Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This short text, titled Singing a Song Symbolic of the Profound Meaning, the Secret of the Mind, employs a series of metaphorical vignettes to address the nature of spiritual realization and the necessity of proper preparation. The author utilizes a didactic, poetic style to contrast the capabilities of the enlightened mind with the failures of the uninitiated. By invoking the image of the non-conceptual swan capable of separating milk from water, the text argues for a specific type of cognitive discernment. Furthermore, the author warns against passive expectation and structural fragility, using the analogies of the unbaked clay vessel and the thirsty horse to suggest that without the transformative 'fire' of practice and the 'zinc' of skillful application, the practitioner remains unable to access the essential truths that lie beneath the surface of ordinary experience. The reader is committed to a path of active refinement rather than mere hope.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise on the profound meaning and secrets of the mind, the Cittaguhyagambhīrārthagīti is a work of the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra tradition. It is attributed to the Indian author Śābarīśvara. The work entered the Tibetan tradition through the efforts of the translators Sumatikīrti and zha ma lo tsa ba, and it is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཟི, where it extends over two pages. Through a series of metaphorical vignettes, the work argues for the necessity of cognitive discernment and proper spiritual preparation. By contrasting the non-conceptual swan, which separates milk from water, with the failures of the uninitiated, the author emphasizes that spiritual realization requires more than passive expectation. The text employs analogies such as the unbaked clay vessel and the thirsty horse to enact a warning: without the transformative fire of practice and the skillful application of zinc, the practitioner remains unable to access essential truths. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan translation today to examine these didactic poetic strategies and the specific metaphorical framework used to describe the process of spiritual refinement and the limitations of ordinary experience.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Singing a Song Symbolic of the Profound Meaning, the Secret of the Mind” (Toh 2448), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2448
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its use of traditional Indian and Tibetan metaphors to describe the process of non-conceptual realization. It illustrates the transition from theoretical knowledge to experiential capacity, a central concern in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist epistemology.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Metaphor of Discernment
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, an invocation to Śavarī Īśvara, and the metaphor of the swan separating milk from water.
2
Metaphors of Preparation and Access
Discusses the folly of passive waiting and the necessity of hardening the vessel of the mind through fire and skill to prevent leakage and enable access to hidden resources.
Themes
Non-conceptual discernment (1)
The necessity of spiritual discipline and preparation (2)
The limitation of passive hope (2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaSinging a Song Symbolic of the Profound Meaning, the Secret of the Mind·
In the language of India: Cittaguhyagambhīrārthagīti-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Sems kyi gsang ba zab don brda’i glu brlangs pa zhes bya ba. Homage to Śavarī Īśvara!
Kye ho! Water and milk are mixed separately in the expanse of the sky, yet the beak of the non-conceptual swan gathers them and departs. The eyes of the owl, a bird of prey, see various appearances amidst the darkness, yet these are not external. The parrot, a bird, sees the forest of plants in the sunlight and delights in playing there, being especially attached to it. By eating poisonous leaves, the peacock’s plumage becomes exceptionally beautiful; who painted its variegated crest? Know that it is like a beautiful woman with a face cleansed of impurities, diligently looking into a mirror.
The captain who has escaped from the island of rākṣasas sees the city of the gandharvas; by dwelling there, he accomplishes great purpose—how wondrous! The sage gazes at the moon in the water and exerts himself in the garland of the sun and moon; his purity is supreme. A king, having summoned his enemies through strategy, binds and slays them, thereby attaining sovereignty; he is not a deceiver. The giṅpa executioner, skilled in taking life, kills every day yet is not stained by sin—he is Yamāntaka. The herdsman, skilled in means, directs the powerful elephant with a hook just as he desires; this is not external. The magician steals the sun and moon and hides them in a dark hole, thereby bringing all the planets and stars under his control. Knowing how to hold the water-filled ascetic’s bowl of Brahmā so that it does not leak, one understands the great significance of dependent origination.
In spring, the man who hopes for the falling of flower-stalks and the ripening of flavorful fruit is a fool. Since water poured into an unbaked clay vessel will leak, one should place it in fire and skillfully apply zinc. Though the horse is thirsty, it does not drink the water flowing underground; know that it is the rain from the sky that is being gathered. The mute man who gathers iron filings with a magnet has seen the moon in the ocean seized by Rāhu. The mercury of Brahmā, falling upon the spear-tip at the end of the age, is especially dear to the King of Stable Beauty. By drawing the water of the well upward with a waterwheel, the supreme harvest ripens—Emaho!
This concludes "The Secret Nectar of the Profound Symbolic Song." Śavarīśvara spoke this to Dampa. From the presence of Dampa, it was finalized by the translator Zhama and translated in the midst of the glorious Dingri monks.
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.