Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Consecration of Elixir is a ritual manual designed for practitioners of the Yamāntaka tantra who employ the two yogas. The text provides a technical guide for the consecration of nectar, framing the process as a series of precise meditative and ritual actions. It instructs the practitioner to integrate physical posture and breath control with a visualization process wherein light rays emanate from heart-syllables to summon the five bodies of all buddhas and bodhisattvas. The work commits the reader to a state of recollected purity, requiring the consciousness to stabilize within the nature of coemergent wisdom, characterized as illusion-like and unmoving from the dharmadhātu. The ritual concludes with the guru performing recitations while maintaining an immeasurable mind, thereby bridging the gap between internal meditative absorption and external ritual performance.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the consecration of nectar, the Amṛtādhiṣṭhāna (Tibetan: bdud rtsi byin gyis brlab pa) is a work of the classical Tibetan period intended for those seeking to accomplish the glorious Yamāntaka through the two yogas. The text is attributed to the Indian author Virūpa. It was translated into Tibetan by Darpaṇācārya and lo tsa ba zhe sdang rdo rje, and is preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཙི) within the collection of Other Skillful Means Tantras, where it extends over three pages. The work enacts the consecration of samaya substances through a precise sequence of meditative and physical disciplines. It directs the practitioner to regulate the breath and assume a specific posture while visualizing light rays emanating from heart-syllables to summon the five bodies of all buddhas and bodhisattvas. By stabilizing consciousness in the nature of coemergent wisdom, the practitioner achieves a state of recollected purity, while the guru employs the vajra and bell to perform recitations and repel malevolent forces. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the technical integration of internal visualization, breath control, and external ritual performance within the Yamāntaka tradition.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Consecration of Elixir” (Toh 2044), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2044
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant as it illustrates the intersection of somatic control, visualization, and the conceptualization of the dharmadhātu within the Yamāntaka tradition. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of how Tibetan Buddhist ritual technology aims to transform ordinary substances into consecrated elixirs through the application of specific yogic states.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Identification of the work in Sanskrit and Tibetan and the statement of its purpose regarding the Yamāntaka practice.
2
Ritual Visualization
Instructions on posture, breath, and the summoning of the buddhas' five bodies via heart-syllables.
3
Meditative State and Recitation
Guidance on maintaining consciousness in coemergent wisdom and the guru's role in the final recitation.
Themes
Somatic and Breath Control (2)
Visualization of the Five Bodies (2)
Coemergent Wisdom and Dharmadhātu (3)
Ritual Consecration (1-3)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Amṛtādhiṣṭhāna-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Bdud rtsi byin gyis brlab pa zhes bya ba (The Consecration of Nectar). Homage to Mañjuvajra!
For those who, relying on the two yogas, seek to accomplish the glorious Yamāntaka, I shall explain the stages of the consecration of the samaya substances that are to be relied upon.
In this regard, the yogi should prepare a secluded place, such as a mountain cave or a charnel ground, free from the presence of ordinary people. One should then prepare the following: undeteriorated vairocana (feces), ghañji, bāruṇa, harītakī, āmalakī, butter, honey, molasses, and parana prepared out of season in the summer; as well as well-prepared pills in a vessel of urindhava and a garment of red wool. Having arranged these, and having preceded the practice with the two stages as previously explained, one should present offerings and torma cakes, and after offering a fee to the master, take one's seat.
Then, recite three times:
"Great innate bliss of coemergent joy,
Non-dual union, enemy of cyclic existence and peace,
Glorious one, I prostrate; considering me with compassion here,
Grant the supreme samaya that destroys the moving and the stationary!"
Then, the master, recognizing the entire world as it appears to be the essence of the five Tathāgatas, should consecrate his own son. At the heart, inside the central channel, is the syllable HŪṂ. In the four directions are BHRŪṂ, ĀṂ, JRĪṂ, and KHAṂ. In the center and the four intermediate directions are MU, VI, ŚU, and MA. Their colors correspond to their respective families. Likewise, they should be placed at the navel and the throat.
Then, assuming the physical posture and regulating the breath, light rays of their respective colors emanate from the syllables at the heart. These summon the body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities of all buddhas and bodhisattvas without exception in the form of the five bodies, which are then absorbed into the five syllables. Through this very sequence, the five elements are purified by the five wisdoms and are further gathered in the form of the five consorts. Likewise, this occurs from the navel and the throat in order to purify the desire, form, and formless realms, and to gather the accomplishments of the times of the cause, path, and result. This is for the purpose of gathering the five aggregates, the five elements, and the five afflictions and blessing them as wisdom. Furthermore, this is because they abide throughout the three times. Again, the lower wheel together with its syllables is absorbed into the hūṃ at the heart, and the eight syllables are also gathered. Through its light, the qualities of all buddhas in the essence of the five nectars are dissolved into the five-part hūṃ. Recite: oṃ hrīḥ ṣṭrīḥ vikṛtānana hūṃ hūṃ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā | pañca amṛta yugghaṭa samayā tiṣṭhāva vajra ja jaḥ hūṃ vaṃ hoḥ mudgara hri ha ha ha hūṃ. Stabilize it at the crown with a flower. One should then ascertain: "This hūṃ of consciousness is the master of all that is animate and inanimate—the five families of accomplishments of the three times such as the desire realm, the five heroines, the five wisdoms, and so forth." Thus, one should be certain.
By recollecting purity, one should cause the consciousness to abide in the very nature of the coemergent wisdom (jñāna) which is like an illusion, never wavering and remaining unmoving from the dharmadhātu. The guru, holding the vajra and bell, should perform the recitation with an immeasurable mind and repel those who are malevolent. Then, one should give to the disciple either the pills as previously described or a skull-cup filled with liquor, saying:
"This samaya, which arises from the nectar of the accomplishments of the wheel of heroes and yoginīs, and is highly praised by the supreme mantra practitioners, I now bestow upon you."
Having received and drunk it, the entire body is filled with bodhicitta. Satiated by uncontaminated bliss, all craving for desire is exhausted without exception, and the union of bliss and non-conceptual wisdom is generated. Then, without interruption, one should stabilize this for three, seven, or four sessions, or as much as one is able. Regarding the benefits, they follow the sequence taught in the Śrī Paramādya Tantra. As for the ultimate result, I have heard from the Blessed One himself that through this samaya, one will manifest the state of the Blessed One, the Red Yamāri.
This concludes the sequence for the blessing of the five nectars composed by the great lord of yogins, the glorious Virūpa. It was requested and translated by the Indian abbot Dharpaṇācārya and the translator Zhe sdang rdo rje at the great monastery of Mang yul.
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.