Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This fragment of a Dharma song attributed to Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna functions as a moral exhortation centered on the necessity of mental vigilance. The text employs a metaphorical framework, casting conceptual thought as thieves and ethical discipline as a great wealth that requires constant guarding. By framing the state of saṃsāra as a long night prolonged by the sleep of ignorance, the author argues that indolence is the primary obstacle to liberation. The work commits the reader to a state of active mindfulness and rigorous self-discipline, positioning the mind as the central site of both danger and potential rescue. The structure is characterized by repetitive, urgent imperatives designed to awaken the practitioner from spiritual lethargy and emphasize the precariousness of the path toward enlightenment.
Provenance
About this text
A moral exhortation centered on the necessity of mental vigilance, the dI paM kA ra shrI dz+nyA na'i chos kyi glu is a treatise attributed to Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. This work is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཟི, where it comprises two pages and is situated within the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works of the classical Tibetan period. The text employs a metaphorical framework to argue against spiritual indolence, casting conceptual thought as thieves and ethical discipline as a great wealth that requires constant guarding. By framing the state of saṃsāra as a long night prolonged by the sleep of ignorance, the work enacts a call to active mindfulness, positioning the mind as the central site of both danger and potential rescue. A scholar or serious reader consults this piece today for its urgent imperatives designed to awaken the practitioner from lethargy and its emphasis on the precariousness of the path toward enlightenment.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Dharma Song of Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna” (Toh 2374), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2374
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its use of traditional Buddhist metaphors—such as the 'night of saṃsāra'—to communicate the urgency of practice. It reflects the Indo-Tibetan emphasis on the synergy between ethical discipline and mental concentration. For a modern reader, it illustrates the pedagogical use of poetic urgency in Buddhist instructional literature.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Exhortation to Vigilance
A call to guard the mind and ethical discipline against conceptual thought and ignorance.
Themes
Mental Vigilance (1)
Ethical Discipline (1)
Ignorance and Saṃsāra (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
Homage to the Buddha!
If you fear the thieves of conceptual thought, keep watch to guard the great wealth of ethical discipline. O, do not be indolent; keep watch over the mind! The night of saṃsāra is long due to the sleep of ignorance. O, do not be indolent; keep watch over the mind! If you fall asleep, the thieves will enter the house and plunder the great wealth of your ethical discipline. Without that wealth of ethical discipline, there is no meditative concentration; without that, the sun will not rise. Therefore, keep watch by meditating on that very reality. Do not engage in other minor matters for even a single moment. At that time, the sun of reality will rise, and thus the dawn of saṃsāra will break. O, do not be indolent; keep watch over the mind!
This concludes the Dharma Song of Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna.
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.