Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This fragmentary text, titled Āyuḥsādhana in Sanskrit and Tshe sgrub pa’i thabs in Tibetan, provides a ritualized method for the accomplishment of longevity. The text functions as a sādhana, a structured spiritual practice designed to achieve a specific result through a combination of physical posture and mental discipline. It begins with a traditional homage to the guru and immediately commits the practitioner to a specific somatic configuration, requiring the assumption of a cross-legged posture on a seat with a straight and rigid spine. By emphasizing these physical prerequisites, the text establishes that the attainment of longevity is contingent upon the correct alignment of the body as a foundation for the subsequent ritual actions. The fragment concludes just as the practitioner is instructed to begin the repetitive performance of the practice, indicating a transition from preparatory physical positioning to the active phase of the ritual.
Provenance
About this text
A method for accomplishing longevity, the tshe sgrub pa'i thabs is a sādhana belonging to the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work is attributed to the Indian author Vibuddhākara. It was translated into the Tibetan language by Vanaratnapāda and dge slong chos smra ba bsod nams rgya mtsho’i sde, and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཞི, where it extends to one page. In terms of its practice, the work enacts a ritualized process for extending life, beginning with a homage to the guru and the adoption of a cross-legged posture on a seat with a straight and rigid spine. The practitioner is further instructed to perform the union of incoming and outgoing winds while closing the anus. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan text today to examine the specific somatic configurations and breath-control techniques prescribed within the Unexcelled Yoga Tantra tradition to achieve the result of longevity.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Long Life Sādhana” (Toh 2336), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2336
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is representative of the longevity rituals common in the Indo-Tibetan tradition, where physical posture is viewed as essential for energetic manipulation. For the modern reader, it illustrates the intersection of somatic discipline and ritual intent in Buddhist praxis.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Preparation
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, offers homage to the guru, and specifies the necessary physical posture for the practice.
Themes
Longevity (1)
Somatic Discipline (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Āyuḥsādhana. In the language of Tibet: Tshe sgrub pa’i thabs (The Method for Accomplishing Longevity). Homage to the glorious guru!
Having assumed the cross-legged posture upon a seat and made the spine of the body straight and rigid, one should repeatedly perform the practice of holding the incoming and outgoing winds in union. By completely closing the anus, one draws [the winds] upward and restrains them in the region of Oḍḍiyāna. Having drawn the vital winds upward, the yogi should practice at the aperture of the small bell of the throat.
When the winds are thus drawn in by the ritual of purification, they attain mastery. Once this has been achieved, the winds become like lightning. Then, the stainless moon that bestows bliss flows from the uvula, satisfying the network of withered channels day and night, just as if by eating food.
This is the pith instruction of the yogi Buddhakara. It was translated in the presence of the great paṇḍita of eastern India, Śrī Vanaratna, by the monk and Dharma-preacher Sönam Gyatso De.
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.