Toh 475The Tantra of Red Yamāri

An Exposition of the Tantra of Red Yamāri

Raktayamāritantra—Vajrayāna Tantra

Background

The Tantra of Red Yamāri (Raktayamāritantra) is a tantric scripture preserved in the Kangyur, the highest class of teachings in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Yamāri, or “Slayer of Death,” is a developed form of a tantric deity who appears in the systems of Anuttarayoga, or Highest Yoga Tantra, practice.

In the Vajrayāna tantric tradition, Yamāri symbolizes the supreme power to destroy the most adverse force in the three realms—namely, the “lord of death,” as well as the obstacles of ignorance. Yamāri’s “Red” (Rakta) form emphasizes fierce transformative power, replete with ojas (dynamic vitality), used to eliminate everything that brings death to the practitioner’s spiritual life.

This tantra was transmitted through eminent masters such as Buddhagupta, Bhavabhaṭṭa, and Tibetan Dharma teachers. It represents a profound method of practice requiring humility, wholehearted commitment, and guidance from an authentic path master (guru).

Main Content

The Raktayamāritantra teaches the sequence by which one manifests Red Yamāri through three fundamental stages of tantric practice: the generation stage (utpattikrama), the completion stage (sampannakrama), and the uninterrupted stage (anulomakrama).

The generation stage involves vividly visualizing the entire maṇḍala (sacred circle), with Red Yamāri at its center surrounded by other deities, each possessing distinctive colors, mental qualities, and seed syllables. Practitioners dissolve their ordinary bodies into light and then transform that light into the deity, contemplating that all phenomena are manifestations of mind.

The completion stage focuses on the recitation of seed syllables (mantras), particularly Yamāri’s principal mantra. These sounds are not ordinary words but esoteric oral instructions containing the deity’s complete transformative power.