Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text provides technical instructions for the practice of phowa, the transference of consciousness at the moment of death. The work begins by establishing the necessity of the practice through the observation of death's certainty and the identification of physiological signs of demise. It then transitions into a specific meditative protocol involving the visualization of the deity Red Yamāntaka at the crown of the head. The text commits the practitioner to a precise internal energetic process: the unification of the central channels and the use of the seed syllable hūṃ to block the heart center and propel the consciousness upward. By dissolving the guru's hūṃ into the practitioner's own, the text outlines a method for achieving a higher state of existence through the redirection of the mind's support during the transition of death.
Provenance
About this text
A manual of instruction concerning the transference of one's own consciousness, the rang gi sems gong du 'pho ba'i man ngag belongs to the Other Skillful Means Tantras. The work is attributed to the Indian author Śrīdhara. It was translated into classical Tibetan by Abhijña and bod kyi lo tsa ba ’gos khug pa, and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཙི, where it extends over two pages. The text enacts a technical protocol for the practice of phowa, beginning with the examination of the outer and inner signs of death. It directs the yogi to visualize the deity Red Yamāntaka at the crown of the head and to employ a precise energetic process involving the unification of the central channels. By using the seed syllable hūṃ to block the heart center and dissolve the guru's hūṃ into the practitioner's own, the work provides a method for propelling the mind's support upward during the transition of death. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to understand the specific meditative and physiological requirements for redirecting consciousness at the moment of demise.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Personal Instructions on Transference of One’s Own Conciousness to Higher States” (Toh 2041), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2041
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as it represents the intersection of deity yoga and the phowa tradition within the Indo-Tibetan framework. It demonstrates how specific tantric visualizations and channel-wind manipulations are employed to overcome the randomness of rebirth. For the modern reader, it serves as a primary example of the ritualized approach to death and dying in Vajrayana Buddhism.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Preliminary Instructions
Homage to Vajradhara and Yamāntaka, followed by the necessity of recognizing the signs of death.
2
Meditative Protocol
Detailed instructions on visualization, channel manipulation, and the movement of the hūṃ syllable.
Themes
Transference of Consciousness (1-2)
Deity Visualization (2)
Subtle Body Manipulation (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaPersonal Instructions on Transference of One’s Own Conciousness to Higher States·
The Pith Instructions for the Transference of One’s Own Consciousness, Together with the Blessing. Homage to the glorious Vajradhara, the Great Wrathful King, Yamāntaka, the Slayer of Hatred.
Any yogi should examine the outer and inner signs of death. Since death is certain to occur through the winds, if the winds of the right and left [nostrils] do not shift for three, five, or seven [days] and so forth, the inner channels, winds, and drops become unserviceable. Recognizing these as signs of death, one should perform the yoga of deception.
Five [days] from the right and one from the left is the distinction between sustaining and withdrawing. Having laid the right side on the ground, place the right foot upon the left thigh. Connect the left foot to the [left] hip. Massage the left breast with the left hand and tuck it into the armpit. Shift the weight of the body onto the right shoulder. Twisting the mouth with the right shoulder, one should perform the deception through the vajra recitation.
If, even by that, the transference does not occur, block the inhalation with the right little finger and drive the movement of the breath from the left. This is the sublime pith instruction for binding the winds. As for reversing the yogic exercises, do so if the transference is not desired from the left.
Thus, having examined the outer time and date, if one does not transfer, then when the time has arrived, one should cast forth the consciousness. Having completely severed the root of attachment to this world and the next, one should perform offerings and gifts without regard for enjoyments, the body, or virtues, to the deities, the guru, and the six classes of beings. One should not harbor attachment or clinging to the body for even a single moment. Without other places or companions, by repeatedly recollecting the deity, one should contemplate the guru alone.
Having gone for refuge with a fierce intention,
Visualize the glorious Red Yamāntaka
At the crown of the object of focus.
Joining the two central channels,
Block the openings at the center of the heart with a hūṃ.
Launch the hūṃ—the support of the mind—upward,
And dissolve the guru’s hūṃ into your heart.
When you are ready, do not draw it back down.
Alternatively, after blocking the other openings,
Block the two channels with the syllables of method and wisdom.
At the center of the heart, within the central channel, is a crescent moon and a hūṃ.
Above that, the hūṃ should be joined with the entering breath, like a shooting star.
Alternatively, there is the transference by means of light:
After performing the bow-shaped yogic exercise,
At the navel, a hūṃ on a moon together with the wind,
Blocks the orifice with a sphere at the center of the heart.
Drawing the mind with the syllable of power,
Launch it into the heart of the deity and merge.
If you wish to be born in any other place,
Draw it out and launch it with the three syllables.
Alternatively, for the yogi free from elaboration,
From this form of diverse emptiness,
Transference occurs into the state of clear light,
Which becomes Mahāmudrā itself.
This is the pith instruction for the transference of one’s own mind, composed by the master Śrīdhara. It was translated by the Indian paṇḍita Abhijñā and the Tibetan translator ’Gos Khug pa. Later, it was revised and edited in a village by the peerless Darpaṇācārya and the translator Sherab Rinchen.
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.