Within the Secret Tantra tradition of Yungdrung Bön, there are many types of deities. Among these yidams, the Garuda reigns supreme as a practice to dispel outer, inner, and secret obstacles — from external conditions such as skin disorders, back pain, and spiritual contamination, to inner obstacles such as mental dullness, weak energy, and the loss of courage or confidence. There are many forms of the Garuda deity, distinguished by their different colors. Among them, the Black Garuda is regarded as a particularly powerful deity who pacifies all diseases, harms, and obstacles. Also known by the name Walsey Khyungnak, the Black Garuda is practiced in tantric monasteries throughout northern Tibet, especially those connected with H.E. the venerable Böngya Rinpoche.

The Meditative-realization of Walsé Black-Garuḍa

Arousing Bodhichitta

A How heart-rending it is that all these sentient beings, failing to realize the nature of reality—which is free from extremes—wander helplessly through saṃsāra and experience only suffering.

May these beings be free from suffering.

May they be endowed with happiness.

May they never be separated from that happiness.

May they be freed from the afflictions of attachment and aversion.

Kunzang Shenlha Ökar Practice

A KAR From my heart, a single white letter A radiates into the space before me.

SALÉ Ö From that, countless subtle A-letters radiate forth. Through striking the environment and its inhabitants, all coarse outer and inner material substances are purified, transforming into a celestial mansion. The obscurations of all inhabitants are also cleansed, transmuting them into the nature of gods and goddesses.

A YAṂ OṂ DU. The subtle A’s gather inward and dissolve into the A.

Dissolving into light, the A transforms into the OṂ endowed with the five primordial wisdoms. As the A gathers at my heart center, the five poisons and five demons within my continuum are vanquished, and I become the nature of the five kāyas and the five primordial wisdoms.

From the OṂ at my heart center melting into light, I arise as Kunzang Shenlha Ökar; my body is brilliantly white, with one face and two hands, adorned with the thirteen peaceful ornaments and endowed with the nine attributes of Brahmā.

[The nine ways of Brahmā are: youthfulness of the body, radiant complexion, brilliance, peaceful demeanor, suppleness of limbs, flexibility of extremities, gracefulness, beauty and litheness, and intense splendor; these are the nine, as stated in the Great Monlam Dictionary.]

Possessing the primordial wisdom of omniscience and endowed with a heart of compassionate love, I have become one from whom radiant light streams forth in all ten directions.

Five Buddha Families Practice

A, OṂ, HŪṂ, RAṂ, JA. At the crown of my head there clearly manifests a white A; at my heart a yellow OṂ; at my navel a blue HŪṂ; upon my tongue a red RAṂ; and below my navel a reddish-green JA.

SAD SALÉ YA Rays of light radiate from the syllables, purifying the obscurations of sentient beings.

LHAN NÉ DU The rays of light gather back, purifying the obscurations within my own continuum; they dissolve into the syllables, which then melt into light.

From an A arises the white Awakened Body of Kunnang Khyappa.

From the OṂ, the golden Awakened Body of Selwa Rangjung.

From a HŪṂ, the blue Awakened Body of Gawa Döndrup;

From a RAṂ, the red Awakened Body of Jedrak Ngömé;

and a JA, the green Awakened Body of Gélha Garchuk, five in all.

Each of them has one face and two arms, and is adorned with the thirteen peaceful ornaments.

Endowed with the nine attributes of Brahmā, possessing the primordial wisdom of omniscience, and endowed with a heart of compassion, a radiant light streams forth in all ten directions.

From each of their individual hearts, countless light rays emanate, purifying the habitual tendencies that grasp at the characteristics in the five aggregates of sentient beings, transforming them into the nature of the five primordial wisdoms.

Thus, from the state of unmoving quiescence, the magical display of primordial wisdom-motion arises.

Walsé Ngampa Practice

SWO THO YE THUN A. From my heart, a pair of letters, A and MA, radiates into the space before me.

A MA PHUR PA PHAṬ YA. From the two—A and MA—rays of light radiate outward, striking the environment and its inhabitants. The entire outer environment becomes a celestial mansion of blazing, wrathful power, with the nature of a mountain of fire and a mass of flames, and all inner inhabitants are transformed into the nature of primordial wisdom garuḍas and emanation garuḍas.

A MA PUR PA THUN DU. The rays of light return, purifying the obscurations of my own continuum; then they dissolve into the two—A and MA—and the A-MA then gathers into my heart center.

SWO A THUN ZHUNG ZHAG TRI TRONG THUN| NĀGA DUL SHAG NAN. NĀGA DUL DUL ZHI ZHI NAN| NĀGA MĀRAYA SOD THUN BHYO|

From the dissolution of my body into light, I arise as the fierce Walsé Ngampa with nine heads and eighteen arms. My body is white; my central face is that of a wrathful deity. My right face is that of a dragon, and my left face is that of a makara.

Above these, the upper heads are the faces of the great garuḍa and from their mouths a fearsome roar resounds in all ten directions. My crown is bound with the white royal family [of nāgas], while my throat, hands, and feet are ornamented by the [other] four families of nāgas.

The garuḍa faces devour the nāgas; with the first two hands, the white and black serpents are consumed.

In my eight right hands I hold eight garuḍas that subdue the eight classes of spirits; in my eight left hands I brandish great, terrifying fires that incinerate all demons and obstructors.

My body is adorned with the glorious garuḍas of the five families, and I pin down the eight great nāgas beneath my feet.

From every pore, weapons radiate: from the eyes, lightning flashes; from the ears, thunder rolls; from the nostrils, gales of wind storm; and from the mouth, fires blaze.

Thus, from that lucid state: SWO. Out of the naturally-arisen great bliss of emptiness, boundless compassion arises toward all. From the emanation and gathering of emptiness and clarity, the seed syllables of the six letters radiate forth.

Generating the Mandala

Stacked in layers from the expanse, below and above: E YAṂ RAṂ MAṂ KHAṂ BRŪṂ.

Stacked in layers from the expanse, below and above: E YAṂ RAṂ MAṂ KHAṂ BRŪṂ.

From the stirring of the radiating and gathering light rays,

From the E arises the dark blue maṇḍala of space.

From the YAṂ arises a wind-mountain marked with a crossed-vajra.

From the RAṂ arises a mountain of bright, crimson fire, blazing.

From the MAṂ, the water-mountain maṇḍala swirls.

From the KHAṂ, a golden ground spreads out.

From the BRŪṂ arises a divine castle of the five precious substances; it is illuminated within the expanse, free of inner or outer boundaries.

E MU RI. YAṂ LI PHYOD. RAṂ NI RAṂ. MAṂ TING DANG RA. KHAṂ LA ZHI. BHRŪṂ RATNA DRUNG MU DAL.

[The syllables] radiate beneath the maṇḍala vases and the rest; from the A arises the white maṇḍala of space.

From the YAṂ arises a green maṇḍala of wind.

From the RAṂ arises a red maṇḍala of fire.

From the MAṂ arises a blue maṇḍala of water.

From the KHAṂ arises a yellow maṇḍala of earth.

Upon that, a BRUṂ, endowed with the five colors, melts into light, from which appears the great wrathful Wal celestial mansion: square, furnished with gates, its walls layered with lattices of various precious substances, radiant and without inner or outer.

Its sides are built of stacked human skulls; pillars and beams formed of the arrogant gods, nāgas, and yakṣas are spread out in rows; and above, it is crowned with the heads and wings of garuḍas.

Hanging ornaments and lattice-work dangle in unbroken succession; at the peaks, the hides of māras and rākṣasas flutter like silken streamers.

In the outer courtyard a lake of blood swirls, surrounded all around by a perimeter of copper and iron.

Viewed from outside, the temple (lha khang) has the shape of a stūpa; [viewed] from within, it appears as a celestial mansion blazing with mountains and masses of Wal-fire— manifest and vivid, yet without inherent nature.

At its center, upon a throne supported by lions, elephants, horses, dragons, and garuḍas, there appears a seat of lotus, sun, and moon stacked upon a dais formed by the interlacing of the eight great nāgas.

At the four palaces [that surround the central palace], upon seats formed by the interlacing of these supports, are stacked seats of sun, moon, and lotus: in the east, the bull and the gandharva; in the north, the horse and the yakṣa; in the west, the dragon and the lord of the nāgas; and in the south, the garuḍa and Yama, the lord of death. On top of that are stacked seats of sun, moon, and lotus.

On the outer rim, upon the eight wheels are eight peacocks, and at the four gates are interlaced shang shang birds, each clearly manifesting upon a stacked seat of sun, moon, and lotus.

Upon the seat at the center of the palace, the essence of awareness (rigpa) becomes a single white A.

The Principal Mantra

SWO OṂ A THUN NYE LO YO THUN PUNGS SO THAD DO THUN.

A MA MAHĀLA RAṂ JA THUN BHYO THUN BHYO.

[Pronounced: 

SO - A TUNE - NYE LO - YO TUNE - PUNGS SO - TE DO - TUNE.

A MAMA - HĀLA - RAṂ JA - TUNE JO TUNE JO.]

Walsé Ngampa Practice Revisited

From that, light rays radiate outward, purifying the obscurations of sentient beings.

[The rays] gather and dissolve into the two, A and MA, which melt into light, from which arises Walsé Ngampa, the wrathful king poised in the sky, with nine heads and eighteen arms.

His complexion is like polished white crystal. His right face is white, that of a fierce, wild tiger; his left face is red, that of a fierce makara; his central face is dark blue, that of a terrifying wrathful deity; and his uppermost heads are the faces of the magnificent garuḍa.

His upper body is draped with a hanging vestment of crystalline-white wind, while his lower body is fastened with a skirt of flickering crimson lightning.

His brilliant, heroic form is clothed with awe-inspiring attire.

Upon his upper body he wears a mantle of māra-hide; his lower body is clad in a tiger- skin loincloth.

His waist is bound with a girdle of serpents; his head is crowned with the eight great gods, and beneath his feet he pins down the eight great nāgas.

Mountains and masses of fire blaze about his body. With the first two hands, right and left, he consumes the poisonous nāga lineages, both white and black.

In his eight right hands he unleashes fierce garuḍa lineages; in his eight left hands he kindles the great fire of Wal.

Every pore bristles with sharp weapons, and he becomes endowed with the hundred secondary marks [of a Buddha].

Black Garuda Practice

From the crown of the principal deity’s head emerges the wrathful Walsé Karuna, endowed with a majestic, deep-blue [hue].

On the right horn of the garuḍa a fire blazes; on its left horn, Wal-water boils; at the crown of the head, a jeweled light blazes forth.

From within wings arrayed like rows of swords, the black garuḍa of activity descends and soars, pouring down like rain.

From the heart of the principal deity, light rays radiate to the outer circle, and from the essence of that radiance, syllables arise.

In the four palaces, four KHROṂ;

on the eight wheels, eight RAṂ;

at the four gates, four JA appear clearly.

As the four KHROṂ melt into light, in the east is the wrathful Lhagö Karuna, endowed with a brilliant, blazing-white radiance.

In the north is the wrathful Tsochok Karuna, endowed with a brilliant blue-green radiance.

In the west, performing the activity of subjugation, is the red Karuna with a mane of fire.

In the south is the wrathful Wal-garuḍa Karuna, manifesting clearly as blue, with wings of water.

Imagine the malevolent earth lords, nāgas, and nyen sounding a sharp, rattling hiss from their palates.

On the outer rim, eight RAṂ syllables melt into light, from which, in the east, the red Lishak holds a butter lamp; in the north, the maroon Khashak sounds a drum and bell; in the west, the blue Mashak holds an incense burner; and in the south, the black Reshak bears food offerings.

In the southeast, the white Tsushak waves fluttering robes; in the northeast, the yellow Gyashak holds a flower; in the northwest, the dark-green Kyelshak performs a dance; and in the southwest, the greenish-white Sheshak holds the eight treasures.

All of them appear clearly with one face and two arms, their bodies adorned with bone ornaments and various precious jewels, each holding its respective hand-implement in a dancing posture.

As the four JA at the four gates melt into light: in the east, the black one holding a lasso; in the north, the blue one holding a shang-bell; in the west, the red one holding iron shackles; and in the southeast, the white one holding an iron hook.

Furthermore, on the outer rim are the primordial wisdom garuḍas, the activity garuḍas, and the emanation garuḍas, together with the guardians who protect the teachings, each surrounded by a retinue of a hundred thousand of their own kind.

Although the assembly of deities generated have Awakened Bodies that appear, yet they are without inherent nature; their speech proclaims the sound of fierce mantras; and their minds, [endowed with] wisdom and compassion, radiate light to all without distinction of outer or inner, becoming the very nature of the blazing Wal-fire of primordial wisdom.

SWO OṂ A THUN NYE LO YO THUN PUNGS SO THAD DO THUN |

A MA MAHĀLA RAṂ JA THUN A.

Light rays radiate upward from the hearts of the generated assembly of deities, invoking the enlightened commitment of the wisdom beings (jñānasattvas); as these dissolve back into the generated deities, they become non-dual activity beings (karmasattvas), bringing the benefit of beings to its full extent.

Thus is the samādhi of the offering substances generally established.

Whatever faults or transgressions have arisen from composing this, I confess them, with remorse and regret, before the awesome objects of refuge.

I dedicate this virtue toward the attainment of enlightenment; may all attain the stage of the Great Vehicle of Secret Mantra.

This method was composed in the hermitage of Menri by the monk of Shen, Sherab Gyaltsen, at the earnest urging of his faithful disciples; may virtue and excellence increase.

May there be auspiciousness!