Toh 2603 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

A Concise Fire Offering Ritual

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

2 passages · 1,878 Tibetan characters · 521 English words · 2026 machine draft Read ↓

This text provides a condensed procedural guide for the fire offering ritual, known in Sanskrit as Homavidhipiṇḍita. The work functions as a liturgical manual, outlining the necessary mental orientation and physical actions required for the rite. It begins by establishing the practitioner's ethical commitment, emphasizing altruism and non-attachment as the psychological foundation for the ritual. The text then transitions into specific technical instructions, including the use of vase water to remove obstacles and the offering of clarified butter to the Fire Deity. By incorporating a provision for supplementary rites in the event of unfavorable fire signs, the text commits the reader to a system of ritual precision where the physical behavior of the fire serves as a diagnostic indicator of the ritual's success. The work thus bridges the gap between internal meditative intent and external ritual performance.

About this text · details, context, rights

Genre: Ritual
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 066
Extent: 2 passages · 1,878 Tibetan characters · 521 English words
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

Provenance

About this text

A ritual manual for the fire offering, the Homavidhipiṇḍita is a work of the Yoga Tantra Treatises. It is attributed to the Indian author Aśokaśrī. The text is preserved in the classical Tibetan tradition under the title sbyin sreg gi cho ga mdor byas pa, appearing across two pages in volume ཅུ of the Tengyur. The work enacts a condensed procedural guide for the fire offering rite, beginning with the practitioner's internal orientation toward altruism and non-attachment. It provides technical instructions for the ritual process, including the use of vase water to expel obstructors and the offering of clarified butter to the Fire Deity. Furthermore, it establishes a system of ritual precision by prescribing supplementary rites should the signs of the fire prove unfavorable. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the intersection of internal meditative intent and external liturgical action, specifically how the physical behavior of the fire serves as a diagnostic indicator of ritual success.

Sanskrit title: Homavidhipiṇḍita
Indian author: Aśokaśrī
Tibetan translators: not recorded
Canonical collection: Yoga Tantra Treatises
Genre: Ritual
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཅུ
Period: classical Tibetan

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Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

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Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Summary & commentary

Significance

The text is significant as it represents the transmission of Indian fire ritual traditions into the Tibetan Buddhist context. It demonstrates the integration of Vedic-style offerings with Buddhist ethics, specifically the focus on the benefit of others.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Preliminary Intent	Establishment of the practitioner's altruistic motivation and homage to Mañjuśrī.
2	Ritual Procedure	Instructions for removing obstacles, making offerings to the Fire Deity, and managing unfavorable signs.

Themes

Altruism (1)
Ritual Purification (2)
Divination and Correction (2)

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

AnuvādaA Concise Fire Offering Ritual·

༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། ཧོ་མ་བི་དྷི་པིཎྜི་ཏ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། སྦྱིན་སྲེག་གི་ཆོ་ག་མདོར་བྱས་པ། འཇམ་དཔལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སེམས་དཔའ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། དེ་ལ་དང་པོ་སྔགས་པ་ནི། ། རང་ལུས་འཇིག་ཀྱང་གཞན་ཕན་བརྩོན། ། རྙེད་དང་བཀུར་སྟི་མ་ཆགས་སེམས། ། སེམས་ཅན་དོན་ཕྱིར་སྦྱིན་སྲེག་བྱ། ། དང་པོར་སའི་ཆོ་ག་དང་སྟ་གོན་ཆོ་ག་བྱ་སྟེ། རང་ཡིད་དུ་འོང་བའི་སར་ཐིག་གདབ་སྟེ། དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྱི་དབུས་སུ་ཐབ་ཁུང་རྒྱར་ཁྲུ་གང་ཟབས་སུ་དེའི་ཁྲུ་ཕྱེད་པ་ཁ་ཁྱེར་སོར་བཞི་བྱི་དོར་བྱ། ནང་དུ་པདྨ་རྡོ་རྗེས་མཚན་པ། བྱུག་པ་དང་དྲི་དང་མེ་ཏོག་དཀར་པོས་བརྒྱན་པ། མཚམས་སུ་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྩེ་གསུམ་པ་དང་། ཁ་ཁྱེར་ལ་ཀུ་ཤ་དགྲམ་པར་བྱའོ། ། ཤིན་ཏུ་སར་པའི་རས་ཀྱིས་གཡོགས་པར་བྱ། དེ་ནས་མཆོད་རྫས་དང་སྲེག་རྫས་དང་། ཡམ་ཤིང་བུད་ཤིང་དང་དགང་གཟར་ལ་སོགས་པ་བཤམས་ཏེ། མཆོད་རྫས་གཡོན་དུ་གཞག་སྲེག་རྫས་གཡས་སུ་གཞག། དགང་གཟར་དང་བླུགས་གཟར་མར་ནི་མདུན། དེ་ནས་བསོད་ནམས་ཚོགས་བསགས་ལ། ། ཚད་མེད་བཞི་ལྡན་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་བྱའོ། ། དེ་ནས་སྟོང་པའི་ཏིང་འཛིན་བསྒོམ། ། ཨོཾ་ཨ་བྷཱ་བ་སྭ་བྷཱ་བ་བཛྲ་ཙཀྵུ་ཨ་ཨཱ་ཨཾ་ཨཿ། དེ་ནས་བདག་ཉིད་ལྷ་རུ་བསྐྱེད། ། སྤྱན་དྲང་བྱིན་བརླབ་དབང་བསྐུར་བྱ། ། ཡེ་ཤེས་མེ་ལྕེ་འོད་འབར་གསལ། ། དེ་ནས་རཾ་ལས་མེའི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྲུ་གསུམ་འབར་བ་བསྐྱེད་པར་བྱའོ། ། གཟི་བརྗིད་ཆེན་པོ་འོད་གསལ་བ། ། ཞེས་པས་དེ་ནས་ཨ་ལས་མེ་ལྷ་ནི། ། སྐུ་མདོག་དཀར་པོ་ཚངས་པའི་གཟུགས། ། དབྱུག་པ་བགྲང་ཕྲེང་འཛིན་པར་བསྐྱེད། ། སྤྱན་དྲང་མཆོད་བསྟོད་བྱས་ནས་བསྟིམ། །

In the language of India: Homavidhipiṇḍita. In the language of Tibet: Sbyin sreg gi cho ga mdor byas pa (The Concise Ritual of the Fire Offering). Homage to Mañjuśrī-jñānasattva. First, the practitioner: Even if one’s own body perishes, strive for the benefit of others; With a mind unattached to gain and honor, Perform the fire offering for the sake of sentient beings. First, perform the ritual of the site and the preparatory ritual. In a place that is pleasing to oneself, lay out the lines. In the center of the maṇḍala, construct a hearth pit one cubit in width and half a cubit in depth, with a rim of four finger-widths, and polish it. Inside, it should be marked with a lotus and a vajra, adorned with ointments, perfumes, and white flowers. At the corners, place three-pronged vajras, and on the rim, spread kuśa grass. Cover it with a very new cloth. Then, arrange the offering substances, the substances for the fire offering, the fuel wood, the firewood, the pouring ladle (daka), and so forth. Place the offering substances on the left and the substances for the fire offering on the right. Place the pouring ladle and the dipping ladle (sruva) in front with the clarified butter. Then, having accumulated the collection of merit, generate the mind of awakening endowed with the four immeasurables. Then, meditate on the samādhi of emptiness: Oṃ abhāva svabhāva vajra cakṣu a ā aṃ aḥ. Then, generate oneself as the deity, perform the invitation, the blessing, and the empowerment. The wisdom fire-flames blaze and shine clearly. Then, from the syllable RAṂ, generate a triangular, blazing maṇḍala of fire. With the words, "Great majesty, luminous," then from the syllable A, generate the Fire God (Agni), white in color, in the form of Brahmā, holding a staff and a rosary. Having invited him, made offerings and praises, dissolve him [into the fire].

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.

homonymཡེ་ཤེས is rendered “wisdom” here; the glossary also records awareness, Wisdom, knowledge 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.

homonymཚངས་པ is rendered “Brahmā” here; the glossary also records brahman, brahmās, Brahma for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

Terms and glossary notes (14)

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

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…

terminologyཡེ་ཤེས → “wisdom”. Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty on the path.

definitionཡེ་ཤེས “wisdom” — The term jñāna is formed by the root jñā , meaning “to know,” “to know of,” “to understand,” “to be aware of,” with the addition of the pratyaya lyuṭ , which can be interpreted as having different values (the…

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 ).

terminologyཚངས་པ → “Brahmā”. The god, not 'pure' (which is ཚངས་པ too in compounds such as ཚངས་པར་སྤྱོད་པ, the vow of chastity). Context decides; do not carry the deity capital into the vow.

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termདཀྱིལ་འཁོར → maṇḍala

termལྷ → god

termཡེ་ཤེས → wisdom

termམེ → fire

termཚངས་པ → Brahmā

བུམ་པའི་ཆུ་ཡིས་བགེགས་བསྐྲད་བྱ། ། དེ་ནས་མར་ནི་དགང་བླུགས་གསུམ། ། མེ་ལྷ་ཉིད་ལ་དབུལ་བར་བྱའོ། ། མེ་མཚན་ངན་ན་སྤོགས་པ་བྱ། ། དེ་ནས་མཆོད་རྫས་དབུལ་བྱ་ཞིང་། ། སྲེག་རྫས་ཕུལ་ནས་བསྟོད་པ་བྱ། ། ནོར་བུ་ཆེན་པོ་འོད་ཆགས་དཔལ། ། ཞེས་པ་ནི། དེ་ནས་ཐུགས་ཀར་ཕོ་བྲང་བཅའ། ། བགེགས་བསལ་ལ་སོགས་གོང་བཞིན་བྱ། ། སྲེག་རྫས་མཆོད་རྫས་ཐམས་ཅད་དབུལ། ། གདགས་པ་ཞི་བ་ཤཱནྟིཾ་ངོ་། ། སྤྲིན་དཀར་དག་པ་བཞིན་དུ་དཀར། ། ཉི་མ་འཆར་ཀའི་དཀྱིལ་ལྟར་མཛེས། ། དེ་ནས་བུམ་པའི་ཆུས་བསངས་ལ། ། སྲེག་རྫས་མཆོད་རྫས་ཐམས་ཅད་དབུལ། ། དགང་བླུགས་གཉིས་ཀྱང་དབུལ་བར་བྱ། ། དེ་ནས་ཕྲིན་ལས་བཅོལ་བྱ་ཞིང་། ། བསྟོད་པའི་རིམ་པས་གཞུང་བཞིན་བསྟོད། ། རྩ་སྔགས་མུཿདང་བཅས་པས་གཤེགས། ། བདག་གིས་དགེ་བ་འདི་བརྩམས་པས། ། དགེ་བ་དྲི་མེད་གང་ཐོབ་དེས། ། བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་རྣམས། ། རྗེ་བཙུན་འཇམ་དབྱངས་ཐོབ་པར་ཤོག། འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་སྦྱིན་སྲེག་གི་ཆོ་ག་སློབ་དཔོན་མྱ་ངན་མེད་པའི་དཔལ་བས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །

One should expel obstructors with the water from the vase. Then, one should offer three ladlefuls of clarified butter to the Fire Deity itself. If the signs of the fire are unfavorable, one should perform the supplementary rite. Then, one should offer the offering substances and, having offered the burnt offerings, perform the praise. "Great Jewel, Radiant Glory"—this refers to the following: then, one should establish the palace in the heart. One should perform the expulsion of obstructors and so forth as before. One should offer all the burnt offerings and offering substances. The pacifying rite is "Śāntiṃ." White as a pure cloud, beautiful like the center of the rising sun. Then, having purified with the water from the vase, one should offer all the burnt offerings and offering substances. One should also offer the two ladlefuls. Then, one should entrust the activities and praise according to the sequence of the text. One should depart with the root mantra and the syllable MUḤ. By this virtue I have composed, whatever stainless virtue is obtained, by that, may I and infinite sentient beings attain the state of the venerable Mañjughoṣa. The ritual of the burnt offering of the noble Mañjuśrī, composed by the master Aśokaśrī, is complete.

Terminology used in this text (8)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
མེ	fire	2	In ritual and cosmological prose མེ is the element 'fire'; Agni is the deity only where he is named or invoked. Do not c
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
དཀྱིལ་འཁོར	maṇḍala	1
ལྷ	god	1	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
ཡེ་ཤེས	wisdom	1	Distinguish from ཤེས་རབ (prajñā, 'insight'): ཡེ་ཤེས is the buddhas' non-dual wisdom, ཤེས་རབ the discriminating faculty o
ཚངས་པ	Brahmā	1	The god, not 'pure' (which is ཚངས་པ too in compounds such as ཚངས་པར་སྤྱོད་པ, the vow of chastity). Context decides; do n
བསྟོད་པ	praise	1
སྔགས	mantra	1	སྔགས་པ is a mantra-practitioner, not 'the mantric one'.

Cite thisAnuvāda, “A Concise Fire Offering Ritual” (Toh 2603), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2603

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 066. 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.

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