Outer Practice of the Five Families

The Outer Practice of the Five Families of Sugatas

from the Khandro Nyingtik

Homage to the sugatas of the five families!

Herein is revealed the outer sādhana of the five families. The Luminous Expanse says:

For all that is encompassed by the body,
The five skandhas are the actual five families
And the five elements are the five mothers.

One’s very own body and mind have always had the nature of the victorious ones of the five families. Yet due to the mind’s ignorant delusion one circles and roams through the six classes. It is to gain freedom from this predicament that the sādhana of the male and female buddhas of the five families is explained.

This has three parts, bringing accomplishment by means of three forms of yoga: (1) the yoga of the deity, (2) the yoga of mantra, and (3) the yoga of the perfection phase.

1. Deity Yoga

The means for developing the yoga of the deity is as follows. In an instant, visualise a white aḥ syllable above the crown of your ordinary body. Light radiates from the syllable, causing your body to melt into light. Further rays of light then shine out so that the outer environment too melts into light. As you recite oṃ āḥ hūṃ mahāśūnyatā jñāna vajra svabhāva atmako ’haṃ, consider that everything is emptiness. As you recite dharmadhātu svabhāva atmako ’haṃ, cultivate a great boundless compassion that extends universally.

Then with vajra citta hūṃ your own mind becomes a hūṃ syllable. From this hūṃ there emanates an é which transforms into empty space. Then a yaṃ emanates from the hūṃ, becoming a maṇḍala of wind. A baṃ emanates from the hūṃ and becomes an ocean of wisdom. A laṃ emanates from the hūṃ and becomes a ground of jewels. A bhrūṃ emanates from the hūṃ and becomes a jewelled palace. With bhrūṃ bhiśu bhiśuddhe jñāna cakra bhrūṃ there appears a lion throne in the centre of the palace. In the east, there appears an elephant throne; in the south, a horse throne; in the west, a peacock throne; and in the north, a shang-shang bird throne. Upon these thrones appear five sets of sun-, moon- and lotus-seats, in the middle of which you visualise an oṃ in the centre, a hūṃ in the east, a trāṃ in the south, a hrīḥ in the west and an āḥ in the north. Light radiates from these seed syllables, making offerings to all the noble ones and purifying sentient beings’ misdeeds and obscurations. As the light returns, visualise the hand implements marked by the seed syllables.

Then consider that light emanates from and returns to the seed syllables of the female buddhas—é, baṃ, laṃ, raṃ, yaṃ—and visualise the four female buddhas in the four intermediate directions and one in the centre, indivisibly united with the main deity. The four syllables jaḥ hūṃ baṃ hoḥ emerge from the hearts of the four female buddhas and emanate light that generates the four female gatekeepers in the four directions. How are these deities visualised? With one face and two arms and seated in the cross-legged sattva posture. They are adorned with all the ornaments and full sambhogakāya costume. Visualise the colours and hand implements of the female buddhas as in the empowerment manual. The four female gatekeepers also appear as in the empowerment manual. Visualise on the foreheads of all these deities a white oṃ, at their throats a red āḥ, and at their hearts a blue hūṃ. Then as you recite oṃ vajra rakṣa rakṣa hūṃ, visualise a vajra net emerging from a crossed double vajra at your crown and filling the inside of your body.

Then, light radiates from the particular seed syllable at your heart, inviting the wisdom deities from their particular directions in appropriate ways, and they are absorbed through the four syllables. Visualise in the hearts of the male and female deities, upon sun and moon discs, their individual seed syllables marked by their individual essence mantras, and recite them. Consider that boundless light emanates forth and completely purifies all your own and others’ misdeeds and obscurations, as you recite the mantras. This is the deity yoga of visualisation.

2. Mantra Yoga

Recite as many times as possible the essence mantras of the four male and female deities and their retinues:

oṃ jhina jhiga
laṃ deśvara te stvaṃ
hūṃ vajra dhrig
muṃ dadu śvari stvaṃ
svā ratna dhrig
maṃ moha rati stvaṃ
aṃ arolika
byaṃ rāga rati stvaṃ
hā prajñā dhrig
tāṃ vajra rati stvaṃ
jaḥ hūṃ baṃ ho si ti hūṃ

This is the mantra yoga of recitation.

3. Yoga of the Perfection Phase

All the deities dissolve into the seed syllables. The seed syllables then vanish like mist, and you rest in an ongoing experience of emptiness. This is the yoga of the perfection phase.

With this as your yidam practice, you will experience physical bliss, your speech will become powerful, and realization will develop in your mind. You will purify physical, vocal and mental obscurations, transmute the five poisons, be naturally freed from the three poisons, and naturally develop the five wisdoms. At best, you will awaken in one lifetime. In the intermediate case, you will awaken in the bardo. At worst, you will awaken in a nirmāṇakāya pure realm.

May this outer practice of the five families meet with the one who has the right karmic destiny! Samaya. Gya. Gya. Gya. Ithi. Let it be virtuous!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Tsadra Foundation, 2026.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

"bde gshegs rigs lnga’i phyi sgrub" In snying thig ya bzhi. 13 vols. Delhi: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1975. Vol. 10: 106–110 (2.5 folios)

Version: 1.0–20261109