Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Personal Instructions on Longevity, attributed to the master Koki, is a concise manual focused on the physical extension of life through a combination of ritual adherence and pharmacological intervention. The text begins by establishing a framework of discipline, requiring the practitioner to protect body and speech through oral instructions and traditional prostrations to Gurus and Bodhisattvas. It then transitions into a specific medical prescription, advocating for a six-month regimen of nutritious sour foods and a compound paste consisting of iron filings, bhṛṅgarāja, and costus mixed with bhṛṅga juice. By following this specific dietary and medicinal protocol, the text claims the practitioner can eliminate disease and extend their lifespan to two hundred years. Ultimately, the work commits the reader to a synthesis of spiritual devotion and material alchemy, suggesting that longevity is achieved through the precise application of external substances guided by an authorized lineage.
Provenance
About this text
An instructional work on the accomplishment of longevity, the Āyuḥparirakṣā belongs to the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The text is attributed to the Indian author Kokila. Preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition, it appears in the Tengyur, volume ཟི, where it extends over two pages under the Tibetan title tshe sgrub pa'i gdams ngag. The work enacts a regimen for the extension of life, arguing that the goal of longevity cannot be achieved without protecting body and speech through oral instructions on the extraction of essence. It prescribes a specific pharmacological protocol involving the consumption of nutritious sour foods and a medicinal paste composed of iron filings, bhṛṅgarāja, and costus mixed with bhṛṅga juice. By adhering to these dietary restrictions and medicinal preparations, the practitioner is told they may clear away diseases and live for two hundred years. A scholar or serious reader consults this manual today to examine the synthesis of spiritual devotion, such as prostrations to Gurus and Bodhisattvas, and the material alchemy of rasāyana used to sustain the physical body.
This work illustrates the intersection of Buddhist spiritual practice and traditional medicine in the Tibetan tradition, where longevity is viewed as a prerequisite for continued practice. It reflects the historical integration of Ayurvedic influences, such as the use of bhṛṅgarāja, into the Tibetan medical-spiritual complex.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Provides the Indian and Tibetan titles and establishes the ritual requirements of prostration and discipline.
2
Medical Prescription
Details a specific dietary regimen and the preparation of a medicinal powder to cure disease and extend life.
3
Colophon
Attributes the composition of the instructions to the master Koki.
Themes
Longevity and Health (2)
Ritual Discipline (1)
Pharmacology (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Āyuparirakṣa-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Tshe sgrub pa'i gdams ngag (The Instructions for Accomplishing Longevity). Homage to the Bodhisattvas! Having prostrated to the Gurus, one should always protect the body and speech through the oral instructions on the extraction of essence (rasāyana). Since the goal cannot be accomplished without that, I shall explain this longevity practice here, which arises in its proper context, in order to accomplish all aims.
Equal parts of butter, honey, and milk should be mixed in a greasy vessel and left in barley dregs for one night. Then, having removed it, one should consume it. In six months, the teeth and nails will be renewed, and one will be able to live for a thousand years; the signs are sharp vision and great strength.
Having taken the root of the nye-shing plant, dry it in the shade and grind it into a fine powder. Mix it with milk or yogurt, and once the yogurt has set, churn it. Take the fresh butter and consume it at dawn. Signs will appear after seven days; after two weeks, one will possess the radiance of the sun; and after three weeks, or twenty-one days, illnesses will be cleared away and the body will become light. By consuming this for six years, one will be free from conceptual thoughts and accomplish longevity.
At dawn, take half a srang of sulfur, processed with white mustard oil, and consume it. This will clear skin diseases and accomplish longevity. Take two zho of "black cloud" (sprin nag) and knead it with the fluid of a "snake-eye" (sbrul mig pa) plant until it is saturated. After it has been digested, eat sixty measures of cooked rice, drink milk, and avoid hot greens. The preparation will be accomplished in one year.
Mix the powder of bhringarāja with butter and honey, and consume it on an empty stomach.
If one consumes a nutritious sour food for six months, it will clear away diseases and enable one to live for two hundred years. Take the three fruits, iron filings, bhṛṅgarāja, and costus in equal parts; mix them into a paste with bhṛṅga juice. Dry it in the shade, grind it into powder, and consume it. Avoid contact and green, sour foods; success will be achieved in two years. Fill an iron alms bowl with butter and add the finely ground bark of the devadāru root. Leave it for one year, then extract it during an auspicious time of planets and stars. Perform the recitation of your yidam deity and drink goat’s milk. After three months, wrinkles will vanish; after six months, one will possess the strength of the wind. Through this practice for one year, longevity is achieved. Take the three fruits and powdered bhṛṅga mixed with butter and honey to eat. At the time the medicine is digested, one should consume milk and boiled rice. One will have sharp vision, be free of disease, and live for three hundred years. At dawn, eat two aru; at midday, one baru; and at night, four āmalaka. As a yogi, consume as much rice and milk as possible. Free of white hair and wrinkles, one will possess the power of desire and be free of disease. One’s vision will become as sharp as that of a garuḍa. Take a paste of the three fruits and smear it on an iron vessel. After bathing for two days and nights, mix it with butter and honey and eat it. Through this practice for one year, one will live for three hundred years. Diseases will be cleared away, teeth and nails will be renewed, and one will possess a voice like that of a kokila bird. Therefore, one is known as a "Kokila" oneself.
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.