Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The provided fragments of the Four and a Half Verses present a heterogeneous collection of didactic anecdotes, philosophical aphorisms, and cautionary tales centered on the dangers of attachment and cognitive error. The text employs a variety of figures—including the master Nāgārjunagarbha, the sage Akṣapāda, and the practitioner Gaṅgāmā—to argue that hope, pride, and the grasping at a self or partiality are the primary drivers of suffering and cyclic existence. By juxtaposing the illusory nature of phenomena (likened to mirages and sunbeams) with the ruinous consequences of dualistic thinking, the work commits the reader to a path of non-attachment and the realization of emptiness. The text alternates between metaphorical descriptions of mental afflictions and narrative accounts of karmic retribution or spiritual realization, suggesting that liberation is found only when one ceases to seek external satisfaction and recognizes the emptiness of all phenomena.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise on the nature of hope and attachment, the Ardhapañcamagātha is attributed to the Indian author Nāgārjunagarbha. Preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition, the work is found in the Tengyur, volume ཞི, where it comprises eleven pages and is situated within the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The Tibetan title is rendered as tshigs su bcad pa phyed dang lnga pa. Through a series of didactic anecdotes and philosophical aphorisms, the work argues that hope, pride, and the grasping at a self or otherness are primary drivers of suffering and cyclic existence. By employing metaphors of mirages and sunbeams to illustrate the illusory nature of phenomena, it enacts a path toward non-attachment and the realization of emptiness. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine its specific methodology of using cautionary tales and metaphorical descriptions of mental afflictions—such as the 'Dharma-wolf' of pride—to instruct the practitioner on how to achieve the supreme happiness of being without hope.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Four and a Half Verses” (Toh 2278), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2278
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant for its synthesis of Madhyamaka-style emptiness and tantric practice, as evidenced by the references to both the nature of suchness and the gaṇacakra. For the modern reader, it illustrates the traditional Buddhist pedagogical method of using diverse narrative genres to dismantle the psychological mechanisms of grasping.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-3
Didactic Aphorisms and Warnings
Metaphorical descriptions of mental afflictions and the psychological ruin caused by hope.
4-8
Narrative Parables
Stories involving figures like Devadatta and various deities to illustrate karmic outcomes and the pitfalls of attachment.
9-10
Tantric and Meditative Realization
Instructions on the insufficiency of empowerment alone and the realization of emptiness through the study of sūtras and tantras.
11-12
Philosophical Conclusions and Social Critique
Reflections on the illusory nature of the vehicles fashioned by sentient beings and the consequences of deviating from Buddhist tenets.
Themes
The Illusory Nature of Grasping (1, 3, 11)
The Danger of Hope and Pride (1, 2, 6)
Emptiness and Non-duality (9, 11)
Karmic Retribution and Cyclic Existence (3, 7, 12)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
From the presence of the master Nāgārjunagarbha:
Hope is like a pale-yellow [robe]; narrowness is a young prince; grasping at otherness is a mirage of water; grasping at a self is the ruinous form of sunbeams; dualistic appearance is a parrot; discarding is the form of a confused probe; pride through views is a Dharma-wolf; grasping at that in meditation is the Anu view; grasping at pride through conduct is a nāpa; conceit through hardships is the son of Bhadrapāla; the desire for liberation through empowerment is Kośala; saying "realization is enough" is the son of Śrī; the guru beyond gurus is the peerless Gaṅgā; slandering the word is a kṛṣṇa; desiring accomplishment through bliss is a song of Thangs-bzang; emptiness is likewise a gola-pa. The consciousness free from these is like obtaining a precious jewel.
Formerly, in the land of Vārāṇasī, there was a householder named Pramoha and a woman named Ser-skya-mo Grus-spyan-mo. They passed the time on a lush meadow on the banks of the Nairañjanā River. She stayed for five days and nights, yet he did not come. Then, becoming despondent, she went before her mother. The mother asked, "O daughter, why has your complexion become so utterly dejected?" The daughter replied:
"O, for two nights and two and three days,
I stayed with the young householder;
Through the torment of longing, I have become despaired.
Deprived of food, my belly is hungry."
When she said this, the mother gave her a panali measure of cooked rice. She ate it quickly, and it went into the folds of her lungs, causing her head to spin. Then, she consulted the great physician, the spiritual friend, asking, "What is the nature of this?"
The manner of the above has been explained. The physician said: "Whoever places hope in anything will find neither peace nor happiness; various sufferings will increase. To be without hope is the supreme happiness." These are the teachings on how one is ruined by hope; this is the first instruction on how to be without hope.
In former times, there was a prince named Atithi. His father, the elder brother, empowered him as a Kṣatriya king by sprinkling water upon the crown of his head and said, "O Prince, be diligent in guarding the gate; strive to ensure that the throne does not slip to another." Having spoken thus, the father passed away. Later, at the time of a religious offering, a Brahmin who served as the king's preceptor arrived at the palace. Fearing that the throne would be seized, the prince rose and went to the gate to perform his duty. However, his younger brother, who had been waiting, seized the throne. Then the mother, Śuklā, asked, "Why did you exert yourself in that way?" The prince replied: "Just as my father instructed me, fearing the throne might be lost, I went to perform the gate's duty; yet my younger brother has stolen my happiness." The Brahmin said: "One who has a mind full of suspicion finds no happiness; one who is full of anxiety will never be at ease. Since that which is suspected is subject to destruction, the wise should abandon suspicion." This is the second instruction on how to be free from suspicion.
Formerly, on Mount Kukkutapāda, the monk Aśvajit arrived and was tormented by intense thirst. Mistaking a mirage for water, he—
Having gone to drink, he became extremely exhausted and sat eating wild greens. The sage Akṣapāda said:
"On the vast plain of cyclic existence, so difficult to traverse,
Those who wish to seek elsewhere
Will be tormented by the hammer of afflictions,
Like the thirsty searching for water in a mirage."
This is the third instruction: the abandonment of that which is to be meditated upon.
Formerly, King Ūruja had five hundred queens and a thousand sons. He requested the hand of the sage Śrīnanda’s daughter, Nāgaru, and because she was his only child, he cherished her dearly. The prince, however, had no self-cherishing; he thought, "I am so precious to them that even the slightest pain or suffering would be a cause for grief. If I were to die, all my attendants would be ruined."
Then one morning, after bathing, he stood on the roof of the palace facing east. With his eyes slightly closed against the sun’s rays, he sat there. Seeing a cemetery appear in the wavering rays of the sun, he thought, "I will be defiled by impurities," and fled. He fell from the roof of the palace and passed away.
Then the lay practitioner Sumati said:
"Because of excessive self-grasping, suffering arises;
Desiring my own happiness, I am harmed by others.
Having completely cast aside self-grasping,
I shall treat all sentient beings like a physician."
This is the fourth instruction: the relinquishing of self-grasping.
Formerly, in the Jeta Grove, Prince Sarvārthasiddha and the black Māra Devadatta were both in the body of a single parrot. ... [text continues] ...
His head split into two and he was born as such. Then, while Devadatta was asleep, Siddhārtha found the root of a tree, a medicinal herb, and two types of hala poison. He said, "The potency is equal, but I shall taste the flavor myself," and having eaten the medicine, the demon Devadatta vomited the medicine. Then, becoming extremely enraged, Devadatta ate the poison, and both were ruined. Then Śakra, the Lord of Gods, said:
"A wise person who sees the truth should not seek the merit of a divine medicine, nor should they discard a disagreeable poison. Through accepting and rejecting, one will be ruined. This is the fifth instruction on being free from acceptance and rejection."
Long ago, in the city of Kapilavastu, there was a Brahmin named Sūryadatta who possessed a great jewel called Musāragalva, capable of clearing away infectious fevers. That householder had two wives, but neither had any sons. Having made an appointment with a householder woman named Samanta in the city of Sukhāvatī, he went there. His two previous wives followed after him. Then, he hid inside a rotten tree trunk. When the two wives returned and the householder Samanta met with them and they engaged in sexual union, two golden needles stood upright in the householder's crown. Mistaking them for two optical illusions, they said to the Brahmin:
"O fair-faced one, we two are being closely pursued by two men," she said. She then spoke to the brahmin: "These are my two housewives. If we report our conduct to the king, he will certainly impose a punishment. Therefore, let us flee to another region." Having arrived at a forest grove, they recognized the situation and, filled with remorse for their confusion, Samanta sang this song:
"Terrified of men, we have fled;
If we wish to cast off cyclic existence,
Through this practice, first, from the ground of emptiness,
Suffering arises; by conceptualizing the non-dual as dual,
One becomes tormented.
This is the sixth instruction on being free from acceptance and rejection."
Long ago, in the land of Magadha, there was a woman named Dharmakoṭi living in a hut on the outskirts of a city. She had placed a wooden lid on a vessel containing saffron dye. As she went to gather flowers, a jackal from a charnel ground stepped onto the dye and slipped, soaking its body in the saffron color. When it reached the charnel ground, it encountered a wolf. The wolf asked, "O great one, who are you?" She replied, "I am the divine deer named Śarabha; my body is endowed with fragrance and color." Then, the wolf addressed the bear, tiger, monkey, and lion, and they all gathered around her. Then, on the day of the full moon, she went before her mother and said, "I am supreme! I am unsurpassed!"
She offered it. Regarding the statement, "She became the queen of the wild beasts," the mother said: "O daughter, having bathed in the waters of valid cognition, it is blissful to dwell on the humble ground. One who is arrogant because of a base hide is certain to be ruined if associated with for long." Although she spoke thus, she was unable to relinquish her pride in her hide. Then, returning to the assembly of predators, she let out her own cry and became a fox; when she let out the roar of a lion, they fainted. Then, she plucked a tuft of fur from each of all the wild beasts and predators and mixed it with dung. Then the sons of the gods spoke in verse:
"By the power of the mind one does not go,
But by the hide one acts with pride.
One does not become continuously happy;
Deprived of fur, the fox itself is ruined.
While accomplishing the fruit of happiness,
One does not go because of a lack of desire;
But by the pride of philosophical tenets one goes.
Like the fox, one will be destroyed into ashes."
This is the seventh [chapter], on how to be free from pride in one's own view.
Formerly, in the land of Kosala, a monk named Yaśuha practiced the meditative concentration of blocking the six sense-aggregates. Because he was free from the shifting of the inhalation and exhalation of the winds, he was able to live for five hundred years. Then, the universal monarch Priyadarśanaprabha said: "Monk, look at your mind! Do not remain in this mere [state]; meditate on the Perfection of Wisdom and release the meditative absorption of cessation." Having thus slandered the actual meaning and remained attached to his previous state of non-perception,
He was born as a long-lived god. Then, he was born as a king of a frontier region. Then, again, through the recollection of his past lives, he disparaged the Teaching; because he was attached to his previous state of non-perception, he was born as a long-lived god. Then, again, through the recollection of his past lives, he disparaged the Teaching and, having actually opened up a pit of earth, he went to the Avīci Hell. These are the eight points on how to make meditation free from focal objects.
Formerly, a brahmin named Ādhāra was sleeping in a cooling chamber. In a dream, [he heard:] "Son of noble family, adopt the conduct of purity! Having generated the supreme mind of enlightenment, the five perfections devoid of insight are not supreme. One will not even obtain the name of 'perfection.' Why is that? Because all phenomena are inexpressible." Although he spoke thus, he was not free from manifest attachment. Then, blessed by the māra Prahlāda, he attained the bliss of the Peak of Existence, but fell back into the lower realms. This is the ninth point on how to be free from attachment to conduct.
Formerly, the daughter of King Bhadrapāla served the bhikṣuṇī Mahāprajāpatī for six years with her body, speech, mind, and material resources. She engaged in twenty sets of practices endowed with the thirteen signs of the path of accumulation. For as long as she had heard the teachings, she trained accordingly. Then, a bhikṣuṇī named Śrī said: "O, the essence of all saṃsāra..."
"I shall grant you the suchness of nirvāṇa; you will be completely liberated from the anxieties of saṃsāra." To this, the girl replied, "O monk, the joy of the former [state] is the supreme fruit. Since no fruit superior to that can arise, I do not desire it." Śrī said:
"Without knowing the very speech of the Dharma,
Austerities performed for the sake of a fruit
Are like the messengers of kings:
Though many, they are achieved with hardship and yield little meaning."
This concludes the tenth [chapter], on "Being Satisfied with Having Performed Many Hardships."
From the Śrīparamādya Tantra:
"The Śrīparamādya arises from empowerment.
When the rigidity of body, speech, and mind
Is thoroughly ripened by empowerment,
The Śrīparamādya will be attained."
Having seen this, King Kosalā gave King Indrabhūti the empowerment seventeen times. Then, King Indrabhūti said: "O noble king, the [empowerment] is like a seed. Continuous familiarization is like water and fertilizer producing a sprout. Conduct is like making the harvest fit for use. Therefore, Great King, it is right to familiarize yourself with meditation." However, because of the previous prophecy, he could not be turned [toward it].
Then a ḍākinī spoke this verse:
"Though one wishes to make [the mind] fit
By using empowerment to point out wisdom,
Without familiarization, it is like the fruit of a plantain tree:
Once produced, it is simply exhausted."
Therefore, one must familiarize oneself.
This is the eleventh: to be free from the conceit that empowerment alone is sufficient.
A disciple of the glorious Ḍombi Heruka named Śrī Siṅgha spoke at a time when a circle of ḍākinīs and male and female yogins had gathered for a gaṇacakra:
"By realizing that all phenomena are empty,
There is nothing to meditate upon at that limit.
If one were to meditate, it would become inferior,
Just as a king has no further desire to be a king."
"Once all Buddhas are realized as one in emptiness, meditation is unnecessary. Meditation and the like are like the ashes of a fire offering."
All the Vajra Ḍākinīs said: "O you of perverted desires who would plunder the secret of the Buddhas, listen! Is the full moon seen by seeing the moon on the first day of the month? Is strength perfected from the very moment a child is born? Is the perfect fruit obtained from the very moment the seed is sown? Is the jewel in the ocean obtained in the hand by merely seeing it? Is the welfare of sentient beings accomplished by merely generating the bodhicitta? Is hunger cured by merely seeing food? Because of ignorance, if one pleases the retinue through familiarity with the obstacles to the primary realization, one will attain the wisdom of union. To hold that realization alone is sufficient is to be a fool. One is an outsider. One is directly blessed by Māra. One has brought about one's own ruin." Having said this, they killed him and made him the enjoyment of the ḍākinīs.
This is the twelfth: to be free from the conceit that realization alone is sufficient.
A daughter of King Dharmapāla named Gaṅgāmā examined all the sūtras and tantras of the Tathāgata, and through that, realization arose in her just as it is, and she meditated. Then, on the night of the rākṣasa offering to Mahābodhi, Gaṅgāmā went to the place where all the yogis were performing a gaṇacakra. All the yogis were blessed by the ḍākinīs, and their bodies were lifted up, their speech was made joyful, and their minds were made entirely free of aversion. Consequently, Gaṅgāmā’s previous realization vanished, and she said to the yogis, "O, what improper thing have I done? Please explain it to me." The yogis spoke with one voice:
"Accomplishment is found through the guru;
Bliss arises from the consort.
Accomplishment separated from the guru
Will not be attained even with ten thousand efforts.
That which causes accomplishment to arise through others
Is like food mixed with poison.
All the ḍākinīs will cause harm,
And various obstacles will arise."
By these words, she was made to have faith. This is the thirteenth [instruction]: the abandonment of not relying on the guru.
A son of the King of Karṇa named Kṛṣṇa made the Madhyamaka supreme and disparaged all the scriptures and treatises. He was seized by a yakṣa of the north and became insane. Then the father, the king, petitioned the mantra practitioners and performed the ritual for expelling the obstructing spirits. Then, from the mouth of the glorious Nāropa:
Regarding the Buddha’s speech, which is like a wish-fulfilling tree, sentient beings have fashioned various vehicles. The great demon of grasping at partiality will deceive both the present and the future. To the minds of beings, everything is true; in the ultimate object, nothing exists at all. That very reality is indivisible within the yogi’s mind. Those who disparage the Word will go to the realms of hell. Therefore, one must not disparage any of the Word; this is the fourteenth [point].
A king named Thang bzang glu received empowerment from the glorious Kampa-la and sat meditating on bliss in the Uṇḍuṇya charnel ground. All the hungry ghosts of the charnel ground created obstacles and his mind became utterly distracted. He requested instruction from the yoginī Lekminikara, who said:
"The boat of bliss is the action seal; once the dry land of emptiness is found, what is there to do? If you are attached to fabricated bliss and a fabricated mind, you will not be able to cross the great ocean of saṃsāra."
Thus, all the yogis made this special utterance to the princess. This is the fifteenth [point]: the abandonment of attachment to bliss.
A person of low caste named Dza relied upon the great master Kukkuripa and focused on the ultimate mind. Through meditating on a one-sided completion stage, he became attached to all phenomena as being without support. Subsequently, in the land of Jālandhara, most people passed away due to an epidemic, all crops were destroyed by hail, and for five years no rain fell.
He questioned a Brahmin who was an expert in secret mantras, and [the Brahmin] replied: "This region is inhabited by Buddhists, and because they have turned toward the secret tenets of outsiders, various inauspicious events have occurred; in this world they ruin others, and in the future they will ruin themselves." When the glorious Kukuripa heard this, he went before the outcaste Ja and said:
"First, the phenomena of entities are to be reversed by emptiness.
But by becoming excessively attached to emptiness,
one is ruined by the very grasping at entities.
When a poisonous snake dies, it is a darayakan [a type of venomous insect].
Poison is the supreme medicine when consecrated with mantra.
Because that which is sealed [with the seal of emptiness] becomes blissful,
abandon attachment and meditate on non-duality."
Having thus spoken, the master Nāgārjuna gave the ten examples of the past. Because they accord with the Sūtras and Tantras, he should be recognized as a Buddha. Because he spoke the six examples of the future, they accord with the attainment of siddhis; therefore, he should be recognized as the Omniscient One. The cognition free from the sixteen conditions is the intention of the Buddha; therefore, it is like a precious jewel.
This concludes the "Four and a Half Verses" spoken from the presence of the master Nāgārjunagarbha. At Śrīparvata, the Great Sovereign [Kukuripa] received it from the venerable Śavaripa. He transmitted it to the venerable Kāropa. He transmitted it to the venerable Nāropa.
Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations. A bibliography of the canon lists 1 English-language publication(s) on this text, e.g. Davidson, Ronald M. (2002). in _Indian Esoteric Buddhism_. NY: Columbia University Press, p.293 — these may include a full or partial translation. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).
Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.