Kālacakra seeds

The seeds of the
Kālacakra maṇḍala

   


When a Kālacakra maṇḍala is imagined in meditation, drawn, painted or built in 3D, very often the deities are formed from or represented by their seed characters. These seeds are all given in the listing of the deities of the maṇḍala to be found here.

When representing these seeds in artwork, one of the most favoured styles is to use Indian Lantsa characters (ornamental script, or Ranjanā script). The traditionally drawn calligraphy presented here was produced in Kathmandu for use in constructing a three-dimensional Kālacakra maṇḍala in Dzamthang, Eastern Tibet. The copies used here were kindly provided by Khenpo Choenang, abbot of Jonang Takten Phuntsok Choeling, in Shimla, who had commissioned and overseen their production. These seeds are not computer generated and are all hand drawn and then scanned. They therefore appear with rather rough edges when enlarged, as here. Some tidying-up has been done of any obvious artefacts; otherwise they have been left unedited. The seeds are given starting from the centre of the maṇḍala, the mind maṇḍala. Each one is given with the transcription of the seed character, its direction in the maṇḍala, and the Sanskrit and Tibetan names of the relevant deity.

At present (November 2013), only the seeds of the mind maṇḍala are presented here. The others will follow in due course. The heart seed of Kālacakra, "huṃ", is given at the top of this page; that image courtesy of the Nepal Research Centre. For more information on this seed, see this article.


The eight śakti:

aE Kṛiṣṇadīptā nag mo 'bar ma
āW Pītadīptā ser mo 'bar ma
aṃN Śvetadīptā dkar mo 'bar ma
aḥS Raktadīptā dmar mo 'bar ma
haSE Dhūmā du ba ma
NW Pradīpā mar me ma
haṃNE Khadyotā me khyer ma
haḥSW Marīcī smig rgyu ma

The four emblems:

oṃNE dharma conch chos kyi dung
āḥSW dharma semantron chos kyi gaṇḍī
huṃSE wishing jewel yid bzhin gyi nor bu
hoḥNW wish-fulfilling tree dpag bsam gyi shing

The buddhas and their consorts:

iE Amoghasiddhidon yod grub pa
ṛiS Ratnasambhavarin chen 'byung ldan
uN Amitābhasnang ba mtha' yas
ḷiW Vairocanarnam par snang mdzad
īSE Tārāsgrol ma
ṛīSW Pāṇḍarāgos dkar mo
ūNE Māmakīmā ma kī
ḷīNW Locanāspyan ma

The ten flasks:

hiRoE cessation of marrowrkang 'gag pa'i bum pa
LoE cessation of marrowrkang 'gag pa'i bum pa
hṛiRoS cessation of bloodkhrag 'gag pa'i bum pa
hṛīLoS cessation of bloodkhrag 'gag pa'i bum pa
hiRoN cessation of urinegci ba 'gag pa'i bum pa
LoN cessation of urinegci ba 'gag pa'i bum pa
hṛiRoW cessation of faecesbshang ba 'gag pa'i bum pa
hṛīLoW cessation of faecesbshang ba 'gag pa'i bum pa
hṛiA cessation of semenkhu ba 'gag pa'i bum pa
hṛīB cessation of seedrdul 'gag pa'i bum pa

The male and female bodhisattvas:

aLoS Vajrapāṇiphyag na rdo rje
āḥLoN Śabdavajrāsgra rdo rje ma
eRoE Khagarbhanam mkha'i snying po
ālNW Gandhavajrādri rdo rje ma
arRoS Kṣitigarbhasa'i snying po
auNE Rūpavajrāgzugs rdo rje ma
oRoN Lokeśvara'jig rten dbang phyug
āRSW Rasavajrāro rdo rje ma
alRoW Nīvaraṇaviṣkambhinsgrib pa rnam sel
aiSE Sparśavajrāreg bya rdo rje ma
aṃLoE Samantabhadrakun tu bzang po
āLoW Dharmadhātuvajrāchos khams rdo rje ma

The eight wrathfuls (door-protectors):

yaṃE Vighnāntakabgegs mthar byed
lāḥE Stambhakīrengs byed ma
raṃS Prajñāntakashes rab mthar byed
wāḥS Mānakīkhengs byed ma
waṃN Padmāntakapadma mthar byed
rāḥN Jambhakīrmugs byed ma
laṃW Yamāntakagshin rje mthar byed
yāḥW Ativīryāshin tu brtson 'grus ma

The twelve offering goddesses:

cchjjhñaLoE Gandhādri ma
cchjjhñāRoE Mālāphreng ba ma
ṭṭhḍḍhṇaLoS Dhūpābdug spos ma
ṭṭhḍḍhṇāRoS Dīpāsnang gsal ma
pphbbhmaLoN Navedyābdud rtsi ma
pphbbhmāRoN Amṛitaphalā'bras bu ma
tthddhnaLoW Lāsyāsgeg mo
tthddhnāRoW Hāsyābzhad ma
kkhgghṅaA Vādyāsgra ma
kkhgghṅāA Nṛityāgar ma
sḥpṣśḥkaB Kāmā'dod ma
sḥpṣśḥkāB Gītāglu ma



    E. Henning.
    Last updated 26 November 2013
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