Toh 2479 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Gross Transgressions

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

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2479
Genre: Treatise
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 053_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཟི.txt
Extent: 2 passages · 1,455 Tibetan characters · 359 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)

This text, titled Sthūlāpatti in Sanskrit and Ltung ba sbom po in Tibetan, addresses the category of gross transgressions within the framework of yoga vows. The author positions the work as a technical guide for yogis, beginning with traditional homages to Vajrasattva and the guru. The primary argument is that while gross downfalls are severe, they are not irreversible; the text asserts that adherence to specific ritual confession and restoration processes prevents the practitioner from falling into hell. Furthermore, the author emphasizes the communal and hierarchical obligation of the spiritual environment, arguing that a guru or a community of vajra siblings who fails to facilitate these restorative means forfeits their legitimate status. The work commits the reader to a rigorous system of ritual accountability and relies on the necessity of a supportive spiritual community to ensure the practitioner's recovery from ethical or ritual failures.

Provenance

About this text

A treatise explaining the gross downfalls as they are taught in the yoga vows, the Sthūlāpatti is attributed to the Indian author Aśvaghoṣa. Preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition under the title Ltung ba sbom po, the work is found in the Tengyur, volume ཟི, where it spans two pages and is categorized within the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The text enacts a system of ritual accountability for the yogi, specifically addressing severe transgressions such as the forced use of a consort who lacks samaya. It argues that while such downfalls are grave, they are not irreversible; through the performance of ritual confession and restoration, a practitioner may avoid falling into hell. The author further asserts that the legitimacy of a guru and the community of vajra siblings depends upon their ability to facilitate these restorative means. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to understand the technical requirements of confession and the communal obligations inherent in the maintenance of samaya within the yoga tantra tradition.

Sanskrit title: Sthūlāpatti
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, “Gross Transgressions” (Toh 2479), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2479

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its focus on the mechanism of restoration after severe vows violations in Vajrayana Buddhism. It highlights the critical role of the guru and the sangha not merely as teachers, but as essential agents in the ritual purification of the practitioner.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction and Definition	Provides the multilingual titles of the work, offers traditional homages, and introduces the subject of gross downfalls in yoga vows.
2	Restoration and Communal Obligation	Discusses the necessity of ritual confession to avoid negative rebirth and the requirement for gurus and vajra siblings to provide these means of restoration.

Themes

Ritual Confession (2)
Yoga Vows (1)
Guru-Disciple Relationship (2)

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

AnuvādaGross Transgressions·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། སྠཱུ་ལ་པཏྟི། བོད་སྐད་དུ། ལྟུང་བ་སྦོམ་པོ། ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དང་བླ་མ་ཡི། ། ཞབས་ཀྱི་པདྨར་རབ་བཏུད་དེ། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྡོམ་པར་གང་གསུངས་པའི། ། ལྟུང་བ་སྦོམ་པོ་བཤད་པར་བྱ། ། རྣལ་འབྱོར་གང་ཞིག་རིག་མ་ནི། ། དམ་ཚིག་མེད་པའང་སྟོབས་ཀྱིས་སྤྱོད། ། དེ་ལ་འཕྱ་བར་བྱེད་པ་ཡང་། ། དེ་ཡི་ལྟུང་བ་དང་པོར་གསུངས། ། རྒྱུད་ལས་མ་གསུངས་རིམ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས། ། གང་ཞིག་བདུད་རྩི་བསྟེན་པ་ཡང་། ། དེ་ལ་ངན་འགྲོར་ལྟུང་བ་ཡི། ། ལྟུང་བ་གཉིས་པར་འགྱུར་བ་ཡིན། ། རྨོངས་པ་གང་ཞིག་ཚོགས་འཁོར་ལོ། ། རྩོད་པར་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱིས་གསུངས་པའི། ། དམ་ཚིག་ལ་ནི་བཞད་གད་བྱེད། ། དེ་ལ་གསུམ་པར་འགྱུར་བ་ཡིན། ། གསང་བའི་ཆོས་ནི་གང་གསུངས་པ། ། བློ་ངན་གསང་བར་མི་བྱེད་ན། ། རྨོངས་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་པ་དེ་ལ། ། སྦོམ་པོའི་ལྟུང་བ་བཞི་པར་འགྱུར། ། དད་ལྡན་ཆོས་ལ་འདྲི་བ་ན། ། ཆོས་ཉིད་གཞན་དུ་སྟོན་པ་ནི། ། དེ་ལ་སྦོམ་པོར་བཤད་པ་ཡི། ། ལྟུང་བ་ལྔ་པར་རྒྱལ་བས་གསུངས། ། ཉན་ཐོས་ཐེག་པ་ཅན་དག་དང་། ། ཞག་བདུན་དུ་ནི་ལྷན་ཅིག་གནས། ། སྦོམ་པོར་གྲགས་པ་དེ་ལ་ནི། ། དྲུག་པར་རབ་ཏུ་འགྱུར་བ་ཡིན། ། ཡང་དག་དེ་ཉིད་མི་ཤེས་པར། ། གང་ཞིག་དེ་ཉིད་ང་རྒྱལ་བྱེད། ། རྨོངས་པའི་སེམས་ལྡན་དེ་ལ་ནི། ། སྦོམ་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བདུན་པ་ཡིན། ། གང་ཞིག་སྣོད་མིན་སེམས་ཅན་ལ། ། ཕྱི་ཡི་ཆོས་མོས་དེ་ལ་ཡང་། ། གསང་བའི་ཆོས་ནི་ཡང་དག་སྟོན། ། དེ་ལ་སྦོམ་པོ་བརྒྱད་པར་འགྱུར། ། བློ་ལྡན་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཡིས། ། འདི་དག་སྤང་བར་བྱ་བ་སྟེ། །

In the language of India: Sthūlāpatti. In the language of Tibet: Ltung ba sbom po (Gross Downfalls). Homage to the Great Compassionate One. Bowing deeply at the lotus feet of Vajrasattva and the Guru, I shall explain the gross downfalls as they are taught in the yoga vows. If a yogi uses a consort who lacks the samaya through force, or even mocks her for doing so, that is taught to be the first downfall. If one partakes of the nectar in a manner not taught in the tantras, that becomes the second downfall, which leads to falling into the lower realms. If a deluded person mocks the samaya—the feast offering (gaṇacakra) which the Buddha taught to be free from dispute—that becomes the third downfall. If a person of poor intellect does not keep secret the secret Dharma that has been taught, that deluded yogi incurs the fourth gross downfall. When someone with faith asks about the Dharma, if one teaches the nature of phenomena (dharmatā) in a way other than it is, the Victor has taught that to be the fifth downfall, explained as a gross one. If one dwells together for seven days with those of the Śrāvaka vehicle, that which is known as a gross downfall becomes the sixth. If one who does not know the authentic reality (tattva) yet acts with pride regarding that very reality, that deluded-minded person incurs the seventh, called a gross downfall. If one correctly teaches the secret Dharma to a sentient being who is an unsuitable vessel and who is devoted only to external phenomena, that becomes the eighth gross downfall. These are to be abandoned by the wise Bodhisattvas.

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 .”

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

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

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

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

terminologyཆོས་ཉིད → “the nature of phenomena”. Not 'dharma-nature' in running prose; 84000 harmonises on 'the nature of phenomena'.

homonymཆོས་ཉིད is rendered “the nature of phenomena” here; the glossary also records true nature of things, suchness, basic nature for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

termལྟུང་བ → downfall

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termབླ་མ → guru

termདམ་ཚིག → samaya

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

termཆོས → dharma

གལ་ཏེ་བྱུང་ན་ཆོ་ག་བཞིན། ། བཤགས་ན་དམྱལ་བར་མི་འགྲོའོ། ། ཐབས་ནི་འདི་དག་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་ནི། ། བསྙེན་པར་བཤགས་པར་མི་བྱེད་ན། ། བླ་མས་སློབ་མིན་དེ་བཞིན་དུ། ། རྡོ་རྗེའི་སྤུན་གྱི་ཚོགས་ཀྱིས་ཀྱང་། ། ལྟུང་བ་བསྡུས་པ་བྱས་པ་ལས། ། བདག་གིས་བསོད་ནམས་གང་ཐོབ་པ། ། འགྲོ་ཀུན་ལྟུང་བས་མི་གོས་ཤིང་། ། དམ་ཚིག་སྣོད་དུ་འགྱུར་བར་ཤོག། ལྟུང་བ་སྦོམ་པོ་བསྡུས་པ་སློབ་དཔོན་རྟ་དབྱངས་ཀྱིས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

If they occur, by confessing according to the ritual, one will not go to hell. If one does not perform the confession and restoration through these very means, then the guru is not a guru, and likewise the assembly of vajra siblings is not a community. Whatever merit I have gained from compiling these downfalls, may all beings be unstained by downfalls and become vessels for the samaya. This concludes the Compendium of Gross Downfalls composed by the master Aśvaghoṣa.

Terminology used in this text (8)

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
དམ་ཚིག	samaya	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
ཆོས་ཉིད	the nature of phenomena	1	Not 'dharma-nature' in running prose; 84000 harmonises on 'the nature of phenomena'.
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.

Anuvāda · NaxiAI