འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱ་རྩ་བའ་རྒྱད 166

166

“Nor should one fan the fire with one’s hand,
Or risk putting it out by being overzealous.
One should fan it with a pure frond of a palm,
Or perhaps a clean cloth or leaf.

“When the fire has been kindled,
Fanned with the wind generated as described,¹⁰⁰¹
The knower of mantra should let it blaze
And be well focused on the homa.

“One should then sprinkle it three times,
Using one’s left¹⁰⁰² hand.
Then one should offer three oblations,
Using for this purpose clarified cow’s butter.

“One should then bow to
All the buddhas, the protectors,
And salute also, as seems fit,
The mantra lord of one’s personal mantra.

“Then, wholly dedicated to the task,
One¹⁰⁰³ should invite the god of fire using fragrant flowers,
Always incanted seven times
With the heart mantra of fire.¹⁰⁰⁴

“A wise practitioner, a knower of the mantra,
Should summon him and offer him a place.
One should offer him a seat
With the same heart mantra and no other.

“In order to worship the god of fire
One should offer three¹⁰⁰⁵ oblations of firewood sticks
Covered in curds with ghee and smeared with honey,
Performing the rite complete with the mantra.¹⁰⁰⁶

“One should, at that time,
Smear both ends of the sticks with these substances,
Applying ghee and honey,
And mixing it with curds.¹⁰⁰⁷

“One can perform this 1000,
100,000, or 108 times.
If one is a practitioner of a secret mantra,
One should pronounce it once for each oblation cast into the fire.

“When performing peaceful rites,
The fire should form a circle,
Or a single tongue of flame.
For the rites of enrichment, it should be smokeless.¹⁰⁰⁸

“The fire should be smoky for rites of the violent type,
Described by the victorious ones as forbidden.
If the fire has a color,
Its color is associated with a respective oblatory activity.

“If this activity is peaceful, a fire that is white in color
Has always been praised by the victorious ones as the best.
If one offers into a white fire,
The [peaceful] mantras will be successful.

“The color red will always guarantee
Accomplishment in the rites of enrichment.
If the fire is black and the smoke is brown,
Violent rites will be successful.

“There are thus three types of accomplishment