Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Path of Meditating on a Garland of Syllables is a technical manual detailing a specific meditative praxis centered on the visualization of seed syllables. The text outlines a dual process of external ritual action and internal mental cultivation. It instructs the practitioner to synchronize the physical placement of a corpse in a skull-cup, marked with the syllable HŪṂ, with the internal visualization of the same syllable atop a crescent moon within the heart center. The work commits the reader to a rigorous synthesis of cemetery-based ritual and the realization of the nature of mind, utilizing the maṇḍala wheel of forty-nine self-arisen letters as the primary conceptual framework for this meditative path. The goal is to bridge the gap between external ritual manipulation and internal cognitive realization through focused concentration on the center of the skull-cup.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise explaining the path of meditation on the maṇḍala wheel of forty-nine self-arisen letters, the Kālibhāvanāmārga originates from the Indian tradition and is attributed to the author Dhamadhuma. Preserved in the classical Tibetan period, the work appears in the Tengyur, volume ཟི, where it comprises two pages and is categorized within the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. Under its Tibetan title, ka phreng sgom pa'i lam, the text enacts a meditative praxis that synchronizes external ritual action with internal mental cultivation. It instructs the practitioner to place a corpse in a black skull-cup marked with the syllable HŪṂ while simultaneously visualizing the same syllable atop a crescent moon within the heart center. By focusing the mind in the center of the skull-cup after realizing the nature of mind, the yogi is said to evoke signs of accomplishment. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine the synthesis of cemetery-based ritual and the visualization of seed syllables used to illuminate both the ultimate and the conventional.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Path of Meditating on a Garland of Syllables” (Toh 2405), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2405
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant as it exemplifies the intersection of tantric ritualism and meditative psychology in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. It illustrates the use of transgressive elements, such as corpses and skull-cups, as supports for achieving non-dual realization. For the modern reader, it provides a primary example of how seed syllables function as focal points for consciousness in advanced Buddhist praxis.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Provides the Indian and Tibetan titles and introduces the subject of the forty-nine self-arisen letters.
2
Ritual and Meditative Instruction
Details the specific placement of the syllable HŪṂ in both a physical skull-cup and the practitioner's heart.
Themes
Seed Syllable Visualization (1-2)
Ritual Synchronicity (2)
Realization of the Nature of Mind (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaThe Path of Meditating on a Garland of Syllables·
In the language of India: Kālimārgabhāvanā-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Ka-phreng sgom-pa’i lam zhes bya-ba (The Path of Meditating on the Garland of Ka Letters). Homage to the glorious Heruka!
I shall explain the path of meditation on the maṇḍala wheel of the forty-nine self-arisen letters, beginning with A, which clearly illuminate the ultimate and the conventional.
From the five channels of my four locations, and from the wind-deity wheel at the triple-junction, the fierce inner heat (caṇḍālī) blazes at the navel; this is the wheel that ignites the heart. Above, the stable wheel resides; at the crown is the green water-wind. Upon these, in successive order, one should place the five letters of the ka-garland.
First, on the petals of the wheel of passion: Kaṃ in the east, Khaṃ in the south, Gaṃ in the west, and Ghaṃ in the north; in the center of the sky, one recites Ṅaṃ. One should visualize them as blue, red, white, yellow, and blue, respectively. When passion arises and one is impassioned, it clears away the diseases of passion.
The wind of Kaṃ strikes the fire; recollecting the light rays of the fierce inner heat, the water dries up, the earth is pierced, and steam arises. Then, from the navel, one counts Hik and Hūṃ. Focusing the mind on the Ha of great bliss, one should imagine a stream of nectar flowing. Having filled the pond of the navel, the sound of the Brahma-aperture at the crown emerges. Having visualized the empty house of great bliss, one should focus the mind on the hollow center of the navel. Through this, the yogi’s sins are purified. Thus, the yogi Dhama Dhuma has spoken of the transference (phowa) of training.
If one is to transfer from one realm to another, the yogi should prepare a maṇḍala of the five nectars before me, using the seeds of the chickpea (caṇaka).
One should place [the corpse] in a black skull-cup and write the syllable HŪṂ, which is like a kunda flower. Likewise, in one's own heart, one should meditate on the syllable HŪṂ atop a crescent moon. Once the nature of mind is realized, if the yogi focuses the mind in the center of the skull-cup, the signs of accomplishment will arise and the yogi will be at ease. One should cause the mind to dissolve into the nature of mind. Then, having taken a corpse that emits fireflies, one should visualize a HŪṂ at its heart. When the signs of accomplishing the vetāla arise, one should meditate on that very HŪṂ in the union of the corpse of a noble youth. The yogi then transfers from village to village. Regarding the yogi’s forceful transference: holding the "Lion’s Victory" flower mudrā, one opens the Brahma-aperture. The nature of mind is at the summit of Mount Meru; upon the filaments of an eight-petaled lotus, one should focus the mind on the HŪṂ. This is the transference of the glorious Kṛṣṇa, spoken by me, Dharmadhuma. Whichever yogi accomplishes this will undoubtedly dissolve into space. This concludes "The Path of Meditating on the Garland of Kā," composed by the master Dharmadhuma.
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.