Vajrayāna treatise

Complete set of notes on how to perform a fire offering for pacification. Folios are numbered ka-nya. Another version of the same work can be found atIOL Tib J 423, though the present item provides slightly more detail in places; compare for example, the iconographic description of Agni at2r.8-2v.1andIOL Tib J 423, 2v.1.

The ritual begins with the site ritual (sa'i cho ga), which is to be performed, "according to the outer tantras" (phyi rgyud). The circular hearth is then worshipped (1v.2). Next the benefits and the narrative setting (gleng gzhi) of the rite are to be explained (1v.2), followed by a series of five preparatory rites (compareIOL Tib J 423, 1v.5). During the final fifth rite of generating oneself as the deity1v.5, "using the branches of a ritual manual," the sacramental being (dam tshig sems dpa'' is invited and bound into place with a series ofmudrās andmantras. Then the site is blessed (2r.5), and the wisdom being (ye shes sems dpa'--2v.1) is invited, worshipped, exhorted, and requested to return afterwards.

The next part consists of "the application of sixteen activities of general tasks (3v.2 spyi rgyugs kyi las bcu drug), which when listed seem to number only eleven (note thatIOL Tib J 423, 4r.2has only ten, lacking the first activity): (i) offering the seat (3v.3), (ii) purifying the fire (3v.4), (iii) “cleansing the fire” (3v.6), (iv) making the requests (read snyan gsan dbab pa)?--3v.8), (v) invitation (4r.2), (vi) prostrations (4r.3), (vii) offerings (4r.4), (viii) confession (5r.2), (ix) enjoining the activities (5r.6), (x) praises (5v.1), (xi) prayers to return (5v.2).

Finally there are the offerings to the various gods (5v.4-8r.2), includingPrajñāpāramitā, the buddhas of the five families, theeight bodhisattvas, the ten wrathfulMahākrodha, the eight greatnāgas, and so on. The text ends with some brief advice on the meditations which are meant to accompany these offerings. This section is longer inIOL Tib J 423, 8v.6-.

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