The Tantra of Glorious Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation consists of seven short chapters of instructions that unfold as part of a dialogue between the Blessed One and the goddess Vīreśvarī. Prompted by Vīreśvarī’s questions, the Blessed One provides a brief outline of various aspects of the practice of generating the deity Vajrapāṇi.
This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team. Adam C. Krug produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Ryan Damron edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The Tantra of Glorious Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation1 contains a dialogue between the Blessed One and the goddess Vīreśvarī that takes place in Aḍakavatī palace which, in this tantra, is located in the highest heavenly realm of Akaniṣṭha.
The tantra consists of seven chapters, each of which is framed as a brief response to the goddess Vīreśvarī’s questions about practices for the deity Vajrapāṇi. The topics covered are the type of person who practices Vajrapāṇi, the locations where Vajrapāṇi can be practiced, instructions on the visualization, instructions on his retinue, a presentation of the deity’s vidyā mantras, and the fire offering. The maṇḍala retinue of this form of Vajrapāṇi is described as having an inner circle of four deities, a middling circle of eight deities, and an outer circle of five-hundred deities, who are correlated to his mind, speech, and body, respectively.
The colophon to Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation notes that the text was translated by the Indian paṇḍita Valacandra and the Tibetan translator Lanchung Darma Tsultrim, both of whom were active during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.2 The text does not appear to have survived in Sanskrit, nor does it appear to have been translated into Chinese.3
This translation was prepared based on the Tibetan translation of Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) of the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition of the Kangyur (dpa bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur.
[F.68.a]Homage to the glorious Lord of Guhyakas.4
Thus did I hear at one time. The glorious great Blessed One was dwelling in the Aḍakavatī palace in Akaniṣṭha surrounded by a host of vidyāmantra deities, when Vīreśvarī addressed him:
“Blessed One, what kind of yogin will accomplish the Lord of Guhyakas?”
The Blessed One replied,
This is the first chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Instruction on the Practitioner.”5
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, in what kind of location should the Hero be practiced?”
The Blessed One replied:
This is the second chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Instruction on the Place of Practice.”
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, what is the visualization for generating this Hero?”
The Blessed One replied:
This is the third chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Instruction on the Generation Visualization.”
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, what is the inconceivable visualization of this Lord of Vidyāmantras?”
The Blessed One replied:
This is the fourth chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Instruction on the Inconceivable Visualization.”
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, what is the Lord of Guhyakas’ retinue?”
The Blessed One replied:
This is the fifth chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “Instruction on the Retinue.”
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, what are the Great Hero’s vidyās?”
The Blessed One replied:12
oṁ vajrapāṇi hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā
oṁ vajrakrodhanī lāṁ varadhara vajrapāṇi hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā
oṁ vajrapāṇī krodhamahācaṇḍaroṣaṇa hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā
Then, he presented the vidyās of the fourfold retinue:[F.69.a]
oṁ vajrakrodhamahākālāya hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ cittakrocidunja13
oṁ vajrakrodha trailokyavijaya hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ | baṁ māraya citta I implore you, I implore you14
oṁ vajrakrodha nāgaspuśa hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ | māraya rakta suck suck! I implore you
oṁ vajrakrodhakubaira hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ māraya ke choṁ choṁ I implore you
The Blessed One then presented the vidyās for the eight classes of gods and demons in the Hero’s retinue:
mahādeva māraya kill kill!
mahānāga māraya kill kill!
ja jaḥ mahādevi māraya hana hana
mahāmani māraya slice slice!
mahāsiddha māraya tiṣṭha tiṣṭha
mahāyakṣa māraya bhinda bhinda
mahātrija māraya burst burst!
mahāmanibindha māraya trample trample!
mahāvajra hūṁ phaṭ
The Blessed One then presented the vidyā for the five-hundred fold blue-clad retinue:
māraya rudha rudha hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ
This is the sixth chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Presentation of Vidyās.”
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, should one conclude the performance of this Hero’s rites with a fire offering or not?”15
The Blessed One replied:
This is the seventh chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Fire Offering.”
The great glorious Blessed One finished speaking, and Vīreśvarī and the host of vidyā deities rejoiced and praised what the great glorious one had said.
This concludes The Tantra of Glorious Fierce Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation.
This was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian paṇḍita Valacandra and the translator Lenchung Darma Tsultrim.16
The Tantra of Glorious Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation consists of seven short chapters of instructions that unfold as part of a dialogue between the Blessed One and the goddess Vīreśvarī. Prompted by Vīreśvarī’s questions, the Blessed One provides a brief outline of various aspects of the practice of generating the deity Vajrapāṇi.
This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team. Adam C. Krug produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Ryan Damron edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The Tantra of Glorious Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation1 contains a dialogue between the Blessed One and the goddess Vīreśvarī that takes place in Aḍakavatī palace which, in this tantra, is located in the highest heavenly realm of Akaniṣṭha.
The tantra consists of seven chapters, each of which is framed as a brief response to the goddess Vīreśvarī’s questions about practices for the deity Vajrapāṇi. The topics covered are the type of person who practices Vajrapāṇi, the locations where Vajrapāṇi can be practiced, instructions on the visualization, instructions on his retinue, a presentation of the deity’s vidyā mantras, and the fire offering. The maṇḍala retinue of this form of Vajrapāṇi is described as having an inner circle of four deities, a middling circle of eight deities, and an outer circle of five-hundred deities, who are correlated to his mind, speech, and body, respectively.
The colophon to Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation notes that the text was translated by the Indian paṇḍita Valacandra and the Tibetan translator Lanchung Darma Tsultrim, both of whom were active during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.2 The text does not appear to have survived in Sanskrit, nor does it appear to have been translated into Chinese.3
This translation was prepared based on the Tibetan translation of Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation in the Tantra Collection (rgyud ’bum) of the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition of the Kangyur (dpa bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur.
[F.68.a]Homage to the glorious Lord of Guhyakas.4
Thus did I hear at one time. The glorious great Blessed One was dwelling in the Aḍakavatī palace in Akaniṣṭha surrounded by a host of vidyāmantra deities, when Vīreśvarī addressed him:
“Blessed One, what kind of yogin will accomplish the Lord of Guhyakas?”
The Blessed One replied,
This is the first chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Instruction on the Practitioner.”5
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, in what kind of location should the Hero be practiced?”
The Blessed One replied:
This is the second chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Instruction on the Place of Practice.”
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, what is the visualization for generating this Hero?”
The Blessed One replied:
This is the third chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Instruction on the Generation Visualization.”
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, what is the inconceivable visualization of this Lord of Vidyāmantras?”
The Blessed One replied:
This is the fourth chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Instruction on the Inconceivable Visualization.”
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, what is the Lord of Guhyakas’ retinue?”
The Blessed One replied:
This is the fifth chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “Instruction on the Retinue.”
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, what are the Great Hero’s vidyās?”
The Blessed One replied:12
oṁ vajrapāṇi hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā
oṁ vajrakrodhanī lāṁ varadhara vajrapāṇi hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā
oṁ vajrapāṇī krodhamahācaṇḍaroṣaṇa hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ svāhā
Then, he presented the vidyās of the fourfold retinue:[F.69.a]
oṁ vajrakrodhamahākālāya hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ cittakrocidunja13
oṁ vajrakrodha trailokyavijaya hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ | baṁ māraya citta I implore you, I implore you14
oṁ vajrakrodha nāgaspuśa hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ | māraya rakta suck suck! I implore you
oṁ vajrakrodhakubaira hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ māraya ke choṁ choṁ I implore you
The Blessed One then presented the vidyās for the eight classes of gods and demons in the Hero’s retinue:
mahādeva māraya kill kill!
mahānāga māraya kill kill!
ja jaḥ mahādevi māraya hana hana
mahāmani māraya slice slice!
mahāsiddha māraya tiṣṭha tiṣṭha
mahāyakṣa māraya bhinda bhinda
mahātrija māraya burst burst!
mahāmanibindha māraya trample trample!
mahāvajra hūṁ phaṭ
The Blessed One then presented the vidyā for the five-hundred fold blue-clad retinue:
māraya rudha rudha hūṁ hūṁ phaṭ phaṭ
This is the sixth chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Presentation of Vidyās.”
Vīrā again asked:
“Blessed One, should one conclude the performance of this Hero’s rites with a fire offering or not?”15
The Blessed One replied:
This is the seventh chapter from The Tantra of the Secret Revelation, “The Fire Offering.”
The great glorious Blessed One finished speaking, and Vīreśvarī and the host of vidyā deities rejoiced and praised what the great glorious one had said.
This concludes The Tantra of Glorious Fierce Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation.
This was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian paṇḍita Valacandra and the translator Lenchung Darma Tsultrim.16
The Sanskrit title given in the Degé version of the Tibetan translation presents some interpretive problems and is either corrupted or represents an attempted back translation of the Tibetan title. Compare this title to that of the next text in the Degé Kangyur, the Vajrapāṇiguhyābhideśatantrarāja (phyag na rdo rje gsang ba mngon par bstan pa’i rgyud kyi rgyal po). Vajrapāṇiguhyābhideśatantra would be a more plausible rendering of the text translated here as well.
Valacandra (wa la tsan+d+ra) or Varacandra (zla ba bzang po) also collaborated with Darma Tsultrim on the similarly titled Vajrapāṇiguhyābhideśatantrarāja (phyag na rdo rje gsang ba mngon par bstan pa’i rgyud kyi rgyal po), a longer work that shares some content with the text translated here. A number of translations by the same duo are found in the Tengyur, including the translations of two works by Karmavajra—the Mahāyakṣasenāpatinīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇigarudasādhana and Vajracaṇḍamaṇḍalavidhi—and two works by the female master Siddharājṇī—the Aparamitāyushomavidhi and the Hayagrīvasādhana. Tibetan historical sources link Darma Tsultrim to Milarepa (mi la ras pa; 1040–1123) and both Valacandra and Darma Tsultrim to Milarepa’s disciple Rechungpa (ras chung pa; 1082–1161). See Halkias 2016, pp. 227–29 and Martin 1981, pp. 53-54.
According to Tarthang Tulku’s catalogue of the Nyingma edition of the Degé Kangyur, the authenticity of this text was called into question by Bü Stön. See Tarthang Tulku, The Nyingma Edition of the Sde-dge bKa’-’gyur vol. 2, p. 462.
S reads: “Homage to the glorious luminous Guhyaka!” (dpal ’od gser gsang ba po la phyag ’tshal lo).
The translation in S contains additional material: “In a remote, pleasant, and beautiful place, / One that is auspicious, prosperous, and powerful, / A frightening place like a great charnel ground, / The peak of a group of three mountains, the base of a tree, / A cave, abandoned shrine, a massif that appears blue, / Or a place that resembles his wrathful regalia— / These are conducive for practicing the Hero (dben la nyams dga’ yid ’ong ba / bkra shis dpal ’phel dbang yang ’dzin / dur khrod chen po ’jigs gnas pa / ri gsum rtse shing ’am shing drung ngam / phug gam lha khang stong pa dang / brag ri sngon po’i mdog ’dra ba / khro bo’i cha byad ’dra ba’i gnas / der ni dpa’ bo sgrub par shis).
This line seems to refer to rays of light that emanate out from and are gathered back into the seed syllable hūṁ, which is a common feature of this stage of deity visualization.
This refers to vertical stroke in the Sanskrit syllable a. This syllable would be rendered differently depending on which Sanskrit script was used, but in Devanāgarī it would be अ.
The following mantras are rendered as they appear in the Degé version of the translation, with only minor emendations made for clarity of the Sanskrit terminology and syntax. Ambiguous and potentially corrupted terms that could not be readily resolved have been left as they appear in Tibetan transliteration. Tibetan terms that have been incorporated into the Sanskrit formulas have been translated into English. There are substantive variants in other Tibetan sources, especially S, but they have not been noted here unless they influenced the given reading.
Following D: tsit+ta kro tsi dun dza. Y reads: snying tsit+ta kro tsi dun dza. S reads: snying tsit+ta kro tsi dun dzra. The transliteration appears to be corrupted here.
This translation of rbad rbad is tentative. Though it used here in a manner that suggests the imperative mode, this spelling of the verb rbod is typically reserved for the past, present, and future tenses.
S reads, “Blessed One, should we conclude the treatise on the activities with the fire offering, or not?” (bcom ldan ’das ’phrin las kyi gzhung sbyin sreg gis bsdu ’tshal lam mi ’tshal cies gsol pa).
The colophon in S does not mention Valacandra. It simply says, “It was translated by the lotsāwa Darma Tsultrim” (lo tsa ba dar ma tshul khrims kyi bsgyur ba’o).
A city of yakṣas ruled by Kubera. It is typically located on Mount Sumeru, however, in this text it is said to be in Akaniṣṭha.
The eighth and highest level of the Realm of Form (rūpadhātu), the last of the five pure abodes (śuddhāvāsa); it is only accessible as the result of specific states of dhyāna. According to some texts this is where non-returners (anāgāmin) dwell in their last lives. In other texts it is the realm of the enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya) and is a buddhafield associated with the Buddha Vairocana; it is accessible only to bodhisattvas on the tenth level.
Vajrapāṇi is frequently referred to as “the Blue-clad One,” a description that can also be applied to his maṇḍala deities and human followers.
In this text, the deity that is visualized in the heart center. The term typically refers to the actual deity that merges with and thus empowers the samaya being (
An epithet for Vajrapāṇi in The Glorious Tantra: Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation.
An epithet for Vajrapāṇi in The Glorious Tantra: Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation.
The name of a Tibetan translator who translated The Glorious Tantra: Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation. He can be tentatively dated to the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries.
An epithet for Vajrapāṇi.
An epithet for Vajrapāṇi in The Glorious Tantra: Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation.
An alternate title that appears in the chapter colophons for The Glorious Tantra of Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation.
Training in ethics (
Vajrapāṇi means “Wielder of the Vajra.” In the Pali canon, he appears as a yakṣa guardian in the retinue of the Buddha. In the Mahāyāna scriptures he is a bodhisattva and one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha.” In the tantras, he is also regarded as an important Buddhist deity and instrumental in the transmission of tantric scriptures.
The name of an Indian paṇḍita who translated The Glorious Tantra: Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation. He can be tentatively dated to the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries.
The name for a type of mantra or spell and the being or beings (usually female) associated with that spell.
The name of the vidyā goddess who is the primary interlocutor in The Glorious Tantra: Vajrapāṇi’s Secret Revelation.
dpal phyag na rdo rje gsang ba bstan pa’i rgyud (Śrīguhyavajrapāṇyabhideśatantranāma). Toh 463, Degé Kangyur vol. 83 (rgyud ’bum, ja), folios 68.a–69.a.
dpal phyag na rdo rje gsang ba bstan pa’i rgyud. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 83, pp. 226–31.
dpal phyag na rdo rje gsang ba bstan pa’i rgyud. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 96 (rgyud, ca), folios 433.a–34.b.
Halkias, Georgios T. “Fire Rituals by the Queen of Siddhas: The Aparamitāyur-homa-vidhi-nāma in the Tengyur.” In Homa Variations: The Study of Ritual Change across the Longue Durée, edited by Richard K. Payne and Michael Witzel, 225–45. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Martin, Dan. “The Early Education of Milarepa.” Journal of the Tibet Society vol. 2 (1982): 53–76.
Tarthang Tulku ed. The Nyingma Edition of the sDe-dge bKa’-’gyur and bsTan-’gyur. Oakland, CA: Dharma Press, 1983.
D sde dge bka’ ’gyur Degé
K kang shi Kangxi
S stog pho ’brang Stok Palace
Y g.yong lo Yongle
