Toh 2406 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

The Mahāyoga Meditation on the Cakrasamvara with Vowels and Consonants

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

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2406
Genre: Treatise
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 053_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཟི.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,593 Tibetan characters · 376 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)

This Mahāyoga instructional text outlines a meditative practice centered on the deity Cakrasamvara. The work focuses on the visualization of linguistic elements—specifically garlands of vowels and consonants—as a means to realize non-duality. The practitioner is committed to a precise sequence of internal visualizations, beginning with the placement of these linguistic garlands before the body and proceeding to the generation of a moon-bindu within the navel cavity. By integrating these visual elements with the conceptualization of authentic syllables situated within an ocean, the text aims to dispel the cyclical limitations of saṃsāra. The work functions as a technical manual for a specific tantric visualization process, blending the symbolic power of the alphabet with somatic focal points to achieve a state of non-dual awareness.

Provenance

About this text

A treatise on the practice of great yoga, the Śamvaracakreśvarālikālimahāyogabhāvanā belongs to the tradition of the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work is attributed to the Indian author Sāgara. Preserved in the classical Tibetan period, the text appears in the Tengyur, volume ཟི, where it extends over two pages. The Tibetan title is rendered as a phreng ka phreng bde mchog 'khor lo'i rnal 'byor chen po bsgom pa. The work enacts a meditative process centered on the visualization of garlands of vowels and consonants to realize non-duality. This practice involves a precise somatic sequence, including the visualization of a moon-bindu within the navel cavity and the placement of authentic syllables within an ocean of nectar to dispel the limitations of saṃsāra. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the technical application of linguistic elements and somatic focal points within a tantric visualization framework, specifically as they relate to the achievement of non-dual awareness and the pacification of the senses.

Sanskrit title: Śamvaracakreśvarālikālimahāyogabhāvanā
Indian author: Sāgara
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 Mahāyoga Meditation on the Cakrasamvara with Vowels and Consonants” (Toh 2406), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2406

Summary & commentary

Significance

The text is significant for its integration of seed syllables and alphabetic garlands into the Mahāyoga framework of the Cakrasamvara tradition. It illustrates the intersection of linguistics and somatic visualization in Indo-Tibetan tantra, where the alphabet serves as a tool for ontological transformation.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1-2	Introduction and Preliminary Visualization	Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, offers an invocation to Heruka, and details the initial visualization of vowels, consonants, and the moon-bindu.

Themes

Non-duality (2)
Somatic Visualization (2)
Linguistic Symbolism (2)

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

AnuvādaThe Mahāyoga Meditation on the Cakrasamvara with Vowels and Consonants·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། སམྦ་ར་ཙཀྲ་ཨཱ་ལི་ཀཱ་ལི་མཧཱ་ཡོ་ག་བྷ་བ་ན་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། ཨ་ཕྲེང་ཀ་ཕྲེང་བདེ་མཆོག་འཁོར་ལོའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེན་པོ་བསྒོམ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ། དཔལ་ཧེ་རུ་ཀ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། འཁོར་བའི་ཐོག་མཐའི་ཚད་ནད་ནི། ། བདེ་བ་ཆེན་པོའི་བདག་ཉིད་ཀྱི། ། རྒྱ་མཚོ་ལྟ་བུའི་བདུད་རྩིས་སེལ། ། དགའ་ཆེན་དེ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། དཔལ་ལྡན་ཕག་མོའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཡིས། ། བདེ་ཆེན་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ཤིན་ཏུ་མཛེས། ། དཔའ་བོ་དཔའ་མོ་ཉི་ཤུ་བཞིས། ། ས་མུ་དྲ་ཡི་ལུས་ཉིད་ལ། ། གོ་ཆ་དྲུག་གི་རྒྱས་བཏབ་ལ། ། ཡི་གེ་བདུན་པའི་རྣ་རྒྱན་ཅན། ། དཔལ་ལྡན་ཕྲེང་བའི་སྔགས་ཀྱིས་ནི། ། མགོ་ཕྲེང་བཞི་བཅུ་རྩ་དགུས་བརྒྱན། ། གླང་པོ་ཆེ་ཡི་གཡང་གཞི་ནི། ། སངས་རྒྱས་ཀུན་གྱི་མཁའ་འགྲོ་འཛིན། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་མ་ཡི་རིག་པ་ནི། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་རྒྱ་མཚོས་རྐེད་རྒྱན་བྱས། ། ཐོད་ཕྲེང་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལྔ་ཡིན་ཏེ། ། བདེ་གཤེགས་ལྔ་ཡིས་སྤྱི་བོར་བརྒྱན། ། སཱ་ག་ར་བདག་གར་བྱེད་དོ། ། ཚངས་སྤྱོད་རྟག་ཏུ་བསྲུང་བྱས་ནས། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེན་པོ་གཉིས་མེད་བསམ། ། རྐང་པ་བརྒྱད་པའི་སྔགས་མཆོད་བྱ། ། བདག་ཉིད་རྣལ་འབྱོར་སཱ་ག་ར། ། དུར་ཁྲོད་བརྒྱད་དུ་གནས་བྱེད་ཀྱང་། ། འཇིགས་པ་རྣམས་དང་བྲལ་བ་ཡིན། ། དེ་ཕྱིར་རྣལ་འབྱོར་དབང་ཕྱུག་རྣམས། ། བདེ་མཆོག་འཁོར་ལོར་རྟག་ཏུ་མཆོད། ། ཀྱེ་ཧོ་རིགས་ལྔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་འདི། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་པ་ཡིས་ཏག་ཏུ་རྟོགས། ། རྟོག་པ་མེད་པའི་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ནི། ། འདོད་ཡོན་ལྔ་ནི་སྤྱོད་པར་གྱིས། ། རྒྱན་དྲུག་གིས་ནི་བརྒྱན་པའི་སྐུ། ། སེང་གེ་བཞིན་དུ་རྟག་ཏུ་སྤྱོད། །

In the language of India: Sambara-cakra-ālikāli-mahāyoga-bhāvana-nāma. In the language of Tibet: A-phreng ka-phreng bde-mchog 'khor-lo'i rnal-'byor chen-po bsgom-pa zhes-bya-ba. Homage to the glorious Heruka! The disease of the limits of the beginning and end of saṃsāra is dispelled by the nectar like an ocean, which is the nature of great bliss. Homage to that great joy! By the essence of the glorious Vārāhī, the maṇḍala of great bliss is exceedingly beautiful. With the twenty-four heroes and heroines, the body itself is marked with the armor of the six syllables. Adorned with the ear-ornament of the seven syllables, the glorious garland mantra ornaments the head with forty-nine [beads]. The elephant hide is the holding of the ḍākinīs of all the buddhas. The knowledge of the yoginī is made into a waist-ornament by the ocean of yoga. The skull-garland is the five primordial wisdoms; the five Sugatas adorn the crown of the head. I, Sāgara, perform the dance. Having always maintained the vow of celibacy, one should contemplate the non-dual great yoga. One should perform the offering with the eight-line mantra. I, the yogin Sāgara, though dwelling in the eight charnel grounds, am free from all fears. Therefore, the lords of yoga should always make offerings to Cakrasaṃvara. Kye ho! This conduct of the five families is always realized by the yogin. With a mind free of conceptualization, one should enjoy the five sensory qualities. Adorned with the six ornaments, one should always conduct oneself like a lion.

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.

homonymདཀྱིལ་འཁོར is rendered “maṇḍala” here; the glossary also records inner circle, maṇḍalaka, disk for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionདཀྱིལ་འཁོར “maṇḍala” — A small ritual space, usually on the ground which is smeared with cow-dung and other substances, where offerings are made. Although the term sometimes lacks the - ka ( kan ) suffix, it is not to be confused with the pant

terminologyསྔགས → “mantra”. སྔགས་པ is a mantra-practitioner, not 'the mantric one'.

definitionསྔགས “mantra” — A formula of words or syllables that are recited aloud or mentally in order to bring about a magical or soteriological effect or result. The term has been interpretively etymologized to mean “that which protects ( trā )

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

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.

definitionརིག་པ “knowledge” — This term may, according to context, refer to exoteric or esoteric knowledge, a goddess, her associated dhāraṇī , or some combination of these. In the body of this scripture, the dhāraṇī is referred to as a vidyā . In ta

checkAutomatic check: bracketed gloss waived.

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termདཀྱིལ་འཁོར → maṇḍala

termསྔགས → mantra

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

termརིག་པ → knowledge

ཨ་ཕྲེང་ཀ་ཕྲེང་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེ། ། མདུན་དུ་བསམ་ཞིང་གཉིས་མེད་སྐྱེ། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེན་པོ་བསྲེ་བྱས་ནས། ། བདག་གི་ལྟེ་བའི་ཁུང་བུ་ལ། ། ཟླ་བའི་ཐིག་ལེ་རྒྱས་པར་བསམ། ། ཡང་དག་པ་ཡི་ཡི་གེ་ནི། ། བདུད་རྩིའི་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་དབུས་བསམས་ནས། ། དབང་པོ་ཞི་ཞིང་གཉིས་མེད་འགྲུབ། ། བསམ་གཏན་བསམ་མེད་འགྲུབ་རྒྱུ་མེད། ། བསམ་མེད་བསམས་ན་གྲུབ་པ་ཐོབ། ། སཱ་ག་ར་བདག་སྨྲ་བར་བྱེད། ། གྲུབ་པའི་རྟགས་ནི་གླང་ཆེན་ཐུལ། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེན་པོ་གཉིས་མེད་དོ། ། ཨ་ཕྲེང་ཀ་ཕྲེང་བདེ་མཆོག་འཁོར་ལོའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེན་པོ་བསྒོམ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་སློབ་དཔོན་སཱ་ག་རས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

The great yoga of the garland of vowels and the garland of consonants: by visualizing them before one, non-duality arises. Having blended the great yoga, one should visualize a moon-bindu expanding within the cavity of one’s navel. Having visualized the authentic syllables in the midst of an ocean of nectar, the senses are pacified and non-duality is accomplished. There is no cause for accomplishing meditative concentration that is beyond thought; yet if one contemplates that which is beyond thought, accomplishment is attained. I, Sāgara, speak thus. The sign of accomplishment is the taming of the elephant. This is the non-dual great yoga. The Great Yoga of the Meditation on the Cakrasaṃvara, consisting of the garland of vowels and the garland of consonants, composed by the master Sāgara, is hereby complete.

Terminology used in this text (6)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
དཀྱིལ་འཁོར	maṇḍala	1
སྔགས	mantra	1	སྔགས་པ is a mantra-practitioner, not 'the mantric one'.
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
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'
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

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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