Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This fragment provides practical instructions for the execution of fire offering rituals, specifically addressing the physical preparation of the ritual space. The text establishes a hierarchy of ritual performance, directing the practitioner to follow previously established general instructions while offering a simplified alternative for those unable to perform the standard excavation of the ground. By permitting the use of nectar and colored powders to draw the maṇḍala as a substitute for digging, the text commits the reader to a flexible application of ritual law where symbolic representation can replace physical labor without compromising the ritual's validity. The fragment functions as a technical manual for the material implementation of a maṇḍala, emphasizing the transition from preparatory ground-work to the completion of the ritual act.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual concerning the application of ritual actions, the sbyin sreg las kyi cho ga belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Bhavapa. It was translated into Tibetan by lo tsa ba gzhon nu tshul khrims and is preserved in volume ཛི of the Tengyur. The text enacts the practical requirements for the physical preparation of a ritual space, specifically regarding the creation of a maṇḍala. It provides a hierarchy of performance, instructing the practitioner to follow general guidelines while offering a simplified alternative for those unable to perform the standard excavation of the ground. By permitting the use of nectar and colored powders to draw the maṇḍala as a substitute for digging, the work allows for a flexible application of ritual law where symbolic representation may replace physical labor. A scholar or serious reader consults this single-page fragment today as a technical manual for the material implementation of a maṇḍala, observing how the text manages the transition from preparatory groundwork to the completion of the ritual act.
The text is significant for demonstrating the pragmatic adaptations allowed within Tibetan ritual praxis, showing how material constraints are managed through symbolic substitutes. For the modern reader, it illustrates the intersection of physical architecture and spiritual geometry in the construction of a sacred space.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
The Concise Application of Ritual Actions
Instructions on the preparation of the maṇḍala, including alternatives for those unable to excavate the earth.
Themes
Ritual substitution (1)
Maṇḍala construction (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
The Concise Application of Ritual Actions:
All common rituals should be understood as being performed according to the previous [instructions]. If one is unable to dig and excavate, one should smear the maṇḍala with nectar and draw it with colored powders; then, the ritual should be brought to completion.
The Extremely Concise Application:
Having prepared a maṇḍala and scattered flowers, one should generate the deity in an instant and perform the blessing. Having performed the protection ritual, the ritual and so forth should be brought to completion.
Regarding the specific materials: silver and bronze are auspicious for pacifying; gold and brass for enriching; copper for magnetizing; and iron for wrathful activities. It is also taught that a dog’s skull may be used. These may be fashioned into their respective shapes or visualized as such. If these are not obtained, since earth is like a precious gem, one should fashion the respective shapes in clay bowls or any such vessels, visualize them, and perform the blessing; then, the ritual and so forth should be brought to completion.
These applications of the ritual actions of fire offering, through the stages of the oral lineage, have revealed all the meanings hidden in the tantras to me, the practitioner. By the virtue of teaching this, may all beings attain enlightenment.
The Ritual of Fire Offering composed by the master Bhava 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.