10 passages · 10,049 Tibetan characters · 2,510 English words
Translation
gemma4:31b (English, machine-assisted)
Status
Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights
Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Tantra of the Inconceivable Secrets of Cakrasaṃvara presents a non-conceptual framework for achieving liberation by transcending the dualities of conventional and ultimate reality. The text argues that the state of self-awareness is fundamentally beyond conceptual thought and elaboration, positioning it above the distinctions of superior, middling, and inferior. It critiques atomist views and the adherence to extremes, asserting that true liberation requires the abandonment of all conceptual categories, including the notions of mind, space, and dharmatā. The work commits the reader to a practice of profound seclusion and the purification of afflictions to realize a state where body, speech, and mind are empty and without name. By integrating the methods of grasping and insight, the practitioner is led toward the Great Completion. The text concludes by emphasizing that the manifestation of the two bodies for the benefit of others arises from the cessation of conceptualizations through generosity and other virtuous actions.
Provenance
About this text
A discourse on the nature of non-conceptual awareness, the Cakrasaṃvaraguhyācintyatantra belongs to the collection of the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras. This version is preserved in volume ག of the Kangyur, where it extends over seven pages under the Tibetan title 'khor lo sdom pa'i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa'i rgyud. The work enacts a dialogue between the Blessed One, who remains in union with a vajra consort, and Glorious Vajrapāṇi. It argues that the state of self-awareness is fundamentally beyond conceptual thought and elaboration, existing as bliss itself. The text delineates this state across superior, middling, and inferior aspects, while analyzing the nature of subtle particles, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile objects. A scholar or serious reader consults this work today to examine its treatment of the transcendence of extremes and its detailed classification of the divisions of letters and the nineteen subtle particles of form.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Tantra of the Inconceivable Secrets of Cakrasaṃvara” (Toh 385), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh385
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant for its representation of the Anuttarayoga Tantra tradition, specifically the Cakrasaṃvara cycle, which emphasizes the union of bliss and emptiness. It provides insight into the intersection of tantric practice and the philosophical rejection of conceptual extremes.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-3
Introduction and State of Awareness
Establishes the setting of the Blessed One in union and defines the nature of self-awareness as beyond conceptualization.
4-6
Critique of Views
Rejects atomism and the adherence to extremes, arguing for the abandonment of all conceptual categories and vehicles.
7-9
Practice and Completion
Discusses the necessity of seclusion, the methods of grasping, and the manifestation of the two bodies for the benefit of others.
10
Colophon
Identifies the translators Gayadhara and Shakya Ye she.
Themes
Non-conceptual Awareness (2-3, 6)
Rejection of Extremes (4, 6)
Purification and Liberation (5)
Tantric Practice and Seclusion (7-8)
Altruistic Manifestation (9)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
AnuvādaThe Tantra of the Inconceivable Secrets of Cakrasaṃvara·
The King of the Secret Unimaginable Tantra of the Glorious Cakrasaṃvara.
Homage to Glorious Great Bliss.
Thus have I heard: at one time, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, remained in union with the vajra consort bhaga of all body, speech, and mind. At that time, all the gathered assembly became weary of the conventional phenomena of saṃsāra. Then, the Lord of Secrets, Glorious Vajrapāṇi, requested:
"O Blessed Heruka!
Please explain to me primarily
the nature of the
conventional phenomena of saṃsāra."
The Blessed One spoke:
"Appearing as a boundary or a name,
that is the conventional phenomena of saṃsāra.
The nature of the phenomena of saṃsāra
is the unimaginable nature of mind itself."
Vajrapāṇi further requested:
"Please explain to me primarily
the incompatible distinctions, the numbers,
the modes of time and place,
the times and methods of engagement,
and the measure and stages of abiding
of the unimaginable nature of mind."
The Blessed One spoke:
"The habits, afflictions, wisdom, and body;
the six divisions, the channel-tree, and the sprout;
in the nature of the transcendence of speech,
that is unimaginable.
It is the essence of the buddhas of the three times,
the secret of the minds of all Sugatas.
Listen as I explain this:
the views of eternalism, nihilism, origination, and cessation, and so forth."
The mind of the transcendence of extremes is self-aware,
And from the beginning, is bliss itself, free from elaboration.
That meaning is certainly beyond conceptual thought.
That very state is divided into superior, middling, and inferior,
To be known in three aspects.
First, self-awareness is beyond conceptual thought.
The causes and the signs of the path are beyond conceptual thought.
The extremes and afflictions are beyond conceptual thought.
The phenomena and the conduct of views are beyond conceptual thought.
The letters are beyond conceptual thought.
In brief, that very state is analyzed.
Form, sound, smell, taste, and tactile phenomena—
Those very phenomena are beyond conceptual thought.
The letter A is the supreme letter;
From its emptiness, there is no birth.
The supreme letter, which has become the cause of all births, is beyond conceptual thought.
The use of luxury items, bathing, cleaning,
Ornaments, earrings, robes, and so forth;
Alcohol and amṛta, meat and so on;
Mothers, sisters, daughters, and so forth—
The conduct of pleasure is beyond conceptual thought.
For the sentient beings tamed by me,
There is no reaching the extreme of attachment.
Therefore, since the vehicle is without reaching,
That very view is beyond conceptual thought.
The sounds of relying on eternalism, nihilism, and contradictions—
Those very dwellings in extremes are beyond conceptual thought.
Desire, hatred, ignorance, and so forth—
The afflictions are beyond conceptual thought.
Cold, heat, warmth, and so forth—
The signs themselves are beyond conceptual thought.
The meditation on gods, winds, channels, and so forth—
The path itself is beyond conceptual thought.
Self-awareness, the manner of clouds in the sky,
The six perfections and so forth—
The causes themselves are beyond conceptual thought.
Free from all designations of cause and effect,
Effort unstained by dust,
Uncontrived, like the Anabhraka sky.
The general and specific names; the self-awareness that is beyond conceptualization. From the letters a, i, sha, and the snake, and so on, the divisions of letters are extensive, including the twelve and others.
Form consists of pleasure, pain, and so on, the nineteen subtle particles. Sound and others are likewise: eight sounds, three smells, and six tastes; the eleven tactile objects are phenomena in the same way. Whether conditioned or unconditioned, the divisions of phenomena are extensive.
From the three vehicles and the eighteen, up to the countless perceptions, the divisions of views are extensive. The path of accumulation, the path of engagement, the path of seeing, the path of meditation, and the path of completion: the divisions of paths are extensive.
The permanence of the mind, the signs of Māra, and the signs of arising: the divisions of signs are extensive. From the non-Buddhist, the solitary realizers, and the hearers, up to the conduct of the vajra-holder, the divisions of conduct are extensive.
From eternalism, nihilism, and the middle way, to the extremes of samsara and nirvana, and the extremes of skillful means and insight, the divisions of extremes are extensive.
From desire and so on, the twenty thousand, the one thousand and one root-proximate, and hatred and so on likewise: the divisions of afflictions are extensive. Those completely purified of afflictions, those with great desire, generosity, and so on: the divisions of causes are extensive.
The mind, space, primordially pure awareness, the union of the buddha and Ābhāsvara, and so on: the divisions of self-awareness are extensive. Those who appear as names analyzed by the intellect, the clinging to the middle, the disparaging, the longing for the non-sequential, and the seeking of distinctions.
Those who accept the atomist view and attempt to prove the buddha itself are adhering to an extreme, regardless of how they frame it. Such a view of falling into an extreme is neither self-awareness nor other-awareness, nor is it the mind. It is neither conventional nor ultimate. Those who accept the dry self-awareness theorists and the Madhyamika who fall into an extreme are in opposition to the nature of mind, self-awareness, and the inexpressible, inconceivable. That which is free from this is the inconceivable, great wisdom of self-awareness.
Regarding the white phenomena such as generosity, and the general aspect of self-awareness, there are no atomistic designations such as means and the result of means, or cause and effect, in the great wisdom of self-awareness, because it is spontaneously present wisdom. Furthermore, faults such as desire do not obscure it; it is like the sky and clouds.
By the distinction between self-awareness and other-awareness, sentient beings and buddhas are divided into two. Self-awareness is like an Anabhraka sky, while other-awareness and conceptual thought are like clouds in the sky. When the clouds are dispersed by the wind, the appearance of the cloudless sky itself is revealed. One who is free from other-awareness and conceptual thought is called a buddha free from obscuration, remaining only as self-awareness. For example, when a person looks at the sky, the clouds obscure the person's eyes, but they do not obscure the sky itself.
As for the number, there is initially only one; the purity resulting from other-awareness becoming self-awareness is not a liberation achieved by another. Here, there is only one self-awareness.
That is known and certain. All afflictions are completely purified. The methods of grasping and holding, and insight, are the inconceivable second. From the nature of body, speech, and mind, liberation is empty and without name. Without aspiration, the body, speech, and mind are the inconceivable third. Loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity; from the nature of earth, water, Agni, and wind, these are certain as the number four; joy and so forth are likewise. The five families and the five buddhas, the five aggregates and the five attachments and hatreds, are the inconceivable fifth. From the nature of the six perfections, the six sense objects, the six Indras, and so forth, these are the inconceivable six; numbers such as a hundred are inconceivable. Those who have remained since without beginning as both self-knowledge and other-knowledge dwell in the form of body and obscurations. Without self-knowledge, other-knowledge is desired. In the time of ordinary beings, this is also unfit due to great ignorance. Not having abandoned other-knowledge, self-knowledge is desired; having abandoned saṃsāra, one attains nirvana. Some, in saṃsāra and nirvana, perceive acceptance and rejection through knowledge. Such and so forth are the grahas of views. There are one hundred and ten who grasp at knowledge. There are three thousand Mahāyāna sūtra classes. There are two hundred hearers and solitary realizers. There are inconceivable grahas of views, such as the pervasive and the fierce. Self-knowledge is unborn from the beginning, empty, unelaborated, and spontaneously established. Filled with the taste of great bliss, if one knows all of saṃsāra and the three elements, the buddha himself is in saṃsāra, and saṃsāra itself is nirvana.
Free from the graha of views,
there is neither self-awareness nor awareness of others.
Both ultimate and conventional are abandoned.
There is no mind, no space, and no dharmatā.
There is neither delusion nor non-delusion.
There is no vehicle and no stages.
There is neither inferiority nor superiority.
There is neither wisdom nor bliss.
Not abiding in the Middle Way that avoids extremes,
it abides in the inconceivable.
One who realizes and integrates this,
who is fearless and without doubt or contention,
is the foremost of the sons of the Victorious,
the supreme among all sons of the Victorious.
Empowered by the vajra-holder,
the object of worship for all dakinis,
one enters the bhūmi of the vidyadhara.
Even then, one strives to learn in meditative equipoise.
One should abide in the vidyadhara bhūmi.
Having abided in the vidyadhara bhūmi,
one enters the bhūmi of the vajra-holder.
Abiding in the bhūmi of the vajra-holder,
from the mastery of the fifteen bhūmis,
one manifests the two bodies for the benefit of others.
Through the power of the action and aspiration of others,
by that power, among appearances,
there is nothing that appears as not-perfect.
There are two types of stages:
first, during the period of the guru's instructions
and abiding in the vidyadhara bhūmi,
the general form of self-awareness
takes dharmatā as its object.
Having become the bhūmi of the vajra-holder,
the characteristic of self-awareness
is the appearance like space, without conceptualization
regarding the object, the possessor of the object, and so forth.
By that very way, the self
of the stable and unstable phenomena of the three elements,
having abandoned all subsequent attainments of meditative equipoise,
abides in the manner of an illusion;
this is the limit of perfected appearance.
The measure of the completion of the absence of appearances is to dwell in seclusion, free from faults such as the disturbances of the mind and the sequences of the watch, the water-clock, the gnomon, and the moment. This is the measure shown by external knowledge and self-knowledge.
When there are no appearances and no illusions, no fragmented activity and no movement, that which remains eternally unchanging in the spontaneously present and naturally perfected is the measure of the completion of the characteristics of self-knowledge.
It is taught that the following are special times: the time of being intoxicated by the taste of desire, the time of generating the bodhicitta, the taking of vows, and the receiving of empowerment, the time of the assembly of the cakra of the gathering, and the time of the inconceivable cause.
Furthermore, the same applies to the eye relying on form, when it is blended with the conceptual mind and the non-conceptual mind; that very mind where the stream of conceptualization is severed, and that very cause where the stream of mind is severed, is the time of the inconceivable cause. The same applies to sound and so forth.
The same applies to the causes that follow the afflictions such as desire, hatred, and delusion, as well as to loving-kindness, generosity, and so forth, and to equanimity, patience, and so forth; these are the times of the inconceivable cause.
One should learn from the mouth of the guru regarding generosity, discipline, and so forth, and loving-kindness, compassion, and so forth—in short, the white phenomena—as well as craftsmanship, magic, and so forth, and all the stages of meditating on the generation and completion. These are the times for entering the inconceivable when one has reached complete perfection in one or many births, or when one is weary of the phenomena of samsara.
Generation and Completion
There is no abiding place. For those who desire the Great Completion, it is now the time to enter. Because the Māras are inconceivable, it is the time to enter the intermediate practice.
The methods of grasping are eighteen: those with a basis, those without a basis, and those equal to space; those relying on the six sensory fields and the three times; those relying on co-emergence and sound; and those relying on earth, water, Agni, wind, and sound.
The meditation on self-knowledge, where phenomena have not arisen from the beginning, is equal to space. The guru first emphasizes the grasping of the mind. All phenomena are mind, and the mind has not arisen from the beginning. This is the yoga of self-knowledge with a basis. The mind is self-knowledge from the beginning; that without a basis is inconceivable.
Form, sound, smell, taste, and touch are phenomena. Therefore, one should strive to obtain the grasping of the mind from the guru. Likewise, the learned grasp desire, hatred, and delusion in succession. Relying on the two co-emergences and the four elements, one meditates on the absence of birth. Specifically, the grasping of the mind is inconceivable.
For the hearers and the Mahāyāna, there are no such instructions. The distinctions of the Rigdzin vehicle are elevated by fifteen types of distinctions: view, conduct, and the grasping of the mind; cause, result, and path; time, enjoyment, and yoga; the intention for self-benefit and the intention for the benefit of others; the abandonment of extremes, the reduction of effort, and the accumulation of merits.
O, great and terrifying Conqueror! Regarding the inconceivable self-knowledge, what is the intention regarding generosity, loving-kindness, and so forth?
From what action do the two bodies arise for the benefit of others? Because the inconceivable is well-established, what is that itself, and what is it externally?
The Blessed One spoke: Through generosity, Maitreya, and so forth, the conceptualizations of others are ceased, and the two bodies act for the benefit of sentient beings. Since it is certain that sentient beings arise as buddhas through these conditions, even if one does not abide in the inconceivable, one should strive to learn generosity and so forth. From that, the inconceivable arises.
All the actions of the two bodies—power, fearlessness, dhāraṇī, and samādhi—are certainly produced as the inconceivable after having practiced generosity and so forth. If one realizes this, it is inconceivable; if one does not realize this, it is the phenomena of saṃsāra.
Like a poor person with a wish-fulfilling jewel, even if the mind is placed upon the inconceivable, if the mind abides through the stages of generation and completion, that is a sign of great previous training. It is precious to have cut the headings of the mind. When one's own mind is pliable, that is the external sign appearing within; that itself is the internal sign appearing externally.
The absence of impurities in the body, the absence of rākṣasas, and the absence of white, unkempt hair are the signs of generation and completion. The appearance of saṃsāra as an illusion and the appearance of everything like an Anabhraka sky are the signs of the inconceivable.
Then, all those gathered in the cakra became joyful following the inconceivable suchness, which is the nature of all phenomena.
Thus concludes the king of tantras, the Inconceivable Secret of the Glorious Cakra-samvara, spoken by the Blessed One.