Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This text is a ritual manual, or sādhana, dedicated to the wrathful deity Vajracaṇḍa. The work functions as a prescriptive guide for the practitioner, beginning with the necessary psychological and spiritual prerequisites, specifically the cultivation of faith in the Three Jewels and the generation of bodhicitta. The text transitions from these preparatory stages to the deployment of specific mantra recitations designed to subdue and suppress nāgas. By combining the internal mental state of the practitioner with the external application of seed syllables and phonetic formulas, the text commits the reader to a ritual process aimed at overcoming obstacles and controlling supernatural entities. The brevity of the provided fragments suggests a concise instructional format typical of specialized ritual procedures intended for immediate application rather than theoretical exposition.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual dedicated to the wrathful deity Vajracaṇḍa, the Krodhavajracaṇḍasādhana belongs to the genre of sādhana and is attributed to the Indian author Candragarbha, identified in the text as a king. The work entered the Tibetan tradition through the efforts of translators including lo tsa ba sgeg pa’i dpal and Līlāśrī. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཛི, where it is situated within the Other Skillful Means Tantras collection of the classical Tibetan period. Spanning two pages in this edition, the work enacts a prescriptive ritual process. It begins with the practitioner establishing faith in the Three Jewels and generating bodhicitta, followed by offerings to the Guru. The procedure then moves to the recitation of specific mantras and phonetic formulas intended to subdue and suppress nāgas. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the intersection of internal mental cultivation and the external application of seed syllables used to overcome obstacles and control supernatural entities. The concise instructional format reflects a specialized ritual procedure designed for immediate application rather than theoretical exposition.
The work is significant as an example of the intersection between Buddhist tantric practice and the ritual management of local spirits or nāgas. It illustrates the use of wrathful deities to neutralize perceived spiritual obstructions, reflecting a broader tradition of protective and subjugation rituals in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Preparation
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and instructs the practitioner on the initial generation of the mind of awakening.
2
Ritual Subjugation
Contains the mantra for subduing nāgas and the concluding instructions for their suppression.
Themes
Bodhicitta (1)
Ritual Subjugation of Nāgas (2)
Wrathful Deity Practice (1-2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Vajracaṇḍakrodhasādhana-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Khro bo rdo rje gtum po’i sgrub thabs zhes bya ba (The Sādhana of the Wrathful Vajracaṇḍa). Homage to the glorious Vajracaṇḍa!
First, the practitioner, with faith in the Three Jewels, should generate the mind of awakening (bodhicitta) and make offerings to the Guru and the Three Jewels. Then, one should contemplate emptiness. Upon a lotus and a sun disk, from the syllable HŪṂ, Vajracaṇḍa is perfectly generated: black in color, with one face and two arms. His right hand holds a molten meteoric iron vajra, and his left hand at his heart performs the threatening gesture (tarjanī). His left leg is extended and his right is drawn in. His three eyes are like the color of fire, and he is adorned with snakes. His tawny hair blazes upward, and he dwells within the fire of the kalpa. From his body, many small wrathful deities and garuḍas radiate forth. Having clearly generated him, one should recite the mantra while circling it around the HŪṂ at the heart: OṂ VAJRA CAṆḌA MAHĀROṢAṆA HŪṂ PHAṬ. When weary, the mantra is absorbed back into the HŪṂ.
Then, if one wishes to subdue malevolent spirits (graha), one should visualize that vajra as a black garuḍa with two hands devouring the heads of snakes, its wings outspread, and its beak and talons as blazing vajras. One should visualize fire blazing from the downward-pointing threatening gesture of the left hand and recite this mantra: HŪṂ PHAṬ ṢAṆA RO MAHĀ CAṆḌA VAJRA GARUḌA DEVA THEN PHYUNG SA GA NĀGA NYING LA GZIR THUM RIL RBAD. One should recite this with the three fierce applications.
Then, if one wishes to kill malevolent spirits, one should burn whatever appeared in one's dreams and recite this mantra: OṂ NĀGA CAṆḌA TSAL PA URTAKE.
NĀGA-CITTA-ŚAKTI-CALPA-NĀM | NĀGA-TRISAYA-TI | VIGHNĀNTA | NĀGA-KRODHA-VIDARĀJAYA | ŚI ŚI | NAN NAN | DULA DULA | RBUDD RBUDD | THUM RIL JAḤ JAḤ | By reciting this three times, [the nāgas] will be subdued. Finally, they should be suppressed. This concludes the Sādhana of the Minor Fierce One, the "One Who Wields the Spear," composed by King Candragarbha. Translated by the translator Līlāśrī.
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.