Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
Attributed to the master Ajoki, this brief instructional text serves as a call to spiritual urgency and a roadmap for achieving enlightenment. The work opens with traditional devotional markers, paying homage to Vajravārāhī and Heruka, which situates the advice within a Tantric framework. The central argument employs the classic Buddhist motif of the charnel ground, using the imagery of accumulated skeletons and the ocean of desire to highlight the instability of cyclic existence. By contrasting the grim reality of death with the rarity of a human body endowed with leisure, the text compels the practitioner to renounce worldly attachments. The work concludes by asserting that the exhaustion of delusion through the bliss of yoga leads to buddhahood via the clarity of the mind. Ultimately, the text commits the reader to a rigorous process of mental examination and yogic practice to transcend the cycle of suffering.
Provenance
About this text
An instructional work offering advice for the benefit of the mind, the Cittasaṃpradāyavyavasthāna belongs to the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The text is attributed to the Indian author Ayogin, appearing as Ajoki in the concluding lines. Preserved in the classical Tibetan period, the work is found in volume ཟི of the Tengyur under the Tibetan title sems la gros 'debs pa, spanning three pages. The work enacts a call to spiritual urgency, opening with homages to Vajravārāhī and Heruka. It employs the imagery of charnel grounds, where skeletons accumulate like mountains, to contrast the instability of cyclic existence with the rarity of a human body endowed with leisure. By urging the practitioner to renounce worldly attachments and examine all things as bubbles, the text argues that the exhaustion of delusion through the bliss of yoga leads to the fruit of buddhahood via the hundred branches of the mind's clarity. A scholar or serious reader consults this brief treatise today to examine the intersection of yogic practice and the traditional Buddhist motifs of renunciation and mental clarity within the Unexcelled Yoga Tantra tradition.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Presentation of Advice on the Mind” (Toh 2387), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2387
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as a concise example of the intersection between meditative yoga and the imperatives of renunciation in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. Its reliance on charnel ground imagery suggests a connection to the Mahasiddha tradition, emphasizing the transformation of aversion and desire into spiritual realization.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Titles in Sanskrit and Tibetan and devotional prostrations to Vajravārāhī and Heruka.
2
Exhortation to Renunciation
Use of charnel ground imagery to motivate the practitioner to renounce cyclic existence.
3
Conclusion
Statement on the attainment of buddhahood through yoga and mental clarity.
Themes
Impermanence and Renunciation (2)
Yogic Realization (3)
Devotional Framework (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Cittasya Saṃpradhāyavyāvaṣṭanaṃ nāma. In the language of Tibet: Sems la gros 'debs pa zhes bya ba (Advice to the Mind). Homage to the Mother Vajravārāhī!
Having prostrated at the feet of the glorious Heruka, who is surrounded by heroes, heroines, and spirits, I shall offer advice for the benefit of the mind for the sake of myself and others, in order to clear away the obscurations of the sentient beings of the three realms.
Recognizing desire to be like the water of a lotus, you must remember the unsurpassed view, meditation, and fruition of the nature of mind itself. By that, you will behold the glorious face and realize the non-dual meaning; therefore, through diligent practice, you will attain Mahāmudrā.
If you are not attached or clinging to various forms, sounds, and so forth, you will not remain in saṃsāra and will attain a nirvāṇa that has no cause [for rebirth].
The lotus-like beauty of the manifest eye-faculty and the echoes of the ear-faculty cause the nature of mind to become deluded. Alas! Why do you harbor the poisons of hatred and jealousy?
Even though you see white hair, wrinkles, and the like, you are bound by the faults and defects of clinging through constant pursuit.
Through the conduct of the superior, middling, and inferior, driven by attachment and hatred, the pride of the learned and the disciplined wanders in the abodes of saṃsāra.
There is much suffering for hungry ghosts, asuras, animals, and so forth; therefore, abandon jealousy and focus upon yourself.
Although gods, nāgas, and humans have obtained many pleasures, it is a great wonder that the king of the mind is never satiated by desire.
The suffering of separation from kin and the shedding of tears are even greater than the ocean.
The skeletons accumulated in the charnel grounds are equal to mountains; the blood of the agitated wounds of desire is like an ocean. Alas! O yogi of the King of Mind, why do you not renounce cyclic existence? Having obtained this human body, which is desirable and endowed with leisure, examine all things as being like bubbles. For as long as you can, act for the benefit of yourself and others. Sinking in the mud of saṃsāra, liberation is extremely difficult. In the hells, the sufferings of wailing, heat, cold, burning, and crushing prevail. Through craving and jealousy, one is born as a hungry ghost, tormented by hunger and thirst. Having reached a state of compassion, animals harbor great mutual hatred. Even gods fall from their abodes, and humans have many sufferings. Thus, remember the suffering of migratory beings and abandon the various conventions of the ultimate and the relative. Wealth and enjoyments flicker and shift like clouds and lightning. This life perishes like a lotus in the wind. Having seen that youth is impermanent in that way, the wise should quickly go to the forest. Through attachment to the relatives and friends of cyclic existence, jealousy arises. In the end, one goes to the abode of Yama and will not attain victory. If you understand this, you will attain the path of liberation. A sublime human body is difficult to obtain again and again. For example, like the reflection of the moon in the waves of the ocean, or a dream, an optical illusion, or various deceptive appearances—if one meditates on these, one is like a bird released from the snare of saṃsāra. Therefore, practice the nature of mind without attachment or clinging.
Whoever has attained the bliss of yoga, in whom delusion is exhausted, will attain the fruit of buddhahood through the hundred branches of the mind’s clarity. This concludes "Advice for the Mind," composed by the master Ajoki.
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.