Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The text, titled Siddhasadmārganirṇaya in Sanskrit and Grub pa dam pa’i lam nges pa in Tibetan, aims to delineate the correct path toward spiritual attainment. Based on the provided fragments, the work employs a dialectical approach to dismantle the ontological basis of suffering. It specifically targets the cognitive constructs of self and other, arguing that if the smallest unit of matter—the atom—cannot be perceived as a discrete entity, then the conceptual categories of 'I,' 'mine,' and 'other' lack a foundation for existence. By utilizing a dream analogy to illustrate the illusory nature of perceived loss and identity, the text commits the reader to a rigorous negation of inherent existence. The work positions itself within a lineage of transmission, invoking the authority of the teacher Kāśyapa to validate the attainment of the three unsurpassed essences.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise delineating the correct path toward spiritual attainment, the Siddhisanmārganirṇaya is attributed to the Indian author Mitrayogin. Preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition under the title Grub pa dam pa’i lam nges pa, the work is found within the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works collection, specifically appearing across two pages in volume ཟི of the Tengyur. The text employs a dialectical approach to dismantle the ontological basis of suffering by targeting the cognitive constructs of self and other. It argues that if the smallest unit of matter—the atom—cannot be perceived as a discrete entity, then the conceptual categories of 'I,' 'mine,' and 'other' lack a foundation for existence. By utilizing a dream analogy to illustrate the illusory nature of identity and loss, the work commits the reader to a rigorous negation of inherent existence, invoking the authority of the teacher Kāśyapa to validate the attainment of the three unsurpassed essences. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine how these specific philosophical negations are used to tame the mind and resolve the misconceptions of grasping.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Ascertaining the True Path Leading to the Attainments” (Toh 2467), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2467
Summary & commentary
Significance
The work is significant for its application of Buddhist epistemology to the problem of identity and attachment. It demonstrates the tradition's use of atomistic analysis to undermine the conceptual proliferation that sustains the ego. For the modern reader, it provides an example of how classical Indo-Tibetan philosophy uses logical negation to achieve psychological liberation.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Contains the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, a devotional opening, and a reference to the teacher Kāśyapa.
2
Analysis of Perception
A discourse on the non-perception of atoms and the resulting impossibility of the concepts of self and other, illustrated by a dream analogy.
Themes
Non-duality and the negation of the self (2)
The illusory nature of reality (2)
Lineage and transmission (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaAscertaining the True Path Leading to the Attainments·
In the language of India: Siddhasadmārganirṇaya. In the language of Tibet: Grub pa dam pa’i lam nges pa. Homage to the Blessed One, the Lord of the World (Lokanātha).
By the power of the Great Compassionate Teacher, Kāśyapa, the Glory of the World, the three unsurpassed essences are attained for the sake of taming one’s own mind, which is otherwise difficult to tame.
Alas! Listen, O people of Jambudvīpa! This spiritual friend of beings speaks thus: That which is the cause of bondage is itself the path to liberation. The precious teaching of the Sage is the boat for crossing the ocean of suffering. Its essence—the path and the method—is the instruction of the spiritual friend Kunga.
Ema! A precious human body is difficult to find. This leisure and endowment, so difficult to find, is as fleeting as a cloud. All of saṃsāra is suffering, yet one’s own mind is nirvāṇa. Like a boat found by one sinking in the ocean, like a wave in a violent torrent, like a nest of venomous snakes, or like the center of the autumn sky—
Whatever wealth there is is like a tent in a house; whatever friends there are are like people in a marketplace; one’s own body is like a snake’s slough; and life is like water cascading down a steep mountain.
Alas! O friends, as long as you have not fallen into the mouth of the rākṣasa of impermanence, turn back from cyclic existence and exert yourselves, O fair-faced ones! In the vast city of illusion, the person of a dream enjoys its pleasures; the nature of mind is dependent origination. Thus should appearance and mind be understood. Look! The body is like a plantain tree; speech is like an echo or the sky; and the mind—
If not even a single atom is perceived, my children, who is bound and to what? How and where can these misconceptions—our thoughts of "I," the thought of "mine," the thought of "other," and the thought of "belonging to another"—possibly exist? Just as when a son dies in a dream, although the son has died, he does not truly exist because the son himself was never there; likewise, our grasping is also like a dream, for all phenomena are like dreams. All these various appearances—food, clothing, wealth, friends, and enemies—are like illusory horses and elephants. Whatever arises is left as it is in mindfulness. Mindfulness is self-liberated and free; that freedom is the spontaneous presence of equal taste. This is the threefold secret path of the essence. Aṭṭhi.
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.