Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual fragment provides instructions for the preparation and visualization of a torma (bali) offering specifically intended for elemental spirits within the context of the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti practice. The text directs the practitioner to transform the material substance of the offering through mental projection, visualizing the torma as a wish-fulfilling tree. By doing so, the practitioner is committed to a specific meditative process where the physical offering is reimagined as an infinite source of necessities and foods to satisfy the desires of the spirits. The text functions as a technical guide for the ritualized appeasement of non-human entities, integrating the specific devotional framework of Mañjuśrī's name-recitation with the broader Tibetan tradition of elemental offerings.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual guide for the offering of the bali to spirits, the mtshan yang dag par brjod pa'i 'byung po'i gtor ma belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Mañjuśrīmitra. It is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ངུ, where it is situated within the Yoga Tantra Treatises collection. The text enacts a specific meditative process for a practitioner of the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti, directing the visualization of the torma substance as a wish-fulfilling tree from which all necessities and foods desired by the spirits emerge. Following this provision of a feast, the practitioner is instructed to recite the mantra of the Mañjuśrī body-rosary. A scholar or serious reader consults this single-page fragment today to understand the technical integration of Mañjuśrī's name-recitation with the ritualized appeasement of non-human entities through mental projection and material offerings.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “An Torma Cake Ritual for Offerings to Elemental Spirits according to “The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī”” (Toh 2551), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2551
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text illustrates the intersection between high-level Buddhist mantra practice and the pragmatic necessity of managing local elemental spirits. It demonstrates the use of visualization to amplify the efficacy of material offerings, a central mechanism in Indo-Tibetan ritual technology.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Ritual Visualization
Instructions on visualizing the torma as a wish-fulfilling tree to provide for elemental spirits.
Themes
Ritual Offerings (1)
Visualization (1)
Elemental Spirits (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaAn Torma Cake Ritual for Offerings to Elemental Spirits according to “The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī”·
Homage to the noble Mañjuśrī! Regarding the offering of the bali to the spirits by a practitioner of the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti: one should visualize the substance of the bali as a great wish-fulfilling tree. From it, one should imagine that whatever necessities and various foods all the spirits desire emerge. Having thus provided a great feast, one recites the mantra of the Mañjuśrī body-rosary. One gives with this mantra:
Idaṃ totatram aśaṃsantīta preta sarvagatima gata deśamani nena hetu maniśasadhūmāṃ vādhā svāhā.
By reciting this three times, all the spirits become satiated and satisfied. They are relieved of their suffering, and through this great feast, untimely death is averted. They become completely liberated from the harm of spirits, and the fruits of generosity will also be realized. This concludes the Bali Offering to the Spirits of the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti, composed by the master Mañjuśrīmitra.
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.