Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
Attributed to the master Bhiṣaṇa and referencing the instructions of Nāgārjuna, this short ritual manual provides a method for overcoming the eight fears. The text functions as a practical guide for the yogi, combining ritual offerings, torma, and specific timing—such as lunar days and eclipses—with the application of a particular herb (zhen) to achieve invisibility. The core of the practice is a mantra dedicated to Mahākālī, intended to render the practitioner unseen and protected from danger. The text commits the reader to a precise sequence of ritual actions and the cultivation of bodhicitta, asserting that these conditions are necessary for the successful accomplishment of the method. By blending pharmacological elements with mantra and timing, the work seeks to transform the practitioner's vulnerability into a state of fearlessness.
Provenance
About this text
A method for bewildering the eight fears, the Aṣṭabhayamūḍhakaraṇopāya is a treatise belonging to the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work is attributed to the Indian author Bhikhana, though the text also references the instructions of Nāgārjuna. Preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition, the work appears in volume ཟི of the Tengyur, where it extends over three pages under the Tibetan title 'jigs pa brgyad rmongs par byed pa'i thabs/. The treatise enacts a ritual process to render the practitioner fearless of threats such as fire, robbers, snakes, tigers, and arrows. It prescribes a precise sequence of actions for the yogi endowed with bodhicitta, combining the timing of lunar days and eclipses with torma offerings, the application of the zhen herb for invisibility, and the recitation of mantras dedicated to Mahākālī. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the intersection of pharmacological elements, astrological timing, and mantra within the ritual technology of the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras, specifically regarding the practical attainment of invisibility and protection from danger.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Method for Confounding the Eight Dangers” (Toh 2413), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2413
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as an example of the intersection between ritual magic, pharmacology, and Buddhist tantra in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. It illustrates the use of invisibility rituals and the invocation of fierce deities like Mahākālī to navigate physical and spiritual dangers.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Provides the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles and establishes the lineage connection to Nāgārjuna.
2-3
Ritual Instructions
Details the timing, offerings, herbal applications, and the specific mantra required to achieve invisibility and fearlessness.
Themes
Ritual Invisibility (2)
Overcoming Fear (1, 3)
Tantric Mantra (2-3)
Bodhicitta (3)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaA Method for Confounding the Eight Dangers·
In the language of India: Caturmuktikara-caryopāya-nāma. In the language of Tibet: ’Jigs pa brgyad rmongs par byed pa’i thabs zhes bya ba (The Method for Bewildering the Eight Fears). Homage to the glorious Heruka!
Through the instructions of Nāgārjuna, one becomes fearless of the fears of snakes, tigers, robbers, arrows, and fire. The astrologer Vikhaṇa was fearless; nevertheless, the power of the yogi’s experience may diminish. For the yogi who tames the nature of mind and subdues the Māras, obstacles may arise from the conditions of unexamined karma. Therefore, the practitioner of the initial yoga should remember the protection from fear and meditate on the guru upon the crown of the head. Recite the essence of the application and so forth: Oṃ ste a rje la ni bzhis sbyar. The third arising from the second row of consonants, joined with the third of the vowel row, is the yoga connection. Bound by vaṃ, write dha after it. The first of the palate, bound by the fifth of Sarasvatī, joined with la and i, is the language of the Piśācas. The letter ca, the thirteenth of Sarasvatī, is joined and at the end, write the second of the great elements. Later, within the lion, act like a tiger. Proclaiming the sound of vyāghra, there is no fear of the tiger. Recite kaṇḍā and be free from the fear of arrows. Svapapa and snal chen clear away the fears of great [beings]. Bind the mouth with mu haṃ and write bandha svāhā. Having generated the bodhicitta for the sake of beings, one should recite; free from afflictions, liberation is attained. With the blood of the uncle Kṛṣṇa as eye-salve, take a four-finger-width piece of wood and suspend it. Having taken the eight limbs of a corpse from the eight months, [perform the rite].
On the lunar days, perform offerings and torma rituals. At the time of a lunar eclipse, perform the recitation for invisibility. Through the application of the zhen [herb], the head will not be seen; this is the application for being unseen and invisible.
OṂ KALI KALI MAHĀKALI | MAṂSA ŚODHANI | BHOJANI | SMAŚĀNA BHASINI DHAVI | MAMA PAŚYANTU MANUṢYA | A HA HA HRĪḤ HŪṂ SVĀHĀ.
On the eighth and fourteenth days of the dark fortnight, wearing red clothes or naked, in a charnel ground at night, recite ten thousand times with a torma of blood (rakta); invisibility will be accomplished.
Now, for the yoga of the heart-essence: the essence is as follows, but others should be received from the oral instructions.
OṂ RUDHAKIRĀTI | KIRI KIRI | MIRI MIRI | RUDRA AMELE | KṢUPA KṢUPA SVĀHĀ.
Having performed eight hundred recitations of this yoga, apply the application at the time of traveling on the road. Having explained the binding of snakes, tigers, and thieves with arrows, the interdependent connection of the power of the burning fire is explained.
Having released the water-turtle, the fat of a frog and jambīra water are finely ground and smeared on the feet and hands. Having thus explained the heart-essence and near-heart-essence, if one sprinkles it with rising butter, fire will be unable to burn.
SIDDHI NĀGĀRJUNAPA and AGNIMO HARATI RA. After that, write TE TADAKARAṆTE. NIPARIBHANTE, the fire has no power. OṂ SIDDHI NĀGĀRJUNAPA. Recite the mantra to completion at the end of the three pa syllables. Cutting it three times, sprinkle white mustard seeds and clarified butter. Even if one enters a fire of glowing iron, it will be unable to burn.
The second mantra application for perfecting the power is: NAMO LABHIŚVAMITRAYATE.
HŪTA BHA HA HA STĀṂ STĀṂ BHAYAṂ ME | CILI SVĀHĀ | Render me powerless and devoid of strength! If a yogi endowed with bodhicitta practices this in the proper sequence, it will be accomplished without a doubt. This concludes "The Method for Bewildering the Eight Fears," composed by the master Bhiṣaṇa.
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.