Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Rhythmic Songs of the Ḍākiṇīs is a collection of instructional verses designed to provoke a shift in the practitioner's consciousness from distraction to spiritual urgency. The text employs a direct, confrontational tone, utilizing the voice of the ḍākiṇī to challenge the yogi's complacency and attachment to sensory pleasures. It argues that the practitioner's failure to recognize the illusory nature of phenomena and the urgency of the human condition is a result of spiritual ignorance. By contrasting the danger of samsaric craving—illustrated through metaphors of moths and birds—with the potential for liberation, the text commits the reader to the cultivation of bodhicitta and the realization of emptiness. The work moves from an exhortation toward altruism and the danger of distraction to a specific methodology for transforming sensory experience into a path of realization, provided the practitioner recognizes the lack of true existence in all phenomena.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise known in Sanskrit as the Ḍākinītālagīti and in Tibetan as the mkha' 'gro ma'i 'byam glu, this work belongs to the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The opening passage attributes the discourse to the ḍākinī Sukhamahāsiddhi, who addresses the yogi Kamalaśīla during a gaṇacakra in the ḍākinī realm of Oḍḍiyāna. Preserved in the classical Tibetan Tengyur, volume ཟི, the work extends over five pages. The text enacts a direct confrontation with the practitioner, utilizing a tone of spiritual urgency to challenge the yogi's complacency and distraction. It argues that the practitioner must arouse altruistic intention and avoid the mud of attachment, warning against the dangers of birth, aging, sickness, and death. By contrasting the distractions of delusion with the necessity of the lord guru's remedy, the work urges the reader to escape the waves of suffering. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine its instructional verses designed to provoke a shift in consciousness from sensory distraction toward the cultivation of bodhicitta and the realization of emptiness.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Rhythmic Songs of the Ḍākiṇīs” (Toh 2451), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2451
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant as an example of the ḍākiṇī's role as a spiritual provocateur who uses 'crazy wisdom' or sharp rhetoric to break the practitioner's conceptual clinging. For the modern reader, it illustrates the intersection of devotional lineage, ethical urgency, and the non-dual view of sensory experience within the Indo-Tibetan tradition.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Invocation
Provides the Indian and Tibetan titles and establishes the setting in the ḍākiṇī realm of Oḍḍiyāna.
2-3
Exhortations on Compassion and Urgency
Urges the yogi to arouse altruistic intention and warns against the distractions of samsaric existence.
4
Warnings Against Attachment
Uses metaphors of animals caught by craving to warn against the illusory nature of sensory objects.
5
Lineage and Guidance
Describes the transition from a state of ignorance and poverty to receiving guidance from a realized teacher.
6
Instructions on Non-Dual Realization
Instructs the yogi to view sensory qualities as aids on the path by realizing the lack of true existence in phenomena.
Themes
Altruism and Bodhicitta (2)
The Danger of Distraction and Samsara (3-4)
The Role of the Guru/Teacher (3, 5)
Emptiness and Non-Attachment (4, 6)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Ḍākinītalagīti-nāma. In the language of Tibet: mkha' 'gro ma'i 'byam glu zhes bya ba (The Boundless Song of the Ḍākinīs). Homage to the Blessed One Nairātmyā!
In the land of Oḍḍiyāna, in the ḍākinī realm of the great charnel ground known as the Play of the Glorious Constellations, while the ḍākinī Sukhamahāsiddhi was performing a gaṇacakra, the yogi Kamalaśīla attained confidence in having realized and internalized the innate wisdom of suchness. Through the power of his experience arising impartially, he mounted that great non-dual wisdom upon the horse of words and sang a song of realization in the midst of the gaṇa. The ḍākinīs, both those of wisdom and those born of karma, were delighted and gathered in the sky before him like a mass of clouds. They whispered secret heart-advice to the yogi and sang this song:
"Kye ho! Powerful son of noble family,
Vajra skill that accomplishes the authentic meaning,
Fortunate one whose karmic training has awakened,
Lord of the treasury of qualities and mastery,
Body adorned with the two types of siddhis,
Foremost of men, lord of the gaṇa.
The nature of your causal phenomena has been nourished by conditions;
You have drunk the fragments of your karmic training.
You have obtained the wish-fulfilling jewel of qualities
And abide in the radiance of great luminosity.
Performing the benefit of beings as a mere illusion,
Peerless yogi of space,
There is no need to exhort you;
Nevertheless, listen to our song.
In general, sentient beings are deluded by karma
And enjoy themselves in places of suffering."
This is unbearable; it strikes at my very heart with compassion. If you do not now regard them with your compassion, how will you act as the father and mother of the six classes of beings? O yogi, arouse the altruistic intention! Generally, the young child of awareness delights in distraction. The appearances of delusion are a great spectacle. The thieves of subject and object are bold and headstrong. The consciousness of dualistic doubt is full of hesitation. The watchfulness of the antidote lacks perseverance. The gate-keeper of introspective mindfulness is lax. There is a danger that the jewel of the nature of mind will be lost. O yogi, do not be distracted by objects! Within the unchanging ground, the Queen of Space, the internal resentment of the five poisonous afflictions has entered. The nine brothers, the demons of subject and object, cause harm. One follows after the delusions of conceptualizing good and bad conditions. Because the conduct of attachment and aversion is improper, the chronic illness of subject and object is stirred from its depths. The bliss of one's own body is lost. How pitiable are these deluded sentient beings! O yogi, act for the benefit of beings! Generally, the small child of mental wisdom listens repeatedly to the lies of the five gates. There is a danger of being cast into the abyss of the six realms. O yogi, destroy dualistic grasping! The wild intellect of shifting thoughts and memories does not lie in its natural state within the palace of the expanse of the universal ground, but instead plays with the companions of the five poisons amidst the deceptive seductions of illusory sensory objects. By being distracted by the objects of attachment and aversion, there is a danger of falling into the abyss of the lower realms. Close the gates of the five sense faculties and imprison the young child of the mind. Lay it to rest in the bed of bliss, clarity, and emptiness.
You are distracted, O yogi! In the river of birth, aging, sickness, and death, you fool who lacks a swimmer’s skill delights in play. While you possess the boat of leisure and endowment, you do not rely on the remedy of the lord guru, but chatter in the waves of non-virtuous karma. Escape the waves of suffering with remedies; without remaining stuck in the mud of attachment, strive to reach the dry land of liberation.
You who have desires, O yogi! Upon the poisonous tree of craving, the branches of acceptance and rejection diverge. The leaves of attachment flourish in the ten directions; the flowers of striving and achievement fly into the sky, while the fruits of suffering fall downward. The heartless monkey waits and eats; there is the danger of dying in the forest of saṃsāra.
The person free from various attachments takes up the weapon of unchanging confidence and topples the tree of desire from its roots. They carry away the withered green fruits of the five poisons and exhaust the lethal power of the poison of death. Abandon your desires, O yogi!
The deer that is ruined by sound is to blame for pursuing fame. O yogi, do not hold to partiality regarding praise and blame, which are like echoes. The elephant caught by the iron hook is to blame for craving the taste of grape wine. O yogi, do not be overly attached to the wild salt-water of sensory objects.
The peacock that dies from isolation is to blame for viewing its plumage as an ornament. O yogi, do not be overly self-important regarding this impure aggregate of the four elements. The bee trapped in the mud is to blame for craving a fragrant scent. Regarding relatives, who are merely temporary connections—
Do not feel attachment, O yogi! That the moth is burned by fire is the fault of its craving for the luster of the melted butter. Do not grasp at the illusory appearances of objects, O yogi! That the bird is caught in a net is the fault of its following after the food of sensory pleasures. Do not harbor a hungry craving for the bait of the iron hook, O yogi! Upon the mirror of the pure universal ground (ālaya), the six consciousnesses are polished as awareness. The reflections of the six objects appear clearly; the unawakened child grasps them as real things and experiences the pleasure and pain of attachment and aversion. The universal ground is the uncontrived expanse of reality (dharmadhātu); the six consciousnesses are unceasing, yet without grasping. The six objects are clear, yet empty of essence. The child who grasps at things is utterly lost, but the wise one is free from grasping at self-appearances. Destroy that grasping, O yogi! In the sky of the ground, which has no identifiable nature, the southern clouds of the five poisonous afflictions gather. The thunder of self-grasping resounds, and the continuous rain of diverse karma falls. The mud of attachment and clinging in saṃsāra is stirred, and the crops of suffering for the six classes of beings flourish. With the sun of vipaśyanā-awareness, the sun of the expanse is made to shine. With the cool breeze of mindfulness during and after meditation, the southern clouds of discursive thoughts are driven into the expanse. The thunder of self-grasping vanishes in its own place; the root of the rain of karma is severed. The mud of clinging is dried by the sun; the seeds of the six realms wither and rise. The harvest of suffering is blighted and carried away. Do not have doubts, O yogi! The qualified prince has been stolen by a minister.
Wandering as a beggar in a land without kin,
You sustained a life of tattered rags and filth.
Neither you nor others recognized you;
Yet a Brahmin diviner perceived your lineage.
He questioned the son of a foolish mind,
And entrusted you to the Lord of the Knowledge of Reality.
He drew you from the cleansing bath of the two pure accumulations,
Adorned you with the wish-fulfilling jewel of instructions,
And seated you upon the precious throne of realization.
You have seized the sovereign seat of the Buddhas of the three times.
Rely upon the Guru, O yogi!
The supportless deer of the mind
Wanders upon the plain of the bardo of karmic power.
It thirsts for the mirage-water of attachment,
And dies at the edge of the six realms of saṃsāra.
The mountains and valleys are filled with the traces of flesh and blood.
Now, bind the supportless awareness in the expanse of space.
Without following the conditions of the six sense-faculties,
Run across the plain of great luminosity.
Regarding the mirage-rivers of sensory desires,
Do not harbor the attachment of grasping;
Cut the inner torment of craving and desire.
Without following the conditions of the six realms,
Sleep in the expanse of great equanimity.
In the innate state beyond mental conception,
The archer of undistracted mindfulness
Aligns the arrow in the essence of the uncontrived innate.
He cuts the root of the two—hope and fear—
And, having wound it with the four joys,
Inserts the arrowhead of coemergence.
Fitting the nocks of method and wisdom,
He feathers it with the four moments
And shoots it toward the direction of self-grasping.
It pierces the heart of the wild boar of ignorance,
Severs the life-vein of subject and object,
And shall no longer roam the abodes of saṃsāra.
"Yogi, seize the stronghold! When objects arise as self-appearances without attachment, the sensory qualities become aids on the path; like the color of a lotus, it is clear even in the mud. Yogi, sustain whatever experience arises! When you realize that phenomena lack true existence, the vital winds and effort become the great union; like an elephant, it is blissful when released from golden shackles. Yogi, let go of exertion! That stallion of equal-taste awareness, without being caught in the snares of subject and object, lets go of the reins of grasping at self and other; let it gallop wherever it pleases on the level plain of the directionless. Yogi, that madman in whom experience bursts forth spontaneously, without putting him in the iron chains of antidotes, let him out of the house of hypocrisy and let him roam freely wherever he pleases. Yogi, that great garuḍa of thought in the sky, without clinging to the bait of philosophical tenets and without fearing the abyss of delusion, let it soar in the directionless expanse of space. Yogi, that wish-fulfilling jewel of the fruition, without being stained by the impurities of hope and fear and without remaining on the island of mere mental aspiration, quickly obtain the fulfillment of all needs and desires. Yogi, having seized the unchanging stronghold, the time has now come for you to don the armor of your former vow to act as a parent to the six classes of beings through the impartial rays of compassion. Samaya!"
Having spoken thus, he let out a great roar of exhortation like the thunder of the kalpa, and then vanished into the infinite expanse. This concludes "The Long Song of the Ḍākinīs."
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.