Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This technical manual provides ritual instructions for the creation of tsa-tsas, small votive clay images. The text outlines a precise sequence of preparatory actions that integrate material components with meditative and liturgical practices. It directs the practitioner to treat physical materials, specifically bone fragments, with the sarvakarmika mantra and to employ specific hand gestures, such as the three-pronged vajra mudrā, to consecrate the process. By requiring the practitioner to visualize the earth as a composition of five precious substances, the text commits the reader to a practice where the physical act of sculpting is inseparable from mental visualization and mantra recitation. The work functions as a guide for transforming mundane matter into a sacred object through the application of specific tantric protocols.
Provenance
About this text
A technical treatise on the casting of tsa-tsas, the sAts+tsha gdab pa'i rim pa provides ritual instructions for the creation of small votive images. The work is attributed to the Indian author Saṃvarabhadra. It was translated into classical Tibetan by ’bro lo tsa ba d+harma b+hi and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཚི, where it is situated within the Other Skillful Means Tantras collection. The text enacts a precise sequence of preparatory actions that integrate material components with meditative and liturgical practices. It directs the practitioner to treat physical materials, specifically bone fragments, with the sarvakarmika mantra and to employ specific hand gestures, such as the three-pronged vajra mudrā, to consecrate the process. By requiring the practitioner to visualize the earth as a composition of five precious substances, the work ensures that the physical act of sculpting is inseparable from mental visualization and mantra recitation. A scholar or serious reader consults this single-page manual today to understand the specific tantric protocols used to transform mundane matter into a sacred object through the application of fragrance, precious gems, and ritualized manual labor.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Stages of Making Clay Images” (Toh 2117), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2117
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text is significant for its documentation of the intersection between material culture and ritual technology in Tibetan Buddhism. It illustrates how the physical production of sacred art is governed by strict liturgical requirements rather than purely aesthetic concerns.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Preparatory Rituals
Instructions on the use of mantras, mudrās, and visualization for the preparation of materials used in casting tsa-tsas.
Themes
Ritual Consecration (1)
Material Transformation (1)
Visualization (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
Homage to Mañjuśrī-jñānasattva.
Next, regarding the casting of tsa-tsas: sprinkle the bone fragments with the sarvakarmika mantra. Then, forming the three-pronged vajra mudrā with the hands, consecrate them with the sarvakarmika mantra. Visualize the earth as the powder of the five kinds of precious gems. Knead and pound it with water mixed with various fragrances. Grind the precious gems into it as well. Then, touch the lump of clay with the three-pronged vajra mudrā and recite the sarvakarmika mantra twenty-one times, visualizing it as a mass of precious gems. The sarvakarmika mantra is to be applied to all [subsequent steps].
The abi-abi (the kneading) is method; the mold is wisdom. The entire process of casting is the union of method and wisdom: the abi-abi is the profound [dharmakāya], the mold is the vast [saṃbhogakāya], and the casting is the emanation of light rays, the meaning of the nirmāṇakāya.
This concludes the stages for casting tsa-tsas, composed by the master Samvarabhadra.
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.