Toh 2478 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Concise Presentation of Root Transgressions of the Vajra Vehicle

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2478
Genre: Treatise
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 053_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཟི.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,498 Tibetan characters · 369 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

The Concise Presentation of Root Transgressions of the Vajra Vehicle serves as a technical guide to the ethical boundaries of the Vajrayāna path. The text focuses on the fourteen root downfalls, framing these transgressions not merely as moral failings but as spiritual degenerations that leave the practitioner vulnerable to Māra and subsequent rebirth in the hells. By emphasizing the catastrophic consequences of these violations, the author argues that the practitioner must first subdue pride and acknowledge their own delusions before formally receiving the tantric vows. The work commits the reader to a rigorous adherence to these vows as a necessary condition for their own spiritual welfare, positioning the avoidance of root downfalls as the primary safeguard against spiritual failure within the mantra vehicle.

Provenance

About this text

A treatise explaining the fourteen root downfalls as taught in the tantras, the Vajrayānamūlāpattisaṃgraha belongs to the tradition of the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work is attributed to the Indian author Aśvaghoṣa. Preserved in the classical Tibetan period, the text appears in the Tengyur, volume ཟི, where it extends over two pages. The author argues that spiritual degenerations resulting from these transgressions leave the practitioner vulnerable to Māra and subsequent rebirth in the hells. To ensure their own welfare, the practitioner is urged to subdue pride and recognize their own delusions before receiving the vows, which begin with the three refuges and include the bodhicitta. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today as a technical guide to the ethical boundaries of the Vajrayāna path, framing the avoidance of root downfalls as a primary safeguard against spiritual failure within the mantra vehicle.

Sanskrit title: Vajrayānamūlāpattisaṃgraha
Indian author: Aśvaghoṣa
Tibetan translators: not recorded
Canonical collection: General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works
Genre: Treatise
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཟི
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “Concise Presentation of Root Transgressions of the Vajra Vehicle” (Toh 2478), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2478

Summary & commentary

Significance

This work is significant for its role in defining the disciplinary framework of the Vajrayāna tradition, where the risk of spiritual fall is considered acute. For the modern reader, it illustrates the intersection of ethics, psychology, and cosmology in Tibetan Buddhist practice.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1-2	Introduction and Warning	The text provides its titles in Sanskrit and Tibetan, offers traditional homages, and warns of the karmic consequences of violating the fourteen root downfalls.

Themes

Root Downfalls (1-2)
Karmic Consequences (2)
Prerequisites for Vows (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaConcise Presentation of Root Transgressions of the Vajra Vehicle·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། བཛྲ་ཡཱ་ན་མཱུ་ལ་པཏྟི་སཾ་གྲ་ཧ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ་རྩ་བའི་ལྟུང་བ་བསྡུས་པ། ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། སངས་རྒྱས་ཀུན་དང་བླ་མ་ཡི། ། ཞབས་ཀྱི་པདྨར་རབ་བཏུད་དེ། ། རྩ་བའི་ལྟུང་བ་བཅུ་བཞི་ནི། ། རྒྱུད་ལས་གསུངས་པ་བཤད་པར་བྱ། ། གང་ཕྱིར་རྡོ་རྗེ་འཛིན་པ་ཡིས། ། དངོས་གྲུབ་སློབ་དཔོན་རྗེས་འབྲང་གསུངས། ། དེ་བས་དེ་ལ་བརྙས་པ་ནི། ། རྩ་བའི་ལྟུང་བ་དང་པོར་བཤད། ། བདེ་གཤེགས་བཀའ་ལས་འདས་པ་ནི། ། ལྟུང་བ་གཉིས་པ་ཡིན་པར་གསུངས། ། ཁྲོས་པས་རྡོ་རྗེ་སྤུན་གྱི་ནི། ། ཉེས་པ་བརྗོད་པ་གསུམ་པ་ཡིན། ། སེམས་ཅན་རྣམས་ལ་བྱམས་པ་སྤོང་། ། བཞི་པ་ཡིན་པར་རྒྱལ་བས་གསུངས། ། ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྩ་བ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། ། དེ་སྤོང་བ་ནི་ལྔ་པ་ཡིན། ། རང་ངམ་གཞན་གྱི་གྲུབ་པའི་མཐའ། ། ཆོས་ལ་སྨོད་པ་དྲུག་པ་ཡིན། ། ཡོངས་སུ་མ་སྨིན་སེམས་ཅན་ལ། ། གསང་བ་སྒྲོགས་པ་བདུན་པ་ཡིན། ། ཕུང་པོ་སངས་རྒྱས་ལྔ་བདག་ཉིད། ། སྨོད་པར་བྱེད་པ་བརྒྱད་པ་ཡིན། ། རང་བཞིན་དག་པའི་ཆོས་རྣམས་ལ། ། སོམ་ཉི་ཟ་བ་དགུ་པ་ཡིན། ། གདུག་ལ་རྟག་ཏུ་བྱམས་ལྡན་པ། ། བྱེད་པ་དེ་ནི་བཅུ་པར་འདོད། ། ཆད་སོགས་མ་ཡིན་ཆོས་རྣམས་ལ། ། བརྟགས་པ་ལས་ནི་བཅུ་གཅིག་པ། ། སེམས་ཅན་དད་དང་ལྡན་པ་ཡི། ། སེམས་སུན་འབྱིན་པ་བཅུ་གཉིས་པ། ། དམ་ཚིག་ཇི་བཞིན་རྙེད་པ་དག། མི་བསྟེན་པ་དེ་བཅུ་གསུམ་པ། ། ཤེས་རབ་རང་བཞིན་བུད་མེད་ལ། ། སྨོད་པར་བྱེད་པ་བཅུ་བཞི་པ། ། འདི་དག་རྣམ་པར་སྤངས་པ་ཡི། ། སྔགས་པས་དངོས་གྲུབ་ཉེ་བར་འཐོབ། ། གཞན་དུ་དམ་ཚིག་ལས་ཉམས་ན། །

In the language of India: Vajrayānamūlāpattisaṃgraha. In the language of Tibet: rDo rje theg pa rtsa ba’i ltung ba bsdus pa. Homage to the Great Compassionate One! Having bowed down to the lotus feet of all the Buddhas and the Guru, I shall explain the fourteen root downfalls as they are taught in the tantras. For it was said by the Vajra Holder that the siddhis follow the master; therefore, to disparage him is explained as the first root downfall. To transgress the command of the Sugatas is taught to be the second downfall. To speak of the faults of a vajra sibling out of anger is the third. To abandon loving-kindness toward sentient beings is taught by the Victorious One to be the fourth. To abandon the bodhicitta, the root of the Dharma, is the fifth. To disparage the Dharma of one’s own or another’s philosophical tenets is the sixth. To proclaim secrets to sentient beings who are not fully ripened is the seventh. To disparage the aggregates, which are the nature of the five Buddhas, is the eighth. To harbor doubt regarding phenomena that are pure by nature is the ninth. To always maintain a loving attitude toward the malicious is held to be the tenth. To conceptualize phenomena that are not subject to annihilation and so forth is the eleventh. To discourage sentient beings who possess faith is the twelfth. To fail to rely upon the samayas as they have been obtained is the thirteenth. To disparage women, who are the nature of insight, is the fourteenth. By completely abandoning these, the mantra practitioner will attain the siddhis. Otherwise, if one falls from the samayas, [the siddhis will not be attained].

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

periodལྟུང་བ → “downfall”. In Vinaya material ལྟུང་བ is a monastic offence (āpatti); 'fall' is the literal sense but reads as a physical fall in English. Use 'downfall' or 'transgression'.

definitionལྟུང་བ “downfall” — See “ transgression .”

terminologyསངས་རྒྱས → “buddha”. The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carried by context, not by a suffix.

homonymསངས་རྒྱས is rendered “buddha” here; the glossary also records Awakened, awakened, Buddha for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionསངས་རྒྱས “buddha” — The Indic term buddha means "The Awakened One" and is used in Buddhism as an epithet for the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama as well as other spiritually enlightened beings in general. “ Buddha ” is the past partici

definitionབླ་མ “guru” — One of the fourteen rākṣasīs .

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti . It may mean the Buddhist teachings, the awakened qualities which buddhas and bodhisattvas acquire, phenomena or thing

homonymཕུང་པོ is rendered “aggregate” here; the glossary also records aggregates, Aggregates for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཕུང་པོ “aggregate” — This translation of skandha is fairly well established, although some prefer the monosyllabic “group.” It is important to bear in mind that the original skandha has the sense of “pile,” or “heap,” which has the connotati

homonymདམ་ཚིག is rendered “samaya” here; the glossary also records sacred vow, commitment, samaya vows for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionདམ་ཚིག “samaya” — Literally, in Sanskrit, “coming together.” Samaya refers to precepts given by the teacher, the corresponding commitment by the pupil, and the bond that results, which can also be the bond between the practitioner and the

termལྟུང་བ → downfall

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

termབླ་མ → guru

termཆོས → dharma

termཕུང་པོ → aggregate

ཉམས་པས་བདུད་ཀྱིས་གཟུང་འགྱུར་ཏེ། ། དེ་ནས་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མྱོང་འགྱུར་ཞིང་། ། ཐུར་དུ་བལྟས་ཏེ་དམྱལ་བར་འགྲོ། ། དེ་བས་ང་རྒྱལ་བཅོམ་ནས་ནི། ། རང་གི་འཁྲུལ་པ་ཤེས་བྱས་ལ། ། ཅི་འབྱོར་པ་ཡིས་བླ་མ་ལ། ། ཐུབ་པའི་སྤྱན་སྔར་མཆོད་བྱས་ནས། ། གསུམ་ལ་སྐྱབས་འགྲོ་ནས་བརྩམས་ཏེ། ། བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་སོགས་སྡོམ་པ་དག། གལ་ཏེ་བདག་ལ་ཕན་འདོད་ན། ། སྔགས་པས་འབད་དེ་བླང་བར་བྱ། ། རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པའི་རྩ་བའི་ལྟུང་བ་བསྡུས་པ་སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་རྟ་དབྱངས་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

Through such degeneration, one will be seized by Māra, and thereafter experience suffering, falling headlong into the hells. Therefore, having subdued pride and recognized one’s own delusions, if one desires one’s own welfare, a practitioner of mantra should strive to receive the vows—beginning with the three refuges and including the bodhicitta and so forth—after making offerings to the Guru and the Sage in whatever way one is able. This concludes the Summary of the Root Downfalls of the Vajrayāna, composed by the great master Aśvaghoṣa.

structureColophon: closes the text and names the translators or author.

definitionསྡུག་བསྔལ “suffering” — The first of the four truths of the noble ones. The term “suffering” includes all essentially unsatisfactory experiences of life in cyclic existence, whether physical or mental. These comprise (1) the suffering of suffer

terminologyདམྱལ་བ → “hell”. A rebirth realm, not a place of eternal punishment; keep 'hell' (84000 practice) but do not add 'eternal'.

definitionདམྱལ་བ “hell” — One of the five or six realms of sentient beings. Birth in hell is considered to be the karmic fruition of past anger and harmful actions. According to Buddhist tradition there are eighteen different hells, namely eight

termསྡུག་བསྔལ → suffering

termདམྱལ་བ → hell

termབླ་མ → guru

termལྟུང་བ → downfall

Terminology used in this text (10)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
ལྟུང་བ	downfall	2	In Vinaya material ལྟུང་བ is a monastic offence (āpatti); 'fall' is the literal sense but reads as a physical fall in En
བླ་མ	guru	2
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
ཆོས	dharma	1	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
ཕུང་པོ	aggregate	1
དམ་ཚིག	samaya	1
ཤེས་རབ	insight	1
སྡུག་བསྔལ	suffering	1
དམྱལ་བ	hell	1	A rebirth realm, not a place of eternal punishment; keep 'hell' (84000 practice) but do not add 'eternal'.

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 053_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཟི.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

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.

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