Mahāyoga sadhana

A shortsādhanafor purifying one's body, speech, and mind by means of light-rays dissolving into the corresponding three points of the head, throat, and heart. The work is attributed toMañjuśrīmitra, a well-known figure in the laterRnying maschool who was associated with theMañjuśrīnāmasaṃgītiand with earlyAtiyoga. At the end are two lines summarizing thesādhana, while the last line seems to summarize another unidentified work. The items in this manuscript have been described in brief terms in52-53.

Mahāyoga sadhana

Compare toIOL Tib J 464/1, which seems to be an earlier version of the same work. The above title is assumed based on the similarities between these two works. The work is asādhanafocusing on a wrathfulmaṇḍalawith thetathāgatafamily at its center. The central deity is referred to asVairocana, or perhapsVajrasattva(who is the object of the opening homage.) As Eastman has suggested, thissādhanamay relate to theGuhyasamāja-tantra(see52). One assumes Eastman made this judgement on the basis of the prayers to the four main deities appearing on7r.5. The ritual is divided into two parts. In the first part of the ritual, themaṇḍalais visualized externally, and then one enters and makes offerings to the buddhas within. In the second part (beginning on6r.4), themaṇḍalais generated out of the bliss of sexual union, with oneself as the central deity. These two parts seem to correspond roughly to the generation and perfection stages (bskyed rim,rdzogs rim) of later tantric terminology. The sexual practice in this rite has been discussed in.

References

Mahāyoga sadhana

Asādhanacentering on the wrathful divinityVajrakīlaya(Rdo rje phur pa). The discussion of the ritual is divided into seven parts: the form, the blessings, the recitations, the activities, the time, the place, and oneself. The first section describes how akīlashould be made, on which one may compare chapter ten of thePhur pa bcu gnyis(899). The second section describes how it should be blessed (compare902), by first visualizing thekīlaas amaṇḍalaand then performing the consecrations for body, speech, and mind. Such descriptions are apparently unique toRnying matantras, "and are not found, as far as we know, in any Kanjur texts at all" (55). Mayer makes this comment in observing another similar ritual which can be found inIOL Tib J 754. The section on the activities instructs the reader on the purification and demarcation of the ritual space.