Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual manual, attributed to the master Bhava, provides a concise procedural guide for performing a fire offering (Homa). The text functions as a technical liturgy designed to achieve specific soteriological and mundane goals, namely the dispelling of misdeeds, the accumulation of merit, and the execution of the four activities: summoning, magnetizing, pacifying, and slaying. The work is structured as a sequence of practical instructions, beginning with the spatial arrangement of ritual implements—such as kusha grass and ladles—and proceeding to the meditative and somatic requirements of the practitioner. It commits the reader to a precise synthesis of visualization, mudrā, and mantra, specifically employing a Sanskrit invitation mantra to summon the fire deity. The ritual concludes with the pacification of elemental spirits and enemies through the offering of burnt substances and nectar, framing the fire offering as a tool for both spiritual purification and the neutralization of external obstructions.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the fire offering, the Hotṛvidhi belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. It is attributed to the Indian author Bhavapa. The work was translated into Tibetan by lo tsa ba gzhon nu tshul khrims and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཛི, where it is situated within the Other Skillful Means Tantras. Spanning three pages in this edition, the text is titled in Wylie as sbyin sreg gi sbyor ka. The work enacts a technical liturgy designed to dispel misdeeds, increase merit, and perform the activities of summoning, magnetizing, and slaying. It provides precise instructions for the practitioner, beginning with the spatial arrangement of ritual implements—such as kusha grass, cooked rice, and ladles—and proceeding to the integration of visualization, mudrā, and mantra. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific procedural requirements of the fire offering, including the use of Sanskrit invitation mantras to summon the deity and the somatic gestures required to expel obstructors and present offerings.
The text is significant as it demonstrates the integration of Vedic-style fire rituals into the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist framework. It illustrates the use of the four activities (summoning, magnetizing, pacifying, and slaying) to manage both internal spiritual states and external environmental influences.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Statement of the work's titles in Sanskrit and Tibetan and the intended purposes of the ritual.
2
Material Preparation
Instructions on the spatial placement of ritual offerings and implements.
3
Invocation and Offering
Guidelines for the use of incense, mudrās, and the invitation mantra to summon the deity.
4
Pacification
Instructions for neutralizing enemies and elemental spirits through visualization and burnt offerings.
5
Colophon
Formal conclusion attributing the composition to the master Bhava.
Themes
Ritual Space and Implements (2)
Mantra and Mudrā (3)
Pacification of Obstructions (4)
The Four Activities (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Hotrividhiḥ. In the language of Tibet: Sbyin sreg gi cho ga (The Ritual of the Fire Offering). Homage to the Blessed One, the Vajra-Holder.
To dispel misdeeds and increase merit,
To summon, magnetize, and slay,
And to benefit practitioners,
I shall explain the fire offering.
First, in an auspicious and pure location,
One should perform the examination and so forth in three ways: concise, intermediate, and extensive.
For the intermediate [method], one who possesses the meditative absorption of the Blue-Robed One
Should issue the command and, facing east,
Offer a torma pleasing to the spirits.
One should purify it with the twenty-two syllables
Or else with the syllable Hūṃ.
Likewise, one should know the vajra mudrā.
Having purified defects with the syllable at the heart,
It is purified by mantra and mudrā.
That is desired as the extensive [method] and so forth.
The intermediate is purified by mantra and mudrā.
With heaps of flowers equal in number,
It is desired to be completed as drawn according to the text.
For the least [method], in beautiful vessels,
Having blessed them with the three syllables,
One desires only the purification through meditative absorption.
One should know these three ways of purifying defects in the site.
As for constructing the hearth: it is one cubit in width
And half a cubit in depth, surrounded by a circle.
Having set aside four or three finger-widths,
In the center is a vajra of eight [finger-widths] in measure.
The hearth pit is white, with a mountain of fire behind it.
Above is a vajra, and the exterior is white light rays.
The firewood is white, one cubit in length;
White sandalwood, sprinkled with milk, is placed there.
The sacrificial wood is one finger-width in length;
With its leaves and the side of the tip,
Sprinkled as before, it is made into the fuel sticks.
The three whites, the three sweets, and butter below...
Various grains of cooked rice, kusha grass, and the water offering should be placed to the right. Flowers and so forth, the sprinkling water, and the water for rinsing the mouth should be placed to the left. The characteristics of the filling ladle and the pouring ladle are taught extensively elsewhere. Alternatively, by contracting the fingers of the right hand, the light rays of the syllable HŪṂ summon the light rays of the Vajra-holder; from the mass of wisdom that destroys the dust, the filling ladle of the Vajra Wrathful One is formed. Pressing the little finger with the left thumb and purifying as before, the pouring ladle is formed. That very [ladle] and the vajra and bell are in front. Then, don white ornaments. Upon kusha grass that is pleasing to the mind, sit in the sattva posture facing east. Sprinkle the hearth and so forth with sandalwood water and pile the firewood in a circle without error. Then, for the kusha grass, perform the sprinkling with the activity mantra: OṂ AMṚTA KUṆḌALI SARVA VIGHNĀN NĀŚAYA HŪṂ PHAṬ. Through the purification, generation, summoning, and recitation of the vase, fill it with light rays twenty-one or seven times. Around the perimeter of the hearth, the tips of the kusha grass should point outward. Then, as for the deity yoga, one should understand the five or three rituals, whether concise or extensive, or instantaneous. The pith instructions for the hearth and so forth should also be understood from the collection of activities. Furthermore, the master’s pith instructions are primary. Fire from a brahmin’s house or a fire-drill should be kindled with a bellows and purified with the activity mantra. Having purified and generated it, with a white RAṂ, the fire god is white, in the manner of a peaceful sage, possessing a white brahmin’s thread, and holding a staff and a rosary in his hands.
He holds the gundhe [incense] and the gesture of granting refuge. Light radiates forth, and as before, he is invited with: Oṃ vavaka agnaye āgacchaya āgacchaya mama śāntiṃ kuru svāhā. Binding the hook mudrā, he invites him. Having expelled the obstructors and absorbed him, he presents offerings. He presents them by attaching the offering mantra to the root mantra itself: Oṃ vavaka agnaye [name] śāntiṃ kuru svāhā. Thus, the burnt offerings should be presented. Regarding the pith instructions for that, the light rays should be performed in three circles, performed in two circles, and one should understand them for oneself. For the four circles, there is the disciple. From the radiation of white light rays, they pass through the heart and the center of the chest; from the three [openings], they pass through the speech; and from the crown, they pass through the head, purifying the obscurations of body, speech, and mind. The three roots are gathered and satisfied. Starting from the crown of the head, in order to exhaust sins and parasites, they are burned with red [light] and washed with white. They are gathered from the nine orifices, gathered from all parts, and gathered into the heart and then expelled. Having made an image out of sesame seeds, the form of the sin should be inserted into it. By offering the substances with nectar, the sin is then burned. Alternatively, having absorbed it into the substances, it is burned. To pacify diseases, having mentioned the name of the disease, one burns it as before. Or, having written the name and form of the disease, it is burned with red light rays, purified with white, and one should contemplate pacification. One should likewise contemplate the enemies of the elements.
Visualize that all elemental spirits and all enemies are pacified by the radiation of light rays. Write out their forms and names to pacify them. Offer the burnt substances with the light of nectar. Being pleased by the offerings, they circumambulate as before; if not, then as below. One should apply oneself earnestly to these pith instructions. Butter, the three white substances, the three sweets, white fuel wood with curd, and so forth—these ritual substances should be offered in sequence. Sesame seeds are indispensable. Finally, perform the filling and pouring ladles and the confession of faults. Offer praise and entrust the activities. Establish the palace within the heart itself. In that very instant, clearly summon the wisdom beings. Absorb them and perform the five types of offerings. Offer by attaching the root mantra to the offering mantra. All burnt substances should be offered in the same way. These stages of the pith instructions should be understood here; they should be learned from the mouth of the master. Seven, twenty-one, or one hundred and eight are the concise and extensive [counts]. By fifteen, fifty, or one hundred, pacification will occur according to one's desire. If the negativity is great, double or triple that, or eight hundred. If it is extremely great, up to a thousand. By this, one should understand the magnitude of the negativity and merit—great, small, superior, or middling. If done in this way, pacification is certain. Finally, perform the filling and pouring ladles and the confession of faults. Offer praise, entrust the activities, and request the departure. Having dissolved the meditative absorption, offer the remaining fire and the burnt substances as before. Having completed the filling and pouring ladles and so forth, dissolve the absorption and engage in daily activities. The yogi should apply themselves diligently to the fire offering, which is the preliminary for the three sessions.
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.