Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This short instructional text, attributed to the Mother Kaṅkāla Me Kala, provides a technical guide for a visualization practice involving three spiral diagrams or swastikas. The work functions as a manual for a specific meditative process where the practitioner is directed to visualize movements around a central mind point, involving right and left revolutions. The text commits the reader to a precise sequence of mental operations: the movement and striking of the swastikas, their subsequent dissolution into two swastikas via the action of wind, and the final dissolution of the central vortex into the fire of primordial wisdom (jñāna). By framing these instructions as oral transmissions, the text emphasizes the necessity of a guru's guidance to correctly execute the visualization. The brevity of the work suggests it serves as a concise mnemonic or a ritual prompt rather than a theoretical treatise on the nature of the spiral diagrams.
Provenance
About this text
An instructional manual for the realization of emptiness, the Nandyāvartatrayamukhāgama belongs to the collection of General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work is attributed to the Indian author Kaṅkalā Mekhalā, referred to within the text as the Mother Yoginī. Preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition, the work appears in volume ཟི of the Tengyur under the title g.yung drung 'khyil pa gsum gyi zhal gdams kyi nyams len. Spanning three pages in this edition, the text enacts a technical visualization practice centered on the three swirling swastikas. The practitioner is guided through a precise sequence of mental operations: visualizing movements around a central mind point, the right and left revolutions of spirals, and their dissolution via wind into the fire of primordial wisdom, which subsequently melts the body from the throat to the soles of the feet. Scholars and serious readers consult this work today to examine the specific mechanics of these oral instructions and the role of the guru in transmitting the meditative process required to achieve the intended results.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Oral Instructions on the Three Spiral Diagrams” (Toh 2415), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2415
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its representation of the intersection between geometric visualization and the attainment of primordial wisdom in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. It illustrates the use of the swastika as a dynamic tool for mental dissolution and transformation. The attribution to a female figure, Mother Kaṅkāla Me Kala, highlights the role of female tantric practitioners in transmitting specialized oral instructions.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Provides the Indian and Tibetan titles and an invocation to the Mother Yoginī.
2
Visualization Instructions
Details the movement, revolution, and dissolution of the three spirals into the fire of jñāna.
3
Colophon
Attributes the instructions to Mother Kaṅkāla Me Kala and marks the completion of the text.
Themes
Visualization and Dissolution (2)
Oral Transmission (1, 3)
Primordial Wisdom (jñāna) (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaOral Instructions on the Three Spiral Diagrams·
In the language of India: Nandhyavartatrayamukhāgamanāma. In the language of Tibet: The Practice of the Oral Instructions on the Three Swastikas (Gyung-drung ’khyil-pa gsum-gyi zhal-gdams-kyi nyams-len). Homage to the Mother Yoginī!
Having received the oral instructions of the Guru, I shall explain the Kaṃkha Mekhala instructions for the purpose of realizing the meaning of emptiness.
One’s own body is hollow. From the crown of the head down to the navel, there are three channels: yellow, white, and red. Their interiors are hollow. On the right channel, one should visualize a needle-tip-sized [space] that is naturally clear. On the left is a lunar drop (candrabindu), and the central channel is hollow. By focusing the mind there, the outer and inner are empty. If the consciousness becomes agitated, focus the mind on the two drops of the right and left channels. Then, at the top of the uṣṇīṣa of the central channel, visualize a swastika (gyung-drung ’khyil-pa) the color of fire arising from the syllable Hrīḥ.
At the four corners of the swastika are the syllables Oṃ, Āḥ, Hūṃ, and Phaṭ. On the right side, upon the rasanā, is a lunar swastika arising from A, which blocks the water-wind of the bodhicitta. On the left, upon the lalanā, is a red swastika arising from Oṃ; by visualizing this, the fire-wind is blocked. Then, from the wind-wheel, the wind arises and reaches the throat. As the wind of the Sugatas flows in the center, the twelve-finger-width channels emerge. The water-wind and fire-wind of the right and left emerge from the solar and lunar channels and are inhaled by the two goddesses. Then, by blowing with both of them, the openings of the two channels are pierced.
They move about and strike the swastikas; having circled the central mind, the two [spirals] revolve to the right and left. Again, having been blown by the wind, they dissolve into the two swastikas, and one should imagine the central vortex dissolving. The fire of primordial wisdom (jñāna) is ignited, and from the throat down to the soles of the feet, one's own body gradually melts into the expanse of phenomena (dharmadhātu). Focus the mind on the bindu of equality. Through analysis, it is not established and is without substance; it is free from all characteristics of an object of observation. If one does not meditate in that way, whatever one does, one will wander in saṃsāra without realizing the coemergent. Having taken [the essence] from that bindu, generate oneself as the severed-head Mother. Then, imagine the syllable HRIḤ at the navel. The wind rises at the triple-junction and flows upward; the HRIḤ melts into three bindus: the I is the wind-bindu, the HA is the bodhicitta-bindu, and the syllable RAṂ is the rakta-bindu. In brief, they are sequentially blue, white, and red. Driven upward by the wind that has not yet arisen, if they flow into the channels of the severed head, imagine them emerging four finger-widths above. The left revolves to the left and the right to the right; the central bindu blazes and dissolves. As the two goddesses blow upon it, the left and right bindus dissolve into the center. By inhaling that very [essence] downward, imagine it dissolving into the HŪṂ at the heart. That is luminous and stainless; it is the non-dual bindu of self-awareness, free from all pleasure and suffering. Saṃsāric appearances are self-aware emptiness. Kye ho! By meditating as a yogi, one will attain non-dual primordial wisdom.
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.