Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text, attributed to the master Mañjuśrīmitra and translated by Suvarma and Chökyi Sherab, provides a liturgical framework for the purification of ethical transgressions and the liberation of deceased beings. The work centers on the recitation of the names of deities associated with the Akṣobhya Vajra family and the use of Vairocana as a specific antidote to ignorance. By employing these mnemonic and meditative tools, the ritual aims to facilitate the immediate realization of phenomena for beings in the hell realms and the liberation of those in the animal realm. The text commits the practitioner to a specific set of ritual actions, including the initiation of the deceased into a maṇḍala, specifically designed for the seven-day anniversary of a person's transition from life. Ultimately, the work functions as a soteriological technology intended to accelerate the attainment of buddhahood for both the practitioner and the beneficiaries of the ritual.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual for the purification of all sins through the mandala of the Noble Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti, this work belongs to the Yoga Tantra Treatises. It is attributed to the Indian author Mañjuśrīmitra. The text passed into the Tibetan language through the work of the translators Suvajra and Chos kyi shes rab, and it is preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ངུ), where it extends over three pages. As a work of the classical Tibetan period, it enacts a liturgical process designed to liberate beings from the lower realms. Specifically, it details the recitation of the names of the assembly of deities of the Akṣobhya Vajra family to allow those in hell realms to realize all phenomena in a single instant, while employing Vairocana as an antidote to ignorance to liberate beings from the animal realm. To achieve this, the practitioner initiates the subject into the mandala of Vairocana and confers empowerment. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the specific mnemonic and meditative technologies used in the Yoga Tantra tradition to facilitate soteriological liberation and the purification of karmic elements for deceased beings.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Maṇḍala Ritual for the Purification of Ethical Transgressions according to “The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī”” (Toh 2575), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2575
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text is significant as an example of the intersection between mantra-based recitation and maṇḍala ritual in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. It illustrates the belief in the efficacy of specific deity names to override karmic obstructions in the lower realms. Its focus on the seven-day anniversary highlights the tradition's emphasis on post-mortem intervention.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Title and Introduction
Provides the Sanskrit and Tibetan titles of the ritual.
2-3
Ritual Efficacy and Application
Describes the power of reciting the names of the Akṣobhya Vajra family to liberate beings from hell and animal realms.
4
Colophon
Identifies the author, the translators, and the specific occasion for the ritual's use.
Themes
Purification of Ethical Transgressions (1-2)
Liberation from Lower Realms (2-3)
Post-mortem Ritual Intervention (4)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaA Maṇḍala Ritual for the Purification of Ethical Transgressions according to “The Recitation of the Names of Mañjuśrī”·
In the language of India: Āryamañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītisarvapāpaviśodhanavidhimaṇḍalanāma. In the language of Tibet: ’Phags pa ’jam dpal gyi mtshan yang dag par brjod pa’i sdig pa sbyong ba’i dkyil ’khor gyi cho ga zhes bya ba (The Ritual of the Maṇḍala for Purifying the Sins of the Noble Mañjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti). Homage to Mañjuśrī, the Youthful!
Having utterly destroyed the web of existence,
And opened the shell of the egg of ignorance,
To Mañjughoṣa, who purifies sentient beings from the lower realms,
I bow with devotion.
For the sake of others, I shall write
A sublime and beneficial ritual
To deliver sentient beings, whose minds are deluded by ignorance,
From the ocean of saṃsāra.
In this regard, because the light of wisdom has not dawned within the dark dungeon of the ignorance of sentient beings, they devour their own flesh and sever their own lives. As the ripening of that karma, death and rebirth occur again and again. For those whose afflictions have ripened into the lower realms, I shall for the time being, with a beneficial intention, tear the net of ignorance, release them from the knots of the afflictions, and show the path to authentic liberation and omniscience.
Regarding the deceased, one should prepare their image, bones, name, upper garment, and so forth. First, one should perform the approach practice of Akṣobhya, the antidote to hatred. Then, as oneself becomes Akṣobhya surrounded by a retinue of bodhisattvas, through the blessings of the vajra and the garland-mantra light rays at one’s heart, and the moon...
Through the blessing of reciting the names of the assembly of deities of the Akṣobhya Vajra family, if the nirmāṇakāyas of all the buddhas, numbering in the tens of millions, should be born in the realms of hell beings, then all those hell beings will, in a single instant, realize all phenomena. Having exhausted the karmic elements of those hell beings, they are drawn out from that ocean of hellish suffering. Having permanently abandoned the afflictions and secondary afflictions along with their habitual tendencies, the objects of that being’s mind and the buddhas’ wisdom are made like a short white letter A. Having caused the mind to abide in that being’s aggregate of form, one should cause the mind to enter into harmony with its previous form, and then purify its habitual tendencies with the light rays of the mantras from the hearts of oneself as the principal deity and the other deities. Following that, in order to wash away the stains with the water of the vase, one should wash with the garland mantra of the jñānasattva, the vidyā-mantra, and: sarva nāra sarva pāpaṃ sarva karmāvaraṇa viśodhani viśodhane svāhā. When the approach practice is thus completed, one should enter the great maṇḍala of the Akṣobhya family, liberate them from the hell realms, and confer empowerment. In accordance with that, one should bring the deities of the Ratna family near, enter them into the maṇḍala of Ratnasambhava—the antidote to avarice—and liberate them from the miserable state of the hungry ghosts, conferring empowerment.
Then, furthermore, in order to liberate that fortunate son or daughter of noble family from the animal realm in accordance with that [method], one should purify them with Vairocana as the antidote to ignorance. Having recited the names of the Tathāgata family, one should initiate them into the maṇḍala of Vairocana and confer empowerment. Then, in accordance with that, one should draw the maṇḍala of Amoghasiddhi as the antidote to jealousy. Having liberated them from the realm of the asuras, one should confer empowerment upon that son of noble family. Following that, one should purify them with Amitābha as the antidote to attachment. Having liberated the deceased son of noble family from the realm of the gods, one should initiate them into the great maṇḍala of the Lotus family and confer empowerment. Following that, one should purify them with the antidote to the three poisons in equal measure. Having initiated the deceased into the Vajra Bodhisattva maṇḍala in the human realm, one should confer empowerment and liberate them from those afflictions. Thus, being freed from the five afflictions and liberated from the abodes of the six classes of beings within the three realms, one should initiate them into the maṇḍala that gathers all families. Having correctly conferred the empowerments, one should establish them in the state of a definitive Buddha family. In this way, this is the ritual taught for the benefit of others. Through the merit accumulated from swiftly performing this ritual that purifies sentient beings in the lower realms, may all beings cross the ocean of saṃsāra and be freed from the suffering of existence.
May the glorious buddhahood be attained! This concludes the ritual for the seven-day anniversary of the transition of life, which benefits those who have passed away, composed by the master Mañjuśrīmitra. It was translated by the Indian abbot Suvarma and the Tibetan translator Chökyi Sherab.
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.