Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text provides a concise liturgical procedure for the act of taking refuge within a Buddhist framework. The work functions as a practical guide, directing the practitioner to first establish a sacred environment through the arrangement of a maṇḍala and offerings. It then mandates a specific visualization process involving the guru, buddhas, and bodhisattvas to prepare the practitioner for the verbal component of the rite. The core of the ritual consists of prostrations and a specific formula of refuge directed toward the Sangha of irreversible Bodhisattvas across the ten directions. By prescribing that the final recitation be repeated three times, the text commits the reader to a disciplined, repetitive performance intended to formalize their spiritual commitment. The structure moves linearly from physical preparation and mental visualization to vocalization and conclusion, emphasizing the integration of body, mind, and speech in the ritual act.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual for taking refuge, the skyabs su 'gro ba'i cho ga belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. This work is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ངུ, where it is situated within the Yoga Tantra Treatises collection and extends over a single page. The ritual enacts a liturgical procedure that begins with the arrangement of a maṇḍala and offerings, followed by the visualization of the guru, buddhas, and bodhisattvas. It directs the practitioner to perform prostrations and recite a specific formula of refuge to the Sangha of irreversible Bodhisattvas across the ten directions three times. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the precise sequence of physical preparation, mental visualization, and vocalization required to formalize a spiritual commitment within this specific liturgical framework.
The text is significant as it illustrates the synthesis of visualization and recitation common in Vajrayana and Mahayana traditions. For the modern reader, it demonstrates how the abstract concept of refuge is operationalized through specific ritual technology and spatial arrangements.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Preparatory Rites
Includes homage to Mañjuśrī, instructions for maṇḍala and offering arrangement, and visualization of the spiritual assembly.
1-2
Refuge Formula
The recitation of prostrations and the specific refuge vow to the irreversible Bodhisattvas, including instructions for repetition.
Themes
Ritual Preparation (1)
Visualization (1)
Taking Refuge (1-2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
Homage to the noble Mañjuśrī.
Regarding the practice of taking refuge: having arranged a maṇḍala and offerings, visualize the guru, buddhas, bodhisattvas, and so forth, in the space before you, and recite as follows:
"I prostrate to all buddhas and bodhisattvas. I prostrate to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas residing in the infinite world systems of the ten directions, together with the sublime Dharma, the pratyekabuddhas, and the noble saṅgha of śrāvakas.
In order to perform the act of offering, I shall present actual offerings and those emanated by the mind, such as drinking water, flowers, incense, lamps, perfumed water, pure food, music, and so forth.
Then, recite this: 'I, who am called [name], in order to ensure that the lineage of all buddhas is never interrupted, from this moment until I attain the essence of enlightenment, go for refuge to the perfectly complete buddhas, the supreme among two-legged beings. I go for refuge to those endowed with great compassion, the omniscient ones, the supreme leaders of men, whose bodies are inconceivable and who possess the unsurpassed body.
I go for refuge to the Dharma, which is free from attachment—the unsurpassed Dharma possessed by the Tathāgatas, the peaceful dharmakāya, the perfectly distinct awareness.
I go for refuge to the Saṅgha, the foremost of assemblies...'"
"I take refuge in the Sangha of Bodhisattvas of the ten directions who have entered the great stages and are irreversible." Recite this three times. The ritual for taking refuge is complete.
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.