Toh 2099 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Ten Verses on Activites of Naturally Abiding in Mantra

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2099
Genre: Mantra & dhāraṇī
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 049_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཚི.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,547 Tibetan characters · 385 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

The Ten Verses on Activities of Naturally Abiding in Mantra provides a concise set of instructions for the practitioner of mantra, emphasizing a non-dual approach to spiritual practice. The text argues that the practitioner should maintain an inseparable relationship between the guru and the meditational deity during offerings. It explicitly rejects the utility of ascetic hardships and fasting, suggesting instead that the practitioner overcome exhaustion and suffering through the kindness of the sublime ones. The work commits the reader to a state of mental stability, warning against the extremes of despair and laziness while advocating for a consistent abiding in a virtuous mind. By framing these activities as naturally abiding, the text promotes a method of practice that integrates spiritual discipline with psychological resilience and devotion, rather than through rigorous physical deprivation.

Provenance

About this text

A concise guide to mantra and dhāraṇī, the Mantracaryādaśakasvabhāvavāsa focuses on the conduct of the mantrin. The work is attributed to the Indian author Avadhūtipa Advayavajra. It was translated into the Tibetan language by Prajñāśrījñānakīrti and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཚི, where it is categorized within the Other Skillful Means Tantras. The Tibetan title is rendered in Wylie as rang bzhin du gnas pa'i sngags kyi spyod pa bcu pa. The text instructs the practitioner to maintain a non-dual perspective, treating the guru and meditational deity as inseparable and avoiding distinctions between self and others. It explicitly rejects the practice of fasting and ascetic hardships, advocating instead for a virtuous mind supported by the kindness of the sublime ones to overcome suffering and exhaustion. By adhering to the conduct of mantra, the practitioner is said to reach the celestial realm of Khecara, while the text warns against the dangers of abandoning such conduct. A scholar or serious reader consults this single-page work today to examine its specific prescriptions for psychological resilience and spiritual discipline within the classical Tibetan tradition.

Sanskrit title: Mantracaryādaśakasvabhāvavāsa
Indian author: Avadhūtipa Advayavajra
Tibetan translators: Prajñāśrījñānakīrti
Canonical collection: Other Skillful Means Tantras
Genre: Mantra & dhāraṇī
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཚི
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “Ten Verses on Activites of Naturally Abiding in Mantra” (Toh 2099), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2099

Summary & commentary

Significance

This work is significant for its rejection of asceticism in favor of a devotion-based psychological uplift. It reflects a specific tantric or mantra-based approach where the internal state of the practitioner is prioritized over external austerities.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1-2	Introduction and Preliminary Instructions	Includes the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, an homage to Mañjuśrī, and guidelines on offerings and the avoidance of asceticism.

Themes

Non-duality of Guru and Deity (1)
Rejection of Asceticism (2)
Mental Discipline and Virtue (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaTen Verses on Activites of Naturally Abiding in Mantra·

༄༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། མནྟྲ་ཙརྱ་དཤ་ཀ་སྭ་བྷཱ་བ་ས་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། རང་བཞིན་དུ་གནས་པའི་སྔགས་ཀྱི་སྤྱོད་པ་བཅུ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སེམས་དཔའ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། བླ་མ་དང་ནི་ལྷག་པའི་ལྷ། ། ཐ་དད་མེད་པར་མཆོད་པར་བྱ། ། འགྲོ་བ་རྣམས་དང་རང་ཉིད་ལ། ། བདག་གཞན་མི་འབྱེད་དུས་གསུམ་གཏེར། ། ལུས་དང་ལོངས་སྤྱོད་སྲོག་རྣམས་ཀྱིས། ། འགྲོ་བའི་མཆོག་གཙོ་བཙལ་བས་རྙེད། ། དེ་ཡིས་དབང་བསྐུར་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། ། དུས་གསུམ་དུ་ནི་དྲན་པར་བྱེད། ། ཕྱི་དང་ནང་གི་ཆོས་སྤྱོད་ཀུན། ། གཉེན་པོ་བསྟེན་པས་མ་ཡིན་ཞིང་། ། དད་པའི་སྟན་ལས་གང་འོངས་པ། ། ཁ་ཟས་བཞིན་དུ་བསྟེན་པར་བྱ། ། ལྷ་ཡི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་འབྱོར་བ་ཅན། ། ཡང་ན་རིགས་གཟུངས་མཆོག་གཙོ་བོར། ། བྱས་པའི་གང་ཡིན་དེ་དག་ནི། ། ཐུན་བཞིར་བསྟན་པས་བསྒོམ་པར་བྱ། ། གལ་ཏེ་རྫོགས་པའི་སྐལ་ཡོད་ན། ། ཡེ་ཤེས་སྐུ་སྟེ་རབ་འབྱུང་བ། ། འཇམ་དཔལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སེམས་དཔའ་ཡི། ། མིང་ནི་ཡང་དག་བརྗོད་པའི་མཆོག། བཟླས་བརྗོད་དོན་དང་ཀློག་པ་དང་། ། བྱ་བའི་རིམ་པ་ལ་མོས་ན། ། རིགས་གཞན་དུ་མ་མ་ཡིན་པའི། ། རང་གི་རིགས་ལ་བསླབ་པར་བྱ། ། གང་ཟག་འོ་མར་ལྡན་པ་དང་། ། དེ་བཞིན་བཟའ་དང་མཐུན་པའི་དུས། ། སངས་རྒྱས་རྣམས་ནི་བསྡུས་བྱས་ལ། ། བདུད་རྩི་མྱང་བ་བསྒྲུབ་པར་བྱ། ། གླུ་དང་གར་ནི་ཇི་སྙེད་དང་། ། དེ་བཞིན་ཡུལ་ལ་རོ་སྙོམས་ན། ། ཡུལ་གྱིས་བསླང་བ་མ་ཡིན་ཞིང་། ། རང་གི་ཉམས་ཀྱིས་རོལ་པར་བྱ། ། དབེན་པའི་གནས་ལ་བརྟེན་དུས་སུ། ། གཙང་སྦྲ་ངོ་ཚ་སྤྱོད་པས་མིན། ། དོགས་པ་ཀུན་ལས་གྲོལ་བའི་སེམས། །

In the language of India: Mantracaryādaśaka-svabhāva-saṃnāma. In the language of Tibet: Rang bzhin du gnas pa’i sngags kyi spyod pa bcu pa zhes bya ba. Homage to the noble Mañjuśrī-jñānasattva. One should make offerings to the guru and the meditational deity as inseparable. Regarding all beings and oneself, one should not differentiate between self and other, but be a treasure for the three times. By seeking the supreme lord of beings through body, resources, and life, he is found. One should remember the precious empowerment of that [lord] throughout the three times. All outer and inner Dharma practices are not [to be undertaken] by relying on antidotes; rather, whatever arises from the seat of faith should be relied upon like food. Those who possess the yoga of the deity, or who have made the supreme lord of the family and dhāraṇī their primary focus, should meditate by practicing in four sessions. If one has the fortune for the completion [of the practice], the wisdom body (jñānakāya) will emerge. This is the supreme "Chanting of the Names" of Mañjuśrī-jñānasattva. If one is devoted to the sequence of recitation, reading, and ritual activities, one should train in one's own family rather than in other families. When a person possesses milk, and likewise at a time suitable for eating, one should gather the Buddhas and accomplish the tasting of nectar (amṛta). As for all songs and dances, and likewise the equal taste of sensory objects, one should not be stirred by objects, but should enjoy them through one's own experience. When relying on a secluded place, it is not through the conduct of ritual purity or modesty; rather, the mind is liberated from all doubt.

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

terminologyསྔགས → “mantra”. སྔགས་པ is a mantra-practitioner, not 'the mantric one'.

definitionསྔགས “mantra” — A formula of words or syllables that are recited aloud or mentally in order to bring about a magical or soteriological effect or result. The term has been interpretively etymologized to mean “that which protects ( trā )

definitionབླ་མ “guru” — One of the fourteen rākṣasīs .

periodལྷ → “god”. Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.

homonymལྷ is rendered “god” here; the glossary also records deva, divine being, God for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionལྷ “god” — In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine ‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who atten

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti . It may mean the Buddhist teachings, the awakened qualities which buddhas and bodhisattvas acquire, phenomena or thing

terminologyགཟུངས → “dhāraṇī”. A dhāraṇī is a spell-text: keep the loan for the genre, and translate གཟུངས་སྔགས as 'dhāraṇī mantra' rather than 'retention spell'.

homonymགཟུངས is rendered “dhāraṇī” here; the glossary also records retention, incantation, spell for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionགཟུངས “dhāraṇī” — The term dhāraṇī ‍ is in some sūtras both a mnemonic formula and the ability of realized beings to retain ( √dhṛ ) any teachings in their transmundane memory. In its most general use it is as understood in the context of

terminologyཡེ་ཤེས → “wisdom”. Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty on the path.

termསྔགས → mantra

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termབླ་མ → guru

termལྷ → god

termམཆོད་པ → offering

termཆོས → dharma

བསྙུང་དང་དཀའ་ཐུབ་གནས་མི་བྱ། ། སྐྱོ་དུབ་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཅི་བྱུང་ཡང་། ། དམ་པའི་དྲིན་གྱིས་གཟེངས་བསྟོད་དེ། ། ཡི་ཆད་སྒྱིད་ལུག་མི་འགྱུར་བར། ། སེམས་དགེ་བ་ལ་གནས་པར་བྱ། སྔགས་ཀྱི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་གནས་པའི། ། སྔགས་པ་མཁའ་སྤྱོད་གནས་སུ་འགྲོ། ། སྔགས་ལ་ཞུགས་ནས་སྤྱོད་པ་སྤོབ། ། མཁའ་འགྲོ་སྐྲག་ཅིང་མནར་མེད་འགྲོ། ། རང་བཞིན་དུ་གནས་པའི་སྔགས་ཀྱི་སྤྱོད་པ་བཅུ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། དཔལ་ལྡན་གཉིས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་པ་བསོད་སྙོམས་པ་པྲཛྙཱ་ཤྲཱི་ཛྙཱ་ན་ཀཱིརྟིས་རང་འགྱུར་དུ་མཛད་པའོ། ། ། །

One should not engage in fasting or ascetic hardships. Whatever weariness, exhaustion, or suffering may arise, one should be uplifted by the kindness of the sublime ones. Without falling into despair or laziness, one should abide in a virtuous mind. The mantrin who abides in the conduct of mantra will go to the celestial realm of Khecara. But having entered mantra and then abandoned the conduct, the ḍākinīs will be terrified and one will go to the Avīci hell. This concludes "The Tenfold Natural Conduct of Mantra," composed by the glorious Advayavajra. It was translated into Tibetan by the mendicant yogin Prajñāśrījñānakīrti himself.

Terminology used in this text (10)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
སྔགས	mantra	2	སྔགས་པ is a mantra-practitioner, not 'the mantric one'.
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
བླ་མ	guru	1
ལྷ	god	1	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
མཆོད་པ	offering	1
ཆོས	dharma	1	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
གཟུངས	dhāraṇī	1	A dhāraṇī is a spell-text: keep the loan for the genre, and translate གཟུངས་སྔགས as 'dhāraṇī mantra' rather than 'retent
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	1	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
སྡུག་བསྔལ	suffering	1

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 049_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཚི.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

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.

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