Toh 2586 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

A Consecration Ritual for Opening the Eyes [of a Statue]

Machine translation from the Tibetan by MITRA-QWEN · no human review

2 passages · 1,890 Tibetan characters · 468 English words · 2026 machine draft Read ↓

This ritual text, titled Netrodghāṭavidhiḥ in Sanskrit and Spyan dbye ba’i cho ga in Tibetan, provides a technical procedure for the consecration of sacred images. The text functions as a manual for the ritual activation of a statue, specifically focusing on the 'opening of the eyes' to transform a physical object into a living presence. The process is structured as a sequence of physical and symbolic actions: the practitioner uses specific ritual implements and mudrās to open the sensory organs (eyes, ears, and mouth), cleanses the head, and polishes the extremities. This physical preparation is followed by the presentation of offerings, including a mirror, and concludes with a formal request for the deity to remain within the image. By following these instructions, the reader commits to a precise set of liturgical actions designed to invite the wisdom being into the consecrated vessel.

About this text · details, context, rights

Genre: Ritual
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 065
Extent: 2 passages · 1,890 Tibetan characters · 468 English words
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

Provenance

About this text

A ritual manual for the consecration of images, the Pratiṣṭhāvidhi belongs to the tradition of the Yoga Tantra Treatises. The work is attributed to the Indian author Smṛtijñānakīrti. It entered the Tibetan tradition through the translation efforts of Smṛtijñānakīrti and is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ངུ, where it extends over two pages under the Tibetan title spyan dbye ba'i cho ga. The text enacts the technical procedure for the opening of the eyes, ears, and mouth of a sacred image, as well as the cleansing of the head and the polishing of the nails. It prescribes the use of specific ritual implements and mudrās, the presentation of offerings such as a mirror, and a formal request for the wisdom being to remain within the vessel. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan work today to understand the precise liturgical sequence required to transform a physical object into a living presence through the process of pratishṭhā.

Sanskrit title: Pratiṣṭhāvidhi
Indian author: Smṛtijñānakīrti
Tibetan translators: Smṛtijñānakīrti
Canonical collection: Yoga Tantra Treatises
Genre: Ritual
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ངུ
Period: classical Tibetan

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Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

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Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant as it illustrates the intersection of artistic production and liturgical activation in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. It demonstrates the belief that a statue remains an inert object until specific ritual protocols are performed to invite a divine presence. For the modern reader, it provides insight into the material culture and the sensory-based nature of Buddhist consecration rites.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Introduction	Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and establishes the purpose of the text as a guide for the consecration of images.
2	Ritual Procedure	Details the physical actions of opening the sensory organs, cleaning the statue, making offerings, and the formal request for the deity to reside in the image.

Themes

Consecration (pratishṭhā) (1-2)
Ritual activation of images (2)
Liturgical implements and mudrās (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaA Consecration Ritual for Opening the Eyes [of a Statue]·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ནེ་ཏྲོདྒྷ་ཊ་བི་དྷིཿ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། སྤྱན་དབྱེ་བའི་ཆོ་ག། ཡེ་ཤེས་སེམས་དཔའ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། མ་འོངས་རྣམས་ལ་ཕན་སླད་དུ། ། ཟབ་ཅིང་རྒྱ་ཆེའི་མཚན་བསྟན་པའི། ། སྐུ་གཟུགས་ལ་སོགས་རབ་གནས་པ། ། རུང་བར་བྱ་ཕྱིར་བདག་གིས་བཤད། ། དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་དང་ནི་ཏིང་འཛིན་དང་། ། ཕྱག་རྒྱ་སྔགས་དང་འདུག་སྟངས་དང་། ། བཟླས་བརྗོད་སྦྱིན་སྲེག་མཆོད་པ་དང་། ། ལས་ལ་སྦྱར་དང་སླར་བསྡུ་རྣམས། ། སློབ་དཔོན་དེ་ཉིད་བཅུ་ཤེས་པས། ། ཆོ་ག་རྣམས་ནི་བཤད་པར་བྱ། ། ལྷ་ཁང་མཆོད་རྟེན་ལུགས་མ་དང་། ། དམ་ཆོས་གླེགས་བམ་རས་རིས་རྣམས། ། ཟིན་ཅིང་ཐམས་ཅད་རྫོགས་པ་དང་། ། བདེ་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ཀུན་བསྐྱེད་ཅིང་། ། བསོད་ནམས་འཕེལ་བར་བྱ་བའི་ཕྱིར། ། རབ་ཏུ་གནས་པར་བྱེད་པར་འོས། ། སྐུ་གཟུགས་ལ་སོགས་ཟིན་ནས་ནི། ། ཡུན་རིང་གནས་ཀྱང་མ་མཆོད་ན། ། ཇི་སྲིད་མཆོད་གནས་མ་གྱུར་པས། ། དེ་ལ་མི་ཤེས་སྐྱེ་བར་འགྱུར། ། དེ་ལ་བསྙེན་པ་ལ་སོགས་པའི། ། གཞུང་བཞིན་བྱ་བ་རྫོགས་བྱ་སྟེ། ། རབ་ཏུ་གནས་པའི་རྒྱུད་དག་ལ། ། འབྲས་ཆན་ལ་སོགས་ཀྱིས་སྦྱང་བྱ། ། ཆུ་བདུན་གྱིས་ནི་བཀྲུ་བྱས་ཤིང་། ། རྣམ་ལྔ་འདག་ཆལ་གྱིས་ཀྱང་བཀྲུ། ། དཱུཪྺས་ཀྱང་ནི་བྲུད་པར་བྱ། ། དེ་ནས་གང་ཡིན་ལྷར་བསྐྱེད་དེ། ། སྤྱན་དྲངས་བསྟིམས་ལ་མཆོད་པ་བྱ། ། བཅུག་སྟེ་དབང་རྣམས་བསྐུར་བ་ནི། ། རིག་པའི་དབང་ནི་བསྐུར་བྱ་སྟེ། ། འཁོར་བ་མ་སྟོངས་བར་དག་ཏུ། ། སེམས་ཅན་དོན་མཛོད་ཅེས་པ་བརྗོད། ། ན་བཟའ་དྲི་ཞིམ་རྒྱན་རྣམས་དབུལ། ། མཆོད་པའི་བྱེ་བྲག་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་མཆོད། །

In the language of India: Netrodghāṭavidhiḥ. In the language of Tibet: Spyan dbye ba’i cho ga (The Ritual for the Opening of the Eyes). Homage to the Wisdom Being (jñānasattva)! For the benefit of future generations, I shall explain the consecration (pratishṭhā) of images and so forth, which display profound and vast characteristics, in order to make them suitable. The master who knows the ten suchnesses (tattva) shall explain the rituals: the maṇḍala, meditative absorption (samādhi), mudrās, mantras, postures, recitation, fire offerings (homa), offerings, the application to activities, and the dissolution. Temples, stūpas, cast images, the sublime Dharma in the form of volumes, and cloth paintings—all these, once completed and finished, are worthy of consecration in order to generate all qualities of bliss and to increase merit. If images and so forth are completed but remain unoffered for a long time, as long as they have not become objects of worship, ignorance will arise regarding them. Therefore, one should complete the practices such as the approach retreat (sevā) according to the scriptures. In the tantras of consecration, one should purify with cooked rice and so forth, wash with the seven waters, and also wash with the fivefold cleansing substances. One should also rub with durva grass. Then, having generated the deity who is appropriate, one should invite, dissolve, and make offerings. Having entered, the empowerments are conferred; the knowledge empowerments (vidyā-abhiṣeka) are conferred, and one says: "Until saṃsāra is emptied, act for the benefit of sentient beings!" One should offer robes, fragrances, and ornaments, and worship with various types of offerings.

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

homonymདཀྱིལ་འཁོར is rendered “maṇḍala” here; the glossary also records inner circle, maṇḍalaka, disk for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

homonymལྷ is rendered “god” here; the glossary also records deva, divine being, God for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

homonymརིག་པ is rendered “knowledge” here; the glossary also records awareness, spell, incantation for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

Terms and glossary notes (15)

definitionདཀྱིལ་འཁོར “maṇḍala” — A small ritual space, usually on the ground which is smeared with cow-dung and other substances, where offerings are made.

terminologyསྔགས → “mantra”. སྔགས་པ is a mantra-practitioner, not 'the mantric one'.

definitionསྔགས “mantra” — A formula of words or syllables that are recited aloud or mentally in order to bring about a magical or soteriological effect or result. The term has been interpretively etymologized to mean “that which protects ( trā )

periodལྷ → “god”. Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.

definitionལྷ “god” — In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine ‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who…

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti .

periodརིག་པ → “knowledge”. 'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge' versus 'ignorance'.

definitionརིག་པ “knowledge” — This term may, according to context, refer to exoteric or esoteric knowledge, a goddess, her associated dhāraṇī , or some combination of these. In the body of this scripture, the dhāraṇī is referred to as a vidyā .

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termདཀྱིལ་འཁོར → maṇḍala

termསྔགས → mantra

termམཆོད་པ → offering

termལྷ → god

termཆོས → dharma

ཐུར་མ་ཕྱག་རྒྱས་སྤྱན་ཡང་དབྱེ། ། སྙན་འབྲུ་ཞལ་དབྱེ་དབུ་བཤད་ཅིང་། ། ཕྱག་ཞབས་སེན་མོ་དྲེག་ཅིང་སྐུ་ཕྱིའོ། ། མེ་ལོང་དབུལ་ཞིང་མཆོད་པ་ཀུན་གྱིས་མཆོད། ། དེ་ནས་བཞུགས་སུ་གསོལ་བ་ནི། ། རྫོགས་སངས་རྒྱས་དང་ལྷ་རྣམས་དང་། ། དེ་སྲས་ཚངས་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཀུན། ། གང་ཞིག་ཆོ་གའི་བྱ་བ་ནི། ། ནོངས་གྱུར་དེ་དག་བཟོད་མཛད་རིགས། ། སྦྱིན་བདག་རྣམས་ལ་ཞི་བ་དང་། ། བདེ་ལེགས་ཆེན་པོ་ཀུན་མཛད་དེ། ། སངས་རྒྱས་ཡུལ་དུ་གཤེགས་སུ་གསོལ། ། སླར་ཡང་འབྱོན་པར་མཛད་དུ་གསོལ། ། གང་འདི་སྐུ་གཟུགས་བསྐལ་པའམ། ། བསྐལ་པ་བརྒྱ་ལས་ལྷག་གནས་ཤིང་། ། ས་དང་ཆུ་དང་མེ་དང་ནི། ། རླུང་ལས་ལྷ་རྣམས་ཀུན་གྱིས་བསྲུངས། ། སློབ་དཔོན་སློབ་མར་བཅས་པ་དང་། ། བུ་དང་ཚ་བོ་རྣམས་བསྲུངས་ཏེ། ། རང་དགའ་ཡིད་བདེར་གྱུར་ནས་ནི། ། རབ་གནས་བཟང་པོ་དག་ཏུ་བཞེད། ། དེ་ནས་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་དག་གི་ལྷ། ། གཤེགས་གསོལ་གཞུང་བཞིན་བྱ་བའོ། ། བདག་གིས་ཆོ་ག་འདི་བྱས་པས། ། འགྲོ་བ་ཀུན་གྱི་རྒྱུད་ཚིམ་ཤོག། རབ་ཏུ་གནས་པའི་ཆོ་ག་པཎྜི་ཏ་སྨྲྀ་ཏིས་བསྒྲིགས་ནས་སྒྲ་རང་འགྱུར་དུ་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

Open the eyes with the ritual implement and mudrā; open the ears and the mouth, and cleanse the head. Polish the nails of the hands and feet and wipe the body. Offer a mirror and present all the offerings. Then, the request to remain is as follows: "All the perfect Buddhas and the deities, and all their sons, Brahmā and the rest, it is right that you forgive whatever errors have occurred in the performance of this ritual. Grant peace and great well-being to the patrons, and then, I pray, depart for the realm of the Buddhas. I pray that you will return once again. May this image remain for an eon, or for more than a hundred eons, protected by all the deities of earth, water, fire, and wind. Protect the master and the disciples, as well as the sons and grandsons; having become joyful and glad at heart, may you abide in this excellent consecration." Then, the deities of the maṇḍala should be requested to depart according to the liturgical text. "By my performance of this ritual, may the mental continuums of all wandering beings be satisfied." The ritual of consecration, compiled by the Paṇḍita Smṛti and translated into Tibetan by himself, is hereby complete.

structureColophon: closes the text and names the translators or author.

homonymསངས་རྒྱས is rendered “buddha” here; the glossary also records Awakened, awakened, Buddha for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

homonymམེ is rendered “fire” here; the glossary also records Āgneya, Analā, Acalā for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

Terms and glossary notes (10)

terminologyསངས་རྒྱས → “buddha”. The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carried by context, not by a suffix.

definitionསངས་རྒྱས “buddha” — The Indic term buddha means "The Awakened One" and is used in Buddhism as an epithet for the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama as well as other spiritually enlightened beings in general.

periodམེ → “fire”. In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not capitalise the element.

definitionམེ “fire” — Classified as a “ lord of beings ” ( prajāpati ).

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here…

termམཆོད་པ → offering

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

termལྷ → god

termམེ → fire

termདཀྱིལ་འཁོར → maṇḍala

Terminology used in this text (9)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
དཀྱིལ་འཁོར	maṇḍala	2
མཆོད་པ	offering	2
ལྷ	god	2	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
སྔགས	mantra	1	སྔགས་པ is a mantra-practitioner, not 'the mantric one'.
ཆོས	dharma	1	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
རིག་པ	knowledge	1	'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge'
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
མེ	fire	1	In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not c

Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Consecration Ritual for Opening the Eyes [of a Statue]” (Toh 2586), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2586

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 065. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

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.

Anuvāda · NaxiAI