Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This brief ritual manual provides instructions for the propitiation of a Black Piśāca (Kṛṣṇapiśāca). The text functions as a concise sādhanā, combining a Sanskrit mantra with specific procedural requirements for its application. It commits the practitioner to a precise temporal and material regimen: the ritual must commence on the sixth day of the lunar month, involving the twenty-one-fold recitation of the mantra over a specific offering of leftover food. By linking the linguistic power of the mantra to a particular lunar phase and a specific type of sustenance, the text seeks to activate the influence of the Piśāca through a targeted ritual act. The work is structured as a direct instructional directive, moving from the identification of the entity in both Sanskrit and Tibetan to the practical execution of the rite.
Provenance
About this text
A sādhanā for the propitiation of the Black Piśāca, the Kṛṣṇapiśācasādhana is attributed to the Indian author Prajñārakṣita. The work entered the Tibetan tradition through the translation of Dānaśīla (III), appearing under the Tibetan title sha za nag po'i sgrub thabs. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཙི, where it is situated within the canonical collection known as The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, a Sādhana Activity Garland of Red Yamāri. This classical Tibetan text enacts a precise ritual regimen designed to grant the practitioner's desires. It mandates that a specific Sanskrit mantra be recited twenty-one times over an offering of leftover food, beginning on the sixth day of the lunar month and continuing for twenty-one days, with offerings made to the spirit at night. A scholar or serious reader consults this single-page manual today to examine the intersection of linguistic power and material offerings in the ritual tradition, specifically how the text links a targeted mantra to a lunar temporal framework and a specific type of sustenance to activate the influence of the Piśāca.
Sanskrit title
Kṛṣṇapiśācasādhana
Indian author
Prajñārakṣita
Tibetan translators
Dānaśīla (III)
Canonical collection
The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, a Sādhana Activity Garland of Red Yamāri
The text is significant as an example of the intersection between Buddhist ritual technology and the propitiation of non-Buddhist entities like Piśācas. It illustrates the use of 'leftover food' as a ritual catalyst, reflecting broader Indo-Tibetan traditions of dealing with hungry or wrathful spirits.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Ritual Instructions
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, the mantra, and the specific timing and offering requirements for the practice.
Themes
Ritual Timing (1)
Mantra Recitation (1)
Offerings (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Kṛṣṇapiśācisādhanam. In the language of Tibet: Sha za nag po’i sgrub thabs (The Sadhana of the Black Piśāca).
Namaḥ kṛṣṇapiśācāye sarasara sa sarva arban me svāhā.
Starting from the sixth day of the lunar month, recite this twenty-one times over a portion of leftover food and offer it to the spirit at night. After twenty-one days, it will grant one’s desires every day. One should consume all of these. If one pleases it with torma offerings, rituals, and so forth, it will perform other activities as well. This concludes the Sadhana of the Black Spirit.
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.