Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This fragment provides a meditative instruction for the practitioner of the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti, focusing on the contemplation of impermanence. The text directs the yogi to analyze the physical world and the human body as an external vessel composed of the four great elements. By reducing these macroscopic forms to their constituent subtle particles, the text aims to dismantle the practitioner's perception of stability and permanence in material existence. The argument is built on a reductionist ontological approach, moving from the apparent whole to the underlying elemental components. It commits the reader to a disciplined mental exercise of deconstruction, intended to evoke a sense of urgency or detachment by highlighting the fragile and composite nature of physical reality.
Provenance
About this text
A treatise on the meditation of impermanence, the mtshan yang dag par brjod pa'i mi rtag pa bsgom pa is a work of the classical Tibetan period. It is attributed to the Indian author Mañjuśrīmitra. The text is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ངུ, where it is situated within the Yoga Tantra Treatises collection. In this brief work, the author provides meditative instructions for the yogi of the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti, directing the practitioner to contemplate the instability of the physical world. By analyzing the world as an external vessel composed of the four great elements and further reducing these to subtle particles, the text enacts a reductionist ontological deconstruction. It argues that material existence is inherently unstable, adventitious, and unreliable. A scholar or serious reader consults this fragment today to examine the specific meditative techniques used to dismantle perceptions of permanence and to understand the disciplined mental exercises intended to evoke detachment through the analysis of the composite nature of physical reality.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Meditating on Impermanence according to “The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī”” (Toh 2557), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2557
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text is significant as it illustrates the integration of analytical meditation on impermanence within a specific tantric or liturgical framework associated with Mañjuśrī. For the modern reader, it demonstrates the application of Buddhist elemental physics to psychological transformation.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Meditation on Impermanence
An instruction to the yogi to contemplate the composite nature of the world and the body through the lens of the four elements and subtle particles.
Themes
Impermanence (1)
Elemental Composition (1)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaMeditating on Impermanence according to “The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī”·
Homage to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta.
The yogi of the Mañjuśrī-nāmasaṃgīti should meditate on impermanence and so forth: "Alas! This external vessel of the world, which appears in this way and is composed of the four great elements, is formed from an aggregation of subtle particles. Those subtle particles, too, are by nature impermanent, unstable, adventitious, unreliable, and incapable of performing a genuine function. When analyzed, they are empty, deceptive by nature, and subject to change. They are uncertain, without a self, subject to destruction, and like an illusion, a mirage, a magical emanation, a city of gandharvas, the moon in water, a reflection, a mist, and a rainbow. They are suffering, selfless, and empty. Thus, the external apprehended objects are without self."
This concludes the meditation on impermanence from 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.