To be published in 2008 in an "Economic Botany" Special on mushrooms An Ocean of Aphrodisiacal Qualities A Special Work (on Yartsa Gunbu) by Nyamnyi Dorje Palden Zurkhar (born:1439, died 1475 ) (Translation: Jakob Winkler) In this world sexual desire is The most marvelous of all earthly pleasures, The essence of the enjoyment of all the senses [..]. As to this medicinal substance: It grows in regions of beautiful mountains Such as remote grassland mountains. In the summer it is a blade of grass [growing] on a worm Similar to the leaf of mountain garlic. The flower resembles a silken green sedge. The root resembles cumin seed at the end of autumn. The taste is sweet and a little astringent. The post-digestive [taste] is sweet and the quality is oily. It has a slight warming quality. It removes prana diseases, cures bile diseases and does not raise the phlegm; a marvelous medicine. In particular, it especially increases semen. It is a flawless treasure of an ocean of good qualities. The secret instruction on the preparation Pick the root at the right time and Clean off all the earth. Crush the bunch [of Yartsa gunbu] and Grind it into a clean, smooth powder and add yeast. Fill the chest of a sparrow with it and boil it. Then open the chest with a golden instrument and [Add] a liter of sheep milk. Boil it in an iron kettle until the liquids disappear. Then again, without burning it Slowly dry it with the heat of fire. After all moisture is evaporated, grind it to fine powder. As additional ingredients blend it with six excellent medical ingredients: Black pepper, solidified elephant's bile, bear's bile, Datura seeds, a dose of good quality of the remu1 plant Add also a fine snow lizard - if you find one. Make it to fine powder and roll pills the size of sheep dung. Take it at dawn either with alcohol or strong beer Whatever you can obtain and add sugar to it. Take it for one month and avoid having intercourse and Raw foods and greens, which have gone old. Rely upon the Three Whites and the Three Sweets2. It brings inconceivable advantages. Thus, it increases the Seven Bodily Constituents3. Among these, particularly it serves best for the purpose of sexual desire, Increasing offspring and making the complexion more shiny. It completely sharpens the five sense faculties. It has limitless qualities; to express it in words would be endless. When you practice [the teaching] through the great bliss, The one who knows the dance of the Mudra through discernment Ravishes away the delight of innumerable beautiful women. Without having the visible transmission of the oral instructions The fruit of whatever one desires is not bestowed. Here foolish and selfish people with a mind Separate of the benefits of faith and devotion, Being afflicted by negative influence [of carnal desire] Are not suitable recipients [like vessels contaminated with] poisonous aconite. The ones who are virtuous, honest and have the fortune to well heeding the samaya4. For such people, this is the crucial point. May by these words - written by Dharma Svami, the lord of Phenomena - all beings achieve supreme bliss! Astu Sarva Jagatåm

Footnotes  1sRad-sMug plant, not yet identified. 2  “Three Whites” are milk, butter and curd and the “Three Sweets” are sugar, honey, and molasses. 3   Nutriment, blood, flesh, fat, bone, bone marrow, regenerative substances.  4Samaya is the vow to apply the teachings in the correct way. It is also the spiritual connection between teacher and student