Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text is a ritual manual, or sādhana, for the practice of Red Yamāri. It provides a prescriptive sequence of visualizations and liturgical actions designed to facilitate a meditative union with the deity. The practitioner is instructed to generate a seed-syllable HŪṂ associated with fire and the syllable AḤ, eventually visualizing themselves in the form of Yamāntaka. The text commits the reader to a specific set of ritual offerings, specifically the presentation of torma to the deities, which is accompanied by a precise Sanskrit mantra. The practice concludes with a commitment to offer all sustenance to Yamāri, integrating the ritual process into the practitioner's daily life. The work is structured as a technical guide, moving from the establishment of the sacred space and the deity's form to the execution of offerings and the recitation of the mantra.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the practice of Red Yamāri, the Raktayamārisādhana belongs to the genre of sādhana and is situated within the classical Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Sumatigarbha, though the concluding lines of the translation also mention the great master Blo-bzang-snying-po. The text was translated into Tibetan by shakya’i dge slong nyi ma rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཙི, where it is categorized under the Other Skillful Means Tantras. Spanning three pages in this edition, the work enacts a prescriptive sequence of visualizations and liturgical actions. The practitioner is guided to generate a blazing red syllable HŪṂ and a golden vase via the syllable AḤ, eventually visualizing themselves in the form of Yamāntaka. The ritual involves presenting torma offerings to deities accompanied by a specific Sanskrit mantra and concludes with a commitment to offer all sustenance to Yamāri. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the technical structure of the practice, from the establishment of the sacred space and the deity's form to the precise execution of offerings and the integration of ritual process into daily life.
Sanskrit title
Raktayamārisādhana
Indian author
Sumatigarbha
Tibetan translators
shakya’i dge slong nyi ma rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Sādhana of Red Yamāri” (Toh 2035), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2035
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as a representative example of the complex visualization and offering rituals characteristic of Vajrayāna Buddhism. It demonstrates the use of seed-syllables and mantras to transform the practitioner's perception and identity. For a modern reader, it illustrates the intersection of linguistic precision and mental imagery in Tibetan ritual technology.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Visualization and Generation
Instructions on visualizing seed-syllables and the deity form of Yamāntaka.
2-3
Offering and Mantra
Guidelines for presenting torma offerings and the recitation of the associated Sanskrit mantra.
Themes
Deity Yoga (1-2)
Ritual Offering (2-3)
Mantra Recitation (3)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Rakta-yamāri-sādhana-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Gshin-rje’i dgra dmar-po’i sgrub-thabs (The Sādhana of the Red Yamāri). Homage to the Red Yamāntaka!
One should visualize a blazing red syllable HŪṂ from which fire blazes. Above that, by means of the syllable AḤ, is a great vessel, a golden vase. Within it, one should contemplate go, ku, da, ha, na, bi, ra, shu, ma, and mu, all of which are of the nature of milk.
Following that, in the eastern part of the vessel is Indra, mounted on an elephant and holding a vajra. In the south is Yama, mounted on a buffalo and holding a club. In the west is Varuṇa, mounted on a makara and holding a noose. In the north is Kubera, mounted on a treasure and holding a nakuli and a bījapūra. In the southeast is Agni, mounted on a goat and holding a rosary. In the southwest is Nairṛti, mounted on a corpse and holding a sword in his hand. In the northwest is Vāyu, mounted on a deer and holding a wind-banner. In the northeast is Īśvara, mounted on a bull and holding a trident and a skull-cup. In the center is Brahmā. In front of him is the Moon deity, holding a kumuda lily. Behind him is the Sun, holding a lotus. To the right is the Earth Goddess, seated facing toward the vow. To the left is the youth Vemacitra.
Thus, the entire assembly of spirits surrounding them, without exception, instantly arise from emptiness as the complete transformation of sentient beings.
Visualizing oneself in the form of Yamāntaka, one should meditate on a vajra the size of a barley grain upon the tongues of those [deities] and present the torma to them. Then, at the heart of the Blessed One, upon a sun disk generated from the previous seed-syllable, one should clearly meditate on a red syllable HŪṂ from which arises a staff marked by a fresh human head. In the center of that, one should contemplate a red syllable HŪṂ resting upon a sun maṇḍala. Then, one should contemplate the secret vajra as the complete transformation of the syllable HŪṂ. In the secret place of the Blessed Lady, there is a red syllable AṂ completely transformed upon an eight-petaled lotus. Following that, the mantra should be recited: OṂ SARVA-TATHĀGATA-RĀGAṆA-VAJRA-SVABHĀVA-ĀTMAKO ’HAṂ. After that, below the navel, one should contemplate a blazing red syllable HRĪḤ upon an eight-petaled red lotus. One should meditate on the Blessed One with one face and two arms, holding a skull-cup filled with blood in his left hand and a white staff marked by a human head in his right, seated upon a multicolored lotus atop a buffalo. The Wisdom Consort, intoxicated with joy, her neck adorned with a dry skull, with one face and two arms, should be visualized in union with the Blessed One. In that manner, one should meditate on Yamāntaka during three or four sessions and offer the torma. BHRŪṂ MĀṂ HRĀṂ KHAṂ HŪṂ is the mantra for blessing the samaya. OṂ INDRĀYA HRĪḤ | YAMĀYA ṢṬRĪḤ | VARUṆĀYA VI | KUBERĀYA KṚ | ĪŚĀNĀYA TA | AGNAYE A.
Nairṛtye na | Vāyave na | Candrāya hūṃ | Akāya hūṃ | Brahmaṇāya phaṭ | Vasudharāya phaṭ | Vemacitrāṇe svā | Sarvabhūtebhyo hā | Hrāṃ hrāṃ hrīḥ | Hūṃ hūṃ hūṃ | Phem phem phem | Svāhā. This is the mantra for the torma offering. Whatever is eaten, all of that should be offered to Yamāri. This concludes the Sādhana of Red Yamāri composed by the great master Blo-bzang-snying-po. It was translated by the Śākya monk Nyi-ma-rgyal-mtshan-dpal-bzang-po, who is well-versed in the language of the gods, at the temple of the glorious Thar-pa-gling, the seat of the bilingual scholars.
The Sādhana of Red Yamāri, Source of Qualities. Since this Indian manuscript was not understood by the Tibetans, it was respectfully translated from the manuscript of Chos-kyi-bzang-po by the bilingual master of the Vidyādharas, Dampa Se-tsa. May it become like the sun and moon upon the earth!
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.