Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text is a sādhana, a ritual manual designed to facilitate the accomplishment of a specific spiritual or supernatural goal through the propitiation of the Yakṣa Naḍanaḍī. The work begins with a formal invocation and homage to Vaiśravaṇasuta Naṭakuvera, establishing the divine lineage and attributes of the entity. It then outlines the specific benefits promised to the practitioner, which include the ability to dwell in play with a yakṣiṇī, unrestricted mobility, and a lifespan extended to five thousand years. The text commits the reader to a precise ritual methodology involving the use of a knowledge-mantra and the creation of a visual representation of the yakṣa in human form to facilitate a summoning. By combining devotional homage with technical instructions for summoning and mantra recitation, the text aims to grant the practitioner mastery over a thousand activities through the intervention of these non-human entities.
Provenance
About this text
A sādhana designed for the accomplishment of the Yakṣa Naḍanaḍī, the Yakṣanaḍanaḍīsādhana belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Prajñārakṣita. It was translated into Tibetan by Dānaśīla (III) and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཙི, where it occupies two pages. Within the canonical structure, it is situated in the collection known as The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, a Sādhana Activity Garland of Red Yamāri. The ritual enacts the propitiation of Vaiśravaṇasuta Naṭakuvera through formal homage, the recitation of a knowledge-mantra, and the summoning of the yakṣa via a human-form drawing. These practices are intended to grant the practitioner the ability to dwell in play with a yakṣiṇī, unrestricted mobility, and a lifespan of five thousand years, thereby accomplishing a thousand activities. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the technical methodology of summoning and the specific spiritual benefits associated with the Yakṣa Naṭa, as detailed in the Tibetan title gnod sbyin na Da pho mo'i sgrub thabs.
Sanskrit title
Yakṣanaḍanaḍīsādhana
Indian author
Prajñārakṣita
Tibetan translators
Dānaśīla (III)
Canonical collection
The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, a Sādhana Activity Garland of Red Yamāri
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Sādhana of the Yakṣa Naḍanaḍī” (Toh 2053), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2053
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as an example of the intersection between Buddhist ritual practice and the propitiation of worldly spirits (yakṣas) for longevity and power. It illustrates the use of sādhanas to achieve mundane benefits, reflecting a layer of Tibetan Buddhist practice focused on the instrumental use of mantras and visualization.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Invocation
Homage to the radiant and jewel-adorned Vaiśravaṇasuta Naṭakuvera.
2
Benefits and Methodology
Description of the results of the practice, the efficacy of the knowledge-mantra, and instructions for the visual summoning of the yakṣa.
Themes
Ritual Accomplishment (2)
Longevity and Supernatural Power (2)
Devotional Homage (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Yakṣanaṭanāṭīsādhanam. In the language of Tibet: Gnod sbyin naṭa pho mo’i sgrub thabs (The Sādhana of the Yakṣa Naṭa, Male and Female).
Homage to Vaiśravaṇasuta Naṭakuvera, the one who is radiant, beautiful, and adorned with a garland of jewels. O Blessed One, you who are worshipped by the yakṣas, may you protect me! It is thus: Maṇi maṇi, kuṭṭa kuṭṭa, ku ku ku ku, para para, pūra pūra, kupara kupara, naṭakuverādīvyavimānakuṇalikuvikasvāhā.
One should visualize a bodhi tree or a wooden board of any suitable kind, upon which is drawn the yakṣiṇī. She has one face and two arms, is green in color, and has an ugly appearance with bared fangs. She is adorned with all ornaments, holds a skull-cup filled with blood in her left hand, and makes the gesture of supreme generosity (varada-mudrā) with her right. She is depicted as dwelling leaning against the trunk of a bodhi tree.
In front of that, one should recite the mantra eighty thousand times according to the previous ritual, but not quite completing the full count. Then, on the night of the full moon, by completing the eighty thousand recitations, the yakṣiṇī will appear before one. Offer her white arghya water. Then she will speak these words: "What shall I do?" To her, one should say: "Grant me the accomplishment of a vidyādhara, and make me your wife." She will reply, "I shall do so," and then vanish. Thereafter, she will come at night adorned with all ornaments. Together with her, one will become a vidyādhara and will also possess the power of a yakṣa.
One will sport and dwell in play with that yakṣiṇī. One will go wherever one wishes to go. One will live for five thousand years. This is the knowledge-mantra that accomplishes a thousand activities. If one wishes to accomplish a yakṣa, one should draw him in the form of a man and perform the summoning and so forth as before, and then accomplish him. Once he is accomplished, he will become like a servant to the yakṣa.
OṂ NAḌE VIṆAḌE DHANI SVĀHĀ. Recite this one hundred thousand times as the approach recitation. Then, on the day of the full moon, sit in a secluded house in very deep darkness and perform the recitation. At midnight or at dawn, she will arrive. She will become a mother, a sister, or a wife, and she will grant everything one desires. This concludes the sādhana of the male and female yakṣas, Naḍa and Naḍī.
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.