Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This fragmentary text is a sādhana, a ritual manual for the realization of a specific deity or spiritual power, centered on the Black Piśāca (Kṛṣṇapiśāca). The work begins by establishing its bilingual identity, providing the title in both Sanskrit and Tibetan, and opens with a formal homage to Yamāntaka, suggesting a connection to the deity who overcomes death. The text proceeds immediately to a dharani—a ritual incantation—designed to summon the Black Piśāca and offer it a piṇḍa (ball of rice/food offering). By prescribing a specific time for the ritual—the period of sleep—the text commits the practitioner to a nocturnal discipline. The fragment indicates a ritual structure based on the invocation of a spirit-entity through mantra and offering, typical of the esoteric practices aimed at achieving specific worldly or spiritual results through the propitiation of non-human entities.
Provenance
About this text
A sādhana focused on the essence of the Black Piśāca, the Kṛṣṇapiśācasārasādhana 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 comprises 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 a spirit-entity through a specific nocturnal discipline; following a formal homage to Yamāntaka, the practitioner is instructed to recite a mantra to summon the Black Piśāca and offer a single lump of leftover food upon a seat above the door at the time of sleep. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the esoteric mechanisms of invocation and the ritual use of mantras and offerings to achieve specific results through the propitiation of non-human entities.
Sanskrit title
Kṛṣṇapiśācasārasādhana
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 Black Piśāca Sāra” (Toh 2073), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2073
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as an example of the integration of piśāca propitiation within the broader framework of Indo-Tibetan ritualism, specifically linked here to the Yamāntaka cycle. For the modern reader, it illustrates the technical application of mantras and the specific timing of rituals to influence spiritual entities.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Invocation
Contains the bilingual title, an homage to Yamāntaka, a summoning mantra for the Black Piśāca, and the beginning of the ritual instructions regarding timing.
Themes
Ritual Invocation (1)
Offerings to Spirit Entities (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Kṛṣṇapiśācisārasādhana. In the language of Tibet: Sha za nag po snying po’i sgrub thabs (The Sādhana of the Essence of the Black Piśāca). Homage to Yamāntaka!
Namo kṛṣṇapiśācāye sarasara hiri hiri āgaccha āgaccha gṛhṇa piṇḍaṃ piśāca svāhā. At the time of sleep, one should offer a single lump of leftover food upon a seat above the door, having recited the mantra twenty-one times. After one month has passed, he will appear. Once accomplished, he bestows twenty-five items every day. Once he is accomplished, on the eighth, fourteenth, or twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, one should recite the mantra over a single lump of leftover food and offer it. Thus it is said. The Sādhana of the Black Spirit is complete.
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.