Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The fragment of the Sahaja-gīti (The Song of the Coemergent) employs poetic imagery to describe the manifestation of phenomenal diversity from a non-dual source. By utilizing the metaphor of a flower blooming from the forest of emptiness, the text argues that the manifold colors of experience are not separate from the void but are its spontaneous expression. The work positions the reader to view the relationship between emptiness and appearance not as a contradiction, but as a coemergent process. The brevity of the passage suggests a meditative or instructional focus on the nature of reality, committing the reader to a perspective where the absolute and the relative are integrated through the concept of sahaja, or spontaneous coemergence.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise employing poetic imagery to describe the manifestation of phenomenal diversity from a non-dual source, the Sahajagīti (Tibetan: lhan cig skyes pa'i glu) belongs to the tradition of the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work is attributed to the Indian author Sahor Śāntadeva. It entered the Tibetan language through the efforts of the translators Dhiriśrījñānapāda and lo tsa ba rma ban chos ’bar, and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཟི, where it extends over two pages. By utilizing the metaphor of a flower blooming from the forest of emptiness, the text argues that the manifold colors of experience are not separate from the void but are its spontaneous expression. It positions the reader to view the relationship between emptiness and appearance as a coemergent process rather than a contradiction. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan fragment today to examine a meditative or instructional focus on the nature of reality, specifically how the absolute and the relative are integrated through the concept of sahaja, or spontaneous coemergence.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Song of Spontaneous Generation” (Toh 2341), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2341
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its use of the sahaja concept, which is central to the Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen traditions of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. It illustrates the transition from philosophical negation of essence to the positive affirmation of luminous appearance.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Opening Metaphor
The text provides its Indian and Tibetan titles, offers homage to the guru, and introduces the metaphor of the flower of manifold colors blooming from the forest of emptiness.
Themes
Coemergence (Sahaja) (1)
Emptiness and Appearance (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Sahaja-gīti. In the language of Tibet: Lhan-cig-skyes-pa’i glu (The Song of the Coemergent). Homage to the sublime guru!
From the forest of emptiness, a flower blooms in full splendor. Upon a single flower, there are manifold colors. When this peerless flower blooms, it is victorious in all directions. Take this priceless flower! It has no root and no branches. Friends, look toward the direction of the excellent crack! When this peerless flower blooms, it is victorious in all directions. Take this priceless flower! By taking the filaments, one is a master of illusions. Offer to the Vajra Lord in the expanse of phenomena (dharmadhātu). When this peerless flower blooms, it is victorious in all directions. Take this priceless flower! Having discerned the supreme and the joy-free, hold them. Worship the feet of the sublime guru with devotion. When this peerless flower blooms, it is victorious in all directions. Take this priceless flower!
This concludes the work composed by the Lord of Yogins, Śāntideva. Translated by the guru Dhirishrījñāna and the translator Ma-ban Chos-’bar.
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.