noose, and in his left, a śakti. He is trampled upon by the glorious Vajragaurī, as described previously. Having arranged offerings, torma cakes, and so forth, the master, together with his companions, should meditate upon the maṇḍala of the Blessed One, Red Yamāntaka, and recite the mantra with a fierce mind:
OṂ BHIṢI MŪTACE DU MA MA ŚALĀ KALA JALATI AJITE SVĀHĀ. TADYATHĀ: CATATA CATATA, CI CAṆḌA CI CAṆḌA, VAJRA ṢELA ṢALATE SVĀHĀ. OṂ LIDU LAJAMKA SVĀHĀ. By reciting these three mantras four thousand times, the preliminary service is completed.
OṂ PAŚAMI GIṬU MAŚAJATI AJITE SVĀHĀ. One should recite this one hundred and eight times. Furthermore, one should recite those two mantras in sequence. In this way, one should practice until signs are obtained; this constitutes the preliminary service.
Facing the wheel, with one's feet placed in water, one should recite the root mantra, the heart mantra, and the activity mantras together. One should expel obstructing spirits with white mustard seeds. To pacify the local area, one should offer extensive torma cakes to the field protectors. If rain does not fall within three days, then at that time, one should place an image of a nāga into an earthen bowl, with the heart mantra placed at its heart. Having made offerings to it, one should join the bowl together and place it in a wrathful fire pit in the northwestern direction.
By releasing [the wind] into the wind mandala below, the wind stirs greatly, causing fire to blaze and the water to heat. One should visualize that the poisonous vapors of the great nāgas and the vapors of the ocean emerge, and as rain-clouds, they descend in the center of the atmosphere. If, even after doing this, rain does not fall for five days, then at that time, one should fiercely threaten Ketu. Accompanied by the striking of the vajra and Amoghasiddhi, one should recite the samaya: oṃ hana hana vajrasamaya hūṃ. Then: oṃ paśamiketu rumiśika jalati oṃ vajralate svāhā. oṃ bhinḍarara hūṃ mahākrodhapādaṣāla ṣālate svāhā. oṃ ketuyakṣa jalare kīlikīlaya sarva svāhā. One should recite these ten thousand times. Then, by recollecting the pledge, rain will certainly fall.
The Sādhana of the Glorious Vajraśvetā composed by the siddha, the universal monarch master Śrīdhara, is complete. It was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian paṇḍita Gyalsay Pal Vibhūticandra and the Lo-wo translator, the monk Sherab Rinchen, at the royal palace of Nyuzung in the kingdom of Dharma.
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.