Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The provided fragment introduces a work titled The Song of the Treasury of the Drop of Spring, available in both Sanskrit (Vasantatilakā-dohakoṣa-gītikā-nāma) and Tibetan. The text opens with a traditional homage to the deity Heruka and employs the metaphor of spring flowers to describe the three bodies (trikaya) of the Buddha. Based on the available passage, the work is structured as a song or a collection of dohās (spiritual songs of realization), blending poetic imagery with Buddhist soteriology. The author positions themselves as a youth witnessing a spiritual awakening, suggesting that the text aims to convey profound realizations through the lens of natural beauty and spontaneous expression. The reader is committed to a framework where the physical manifestations of spring serve as a catalyst for understanding the nature of the three bodies, bridging the gap between sensory experience and transcendental realization.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise blending poetic imagery with Buddhist soteriology, the Vasantatilakadohakoṣagītikā is a work of the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra tradition. It is attributed to the Indian author Saraha (II). The work is preserved in the classical Tibetan period within the Tengyur, specifically volume ཟི, where it comprises one page. In Tibetan, the work is titled dpyid kyi thig le do ha mdzod kyi glu. The text enacts a spiritual awakening through the metaphor of spring flowers to describe the three bodies, opening with an homage to the deity Heruka and a plea for protection. By positioning the speaker as a youth intoxicated by these spiritual blossoms, the work utilizes the sensory experience of nature as a catalyst for understanding profound realizations. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine how the tradition of the dohā—spiritual songs of realization—bridges the gap between spontaneous expression and the formal structures of the Yoga Tantra canon.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Song that is a Treasury of Dohās on the Drop of Spring” (Toh 2351), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2351
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its use of the dohā genre, which emphasizes direct experience over formal scholasticism. Its bilingual titles suggest a desire to align Tibetan spiritual practice with Indian Buddhist literary traditions. The focus on the three bodies indicates a high-level philosophical engagement with the nature of enlightenment.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Includes the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles, an invocation to Heruka, and the beginning of a poetic reflection on the three bodies.
Themes
The Three Bodies (Trikaya) (1)
Nature as Metaphor (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaThe Song that is a Treasury of Dohās on the Drop of Spring·
In the language of India: Vasantatilakā-dohakoṣa-gītikā-nāma. In the language of Tibet: dPyid kyi thig le do ha mdzod kyi glu zhes bya ba (The Song of the Treasury of the Drop of Spring). Homage to the glorious Heruka!
Seeing the spring flowers of the three bodies and so forth, I, a youth, have become intoxicated. O Heruka, through your passion, protect me here at the very beginning of spring! Do not let me perish from the heat of longing! The ambaka flower, fragrant and delightful, is being struck by the bees. Carrying the lamp of the caṇḍālī, the kānupa hopes to come to me, saying, "The painting is falling upon me." At the beginning of summer, the season of spring, protect me! Do not let me perish from the heat of longing! Looking in the ten directions, I see no one other than you. Through the fire of longing, I have no thought even for my own body. By the supplication of four of the eight yoginīs, may the Blessed One arise!
The Vasantatilakā-dohakoṣa-gītikā, composed by the master Saraha and transmitted from the master Kṛṣṇācārya, is hereby complete.
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.