Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This fragment addresses the classification and definition of downfalls (transgressions) within a tantric framework. The text positions itself as a supplementary explanation to definitions already established in other tantras, indicating a systemic approach to monastic or practitioner discipline. It employs a series of metaphorical associations to describe the nature of these transgressions, linking the perception of deities and the attachment to the literal meaning of the Vedas to specific symbolic markers such as the moon and an arrow. By doing so, the text commits the reader to a specific hermeneutic where spiritual errors are not merely behavioral lapses but are tied to cognitive misapprehensions regarding the nature of deities and the status of external scriptural authority. The fragment suggests a broader project of mapping the boundaries of purity and impurity within a tantric ritual context.
Provenance
About this text
Defining the nature of downfalls as taught in other tantras, the ltung ba bco lnga pa is a treatise belonging to the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The work is attributed to the Indian author Nāgārjuna. It is preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition within the Tengyur, specifically in volume ཟི, where it extends to one page. The text enacts a systemic classification of transgressions, positioning itself as a supplementary explanation to existing tantric definitions. It employs a series of metaphorical associations to describe spiritual errors, linking the perception of deities and an attachment to the literal meaning of the Vedas to symbolic markers such as the moon and an arrow. By framing these downfalls as cognitive misapprehensions regarding the nature of deities and external scriptural authority, the work maps the boundaries of purity and impurity within a tantric ritual framework. A scholar or serious reader consults this fragment today to understand the specific hermeneutics of practitioner discipline and the conceptualization of behavioral lapses as cognitive errors within the broader context of the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras.
The text is significant for its intersection of tantric discipline and the critique of Vedic literalism. It illustrates how later Buddhist tantric systems internalized and redefined traditional Indian notions of transgression to maintain the practitioner's focus on non-dual realization.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Definitions of Downfalls
A discussion on the nature of transgressions, utilizing metaphors to describe the misperception of deities and the pitfalls of literalist scriptural attachment.
Themes
Tantric Transgressions (1)
Critique of Vedic Literalism (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
Furthermore, the definitions of downfalls taught in other tantras shall also be explained:
One’s own deity, the eye of adoption and rejection, is the moon when its time has passed. Other deities, joy, and qualities are the Vedas; attachment to their literal meaning is the arrow that completes the incomplete. For the sake of worldly dharmas, it is the Indra; disparaging is also the mountain. Showing a manner without the higher is the auspicious one; activities not completed are known as the planets. Abiding without purpose is the direction. Abandoning compassion is the fierce one; inferior conduct is the sun. Conceptualizing material things is the limb; not fully grasping is known as the earth. Abandoning one’s own conduct is known as the dharma. This concludes the fifteen downfalls.
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.