Toh 2380 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

The Method of Practicing the Four Yogas

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2380
Genre: Treatise
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 053_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཟི.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,385 Tibetan characters · 350 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

The Method of Practicing the Four Yogas is a concise instructional text that outlines a path toward rapid enlightenment through specific meditative stages. The work begins by establishing the ontological premise that the mind and its nature are uncaused, positioning them as the primary objects of meditation. The text argues that by engaging with the yoga of equality, a practitioner can achieve perfect buddhahood instantaneously. It further asserts that the integration of the yoga of the mantrin's skillful means—specifically involving the five inner and outer nectars and the influence of deities such as Akṣobhya and Vairocana—leads to spiritual accomplishment. The text commits the reader to a practice that blends philosophical contemplation on the nature of mind with ritualized, tantric methodologies to collapse the time required for liberation.

Provenance

About this text

A treatise on the path to rapid enlightenment, the Caturyogabhāvanā (Tibetan: rnal 'byor bzhi'i nyams len gyi thabs/) originates from the Indian tradition and is attributed to the author Tantipa. Preserved within the classical Tibetan Tengyur (vol. ཟི), the work is situated in the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works collection. Spanning two pages in this edition, the text outlines a methodology for spiritual accomplishment. It posits that the mind and its nature are without cause, serving as both the essence of the object and the means of accomplishment. The work argues that through the yoga of equality, a practitioner may attain perfect buddhahood in a single instant. Furthermore, it describes the attainment of accomplishment through the yoga of the mantrin’s skillful means, involving the five inner and outer nectars and the influence of Akṣobhya and Vairocana. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine a practice that integrates philosophical contemplation on the nature of mind with ritualized tantric methodologies designed to collapse the time required for liberation.

Sanskrit title: Caturyogabhāvanā
Indian author: Tantipa
Tibetan translators: not recorded
Canonical collection: General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works
Genre: Treatise
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཟི
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Method of Practicing the Four Yogas” (Toh 2380), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2380

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its representation of the intersection between Mahayoga philosophy and the ritual application of the Four Yogas. It illustrates the tradition's commitment to the possibility of sudden enlightenment through the synthesis of emptiness and skillful means.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction and Ontological Basis	Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and defines the nature of the mind as being without cause.
2	The Yogas of Equality and Skillful Means	Describes the attainment of buddhahood through the yoga of equality and the achievement of accomplishment via the yoga of the mantrin's skillful means.

Themes

The Nature of Mind (1)
Rapid Enlightenment (2)
Tantric Skillful Means (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaThe Method of Practicing the Four Yogas·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཙ་ཏུར་ཡོ་ག་བྷཱ་བ་ན་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་བཞིའི་ཉམས་ལེན་གྱི་ཐབས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། དཔལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། སེམས་དང་སེམས་ཉིད་རྒྱུ་མེད་དེ། ། བསྒྲུབ་བྱ་སྒྲུབ་བྱེད་ཐིག་(ལའི་,ལེའི་)ངོ་། ། འབྲས་བུ་མ་གྲུབ་མྱ་ངན་འདས། ། དཔལ་ལྡན་དཔའ་བོ་ཡི་གེ་མེད། ། ལྟེ་བར་གསང་བའི་གེ་སར་ལ། ། ཨཱ་ལི་ཀཱ་ལི་ལ་བརྟེན་ནས། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་བཞི་ཡི་ཉམས་ལེན་བཤད། ། ལྟེ་བ་ཡེ་ཤེས་འཁོར་ལོ་རུ། ། རྩ་ནི་བརྒྱད་ཀྱི་ཐིག་བཏབ་ནས། ། ཨཱ་ཕྲེང་ཀཱ་ཕྲེང་མཉམ་བསམས་ནས། ། མཁའ་འགྲོ་བརྒྱད་ཀྱི་མེ་ལྕེ་སྦར། ། བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ནི། ། ནམ་མཁའི་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་འོད་ལས་ནི། ། གཉིས་མེད་ཟུང་འཇུག་འཛག་བྱས་པས། ། དཔའ་བོ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ལམ་ནས་རྒྱུ། ། དེ་འགག་རྣལ་འབྱོར་མཚན་མ་མེད། ། བརྟན་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་གྲུབ་འགྱུར་བ། ། སངས་རྒྱས་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ས་ལམ་ཐོབ། ། ཨཱ་ལི་ཀཱ་ལིའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་རོ། ། ཨ་ཧོ་བཟླས་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་པ། ། དངོས་དང་དངོས་མེད་བྲལ་འགྱུར་བས། ། ཕྱི་ནང་དུག་གི་རྣམ་པ་སེལ། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་འདི་ནི་བརྟན་གྲུབ་ན། ། ཟླ་བ་དྲུག་ནས་འགྲུབ་འགྱུར་བའི། ། རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ་དང་མཉམ་མོ། ། དེ་ནི་རིག་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་རོ། ། སེམས་ཉིད་གནས་སུ་པདྨ་ནི། ། མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་ནི་དམར་པོར་བསམ། ། པད་འདབ་བཞི་ལ་ཐིག་ལེ་ནི། ། དབུས་སུ་རྒྱུ་མེད་ཐིག་ལེ་ཡིན། ། དེ་དག་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ཁ་དོག་ནི། ། ཤར་དུ་དམར་དང་བྱང་དུ་སེར། ། ནུབ་ཏུ་དཀར་དང་ལྷོ་རུ་གནག། སྣ་ཚོགས་འོད་གསལ་དབུས་སུ་འཕྲོ། ། སྔར་བཤད་སྔགས་དང་བཅས་པ་ནི། །

In the language of India: Catur-yoga-bhāvanā-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Rnal 'byor bzhi'i nyams len gyi thabs zhes bya ba (The Method for the Practice of the Four Yogas). Homage to the glorious Vajrasattva! Mind and the nature of mind are without cause; they are the essence of the object of accomplishment and the means of accomplishment. The result is unestablished nirvāṇa; the glorious hero is without syllables. At the secret anthers of the navel, relying upon the āli and kāli, the practice of the four yogas is explained. In the navel, the wheel of primordial wisdom (jñāna-cakra), having laid out the lines of the eight channels, one contemplates the rows of ā and ka together. The flames of the eight ḍākinīs are ignited. The nature of bodhicitta, from the light of the expanse of space, flows as the non-dual union. By causing it to descend through the path of the heroes, the yogi of cessation becomes signless. When the yoga of stability is accomplished, the stages and paths of the Buddhas are attained. This is the yoga of the āli and kāli. The yogi of the aho recitation becomes free from existence and non-existence; the forms of outer and inner poison are cleared away. If this yoga is firmly accomplished, within six months one will become equal to Vajrasattva. This is the yoga of awareness (vidyā-yoga). At the site of the nature of mind, one should visualize a red lotus of equanimity. Upon its four petals are bindus; in the center is the causeless bindu. Their colors are: red in the east, yellow in the north, white in the west, and black in the south. Various luminosities radiate from the center. Together with the previously explained mantra: [End of passage]

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

definitionརྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ “Vajrasattva” — Used as a proper name, Vajrasattva is one of the principle deities of the esoteric Buddhist pantheon, regarded as both a source of the Buddhist tantras and the exemplar of the awakened state. As an adjective, the term va

terminologyཡེ་ཤེས → “wisdom”. Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty on the path.

homonymཡེ་ཤེས is rendered “wisdom” here; the glossary also records awareness, Wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཡེ་ཤེས “wisdom” — The term jñāna is formed by the root jñā , meaning “to know,” “to know of,” “to understand,” “to be aware of,” with the addition of the pratyaya lyuṭ , which can be interpreted as having different values (the instrument

periodདབྱིངས → “expanse”. In Dzogchen ཆོས་དབྱིངས is 'the expanse of reality'; earlier texts use it more plainly as 'realm/space'.

terminologyསངས་རྒྱས → “buddha”. The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carried by context, not by a suffix.

homonymསངས་རྒྱས is rendered “buddha” here; the glossary also records Awakened, awakened, Buddha for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionསངས་རྒྱས “buddha” — The Indic term buddha means "The Awakened One" and is used in Buddhism as an epithet for the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama as well as other spiritually enlightened beings in general. “ Buddha ” is the past partici

periodཟླ་བ → “moon; month”. In calendrical and cosmological passages ཟླ་བ is 'month' (twelve months to a year) or 'moon', not the god Candra. Candra is the rendering only where the text addresses or names the deity — a sūtra listing the moon as a time unit is not naming a god.

homonymཟླ་བ is rendered “moon; month” here; the glossary also records Candrā, Candramas, Moon for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཟླ་བ “moon; month” — The deity of the moon, as well as the moon itself. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha , when Avalokiteśvara emanates Candra , it is the deity that is meant.

periodརིག་པ → “knowledge”. 'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge' versus 'ignorance'.

homonymརིག་པ is rendered “knowledge” here; the glossary also records awareness, spell, incantation for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

termརྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ → Vajrasattva

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termཡེ་ཤེས → wisdom

termདབྱིངས → expanse

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

termཟླ་བ → moon; month

སྒོམ་ན་རྣལ་འབྱོར་དབང་ཕྱུག་དེ། ། སྐད་ཅིག་གཅིག་ལ་རྫོགས་སངས་རྒྱས། ། དེ་ནི་མཉམ་ཉིད་རྣལ་འབྱོར་རོ། ། མི་བསྐྱོད་ཆུ་དང་རྣམ་སྣང་དང་། ། ཕྱི་ནང་བདུད་རྩི་ལྔ་ཡིས་ནི། ། སྔགས་པའི་ཐབས་ཀྱི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་(ཀྱི,གྱི)། ། ཏན་ཏི་བདག་གིས་གྲུབ་པ་ཐོབ། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་བཞིའི་ཉམས་ལེན་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་སློབ་དཔོན་ཏན་ཏི་པས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། །

If one meditates, that Lord of Yogis, In a single instant, attains perfect buddhahood. That is the yoga of equality. Through Akṣobhya, water, Vairocana, And the five inner and outer nectars, I, the yogi Tanti, attained accomplishment Through the yoga of the mantrin’s skillful means. This concludes "The Practice of the Four Yogas," composed by the master Tanti-pa.

Terminology used in this text (8)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	2	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ	Vajrasattva	1
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	1	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
དབྱིངས	expanse	1	In Dzogchen ཆོས་དབྱིངས is 'the expanse of reality'; earlier texts use it more plainly as 'realm/space'.
ཟླ་བ	moon; month	1	In calendrical and cosmological passages ཟླ་བ is 'month' (twelve months to a year) or 'moon', not the god Candra. Candra
རིག་པ	knowledge	1	'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge'
སྔགས	mantra	1	སྔགས་པ is a mantra-practitioner, not 'the mantric one'.

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 053_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཟི.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

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.

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