Toh 2019 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Personal Instructions on the Blessings of the Glorious Red Yamāri called “The Stages of the Dawning of the Clear Light”

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2019
Genre: Instruction
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 048_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཙི.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,740 Tibetan characters · 413 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

This text provides pith instructions on the practice of the Red Yamāri, focusing on the transition from conceptual elaboration to a state of non-elaboration. The author argues that habitual mental distractions can only be overcome through the guidance of a guru and the cultivation of solitude. The work commits the practitioner to a rigorous process of abandoning all bonds, including those associated with liberation itself, to achieve a state of luminosity. By following these secret instructions, the practitioner is promised the attainment of supernatural powers, such as celestial travel and the command of ḍākinīs, as well as the fulfillment of specific desires. The text functions as a manual for transforming ordinary perception into a clear light state through the intersection of guru-devotion and meditative discipline.

Provenance

About this text

An instruction on the stages of the arising of luminosity, the dpal gshin rje gshed dmar po'i byin gyis brlab pa'i man ngag 'od gsal 'char ba'i rim pa is attributed to the Indian author Virūpa. The work entered the Tibetan tradition through the efforts of the translators Devendrapāda and chag lo tsa dge slong chos rje dpal bzang po. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཙི, where it is situated within the Other Skillful Means Tantras collection of the classical Tibetan period, spanning two pages. The work enacts a process of transforming conceptual elaborations into a state of non-elaboration, asserting that such a transition requires the guidance of a guru and the preparation of a maṇḍala in a place of great solitude. By abandoning all bonds, including those of liberation, the practitioner is guided toward the attainment of luminosity and the fulfillment of desires, including the command of ḍākinīs and the ability to travel through the sky. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific intersection of guru-devotion and meditative discipline required to achieve these supernatural powers and the abandonment of the bonds of the three realms.

Sanskrit title: not recorded
Indian author: Virūpa
Tibetan translators: Devendrapāda, chag lo tsa dge slong chos rje dpal bzang po
Canonical collection: Other Skillful Means Tantras
Genre: Instruction
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཙི
Period: classical Tibetan

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Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

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Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “Personal Instructions on the Blessings of the Glorious Red Yamāri called “The Stages of the Dawning of the Clear Light”” (Toh 2019), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2019

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its representation of the Vajrayāna synthesis of transcendental liberation and the attainment of siddhis (supernormal powers). It illustrates the traditional reliance on the guru to navigate the paradox of using conceptual tools to reach a non-conceptual state.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1-2	The Arising of Luminosity	Instructions on overcoming conceptual elaboration through guru guidance and the subsequent attainment of spiritual powers.

Themes

Conceptual elaboration and non-elaboration (1)
Guru devotion (1-2)
Attainment of supernatural powers (siddhis) (2)
Abandonment of bonds (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaPersonal Instructions on the Blessings of the Glorious Red Yamāri called “The Stages of the Dawning of the Clear Light”·

༄༅༅། ། འོད་གསལ་འཆར་བའི་རིམ་པ། དཔལ་གཤིན་རྗེ་གཤེད་དམར་པོ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། གང་ཞིག་ཤིན་ཏུ་གོམས་པ་ཡིས། ། སྤྲོས་པ་ཡིད་ཀྱིས་ཡིད་གཡེངས་ན། ། བླ་མའི་མན་ངག་ལ་བརྟེན་ནས། ། སྤྲོས་པ་དེ་ཉིད་སྤྲོས་མེད་བྱ། ། རི་བོའི་རྩེ་སོགས་རབ་དབེན་པར། ། མཎྜལ་ལ་སོགས་ཚོགས་བྱས་ལ། ། བདག་བསྐྱེད་མཆོད་དང་བུམ་པ་བཟླས། ། ཇི་སྐད་བཤད་བཞིན་འགྲུབ་པ་ན། ། ཤིན་ཏུ་དད་དང་ལྡན་པ་ཡི། ། སློབ་མ་རྗེས་སུ་གཟུང་བར་བྱ། ། ཁྲུས་སོགས་སྔོན་འགྲོ་བགེགས་བསྐྲད་ལ། ། ཐུན་མོང་པ་དང་ཁྱད་པར་གྱི། ། ཡོངས་སུ་རྫོགས་པའི་སྡོམ་པ་སྦྱིན། ། རང་སྙིང་ལ་གནས་དབྱུག་པ་དཀར། ། རྡོ་རྗེས་མཚན་པ་བསྒོམ་པར་བྱ། ། སྣ་ཚོགས་སྤྲོས་པའི་ཡིད་འདི་ཉིད། ། སྤྲོས་དང་བྲལ་བར་གདོད་ནས་གྲུབ། ། སྤྲོས་དང་སྤྲོས་མེད་གཞན་མིན་ཕྱིར། ། ཟུང་དུ་འཇུག་པའི་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་བྱ། ། ཨོཾ་བཛྲ་ཡོ་ག་ཙིཏྟ་ཨུཏྤཱ་ད་ཡཱ་མི་སུ་ར་ཏ་ས་མ་ཡ་སྟྭཾ་ཧོ། ། དེ་ནས་(འཇོམ་,འཇམ་)དཔལ་འདུས་པ་ཡི། ། དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ཆོ་ག་ལ་གསུངས་ལྟར། ། འབྱུང་བ་ལྔ་དང་ཕུང་ལྔ་ལ། ། གནས་པའི་ཉོན་མོངས་ལྔ་སྦྱངས་ནས། ། བདེ་གཤེགས་ལྔ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལྔ། ། དབང་བར་བྱེད་པ་དབང་ལྔ་སྦྱིན། ། དེ་ནས་བསྲུབ་དང་བསྲུབས་པ་ཡི། ། བདེ་བ་ཐིག་ལེའི་མན་ངག་བྱ། ། རྡོ་རྗེས་རྣམ་རྟོག་གཞོམ་པ་ཡི། ། གཡོ་འཛིན་རླུང་གི་མན་ངག་དབབ། ། དེ་ཡི་འོག་ཏུ་ཟབ་མོ་ནི། ། སངས་རྒྱས་ཀུན་གྱི་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་གསང་། ། མཁའ་འགྲོའི་བཀའ་ཡིས་གདམས་གྱུར་པ། ། རྣམ་རྟོག་འོད་གསལ་ཞལ་ལས་གཟུང་། ། དེ་ནི་ནམ་ཞིག་རྟོགས་གྱུར་པས། ། སྐད་ཅིག་ཉིད་ལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་འཆར། །

The Stages of the Arising of Luminosity Homage to the glorious Red Yamāntaka! If the mind is distracted by conceptual elaborations through excessive habituation, one should rely on the guru’s pith instructions to make those very elaborations non-elaborate. In a place of great solitude, such as a mountain peak, having prepared the maṇḍala and other requisites, one should complete the self-generation, offerings, and vase recitation as explained. Once these are accomplished, one should take under one’s care a disciple endowed with profound faith. After performing the preliminaries such as the ritual ablution and the expulsion of obstructing spirits, one should bestow the complete common and extraordinary vows. One should meditate on a white staff marked with a vajra residing in one’s own heart. This very mind, which is the source of diverse elaborations, is primordially established as free from elaboration. Since elaboration and non-elaboration are not other, one should generate the bodhicitta of union: OṂ VAJRA-YOGA-CITTA-UTPĀDAYĀMI SURATA-SAMAYA-STVAṂ HOḤ. Then, according to the maṇḍala ritual of the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti, one purifies the five afflictions residing in the five elements and five aggregates, and bestows the five empowerments that confer mastery over the five Sugatas and the five wisdoms. Following that, one should apply the pith instructions on the bindu of bliss through churning and being churned. One should apply the pith instructions on the wind that holds the movement, which destroys conceptual thought with the vajra. Thereafter, one should grasp from the lips of the guru the profound secret of the heart of all Buddhas, as instructed by the command of the ḍākinīs: the conceptual thought of luminosity. When that is realized, wisdom dawns in a single instant.

definitionབླ་མ “guru” — One of the fourteen rākṣasīs .

homonymདཀྱིལ་འཁོར is rendered “maṇḍala” here; the glossary also records inner circle, maṇḍalaka, disk for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionདཀྱིལ་འཁོར “maṇḍala” — A small ritual space, usually on the ground which is smeared with cow-dung and other substances, where offerings are made. Although the term sometimes lacks the - ka ( kan ) suffix, it is not to be confused with the pant

homonymཉོན་མོངས is rendered “affliction” here; the glossary also records afflictions, defilement, afflictive emotion for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཉོན་མོངས “affliction” — The essentially pure nature of mind is obscured and afflicted by various psychological defilements, which destroy the mind’s peace and composure and lead to unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, acting as causes f

terminologyསངས་རྒྱས → “buddha”. The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carried by context, not by a suffix.

homonymསངས་རྒྱས is rendered “buddha” here; the glossary also records Awakened, awakened, Buddha for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionསངས་རྒྱས “buddha” — The Indic term buddha means "The Awakened One" and is used in Buddhism as an epithet for the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama as well as other spiritually enlightened beings in general. “ Buddha ” is the past partici

terminologyཡེ་ཤེས → “wisdom”. Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty on the path.

homonymཡེ་ཤེས is rendered “wisdom” here; the glossary also records awareness, Wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཡེ་ཤེས “wisdom” — The term jñāna is formed by the root jñā , meaning “to know,” “to know of,” “to understand,” “to be aware of,” with the addition of the pratyaya lyuṭ , which can be interpreted as having different values (the instrument

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termབླ་མ → guru

termདཀྱིལ་འཁོར → maṇḍala

termཉོན་མོངས → affliction

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

termཡེ་ཤེས → wisdom

གྲོལ་དང་གྲོལ་བ་མ་ཡིན་པའི། ། འཆིང་བ་ཀུན་ནི་སྤངས་པར་འགྱུར། ། ནོར་དང་གོ་འཕང་མཉམ་པ་དང་། ། མཁའ་ལ་འགྲོ་དང་ཀུན་མཐོང་དང་། ། མཁའ་འགྲོ་བྲན་དུ་བྱ་ལ་སོགས། ། ཅི་འདོད་པ་ཡི་བསམ་པ་འགྲུབ། ། དེ་ལྟར་ཤིན་ཏུ་གསང་བ་བླ་མ་དམ་པའི་དྲིན་ལས་བྱུང་གྱུར་པ། ། གསལ་བར་བྱས་པ་གང་ཡིན་དེས་ནི་སྲིད་པ་གསུམ་བོའི་འཆིང་བ་ཀུན། ། སྤངས་ནས་སྲིད་གསུམ་བདེ་ཆེན་རོ་གཅིག་དཔལ་ལྡན་ལས་འབྲས་ཀུན་གཟིགས་པ། ། ཞི་ལས་འཇམ་དབྱངས་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཁྲོས་པ་གཤིན་རྗེ་གཤེད་དཔལ་ཐོབ་གྱུར་ཅིག། དཔལ་གཤིན་རྗེ་གཤེད་དམར་པོའི་བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབ་པའི་མན་ངག་འོད་གསལ་འཆར་བའི་རིམ་པ་སློབ་དཔོན་མཐུ་སྟོབས་ཀྱི་མགོན་པོ་དཔལ་བི་རཱུ་པས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་པཎྜི་ཏ་བ་རེནྡྲ་བའི་ཞལ་སྔ་ནས་དང་། ཆག་ལོ་ཙཱ་དགེ་སློང་ཆོས་རྗེ་དཔལ་བཟང་པོས་བསྒྱུར་བའོ། ། ། །

All bonds, whether of liberation or non-liberation, shall be abandoned. Wealth, equal status, traveling through the sky, seeing all, and bringing the ḍākinīs under one's command—whatever one desires, such intentions shall be fulfilled. Thus, through the kindness of the sublime guru, this most secret [instruction] has been clarified. By this, may all the bonds of the three realms be abandoned, and may the glorious Yamāntaka—Mañjughoṣa in his most wrathful form—be attained, who perceives all karmic results and the single taste of the great bliss of the three realms beyond peace. The Stages of the Arising of Luminosity: The Pith Instruction on the Blessing of Glorious Red Yamāntaka, composed by the master, the glorious Virūpa, the Lord of Power, is hereby complete. It was translated by the Indian paṇḍita Varendraruci and the Tibetan translator, the monk Chöjé Palzangpo.

structureColophon: closes the text and names the translators or author.

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti . It may mean the Buddhist teachings, the awakened qualities which buddhas and bodhisattvas acquire, phenomena or thing

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: dharma

checkAutomatic check: bracketed gloss waived.

termབླ་མ → guru

termདགེ་སློང → monk

termཆོས → dharma

Terminology used in this text (8)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
བླ་མ	guru	2
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
དཀྱིལ་འཁོར	maṇḍala	1
ཉོན་མོངས	affliction	1
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	1	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
དགེ་སློང	monk	1
ཆོས	dharma	1	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 048_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཙི.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

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.

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