Toh 2323 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

The Lamp of the Mind: The Secret

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2323
Genre: Treatise
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 052_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཞི.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,974 Tibetan characters · 504 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

The Secret Lamp of the Mind (Cittaguhyapradīpa) is a technical instructional manual focused on the realization of Mahāmudrā. The text begins with traditional invocations to Mañjuśrī and a lineage of fifty-five holy figures, establishing its authority within a specific transmission. The core argument posits that the ultimate meaning is found in a state liberated from the duality of existence (saṃsāra) and nirvāṇa. To achieve this, the text directs the practitioner to maintain a one-pointed focus on the innate mind, abiding in its natural state. This process is intended to reveal a non-referential bliss described as the nectar-like taste of the coemergent. By committing the reader to a practice of non-conceptual stability, the work aims to transition the practitioner from intellectual understanding to the direct experience of the mind's essential nature.

Provenance

About this text

A treatise focused on the realization of Mahāmudrā, the Cittaguhyapradīpa (Tibetan: gsang ba thugs kyi sgron ma) originates from the Indian tradition. It is attributed to the author Kamalaśīla. The work was translated into the Tibetan language by Jñānaguhya and bod kyi lo tsa ba lo btsun chung, and it is preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཞི) within the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works collection. Spanning two pages in this edition, the work enacts a path toward the pacification of suffering by teaching the instructions of the five distinctions. It argues that the ultimate meaning is found in a state liberated from both existence and nirvāṇa, directing the practitioner to focus one-pointedly on the innate mind while abiding in its natural state. Through this stability, the practitioner may access a non-referential bliss described as the nectar-like taste of the coemergent, a state that cannot be pointed out as an object but resembles the stainless light of an autumn moon. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan text today to examine these specific instructions on the mind's essential nature and the direct experience of non-conceptual bliss.

Sanskrit title: Cittaguhyapradīpa
Indian author: Kamalaśīla
Tibetan translators: Jñānaguhya, bod kyi lo tsa ba lo btsun chung
Canonical collection: General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works
Genre: Treatise
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཞི
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Lamp of the Mind: The Secret” (Toh 2323), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2323

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its synthesis of meditative stability and the non-dual philosophy of Mahāmudrā. It illustrates the transition from devotional homage to rigorous mental training characteristic of Indo-Tibetan tantric traditions. For the modern reader, it provides a concise example of how the 'natural state' is conceptualized as a liberation from binary categories.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction and Homage	Contains the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles and offers homage to Mañjuśrī and the lineage masters.
2	Instructions on Mahāmudrā	Defines the ultimate meaning as Mahāmudrā and describes the method of abiding in the innate mind to realize non-referential bliss.

Themes

Non-duality (2)
The Innate Mind (2)
Lineage and Authority (1)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaThe Lamp of the Mind: The Secret·

#༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ། ཙིཏྟ་གུ་ཧྱ་པྲ་དཱི་པཾ་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། གསང་བ་#ཐུགས་ཀྱི་སྒྲོན་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། འཇམ་དཔལ་སྨྲ་བའི་སེང་གེ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། དམ་པ་ལྔ་བཅུ་རྩ་ལྔ་ཡིས། ། ཞབས་ཀྱི་པདྨར་རབ་བཏུད་ནས། ། སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཞི་བར་བྱ་བའི་ཕྱིར། ། ཁྱད་པར་ལྔ་ཡིས་གདམས་པ་བསྟན། ། ཀྱེ་མ་རྣམ་ཤེས་རླུང་གིས་#འཁྲུགས། ། རླུང་ནི་ལས་སུ་རུང་བ་དང་། ། གཏུམ་མོ་རླུང་གིས་སྦར་བར་#བྱ། ། འདུ་བའི་ནད་ཀྱང་རླུང་གིས་བཅོས། ། འབྱུང་བ་རོ་ནི་མཉམ་པ་དང་། ། བརྟུལ་# ཞུགས་སྤྱོད་པས་བར་ཆོད་སེལ། ། འཚོ་བའི་བཅུད་ནི་ལེན་པ་དང་། ། ཨེ་ཝཾ་བདེ་བའི་རླུང་གིས་བསྐྱེད། ། རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ཤེས་པ་འཆར་བ་དང་། ། རྡོ་རྗེ་རྐང་མགྱོགས་གྲུབ་པར་འགྱུར། ། དྷཱུ་ཏཱིར་ཚུད་དེ་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེ། ། འདབ་ལྡན་པདྨ་གེ་སར་དབུས། ། རྩ་དང་རླུང་དང་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། ། སྟོང་ཕྲག་བདུན་ཅུ་རྩ་གཉིས་ནི། ། ཆགས་དང་འབྲི་བ་བཅུ་གཉིས་བརྒྱ། ། ལ་ལ་ར་ས་དྷཱུ་ཏཱིར་བསྡུ། ། རླུང་དང་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཀྱང་དེ། ། འཁོར་ལོ་བཞི་ལ་སྲོག་ཤིང་ཚུལ། ། མི་འདྲ་སྦར་བས་ཧཾ་ལས་འཛག། བཅུ་དྲུག་ཕྱེད་ཕྱེད་ཐིག་ལེ་ནི། ། དཀྱིལ་#དང་བཟློག་དང་དགྲམ་ཞིང་བསྟིམ། ། དགའ་བཞིའི་ཁྱད་པར་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེ། ། སྐྱེ་བ་དང་ནི་འགག་པའོ། ། ཤེས་པ་ཁོ་ན་འབའ་ཞིག་ཡིན། ། སེམས་ནི་ཀུན་གྱི་ས་བོན་ཏེ། ། རང་སེམས་རྟོགས་ན་སངས་རྒྱས་ལ། ། བདེ་བ་གཞན་དུ་མི་བཙལ་ལོ། ། སེམས་ཉིད་ལས་སུ་རུང་བ་དང་། ། རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་ཡང་དག་དོན། ། གཉིས་མེད་གཉིས་སུ་མེད་པ་ལས། ། གཉིས་སུ་བྱར་མེད་སྤྲོས་བྲལ་མཁའ། །

In the language of India: Cittaguhyapradīpa-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Gsang ba thugs kyi sgron ma zhes bya ba (The Secret Lamp of the Mind). Homage to Mañjuśrī, the Lion of Speech. Having bowed deeply at the lotus feet of the fifty-five holy ones, I shall teach the instructions of the five distinctions in order to pacify suffering. Alas! Consciousness is agitated by the winds. The winds must be made serviceable, and the caṇḍālī must be ignited by the winds. The diseases of the humors are also treated by the winds. The tastes of the elements are balanced, and obstacles are cleared through ascetic conduct. The essence of life is extracted, and the bliss of e-vaṃ is generated by the winds. The knowledge of dependent origination arises, and the vajra power of swift-footedness is accomplished. Entering the dhūtī, the Great Seal (mahāmudrā) is realized. In the center of the lotus with its petals and filaments, the channels, winds, and bodhicitta—these seventy-two thousand channels, which increase and decrease by twelve hundred—are gathered into the lalanā, rasanā, and dhūtī. The winds and bodhicitta likewise abide in the manner of a central axis within the four wheels. By igniting the distinct [elements], [the nectar] drips from the haṃ. The sixteen half-and-half drops are to be gathered, reversed, spread, and dissolved. The distinctions of the four joys are the Great Seal; they are the arising and the ceasing. It is consciousness alone. The mind is the seed of all; if one realizes one's own mind, one is a Buddha—do not seek bliss elsewhere. When the nature of mind is made serviceable, it is the non-conceptual, authentic reality. From non-duality and the absence of duality, there is the sky free from elaboration, where duality cannot be made.

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

definitionསྡུག་བསྔལ “suffering” — The first of the four truths of the noble ones. The term “suffering” includes all essentially unsatisfactory experiences of life in cyclic existence, whether physical or mental. These comprise (1) the suffering of suffer

terminologyསངས་རྒྱས → “buddha”. The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carried by context, not by a suffix.

homonymསངས་རྒྱས is rendered “buddha” here; the glossary also records Awakened, awakened, Buddha for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionསངས་རྒྱས “buddha” — The Indic term buddha means "The Awakened One" and is used in Buddhism as an epithet for the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama as well as other spiritually enlightened beings in general. “ Buddha ” is the past partici

checkAutomatic check: bracketed gloss waived.

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termསྡུག་བསྔལ → suffering

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

སྲིད་དང་མྱ་ངན་འདས་ལས་གྲོལ། ། དོན་གྱིས་དབུ་མ་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེ། ། སྙིང་པོའི་དོན་ལས་མ་ཡེངས་པར། ། གཉུག་མའི་ཡིད་ནི་གཅིག་ཏུ་གཏད། ། རྣལ་མའི་དོན་ལ་རབ་གནས་ནས། ། ཡིད་ལ་མི་དམིགས་#བདེ་བ་ཆེ། ། ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེས་པ་བདུད་རྩིའི་རོ། ། མཚོན་དུ་ཡོད་པ་མ་ཡིན་ཏེ། ། སྟོན་ཀའི་ཟླ་ལྟར་དྲི་མེད་འོད། ། བདེ་གསལ་སྟོང་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཅན། ། རང་ལ་སྤྲས་#པ་མིག་ལྟར་དབྱེ། ། བདེ་བ་ཆེ་ལས་གཞན་མེད་པས། ། ཕྱག་རྒྱའི་མཆོག་དེ་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེ། ། སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཞི་བར་བྱ་བ་དང་། ། ལུས་སེམས་འཕྱན་#དུ་གཞུག་པ་དང་། ། འབྲས་བུ་བློ་ཡིས་མ་གྲུབ་པ། ། ཤེས་རྒྱུད་ནམ་མཁར་འཕང་བ་དང་། ། དམིགས་པ་སྣ་ཚོགས་བསྒྱུར་ཤེས་སོ། ། ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་མིན་སེལ་བ་དང་། ། རིག་པ་དངས་སྙིགས་དབྱེ་བ་དང་། ། རྣམ་ཤེས་རླུང་ཡང་བསྟིམ་#པའོ། ། སྒྱུ་ལུས་འོད་གསལ་བསྲེ་བར་བྱ། ། བག་ཆགས་སྦུབས་སུ་གྲོལ་བ་དང་། ། ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་དུས་འདིར་ཐོབ། ། དེས་ན་རྣལ་འབྱོར་བརྩོན་པར་བྱ། ། སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཞི་བར་བྱེད་པ་གསང་བ་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་སྒྲོན་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་གྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་ཆེན་པོ་ཀ་མ་ལ་ཤཱི་ལས་#མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་མཁན་པོ་ཛྙཱན་གུ་ཧྱ་དང་། བོད་ཀྱི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ལོ་བཙུན་ཆུང་གིས་བསྒྱུར་བའོ། ། #

Liberated from both existence and nirvāṇa, The ultimate meaning is the Mahāmudrā. Without wavering from the essential meaning, Focus the innate mind one-pointedly. Abiding perfectly in the natural state, The non-referential bliss in the mind Is the nectar-like taste of the coemergent. It cannot be pointed out as an object; Like the stainless light of an autumn moon, It possesses the wisdom of bliss, clarity, and emptiness. Open the eyes to what is adorned within yourself. Since there is nothing other than great bliss, That supreme mudrā is Mahāmudrā. To pacify suffering, To cause the body and mind to wander [in the natural state], The fruit not established by the intellect, To cast the continuum of consciousness into space, And to know how to transform various focal points: To clear away dharma and non-dharma, To distinguish the clarity and dregs of awareness, And to dissolve the winds of consciousness— One should blend the illusory body with luminosity. Liberated from the cocoon of habitual tendencies, Mahāmudrā is attained at this very moment. Therefore, the yogi should apply themselves with diligence. The Lamp of the Secret Heart that Pacifies Suffering, composed by the great lord of yogis, Kamalaśīla, is hereby complete. Translated by the Indian abbot Jñānaguhya and the Tibetan translator Lotön Chung.

structureColophon: closes the text and names the translators or author.

terminologyཡེ་ཤེས → “wisdom”. Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty on the path.

homonymཡེ་ཤེས is rendered “wisdom” here; the glossary also records awareness, Wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཡེ་ཤེས “wisdom” — The term jñāna is formed by the root jñā , meaning “to know,” “to know of,” “to understand,” “to be aware of,” with the addition of the pratyaya lyuṭ , which can be interpreted as having different values (the instrument

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti . It may mean the Buddhist teachings, the awakened qualities which buddhas and bodhisattvas acquire, phenomena or thing

periodརིག་པ → “knowledge”. 'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge' versus 'ignorance'.

homonymརིག་པ is rendered “knowledge” here; the glossary also records awareness, spell, incantation for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionརིག་པ “knowledge” — This term may, according to context, refer to exoteric or esoteric knowledge, a goddess, her associated dhāraṇī , or some combination of these. In the body of this scripture, the dhāraṇī is referred to as a vidyā . In ta

terminologyམཁན་པོ → “abbot”. In colophons it is the Indian preceptor who authorised the translation; 'abbot' is wrong there. Use 'preceptor' in colophons.

homonymམཁན་པོ is rendered “abbot” here; the glossary also records upādhyāya, Preceptor for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམཁན་པོ “abbot” — A person’s particular preceptor within the monastic tradition. They must have at least ten years of standing in the saṅgha, and their role is to confer ordination, to tend to the student, and to provide all the necessary

checkAutomatic check: bracketed gloss waived.

termཡེ་ཤེས → wisdom

termསྡུག་བསྔལ → suffering

termཆོས → dharma

termརིག་པ → knowledge

termམཁན་པོ → abbot

Terminology used in this text (7)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
སྡུག་བསྔལ	suffering	2
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	1	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
ཆོས	dharma	1	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
རིག་པ	knowledge	1	'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge'
མཁན་པོ	abbot	1	In colophons it is the Indian preceptor who authorised the translation; 'abbot' is wrong there. Use 'preceptor' in colop

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 052_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཞི.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

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.

Anuvāda · NaxiAI