Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Song of Kāṇeripā employs a series of paradoxical metaphors to describe the non-dual nature of consciousness and the process of spiritual realization. By utilizing the imagery of milking a cow in the sky, the text presents a meditative practice where the 'milk' represents the essence of awareness and the 'calf' represents the practitioner's own mind. The text identifies the vessel for this realization as Māmakī, which is further equated with the stainless coemergent (sahaja). Through this symbolic language, the work argues that the ultimate nature of mind is an ever-present, uninterrupted flow that transcends ordinary conceptualization. The reader is committed to a perspective of non-duality, where the distinction between the source of wisdom (the Guru/sky) and the recipient (the mind/calf) is collapsed into the experience of the coemergent.
Provenance
About this text
Offering a series of paradoxical metaphors to the assembly of yogic vows, the gaN+Da ri'i glu/ is a treatise attributed to the Indian author Kāṇeripā. This work is preserved within the classical Tibetan tradition in the Tengyur, specifically volume ཟི, where it comprises one page and is situated within the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The text enacts a meditative process through the imagery of milking a cow in the sky, wherein the milk represents the essence of awareness and the calf represents the practitioner's own mind. It identifies the vessel for this realization as Māmakī, equating it with the stainless coemergent. By collapsing the distinction between the source of wisdom and the recipient, the work argues that the ultimate nature of mind is an uninterrupted flow that transcends ordinary conceptualization. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine how symbolic language and non-dual perspectives are employed to describe the process of spiritual realization and the nature of consciousness.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Song of Kāṇeripā” (Toh 2361), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2361
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant for its use of the 'sky-milking' metaphor, a characteristic trope in Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen traditions to denote the spontaneous nature of primordial wisdom. It provides a concise example of how tantric poetry uses symbolic figures like Māmakī to represent the feminine principle of wisdom in the realization of the coemergent.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
The Metaphor of Sky-Milking
A poetic description of the non-dual relationship between the Guru, the mind, and the coemergent nature of reality.
Themes
Non-duality and the Coemergent (1)
Symbolism of the Guru and Māmakī (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
The Guru who milks the cow in the sky; the calf that drinks is one’s own very mind. Milking the sky without interruption, I offer this to the assembly of yogic vows. What is the vessel for the milk? It is Māmakī. The vessel for the milk is the stainless coemergent. Milking the sky without interruption, I offer this to the assembly of yogic vows. Having milked and milked the sky, the vessel is filled. These five elephants cannot be grasped. Milking the sky without interruption, I offer this to the assembly of yogic vows. The milking of the cow in the sky is not seen here; it is like a skull-cup filled with water within. Milking the sky without interruption, I offer this to the assembly of yogic vows. This concludes the Gaṇḍarī song.
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.