Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Song of the Four Vajras (Vajracaturgītikā-nāma) is a concise instructional text that outlines a negative dialectic for meditative practice. The fragment provided focuses on the avoidance of conceptual and volitional errors during the contemplation of suchness. Specifically, the text warns the practitioner against three primary pitfalls: the cultivation of a discordant mind, the reification of suchness as a discrete object of meditation, and the pursuit of a specific result or goal. By instructing the reader to abandon these grasping tendencies, the text commits the practitioner to a non-dual approach to meditation where the absence of conceptual construction is paramount. The work is structured as a series of prohibitions designed to strip away the dualistic layers of the meditating mind to allow for a direct realization of reality without the interference of hope or objectification.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise on the non-referential Mahāmudrā, the Caturvajragītikā (Tibetan: rdo rje bzhi'i glu) belongs to the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work is attributed to the Indian author Avadhūtipa Advayavajra. Preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition, the text appears in volume ཟི of the Tengyur, where it extends over two pages. The record does not name the translators responsible for its passage into Tibetan. The work enacts a negative dialectic for meditative practice, instructing the practitioner to avoid the pitfalls of a discordant mind, the reification of suchness as an object, and the hope for a specific result. By stripping away these dualistic layers and conceptual constructions, the text directs the reader toward a state of non-conceptuality. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine the specific prohibitions designed to eliminate volitional errors and grasping tendencies, thereby facilitating a direct realization of reality without the interference of objectification.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Song of the Four Vajras” (Toh 2352), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2352
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant for its emphasis on the non-conceptual nature of suchness, reflecting a sophisticated stage of Indo-Tibetan meditative theory. It serves as a cautionary guide against the common error of treating the ultimate nature of reality as a target for attainment.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Meditative Prohibitions
Provides the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles, an opening homage, and a series of instructions on what to avoid during meditation.
Themes
Non-conceptualization (1)
Non-attachment to results (1)
The nature of suchness (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Vajracaturgītikā-nāma. In the language of Tibet: rDo rje bzhi’i glu zhes bya ba (The Song of the Four Vajras). Homage to the glorious Buddha!
Do not meditate on a discordant mind;
Do not grasp that very suchness as an object;
Do not meditate with hope for a result;
Meditate on the non-referential Mahāmudrā.
If there is no dwelling in the state of non-conceptuality,
That is not the glorious Mahāyāna;
Do not meditate with hope for a result;
Meditate on the non-referential Mahāmudrā.
The aggregates and elements are Mahāmudrā;
The samaya wheel is their very nature;
Do not meditate with hope for a result;
Meditate on the non-referential Mahāmudrā.
This is the king of non-dual qualities;
The yoga of non-dual qualities is the teaching;
Do not meditate with hope for a result;
Meditate on the non-referential Mahāmudrā.
Born in the land of Śrāvastī,
Composed by the non-dual Vajra Avadhūti,
The song of Amarasiṃha is 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.