ཚིག་བདུན་གསོལ་འདེབས་ནི།
[THE SEVEN-LINE PRAYER][1]
ཧཱུྂ༔ ཨུ་རྒྱན་ཡུལ་གྱི་ནུབ་བྱང་མཚམས༔
hum ur gyen yül gyi nup jang tsam
HŪṂ! On the northwest border of the country of Uḍḍiyāna,
པདྨ་གེ་སར་སྡོང་པོ་ལ༔
pema gé sar dong po la
Upon the anthers and stalk of a lotus,
ཡ་མཚན་མཆོག་གི་དངོས་གྲུབ་བརྙེས༔
ya tsen chok gi ngö drup nyé
You obtained marvelous, sublime siddhis.
པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་ཞེས་སུ་གྲགས༔
pema jung né zhé su drak
You are renowned as the Lotus-Born,[2]
འཁོར་དུ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མང་པོས་བསྐོར༔
khor du khandro mang pö kor
Surrounded by a host of ḍākinīs.
ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་རྗེས་སུ་བདག་བསྒྲུབ་ཀྱི༔
khyé kyi jé su dak drup kyi
As I practice in your footsteps,
བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབ་ཕྱིར་གཤེགས་སུ་གསོལ༔
jin gyi lap chir shek su söl
I pray that you come to grant your blessings!
གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྂ༔
GURU PADMA SIDDHI HŪṂ
བསྐུལ་བ་ནི།
[INVOCATION][3]
གནས་མཆོག་འདི་རུ་བྱིན་ཕོབ་ལ༔
né chok di ru jin pop la
On this sublime place, rain down your blessings!
སྒྲུབ་མཆོག་བདག་ལ་དབང་བཞི་བསྐུར༔
drup chok dak la wang zhi kur
On me, a sublime practitioner, bestow the four empowerments!
བགེགས་དང་ལོག་འདྲེན་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
gek dang londren bar ché söl
Dispel hindrances, misleading influences, and obstacles!
མཆོག་དང་ཐུན་མོང་དངོས་གྲུབ་ཙོལ༔
chok dang tün mong ngö drup tsöl
Please grant me the supreme and more common siddhis!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྂ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྂ༔
OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HŪṂ
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿ་ཧཱུྂ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་ཐོད་འཕྲེང་རྩལ་བཛྲ་ས་མ་ཡ་ཛཿཛཿ སརྦ་སིདྡྷི་ཕ་ལ་ཧཱུྂ་ཨཱཿ ཧྲཱི་མ་ཧ་རི་ནི་ས་ར་ཙ་ཡ་ཙི་ཏྟ་ཛཿཛཿ
OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ VAJRA GURU PADMA TÖTRANGTSAL VAJRA SAMAYA JAḤ JĀḤ SARVA SIDDHI PHALA HŪṂ ĀḤ HRĪ MA HA RI NI SA RA CA YA CITTA JAḤ JA
བྱིན་འབེབས་ནི།
[DESCENT OF BLESSINGS]
གུ་རུ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་ཚོགས་བཅས་ཀྱིས། །
gu ru khandro tsok ché kyi
Guru, with your hosts of ḍākinīs,
བདག་ཅག་མོས་པའི་བུ་རྣམས་ལ། །
dak chak mö pé bu nam la
For us, your devoted children,
ལུས་ལ་སྐུ་ཡིས་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། །
lü la ku yi jin gyi lop
Bless our bodies with your enlightened body!
ངག་ལ་གསུང་གིས་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། །
ngak la sung gi jin gyi lop
Bless our speech with your enlightened speech!
ཡིད་ལ་ཐུགས་ཀྱིས་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། །
yi la tuk kyi jin gyi lop
Bless our minds with your enlightened mind!
དབང་བཞི་བསྐུར་བར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། །
wang zhi kurwar jin gyi lop
Conferring the four empowerments, bless us!
རྒྱུད་བཞི་དག་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། །
gyü zhi dak par jin gyi lop
Bless us to purify our four continua![4]
ལམ་བཞི་འབྱོངས་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། །
lam zhi jong par jin gyi lop
Bless us to train in the four paths!
སྐུ་བཞི་ཐོབ་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། །
ku zhi top par jin gyi lop
And bless us to attain the four kāyas!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྂ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་དེ་ཝ་ཌཱ་ཀི་ནཱི་ཨ་བྷི་ཥིཉྩ་ཨོཾ།
OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ VAJRA GURU PADMA DEVA ḌĀKINĪ ABHIṢIÑCA OṂ
ཝ་ཀྐ་ཨ་བྷི་ཥིཉྩ་ཨཱཿ ཙིཏྟ་ཨབྷི་ཥིཉྩ་ཧཱུྂ། སརྦ་ཨ་བྷི་ཥིཉྩ་ཧྲཱིཿ
VAKKA ABHIṢIÑCA ĀḤ CITTA ABHIṢIÑCA HŪṂ SARVA ABHIṢIÑCA HRĪḤ
བརྒྱུད་འདེབས་ནི།
[LINEAGE PRAYER]
གངས་ཅན་གྲུབ་པའི་དབང་ཕྱུག་མི་ལ་རྗེའི། །
gang chen drup pé wang chuk mi la jé
Ngamzong Tönpa,[5] treasure holder of the secret-mantra hearing-lineage
གསང་སྔགས་སྙན་རྒྱུད་མཛོད་འཛིན་ངམ་རྫོང་སྟོན། །
sang ngak nyen gyü dzö dzin ngam dzong tön
Of Milarepa,[6] who was lord of the Snow Land’s siddhas,
འགྲོ་དོན་སྐྱོང་མཛད་གསང་སྦས་རྣལ་འབྱོར་པ། །
dro dön kyong dze sang bé nenjor pa
And hidden yogi who cares for the welfare of beings—
ཤཱཀྱ་ཤྲཱིའི་ཞབས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
shākya shri zhap la sölwa dep
Śākya Śrī,[7] at your feet I pray!
ཟབ་གསལ་གཉིས་མེད་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྐུར་གྲུབ་པའི། །
zap sel nyi mé yé shé kur drup pé
You who accomplished the profound and luminous non-dual wisdom-body;
རྣམ་ཐར་ཞིང་ཀུན་རྡུལ་སྙེད་བསྟན་པ་དང། །
nam tar zhing kün dül nyé ten pa dang
Who displayed, is displaying, and will continue to display
སྟོན་དང་བསྟན་འགྱུར་སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གར། །
tön dang ten gyur gyuntrül dor jé gar
The magical vajra dance of complete liberation, as multifaceted as the atoms in all realms—
བསྒྱུར་མཁས་ཤཱཀྱ་ཤྲཱིར་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
gyur khé shākya shrir sölwa dep
Master of manifestation, Śākya Śrī, to you I pray!
མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་དབང་པོ་བློ་གྲོས་མཐའ་ཡས་དང། །
khyen tsé wang po lo drö ta yé dang
Khyentse Wangpo,[8] Lodrö Taye,
ཡེ་ཤེས་གྲུབ་པ་བསྟན་པའི་ཉི་མའི་ཞབས། །
yé shé drup pa ten pé nyi mé zhap
Venerable Tenpe Nyima[9] who accomplished wisdom,
ལྷ་བུ་ཚོགས་གཉིས་ལ་སོགས་མཁས་གྲུབ་རྗེའི། །
lha bu tsok nyi la sok khé drup jé
And son of the devas, Tsoknyi Rinpoche[10]—
དགོངས་བཅུད་ཡོངས་སུ་འཕོས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
gong chü yong su pö la sölwa dep
You who have transitioned into the vital essence of the enlightened perspective of the learned and accomplished masters, to you I pray!
ཁྱད་པར་མཚོ་སྐྱེས་རྒྱལ་བ་གཉིས་པ་དང། །
khyé par tso kyé gyelwa nyi pa dang
Most especially, the second victor, the Lake-Born;
པཎ་ཆན་ནཱ་རོ་དབང་ཕྱུག་བཞད་པ་རྗེ། །
pen chen na ro wang chuk zhé pa jé
Mahāpaṇḍita Nāropa;[11] powerful lord, the Laughing Master;[12]
གླིང་ཆེན་རས་པ་རྒྱལ་དབང་གཙང་པ་རྒྱ། །
ling chen ré pa gyel wang tsang pa gya
Lingchen Repa;[13] and king of the victorious ones, Tsangpa Gyaré—[14]
མངོན་སུམ་རྗེས་སུ་འཛིན་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
ngön sum jé su dzin la sölwa dep
I pray that you hold me close!
མ་དག་སྣང་བ་མིང་ཙམ་མ་ལུས་པ། །
ma dak nangwa ming tsam ma lü pa
Where not even the name of impure perception remains,
དག་པའི་གཟིགས་སྣང་འབྱམས་སུ་ཀླས་པ་དང། །
dak pé zik nang jam su lé pa dang
Where pure visions are uninterrupted,
གཉིས་མེད་ཟུང་འཇུག་མཉམ་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ལས། །
nyi mé zunjuk nyam pa chen po lé
Within the great evenness of non-dual unity,
གྲུབ་གཉིས་འདོད་དགུ་སྦྱིན་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
drup nyi dö gu jin la sölwa dep
I pray that you grant the two siddhis and every wish!
ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་ཞིང་ཁམས་ཡོན་ཏན་གདུལ་བྱའི་མཐའ། །
khyö kyi zhing kham yön ten dül jé ta
Although the extent of your pure realm, qualities, and those you tame
དུས་གསུམ་རྒྱལ་བའི་གསུང་གིས་མི་མཚོན་ཡང། །
dü sum gyelwé sung gi mi tsön yang
Cannot be expressed by the speech of the victorious ones of the three times,
འདིར་འཁོར་ཚོགས་པའི་ཚོམ་བུ་འབུམ་དང་བཅས། །
dir khor tsok pé tsom bu bum dang ché
With an entourage of hundreds of thousands,
གདོད་མའི་རྒྱལ་སར་གཤེགས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
dö mé gyel sar shek la sölwa dep
I pray that you come here to the primordial capital!
ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་རྣམ་ཐར་ཡུད་ཙམ་དྲན་པས་ཀྱང། །
khyö kyi nam tar yü tsam dren pé kyang
As even remembering the briefest moment of your enlightened life
ཀུན་རྨོངས་འཁོར་འདས་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་ཡོངས་སྟོང་སྟེ། །
kün mong khor dé drong khyer yong tong té
Empties the deluded cities of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa,
མི་གནས་མྱ་ངན་འདས་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གྲོང། །
mi né nya ngen dé pé dor jé drong
May I be graced with the glory of accomplishing
ཡོངས་སུ་གྲུབ་པའི་དཔལ་གྱིས་བརྒྱན་གྱུར་ཅིག །
yong su drup pé pel gyi gyen gyur chik
The vajra-city of non-abiding nirvāṇa!
འོག་མིན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་ཕོ་བྲང་ནས། །
ok min chö kyi ying kyi po drang né
From Akaniṣṭha, the palace of the basic space of phenomena,
དུས་གསུམ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀུན་གྱི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད། །
dü sum sang gyé kün gyi ngowo nyi
You are the very essence of all the buddhas of the three times,
རང་སེམས་ཆོས་སྐུ་མངོན་སུམ་སྟོན་མཛད་པའི། །
rang sem chö ku ngön sum tön dzé pé
Who directly reveals my own mind as dharmakāya—
རྩ་བའི་བླ་མའི་ཞབས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
tsawé la mé zhap la sölwa dep
Root guru, at your feet I pray!
བགྲང་ཡས་འགྲོ་བ་ཡོངས་ཀྱི་སྐྱབས་གཅིག་པུ། །
drang yé drowa yong kyi kyap chik pu
Countless beings’ only refuge,
ཚད་མེད་ཐུགས་རྗེའི་གཏེར་ཆེན་རྗེ་བླ་མ། །
tsé mé tuk jé ter chen jé la ma
Vast mine of immeasurable compassion, authentic guru,
བཀའ་དྲིན་འཁོར་མེད་རྒྱལ་བ་དབྱར་རྔ་པ། །
ka drin khor mé gyelwa yar nga pa
Victorious one of unrepayable kindness, Summer Drum,[15]
མཆོག་གི་སྤྲུལ་སྐུའི་ཞབས་པད་བརྟན་གྱུར་ཅིག །
chok gi trül kü zhap pé ten gyur chik
Supreme nirmāṇakāya, may your lotus feet stand firm!
སྨོན་ལམ་ནི།
[ASPIRATION PRAYER]
བླ་མ་སྐུ་ཁམས་བཟང་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
la ma ku kham zang la sölwa dep
I pray that all gurus have good health.
མཆོག་ཏུ་སྐུ་ཚེ་རིང་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
chok tu ku tsé ring la sölwa dep
I pray that their lives be long and excellent.
འཕྲིན་ལས་དར་ཤིང་རྒྱས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །
trin lé dar shing gyé la sölwa dep
I pray that their enlightened activities spread far and wide.
བླ་མ་དང་འབྲལ་བ་མེད་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། །
la ma dang drelwa mé par jin gyi lop
Grant your blessings so that I may never be isolated from my gurus.
ཕན་བདེ་འབྱུང་བའི་གནས་ཆེན་པོ། །
pen de jungwé né chen po
Being a great source of benefit and happiness,
བསྟན་པ་ཡུང་རིང་གནས་པ་དང་། །
ten pa yung ring né pa dang
May the teachings remain for a long time,
བསྟན་པ་འཛིན་པའི་སྐྱེས་བུ་རྣམས། །
ten pa dzin pé kyé bu nam
And may realized beings
སྐུ་ཚེ་ཞབས་པད་བརྟན་གྱུར་ཅིག །
ku tsé zhap pé ten gyur chik
Who uphold the teachings live long!
ཆོས་རྔ་ཆེན་པོ་སྒྲ་ཡིས་ནི། །
chö nga chen po dra yi ni
May the rumble of the great drum of Dharma
སྡུག་བསྔལ་སེམས་ཅན་ཐར་བགྱིས་ཤོག།
duk ngel sem chen tar gyi shok
Free sentient beings from suffering!
བསྐལ་པ་བྱེ་བ་བསམ་ཡས་སུ། །
kel pa jewa sam yé su
For infinite eons,
ཆོས་སྟོན་མཛད་ཅིང་བཞུགས་གྱུར་ཅིག།
chö tön dzé ching zhuk gyur chik
May they remain, teaching the Dharma!
ཡན་ལག་བདུན་ནི།
[SEVEN BRANCHES]
[HOMAGE]
རྒྱལ་བ་ཀུན་དངོས་བླ་མ་ལ། །
gyelwa kün ngö la ma la
Embodiment of all the victorious ones—guru,
ལུས་ངག་ཡིད་གསུམ་གུས་པའི་བློས། །
lü ngak yi sum gü pé lö
With my body, speech, and mind bent in devotion to you,
སྤྲོ་བའི་སྙིམ་པ་དང་བཅས་པས། །
trowé nyim pa dang ché pé
And with my hands folded in inspiration,
རབ་ཏུ་བཏུད་དེ་གུས་ཕྱག་འཚལ། །
rap tu tü dé gü chak tsel
I bow to you in homage.
[OFFERING]
དངོས་སུ་བཤམས་དང་ཡིད་ཀྱིས་སྤྲུལ། །
ngö su sham dang yi kyi trül
Arrayed in actuality and imagined in my mind,
ཕྱི་ནང་གསང་བ་བླ་མེད་པ། །
chi nang sangwa la mé pa
I endlessly offer
མཆོད་སྤྲིན་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་ཚོགས་རྣམས་ཀུན། །
chö trin gya tsö tsok nam kün
Expansive cloudbanks
རྣམ་པ་ཀུན་ཏུ་མཆོད་པ་འབུལ། །
nam pa kün tu chö pa bül
Of outer, inner, secret, and unsurpassable offerings.
[CONFESSION]
ཐོག་མེད་དུས་ནས་བསགས་པ་ཡི། །
tok mé dü né sak pa yi
All that I have accumulated through beginningless time—
མཐུན་མོང་ཁྱད་པར་དང་འགལ་བའི། །
tün mong khyé par dang gelwé
Such ordinary, unique, and excessive wrongdoings
མི་དགེ་བཅུ་སོགས་ཉེས་པའི་ཚོགས། །
mi gé chu sok nyé pé tsok
As the ten non-virtues and so forth—
མ་ལུས་འགྱོད་པའི་སྒོ་ནས་བཤགས། །
ma lü gyö pé go né shak
I confess with regret.
[REJOICING]
ནམ་མཁའི་མཐར་ཐུག་ཕྱོགས་ཀུན་ཏུ། །
nam khé tar tuk chok kün tu
You who act for the benefit of beings
འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་པར་མཛད་པ་ཡི། །
dro la pen par dzé pa yi
To the far reaches of space in all directions—
དུས་གསུམ་རྒྱལ་བ་སྲས་བཅས་ལ། །
dü sum gyelwa sé ché la
Victorious ones of the three times and your heirs—
དགའ་བའི་སེམས་ཀྱིས་རྗེས་ཡི་རང། །
gawé sem kyi jé yi rang
Delighted, I rejoice in you!
[REQUESTING TO TEACH]
སྣ་ཚོགས་ཚུལ་གྱི་གདུལ་བྱ་ལ། །
na tsok tsül gyi dül ja la
For all types of beings to be tamed
རང་རང་བསམ་པ་ཇི་ལྟ་བ། །
rang rang sam pa ji tawa
In accord with their unique mentalities,
ཟབ་པ་དང་ནི་རྒྱ་ཆེ་བའི། །
zap pa dang ni gya chewé
I pray that you turn the wheel of the supreme vehicle,
ཐེག་མཆོག་ཆོས་འཁོར་བསྐོར་དུ་གསོལ། །
tek chok chö khor kor du söl
So profound and vast!
[REQUESTING TO REMAIN]
སྐུ་གསུང་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་འཕྲིན་ལས་ནི། །
ku sung tuk kyi trin lé ni
The enlightened activities of your body, speech, and mind
གསང་བ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི། །
sangwa sam gyi mi khyap pé
Are inconceivable secrets.
ཇི་སྲིད་འཁོར་བ་དེ་སྲིད་དུ། །
ji si khorwa dé si du
I pray that you do not to pass into nirvāṇa
མྱ་ངན་མི་འདའ་བཞུགས་སུ་གསོལ། །
nya ngen mi da zhuk su söl
As long as saṃsāra remains!
[DEDICATING]
བདག་གཞན་ཀུན་གྱིས་བསགས་པ་ཡི། །
dak zhen kün gyi sak pa yi
Gathering together all the positive deeds
དུས་གསུམ་དགེ་བ་གཅིག་བསྡུས་ནས། །
dü sum gewa chik dü né
That I and others have accumulated throughout the three times,
མར་གྱུར་འགྲོ་བ་མ་ལུས་པ། །
mar gyur drowa ma lü pa
I dedicate them so that all sentient beings who have been my mothers
བྱང་ཆུབ་སྙིང་པོ་ཐོབ་ཕྱིར་བསྔོ། །
jang chup nying po top chir ngo
May attain the heart of enlightenment.
ཐོག་མར་སྐྱབསྶེམས་ནི༔
FIRST, REFUGE AND BODHICITTA[16]
(Root Terma)
ཧྲཱི༔ དཀོན་མཆོག་རྩ་གསུམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་འདུས་པའི་དངོས༔
hrih kön chok tsa sum gya tso dü pé ngö
HRĪḤ! I take refuge in the embodiment of the ocean-like Three Jewels and Three Roots—
བླ་མ་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
la ma chen ré zik la kyap su chi
Guru Avalokiteśvara.
སྲིད་གསུམ་འགྲོ་རྣམས་འཁོར་བ་དོང་སྤྲུགས་ཕྱིར༔
si sum dro nam khorwa dong truk chir
To dredge the beings of the three worlds from saṃsāra’s depths,
ཚད་མེད་བཞི་ཡིས་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་དོ༔
tsé mé zhi yi jang chup sem kyé do
I arouse bodhicitta through the four immeasurable attitudes.
བགེགས་གཏོར་བདུད་རྩི་ས་བྲན་ལ༔
Obstructors torma—Sprinkle the ground with nectar.
རཾ་ཡཾ་ཁཾ། ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྂ།
RAṂ YAṂ KHAṂ OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ
[Summon the guests with:]
སརྦ་བྷུཏ་ཨཱ་ཁར་ཥྱ་ཛཱ།
SARVA BHUTA ĀKHARṢYA JĀ
ནམ་མཁའ་མཛོད་ཀྱིས་བངོས་ལ༔
Dedicate with the treasury of space.
ཨོཾ་སརྦ་བིག་གྷནན་ན་མཿསརྦ་ཏ་ཐཱ་ག་ཏེ་བྷྱོ་བི་ཤྭ་མུ་ཁེ་བྷྱཿསརྦ་ཐཱ་ཁཾ་ཨུདྒ་ཏེ་སྥ་ར་ཎ་ཨི་མཾ་ག་ག་ན་ཁཾ་སྭཱ་ཧཱ།
OṂ SARVA VIGNĀN NAMAḤ SARVATATHĀGATEBHYO VIŚVA MUKHEBYAḤ SARVA THĀKHAṂ UDGATE SPHARAṆA IMAM GAGANA KHAṂ SVĀHĀ
[ESTABLISHING THE BOUNDARY]
ཧཱུཾ༔ ས་འོག་ས་སྟེང་ས་བླ་ལ༔
hum sa ok sa teng sa la la
HŪṂ! Malicious elemental spirits
གནས་པའི་འབྱུང་པོ་མ་རུངས་པ༔
né pé jung po ma rung pa
Below, on, and above the earth,
གཏོར་མ་ཁྱེར་ལ་ཕྱིར་དེངས་ཤིག༔
tor ma khyer la chir deng shik
Take the torma and depart!
སྣང་སྲིད་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གུར་ཁང་ཕུབ༔
nang si dor jé gur khang pup
The world of appearances and possibilities is sheltered by a vajra pavilion.
ཕྱི་རོལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་མེ་ཕུང་འབར༔
chi röl yé shé mé pung bar
The external world blazes in the inferno of wisdom.
དྲག་སྔགས་བརྗོད་ཅིང་གུཡླ་ཡུང་གིས་བདུག་ཅིང་བྲབ༔
Recite the wrathful mantra while burning guggul resin and diffusing the smoke:
བཛྲ་རཀྵ་རཀྵ་ཧཱུྂ༔
VAJRA RAKṢA RAKṢA HŪṂ
བྱིན་འབེབས་མཆོད་བརླབ་ནི༔
CONSECRATION FOR THE DESCENT OF BLESSINGS
ཧྲཱི༔ འགྱུར་མེད་མཐའ་བྲལ་ཀློང་ཆེན་ནས༔
hrih gyur mé ta drel long chen né
HRĪḤ! From the changeless and limitless vast expanse,
ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལྷ་ཚོགས་རྣམས༔
tuk jé chen pö lha tsok nam
Divine assemblies of the Great Compassionate One,
གནས་འདིར་བྱིན་ཕོབས་དབང་མཆོག་སྐུར༔
né dir jin pop wang chok kur
Rain your blessings down upon this place, bestow supreme empowerment,
མཆོད་རྫས་ཟག་མེད་བདུད་རྩིར་གྱུར༔
chö dzé zak mé dü tsir gyur
And transform the offering substances into pristine nectar!
ཨོཾཨཱརྱ་ལོ་ཀི་ཤྭར་ས་པ་རི་ཝ་ར་ཨ་ཝེ་ཤ་ཡ་ཨ་ཨ་ཨ་སརྦ་པཱུ་ཛ་ཨ་ལ་ལ་ཧོ།
OṂ ĀRYA LOKIŚVARA SAPARIVARA VEŚA A A A SARVA PŪJA A LA LA HO
བདག་བཀྱེད་ནི༔
SELF-VISUALIZATION
ཧྲཱི༔ འཁོར་འདས་སྤྲོས་བྲལ་ཐིག་ལེ་ཉག་གཅིག་ཀློང༔
hrih khor dé trö drel tik lé nyak chik long
HRĪḤ! In the expanse of the single unique dimension free of the elaborations of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa,
རིས་མེད་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་ཀུན་ལ་བརྡལ༔
ri mé nying jé chen po kün la del
Impartial great compassion pervades everywhere.
རྒྱུ་ཡི་ས་བོན་ཧྲཱིཿཡིག་དབྱིངས་ལ་ཤར༔
gyu yi sa bön hrih yik ying la shar
The causal seed-syllable HRĪḤ appears in space.
ཧྲཱིཿཡིག་ཡོངས་གྱུར་འཕགས་པ་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས༔
hrih yik yong gyur pak pa chen ré zik
Then the syllable HRĪḤ transforms into the exalted Avalokiteśvara.
སྐུ་མདོག་དཀར་གསལ་ཞལ་གཅིག་ཕྱག་བཞི་པ༔
ku dok kar sel zhel chik chak zhi pa
He is luminous white, with one face and four arms,
ལོངས་སྐུའི་ཆས་རྫོགས་ཞབས་གཉིས་སྐྱིལ་ཀྲུང་བཞུགས༔
long kü ché dzok zhap nyi kyil trung zhuk
Replete with saṃbhogakāya finery and sitting cross-legged.
དང་པོའི་ཕྱག་གཉིས་ཐལ་སྦྱར་ནོར་བུ་འཛིན༔
dang pö chak nyi tel jar nor bu dzin
His two front hands are cupped together, holding a jewel;
ཐ་མའི་ཕྱག་གཉིས་ཤལ་ཕྲེང་པད་སྡོང་བསྣམས༔
ta mé chak nyi shel treng pé dong nam
The two back hands hold a crystal mālā and a lotus by its stem.
པད་ཟླའི་གདན་ལ་གསལ་སྟོང་འོད་ཀྱི་སྐུ༔
pé dé den la sel tong ö kyi ku
On a lotus and moon disc seat, his form, luminous and empty,
ཐུགས་རྗེའི་ཟེར་འོད་འཁྲུགས་པའི་ཀློང་ན་བཞུགས༔
tuk jé zer ö truk pé long na zhuk
Rests in an expanse, pulsating with light rays of compassion.
གནས་གསུམ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གསུམ་གྱིས་མཚན་པ་ལས༔
né sum dor jé sum gyi tsen pa lé
From his three places, marked with the three vajras,
འོད་འཕྲོས་རང་བཞིན་གནས་ནས་སྤྱན་དྲངས་གྱུར༔
ö trö rang zhin né né chen drang gyur
Light emanates continuously in the form of an invitation.
[INVITATION]
ཧྲཱིཿ སྟོང་གསལ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་ཕོ་བྲང་ནས༔
hrih tong sel chö kyi ying kyi po drang né
HRĪḤ! From the palace of the basic space of phenomena, empty and luminous,
ཆོས་སྐུའི་ཞིང་བཞུགས་རྒྱལ་བ་སྲས་དང་བཅས༔
chö kü zhing zhuk gyelwa sé dang ché
Victorious ones and your heirs who dwell in the field of dharmakāya,
ཁྱད་པར་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལྷ་ཚོགས་རྣམས༔
khyé par tuk jé chen pö lha tsok nam
And especially the divine assemblies of the Great Compassionate One,
གདུང་ཤུགས་ང་རོ་དྲག་པོས་སྤྱན་འདྲེན་ནོ༔
dung shuk nga ro drak pö chen dren no
My fervent, fierce cry begs your presence!
མི་མཇེད་འཇིག་རྟེན་སྤྲུལ་པ་ཕོ་བྲང་ནས༔
mi jé jik ten trül pa po drang né
From the emanated palace of the World Endured,[17]
འཁོར་བ་དོང་སྤྲུགས་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་སེམས་དཔའི་ཚོགས༔
khorwa dong truk trül ku sem pé tsok
Nirmāṇakāya heroes who dredges saṃsāra’s depths,
ཁྱད་པར་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལྷ་ཚོགས་རྣམས༔
khyé par tuk jé chen pö lha tsok nam
And especially the divine assemblies of the Great Compassionate One—
མོས་གུས་གདུང་བ་དྲག་པོས་སྤྱན་འདྲེན་ནོ༔
mö gü dungwa drak pö chen dren no
My desperate devotion begs your presence!
བདག་ཅག་འགྲོ་རྣམས་ཉོན་མོངས་དྲག་པོས་གཟིར༔
dak chak dro nam nyön mong drak pö zir
We beings are tormented by intense afflictive emotions.
ཐུགས་དམ་ཞལ་བཞེས་དབྱིངས་ནས་མ་གཡེལ་བར༔
tuk dam zhel zhé ying né ma yel bar
Not wandering from your expansive commitment to your sacred bond
འཁོར་བ་དོང་ནས་སྤྲུགས་ཕྱིར་གཤེགས་སུ་གསོལ༔
khorwa dong né truk chir shek su söl
Please come dredge saṃsāra’s depths
ཨོཾ་ཨཱརྱ་ལོ་ཀི་ཤྭ་ར་བཛྲ་ས་མ་ཡ་ཛ་ཛ།
oṃ ārya lokiśvara vajra samaya jaḥ jaḥ
OṂ ĀRYA LOKIŚVARA VAJRA SAMAYA JAḤ JAḤ
བཞུགས་གསོལ་མཆོད་པ་ནི༔
REQUEST TO REMAIN
ཧྲཱིཿ འདིར་གཤེགས་ཉི་ཟླ་མཛེས་ཁྲིའི་སྟེང་ན་བཞུགས༔
hrih dir shek nyi da dzé tri teng na zhuk
HRĪḤ! Come and assume the splendid throne of the sun and moon.
སྣང་སྲིད་ཚོགས་དྲུང་ཡུལ་ཀུན་མ་ལུས་པ༔
nang si tsok drung yül kün ma lü pa
Before the assemblies of the world of appearances and possibilities,
རྒྱལ་བ་མཉེས་པའི་མཆོད་པའི་སྤྲིན་ཕུང་འཕྲོ༔
gyelwa nyé pé chö pé trin pung tro
I emanate every type of object as cloudbanks of offerings that please the victorious ones.
སྨན་རཀ་གཏོར་གསུམ་སྦྱོར་སྒྲོལ་དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད༔
men raka tor sum jor dröl dé zhin nyi
Medicine, rakta, torma, union, liberation, and suchness—
བླ་མ་འཕགས་མཆོག་ཐུགས་རྗེའི་ལྷ་ལ་འབུལ༔
la ma pak chok tuk jé lha la bül
These I offer to the most exalted lama, the compassionate deity.
དགྱེས་པར་བཞེས་ལ་མཆོག་ཐུན་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gyé par zhé la chok tün ngö drup tsöl
Accept these with delight, and grant the supreme and more common siddhis.
ཨོཾ་སརྦ་མཧཱ་གུ་རུ་ཨརྒྷཾ། པཱདྱཾ། པུཥྤེ། དྷཱུཔེ། ཨཱ་ལོ་ཀེ། གནྡྷེ། ནཻཝིདྱ། ཤཔྟ་པྲ་ཏཱི་ཙྪ་ཧཱུྂ་སྭཱ་ཧཱ།
OṂ SARVA MAHĀGURU ARGHAṂ PĀDYAṂ PUṢPE DHŪPA ĀLOKE GANDHE NAIVIDYA ŚABDHA PRATĪCCHA HŪṂ SVĀHĀ
མ་ཧཱ་པཉྩ་རཀྟ་བ་ལིང྄ཏ་ཁཱ་ཧིཿ དྷརྨ་དྷཱ་ཏུ་ཨཱཿ
MAHĀ PAÑCA RAKTA BALIṄTA KHĀ HIḤ DHARMADHĀTU ĀḤ
བསྟོད་པ་ནི༔
PRAISE
ཧྲཱིཿ ཕྱོགས་བཅུ་དུས་བཞིའི་རྒྱལ་བ་ཀུན་གྱི་དངོས༔
hrih chok chu dü zhi gyelwa kün gyi ngö
HRĪḤ! Embodiment of all the victorious ones in the ten directions and four times,
བསྐལ་བཟང་སེམས་དཔའ་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་སྤྱི་དཔལ་ཆེ༔
kel zang sem pa gya tsö chi pel ché
Combined splendor of the ocean of heroes in this fortunate eon,
སྙིགས་དུས་འགྲོ་ལ་བརྩེ་བས་ལྷག་པར་གཟིགས༔
nyik dü dro la tsewé lhak par zik
You look upon us lovingly in this degenerate age.
རྡོ་རྗེའི་སྐུ་མཆོག་ཟག་མེད་འོད་ཀྱི་ལུས༔
dor jé ku chok zak mé ö kyi lü
Your supreme vajra body is the body of pristine light.
འགགས་མེད་གསུང་གིས་འགྲོ་ལ་ཆོས་ཚུལ་སྟོན༔
gak mé sung gi dro la chö tsül tön
With your uninterrupted speech, you teach beings the way of Dharma!
འཁྲུལ་མེད་ཐུགས་ནི་སྤྲོས་པའི་མཐའ་དང་བྲལ༔
trül mé tuk ni trö pé ta dang drel
Your unerring mind is free from the limits of conceptual elaboration.
ཡོན་ཏན་ཀུན་འབྱུང་དབང་གི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ལྟར༔
yön ten kün jung wang gi gyel po tar
You are the source of positive qualities, like a mighty king,[18]
ཕྲིན་ལས་རྣམ་བཞིས་འཁོར་བ་དོང་ནས་སྤྲུགས༔
trin lé nam zhi khorwa dong né truk
And with the four kinds of enlightened activity,[19] you dredge saṃsāra’s depths.
སྐུ་ལྔ་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་འཕགས་པ་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས༔
ku nga lhün drup pak pa chen ré zik
You in whom the five kāyas are spontaneously present, Ārya Avalokiteśvara,
ཡེ་ནས་འདུ་འབྲལ་མེད་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད༔
yé né du drel mé la chak tsel tö
Beyond formation and disintegration, to you I give homage and praise!
བཟླས་དམིགས་ནི༔
VISUALIZATION FOR MANTRA REPETITION
རང་ཉིད་འཕགས་མཆོག་ཐུགས་ཀར་པད་ཟླའི་སྟེང༔
rang nyi pak chok tuk kar pé dé teng
In my heart as the sublime Ārya, upon a lotus and moon-disc,
ཐུགས་སྲོག་ཧྲཱིཿམཐར་སྔགས་ཕྲེང་གཡས་སུ་འཁོར༔
tuk sok hrih tar ngak treng yé su khor
Is the life-force syllable HRĪḤ (ཧྲཱིཿ) surrounded by the mantra garland spinning clockwise.
ཧྲཱིཿལས་འོད་འཕྲོས་ཕྱོགས་བཅུའི་ཞིང་ལ་ཕོག༔
hrih lé ö trö chok chü zhing la pok
Light emanates from the HRĪḤ, striking out to the pure lands of the ten directions
རྒྱལ་བ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་སྐུ་གསུང་ཐུགས་རྒྱུད་མཉེས༔
gyelwa nam kyi ku sung tuk gyü nyé
And delighting the body, speech, and minds of the victorious ones.
གསང་གསུམ་ཐུགས་རྗེ་བྱིན་རླབས་མ་ལུས་པ༔
sang sum tuk jé jin lap ma lü pa
The totality of their three secrets’[20] compassionate blessings
ཡོངས་སུ་བསྡུས་ནས་ཐུགས་སྲོག་ཧྲིཿལ་ཐིམ༔
yong su dü né tuk sok hrih la tim
Are gathered and absorbed into the life-force syllable HRĪḤ.
སྟོང་ཉིད་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྩལ་ཆེན་རྫོགས༔
tong nyi nying jé yé shé tsel chen dzok
Emptiness, compassion, wisdom, and vast dynamic energy are consummated.
སླར་ཡང་ཐུགས་སྲོག་ཧྲཱིཿལས་འོད་འཕྲོས་པས༔
lar yang tuk sok hrih lé ö trö pé
Again, light emanates from the life-force syllable HRĪḤ.
བརྟན་གཡོ་སྣང་སྲིད་རིགས་དྲུག་ཀུན་ལ་ཕོག༔
ten yo nang si rik druk kün la pok
It touches everything animate and inanimate, the whole universe of appearances and possibilities, and the six classes of beings,
ལས་ཉོན་སྡིག་སྒྲིབ་ལྷག་མེད་མ་ལུས་སྦྱངས༔
lé nyön dik drip lhak mé ma lü jang
And purifies all their karma, afflictive emotions, degradations, and obscurations.
ཕྱི་སྣོད་ཐམས་ཅད་རི་བོ་པོ་ཏའི་ཞིང༔
chi nö tam ché ri bo po té zhing
The entire outer environment is the pure land of Potala Mountain.
ནང་བཅུད་ཐམས་ཅད་འཕགས་མཆོག་ཐུགས་རྗེའི་ལྷ༔
nang chü tam ché pak chok tuk jé lha
All the inhabitants are the sublime deity of compassion.
སྒྲ་གྲགས་ཐམས་ཅད་རང་བྱུང་སྔགས་ཀྱི་སྒྲ༔
dra drak tam ché rang jung ngak kyi dra
All that resounds is the naturally occurring sound of mantra.
དྲན་རྟོག་འཁོར་གསུམ་སྤྲོས་བྲལ་བདེ་ཆེན་དབྱིངས༔
dren tok khor sum trö drel dé chen ying
Ordinary thoughts associated with the three spheres[21] are the simple, blissful expanse.
གྲགས་སྟོང་འགྲོ་འོང་བྲལ་བའི་ངང་ལ་བཟླ༔
drak tong dro ong drelwé ngang la da
I recite the mantra within a state of sonic emptiness, without commotion.
Recite as many times as appropriate:
ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྂ་ཧྲཱི༔
OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ HRĪḤ
མཐར་ཤམ་བུ་ནི༔
[To purify errors in mantra repetition, recite the mantra] with the following addition.
ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྂ་ཧྲཱི༔སརྦ་པཱ་པཾ་ཤིནྟཾ་ཀུ་རུ་ཡེ་སྭཱ་ཧཱ༔
OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ HRĪḤ SARVA PĀPAṂ ŚINTAṂ KURUYE SVĀHĀ
ཡིག་བརྒྱ་དབྱངས་གསལ་རྟེན་འབྲེལ་སྙིང་པོ་རྣམས་ཟླ༔
Recite the hundred-syllable mantra of Vajrasattva and the Essence of Interdependence.
ཨོཾ་བཛྲ་སཏྭ་ས་མ་ཡ༔ མ་ནུ་པ་ལ་ཡ བཛྲ་སཏྭ་ཏྭེ་ནོ་པ་ཏིཥྛ༔ དྲྀ་ཌྷོ་མེ་བྷ་བ༔ སུ་ཏོ་ཥྱོ་མེ་བྷ་ཝ༔སུ་པོ་ཥྱོ་མེ་བྷ་ཝ༔ ཨ་ནུ་ར་ཀྟོ་མེ་བྷ་ཝ༔ ས་རྦ་སི་དྡྷི་མེ་པྲ་ཡ་ཙྪ༔ ས་རྦ་ཀ་རྨ་སུ་ཙ་མེ༔ ཙི་ཏྟཾ༌ཤྲེ་ཡཾཿཀུ་རུ་ཧཱུྂ༔ ཧ་ཧ་ཧ་ཧ་ཧོ༔ བྷ་ག་ཝན༔ སརྦ་ཏ་ཐཱ་ག་ཏ༔ བཛྲ་མཱ་མེ་མུ་ཉྩ༔ བཛྲཱི་བྷ་ཝ༔ མ་ཧཱ་ས་མ་ཡ་སཏྭ་ཨཱཿ༔
OṂ VAJRASATTVA SAMAYA MANUPĀLAYA VAJRASATTVA TVENOPA TIṢṬHA DṚḌHO ME BHAVA SUTOṢYO ME BHAVA SUPOṢYO ME BHAVA ANURAKTO ME BHAVA SARVASIDDHIṂ ME PRAYACCHA SARVAKARMA ŚUCA ME CITTAṂ ŚREYAṂ KURU HŪṂ HA HA HA HA HOḤ BHAGAVAN SARVA TATHĀGATA VAJRA MĀ ME MUÑCA VAJRĪBHAVA MAHĀSAMAYASATTVA ĀḤ
Sanskrit vowels and consonants:
ཨོཾ ཨ ཨཱ། ཨི ཨཱི། ཨུ ཨཱུ། རྀ རཱྀ། ལྀ ལྀ།
ཨེ ཨཻ། ཨོ ཨཽ། ཨཾ ཨཿ
ཀ ཁ ག གྷ ང་། ཙ ཚ ཛ ཛྷ ཉ།
ཊ ཋ ཌ ཌྷ ཎ། ཊ ཋ ཌ ཌྷ ཎ།
ཏ ཐ ད དྷ ན། པ ཕ བ བྷ མ།
ཡ ར ལ ཝ། ཤ ཥ ས ཧ ཀྵ སྭཱ ཧཱ།
OṂ A Ā I Ī U Ū Ṛ Ṝ Ḷ Ḹ
E AI O AU AṂ ĀḤ
KA KHA GA GHA NGA
CA CHA JA JHA ÑA
ṬA ṬHA ḌA ḌHA ṆA
TA THA DA DHA NA
PA PHA BA BHA MA
YA RA LA VA
ŚA ṢA SA HA KṢA SVĀHĀ
The Mantra of the Essence of Interdependence
ཨོཾ་ཡེདྷརྨཱཧེཏུཔྲབྷབཧེཏུནྟེཥཱནྟཐཱགཏོཧྱབདཏཏེཥཉྩཡོནིརོདྷཨེཝཾབཱདཱིམཧཱཤྲམནཿསྭཱཧཱ།
OṂ YE DHARMĀ HETU PRABHAVĀ HETUN TEṢĀṂ TATHĀGATO HYAVADAT TEṢĀṂ CA YO NIRODHA EVAṂ VĀDĪ MAHĀŚRAMAṆAḤ SVĀHĀ
Of those things which arise from causes,
Those causes have been taught by the Tathāgata,
And their cessation too—thus proclaimed the Great Ascetic.
To view the remaining translation, see here.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
This translation was based on a PDF of a liturgical arrangement provided by the office of His Eminence Gyalwa Dokhampa (Khamtrul Rinpoche) in Thimphu Bhutan. Joseph McClellan completed a draft of the translation in January–February 2021, later checking the text against several versions available from the Buddhist Digital Resource Center. In Spring–Summer 2022, Ryan Jacobson checked the translation against the Tibetan and made many corrections and improvements. Tom Greensmith copyedited the final version. Thanks to Kinley Dorje and Tandin Zam for help along the way, and especially to Ngawang Nyinjed for clarifying an important term for us.
If you would like to add to the translation or point out mistakes, please email shelves@tibshelf.org.
[1] Revealed as a treasure by Guru Chöwang (gu ru chos dbang, 1212–1270, BDRC P326).
[2] mtsho skyes rdo rje, b. 8th c., BDRC P4956
[3] These verses of invocation and the following verses of the descent of blessings are now-standard verses extracted from much earlier treasures preserved in the Treasury of Precious Revelations (rin chen gter mdzod) compiled by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye (’jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas, 1813–1899, BDRC P264) between 1855–1889.
[4] Four continua: channels, winds, essences, bodhicitta. See Kongtrul, Systems of Buddhist Tantra, 169–85; Thondup, Enlightened Journey, 207–12; Tsoknyi, Open Heart, Open Mind, 135–6.
[5] Ngamzong Tönpa Jangchup Gyalpo, aka Ngamzong Repa (ngam rdzong ston pa byang chub rgyal po,11th–12th c., BDRC P1PD116110): one of Śākya Śrī’s (rtogs ldan shAkya shrI, 1853–1919, BDRC P620) previous incarnations.
[6] rje btsun mi la ras pa, 1040–1123, BDRC P1853
[7] rtogs ldan shAkya shrI, 1853–1919, BDRC P620
[8] Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (’jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse’i dbang po, 1820–1892, BDRC P258)
[9] The Sixth Khamtrul Rinpoche (khams sprul 06 bstan pa’i nyi ma, 1849–1907, BDRC P924)
[10] The First Tsoknyi, Pema Drimé Özer (tshogs gnyis sprul sku pad+ma dri med ’od zer, b. 1828, BDRC P7262)
[11] paN chen nA ro pa, 1012/1016–1100, BDRC P3085
[12] Wangchuk Zhepa Je, an epithet of Milarepa, whose initiation name was Zhepa Dorje (“Laughing Vajra”).
[13] gling ras pa pad+ma rdo rje, 1128–1188, BDRC P910
[14] gtsang pa rgya ras ye shes rdo rje, 1161–1211, BDRC P909
[15] “Summer Drum” (dbyar rnga pa) is a poetic term for the Drukpa Kagyu masters. The thunder (“drum”) of the dragon (druk; ’brug) occurs during the summer rainy season. Since this sādhana belongs to the Drukpa Kagyu lineage, here, one’s own root guru is evoked with this epithet. Thanks to Ngawang Nyinjed for clarification of this term.
[16] The following sections are the translation of the root terma (BDRC W1KG3983, W20749-v23, W23779-v79). Three types of section headings and interlineal instructions are presented: (1) Section headings and interlineal instructions that are in the root terma text and punctuated with terma marks (༔) are translated in italics with the corresponding Tibetan above containing the terma marks. The tradition of terma literature holds that these punctuation marks are important for keeping track of which lines are from revealed treasures, especially when they are interspersed with lines that are not part of the revelation itself (See Duff (2008), 2–3). (2) Interlineal instructions in the source texts that are not punctuated with terma marks are translated in italics with the Tibetan above it reflecting the absence of terma marks. The absence of terma marks means that these headings and instructions may have been added by editors for clarity. (3) Italicized headings and instructions in square brackets have been added by the current translator for clarity and to help the reader appreciate the sādhana’s structure and the structure of sādhanas in general. As most of these headings are standard across all sadhana literature, the standard Tibetan equivalents are given above them. Verses not contained in the root terma are inserted between root terma sections. These insertions will be pointed out in the endnotes.
[17] “World Endured” (mi mjed ’jigs rten; sahāloka) is the name of our world system in which beings bear much suffering.
[18] Though perhaps not a direct reference but a play on words, the Mighty King is an epithet of Hayagrīva.
[19] Pacifying, magnetizing, overpowering, and wrathful.
[20] The Three Secrets (gsang ba sum) means body, speech, and mind—particularly vajra body, speech, and mind that are permeated by wisdom.
[21] Subject, object, and their interrelationship through various kinds of action.
[22] This longer restoration prayer is not part of the root terma. It appears to be extracted from a restoration prayer revealed by Dorje Lingpa (rdo rje gling pa, 1346–1405, BDRC P6164) called “A Condensed Restoration to the General Three Roots” (rtsa gsum spyiʼi bskang bsdus) [BDRC MW1KG14_FC66FD].
[23] This stanza and the several that follow are restoring the sacred bond with the Nyingma tradition’s “seven lineages of transmission” (brgyud pa bdun). This stanza and the two that follow are referring to the “three lineages of transmission” (dka’i brgyud gsum) of the three inner tantras (mahā, anu, ati) and the Great Perfection teachings. These three modes of transmission are (1) the mind-to-mind transmission of the victorious ones, (2) the symbolic transmission of the vidyādharas, and (3) the oral transmission between people (see Patrul 1998, 332–47).
The stanzas that follow refer to four more lineages related especially to the transmission of treasure teachings: (4) the entrustment lineage of ḍākinīs, (5) the lineage empowered by aspiration, (6) the lineage of compassionate blessings, and (7) the lineage of prophetically declared spiritual succession. On these latter four, see Dudjom 1991, 745.
[24] “Blood drinker” (khrag mthung; heruka). In this line we translate the term because of the association with the charnel ground, where partaking of blood occurs literally. The verses below invoke various herukas as a class of wrathful deity.
[25] Lit. “Mañjuśrī Body,” one of the eight main herukas, or wrathful deities of the Nyingma tradition associated with the Eight Maṇḍalas or Transmissions (bka’ brgyad). Alternative translations include eight teachings, logos, pronouncements, commands, or dispensations. In the early Nyingma tradition, eight sets of teachings were propagated centered around eight deities. These deities and the practices associated with them are representations or logos of certain aspects of reality. The eight are (1) Mañjuśrī in the wrathful form of Yamāntaka representing enlightened body and the buddha family; (2) Hayagrīva representing enlightened speech and the lotus family; (3) Yangdak Heruka representing enlightened mind and the vajra family; (4) Mahottara Amṛtakuṇḍalī (che mchog) representing enlightened qualities; (5) Vajrakīlaya representing enlightened activity and the karma family. Emanating from those principle five are (6) Mamo Bötong (ma mo rbod gtong), a hermaphroditic deity straddling the categories of wisdom deity and worldly deity. There are then two worldly deities who are emanations of Vajrapāṇi: (7). Jigten Chötö (’jig rten mchod bstod; Lokastotrapūjā) and (8) Möpa Drakngak (dmod pa drag sngags; Mantrabhīru), “Maledictory Fierce Mantra.” See for teachings about the meaning of the Eight Maṇḍalas or Logos, see Trungpa 2003, 306–11. For their literary history, see Trautz 2019. For overviews, see Khamtrul 1990, Kop (nd.) and Rigpa Wiki “Kagyé.”
[26] Lit. “Lotus Speech,” Padma Sung.
[27] Aka. Śrī Heruka or Yangdak Heruka.
[28] Lit. “Nectar Quality” or Chemchok Heruka.
[29 a ] The following six lines are not contained in the root terma but were composed by Śākya Śrī at another time. They are standard feast offering verses found in Drukpa Kagyu liturgical anthologies (see Sengdrak 2001).
[30] Vidyā mantras, or gnostic mantras, are one of the Three types of mantra: dhāraṇīs, vidyā mantras, and secret mantra (Dudjom 1991, 116; Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2006, 191).
[31] The nine ways of a supreme person include being learned, virtuous, and noble; being skilled in exposition, debate, and composition; and possessing the three qualities of study, practice, and activity benefitting others.
[32] The verses below until the dissolution section are not from Śākya Śrī’s root terma. They are widely recited verses extracted from older termas.
[33] i.e., virtues that have been mixed with afflictive emotions.
[34] This is the final section of the root terma. The remaining verses of the present text are extracted from various termas and liturgical anthologies.
[35] A prayer composed by the fourth Gyalwang Drukpa, the renowned scholar and master Kunkhyen Pema Karpo (’brug chen 04 pad+ma dkar po, 1527–1592, BDRC P825). (don brgyud bstan pa rgyas pa’i smon lam u dum va ra’i chun po) [Pema Karpo 2001, 86–88, BDRC MW1KG4277_AD159A].
[36] Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje
[37] The Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma. Series of teachings taught by the Buddha. The first turning was the teachings of the Four Noble Truths. The second turning taught focused on the doctrine of emptiness. The third developed the doctrine of buddha nature. (See Harding 2002; Pema Vajra 2005).
[38] A term for the dharmakāya.
[39] A term for the sky or space.
[40] In Vedic astrology, the sun and moon are considered the lords of all the constellations.
[41] There are ten powers (stobs bcu, daśabala) for bodhisattvas and for buddhas. The powers developed by bodhisattvas are reflection (bsam pa’i stabs, aśayabala), superior aspiration (lhag bsam, adhyāśaya), application (sbyor ba, prayoga), discriminative awareness (shes rab, prajñā), prayer or aspiration (smon lam, praṇidhāna), vehicle (theg pa, yāna), conduct (spyod pa, caryā), transformation (rnam par ’phrul pa, vikurvaṇa), enlightenment (byang chub, bodhi) and turning the doctrinal wheel (chos kyi ’khor lo bskor ba, dharmacakrapravartana). [Dudjom 1991, p. 167].
The ten powers of buddhas are “(1) the power of knowing what is appropriate (for example, the attainment of desirable results due to the natural consequences of positive actions undertaken with a firm resolve based on one’s previous arousal of bodhicitta and the bodhisattva vow) or inappropriate (for example, the attainment of an undesirable result due to the foregoing circumstances); (2) the power of knowing the inevitable consequences of karma (that is, due to the demonstration of the results of karma, knowing that the actions that any individual being commits create karma, the effects of which are experienced within the stream of that same individual’s consciousness); (3) the power of knowing the greater or lesser capacity of beings is, through teaching the dharma to beings in accord with their capacities, knowing their individual capacities for faith, and so forth); (4) the power of knowing the temperaments of beings in all their variety (that is, by relating to their individual temperaments, knowing the distinct types of individuals who follow the three spiritual approaches); (5) the power of knowing the aspirations of beings in all their variety (that is, by relating to their individual aspirations, knowing the various aspirations of beings, for example, whether they aspire to some state that is still corruptible, or to one that is incorruptible); (6) the power of knowing paths that lead to all destinies (that is, through being familiar with all spiritual approaches, knowing all the paths that lead anywhere, to saṃsāra or nirvāṇa, (7) the power of knowing all modes of being, whether those of deeply ingrained afflictive states or those of completely refined states of enlightenment (that is, due to immersion in meditative absorption, knowing all states of meditative stability, modes of liberation, and so forth); (8) the power of recalling former lifetimes (since what is positive never ceases to have effect); (9) the power of knowing death, transition, and rebirth (due to the clairvoyance that comes from such factors as one’s altruistic motivation toward other beings); and (10) the power of knowing the state of peace in which all that is corruptible has come to an end (due to the teaching of the dharma for the purpose of putting an end to all that is corruptible” (Kongtrul 2011, 313–314).
[42] Here “four fearless fangs” is a metaphor of the Four Fearlessnesses: “(1) There is fearlessness in the experience of all phenomena from the perspective of manifest enlightenment. Buddhas have such knowledge, and even thorough comprehension, of all phenomena that there is no way for anyone in the world, no matter how powerful, to dispute this by saying, “Such is not the case.” This is called “[fearlessness in] consummate realization.” (2) There is fearlessness in the end of what is corruptible. All that is corruptible, such as desire and attachment, has come to an end. Therefore, for buddhas (who can attest to that) there is no way for this fact to be disputed. This is called “[fearlessness in] consummate renunciation.” (3) There is fearlessness in declaring which factors obstruct the spiritual path. Since buddhas see directly that such factors as sensory pleasures and attachment to personal salvation constitute spiritual obstacles, there is no way that the declaration that this is so can be disputed. (4) There is fearlessness in proclaiming the path of the will to be free. Because buddhas see directly that complete freedom is gained through the factors that contribute to enlightenment, and through no other factors, there is no way that anyone can dispute the declaration that this is so” (Kongtrul 2011, 315).
[43] The ten perfections or pāramitas are the common six perfections plus (7) means (thabs), (8) strength (stobs), (9) aspiration (smon lam), and (10) wisdom (ye shes).
[44] Lit. “Flee down the paths of the three times.” “Three times” (skabs gsum), is also a general poetic term for gods and deities because of their ability to know the past, present and future.
[45] This section is translated based on Adam Pearcey’s 2019 translation of the Tengyur version: https://www.lotsawahouse.org/indian-masters/lakshmi/po-praise-of-avalokiteshvara-chant. There are multiple Tibetan translations of the original Sanskrit prayer. Here, we follow a version from volume 24 of a 116-volume Drukpa Kagyu anthology (Drubrik 2015 [BDRC W3CN2232]). Pearcey 2019 follows a text consistent with a version in volume 49 of the same anthology. Variant readings are noted below.
[46] Drubrik Volume 49, folio 148 line 2 reads bstod pas (“when praised”) rather than gdod nas (“primordially”). Therefore, the line would read, “When praised, you bring the highest victory of a sage” (Pearcey, 2019).
[47] Drubrik Volume 49, folio 148 line 3 reads sku bzang (“excellent form”) rather than sku gsang (“secret body”).
[48] Drubrik Volume 49, folio 148 line 5 reads dri ngad (“fragrant”) instead of ’khril legs (“wonderful blend”). Therefore, the line would read, “Your body is as white as snow or conch and sweetly scented” (Pearcey).
[49] The three kinds of suffering: blatant suffering, the suffering of change, and the suffering of conditioning or all-pervasive suffering or even structural suffering.
[50] Drubrik Volume 49, folio 149 line 5 reads dben par instead of dpen par mdzad pa. On the meaning of the former, “Drakpa Shedrup points out that dben pa which has the general meaning of seclusion also has an ancient sense of that which is attractive or appealing (Pearcy [2019]).”
[51] The four abodes of Brahma (brahmavihāra) are love, compassion, joy, and impartiality. These are commonly known as the Four Immeasurables.
[52] Pearcey (2019): “Here the sea of milk signifies nirvāṇa and the ocean of water, saṃsāra. The Tengyur version of this line reads: You who liberates from the sea of suffering and ocean of afflictions.”
[53] The following light offering prayers are extracted from various canonical sources. The translation of the next seven lines is adapted from Adam Pearcey’s 2010 translation of Atiśa Dīpaṃkara’s “Light Offering Prayer.” https://www.lotsawahouse.org/indian-masters/atisha/light-offering-prayer. It does not appear, however, that Atiśa composed these lines, as they appear in numerous liturgical anthologies. Drubrik 2015, vol. 96 f. 361 presents the lines punctuated with terma marks, suggesting they are extracted from older, uncited treasures.
[54] Uncited Pearcey version reads sdong bu (“stem/wick”) instead of snying po (“heart/wick") [Drubrik 2015, folio 361 line 2].
[55] The following section seems to be extracted from the treasures of Nyangral Nyima Özer (myang ral nyi ma ’od zer, 1124/1136–1192/1204, BDRC P364), an early treasure revealer. These verses are found in volume 7, folios 681–695 of his bka’ brgyad bde gshegs ’dus pa’i chos skor. We follow slightly variant verses presented in Drubrik 2015, ff. 361–67 with reference to Sengdrak 2001, vol. 3, ff. 532–38.
[56] While the Mahāyāna tradition usually outlines ten bodhisattva bhūmis (levels or stages), tantric traditions add more. According to the Anuyoga tantras, the bhūmi of Universal Illumination is the eleventh stage of bodhisattva development. See Rigpa Wiki, “Twenty-one bhumis,” and for several of these additional bhūmis according to the Dzogchen tradition, see Dowman 2017, especially 269.
[57] Takrita: a class of wrathful guardians.
[58] lcan lo can (“braided/plaited”), the name of Vajradhara & Vajrapāṇi’s pure land.
[59] Two endeavors: (1) benefitting self by realizing the dharmakāya and (2) benefitting others through the active manifestation of saṃbhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya forms.
[60] “With six special qualities” (khyad chos drug ldan) is a term applied to ultimate reality in the Dzogchen tradition. Harding 2003, 159n6: “khyad chos drug ldan or khyad par drug ldan, endowed with the six qualities. According to the Klong chen snying thig; ye shes bla ma, fol. 69a, they are as follows: (1) Insight is elevated above the basis of confusion from the beginning. (2) Its dharmatā shines. (3) It discriminates the particulars of individual, personal insight. (4) It liberates into the sphere of wisdom. (5) Its fruition is not dependent on other conditions. (6) It resolves as the nature of the inconceivable dharmata of directness. All these six qualities are known as the great stage of primordial liberation.” See also Dowman 2014, n201.
NOTES
TIBETAN TEXTS:
Dorje Lingpa (rdo rje gling pa). “rdo rje gling paʼi gter byon rtsa gsum spyiʼi bskang bsdus.” In rin chen gter mdzod chen mo, vol. 41. ʼjam mgon kong sprul blo gros mthaʼ yas, editor., Shechen Publications, 2007–2008, 651–54. BDRC MW1KG14_FC66FD.
Drubrik Khyuchok (grub rigs khyu mchog), ed. ʼbrug paʼi chos mdzod chen po bsam ʼphel nor buʼi bang mdzod. 116 vols. khams nang chen: mdo khams pa nges don bshad sgrub nyi ma, 2015. BDRC W3CN2232.
Jokyab Thinley Namgyal (jo khyabs pad+ma ’phrin las snying po). gung ʼbum padma ʼphrin las snying po. Edited by karma bde chen. 3 vols. khri’u tu’u/: gzu dgon rig gzhung nyams gso khang, 2010. BDRC W1KG5787.
Nyangral Nyima Özer (myang ral nyi ma ’od zer). bkaʼ brgyad bde gshegs ʼdus paʼi chos skor. 13 vols. The Ngargyur Nyingmay Sungrab, v. 75–87. Gangtok, Sikkim: Sonam Topgay Kazi, 1978. BDRC W1KG12075.
Pema Karpo (pad+ma dkar po). don brgyud bstan pa rgyas pa’i smon lam u dum va ra’i chun po. In kun mkhyen padma dkar poʼi rnam thar snyan ngag can gyi ʼgrel ba. 1 vols. By mkhan po phrin las rdo rje. Swayambhu, Kathmandu: Gam-po-pa Library, 2011. BDRC MW1KG4277_AD159A.
Śākya Śrī. ʼphags mchog thugs rje chen poʼi sgrub thabs yang zab bcud kyi thig le. In dkar rnying gi skyes chen du maʼi phyag rdzogs kyi gdams ngag gnad bsdus nyer mkho rin po cheʼi gter mdzod (rtsibs riʼi par ma), 23: 573–84. Edited by la dwags khrid dpon padma chos rgyal. Darjeeling: Kargyu Sungrab Nyamso Khang, 1978–1985. BDRC MW20749_D9435C.
——— ʼphags mchog thugs rje chen poʼi sgrub thabs yang zab bcud kyi thig le (thugs chen sgrub thabs). In gsung ʼbum shākya shrī, 269–78. Kathmandu: Khenpo Shedup Tenzin and Lama Thinley Namgyal, 1998. BDRC MW23563_6A2DDC.
———ʼphags mchog thugs rje chen poʼi sgrub thabs yang zab bcud kyi thig le. In ʼdon cha nyer mkho phan bdeʼi bum bzang, 2: 795–804. Edited by seng brag sprul sku rdo rje gling: ʼbrug sgar dpe mdzod khang, 2001. BDRC MW23685_D93804.
———ʼphags mchog thugs rje chen poʼi sgrub thabs yang zab bcud kyi thig le. In ʼdon cha nyer mkho phan bdeʼi bum bzang, 4: 211–20. Edited by seng brag sprul sku. rdo rje gling: ʼbrug sgar dpe mdzod khang, 2001. BDRC MW23685_E510AE.
———ʼphags mchog thugs rje chen poʼi sgrub thabs yang zab bcud kyi thig le. In ʼbrug lugs chos mdzod chen mo, 79: 273–82. Edited by tshogs gnyis sprul sku 03 [Kathmandu]: Drukpa kagyu heritage project, 2000. BDRC MW23779_9FE8BD.
———ʼphags mchog thugs rje chen poʼi sgrub thabs yang zab bcud kyi thig le. In mkhas dbang raghu wīra dang lokesha tsandra rnam gnyis kyis nyar tshags byas paʼi dpe tshogs, 61: 287–98. BDRC MW1KG26281_8BA774.
Sengdrak (seng brag sprul sku), editor. ʼdon cha nyer mkho phan bdeʼi bum bzang. ʼbrug sgar dpe mdzod khang, 2001. BDRC MW23685.
SECONDARY SOURCES:
Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. Deity, Mantra, and Wisdom. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2006.
Dowman, Keith. The Yeshe Lama: Jigme Lingpa’s Dzogchen Atiyoga Manual. Dzogchen Now! Books, 2014.
———Everything is Light: The Circle of Total Illumination. Dzogchen Now! Books, 2017.
Dudjom Rinpoche. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History; Section One; The Translations. Boston: Wisdom, 1991.
Duff, Tony. PKTC Translation Exercise 1: Notes on Translating the Longchen Nyingthig Root Chod Text. Kathmandu: Padma Karpo Translation Committee, 2008.
Harding, Sarah, trans. "Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma." In Creation and Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation, 2–4. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2002.
———The Life and Revelations of Pema Lingpa. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2003.
Khamtrul, Garje Jamyang Dhondup. “The Eight Practice-Instructions of Sugatas (bde gshegs sgrub pa bka’ brgyad) in the Nyingma Lineage. The Tibet Journal, summer 1990, vol. 15, no. 2, pp.59–65.
Kongtrul, Jamgön. The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six, Part Four: Systems of Buddhist Tantra; The Nature of the Body. Translated by Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2005.
———The Treasury of Knowledge: Books Nine and Ten; Journey and Goal; Analysis of the Spiritual Path and Levels to be Traversed and the Consummate Fruition State. Translated by Richard Barron. Ithaca, Snow Lion, 2011.
Kop, Han. “The Kagye practice of the Awesome Ones’ Assembly (Palchen Düpa).” Nyingtik Project. https://www.longchennyingtik.org/blog/the-kagye-practice-of-the-awesome-ones-assembly-palchen-dpa.
Patrul Rinpoche. The Words of My Perfect Teacher. Boston: Shambhala, 1998.
Pearcey, Adam, trans. “Light Offering Prayer.” By Atiśa Dīpaṃkara. Lotsawa House. 2010. https://www.lotsawahouse.org/indian-masters/atisha/light-offering-prayer.
———“Praise of Avalokiteśvara.” By Bhikṣuṇī Lakṣmī. Lotsawa House. 2019. https://www.lotsawahouse.org/indian-masters/lakshmi/po-praise-of-avalokiteshvara-chant.
Pema Vajra, Khenpo. “Overview of the Three Turnings.” Translated by Adam Pearcey. Lotsawa House. 2005.
Situ Chökyi Gyatso, Kathog. Togden Shakya Shri: The Life and Liberation of a Tibetan Yogin. Translated by Elio Guarisco. Arcidosso: Shang Shung Publications, 2009.
Thondup, Tulku. Enlightened Journey: Buddhist Practice as Daily Life. Boston & London: Shambhala, 1995.
Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Open Heart, Open Mind. New York: Harmony Books, 2012.
COLOPHON
ཅེས་པ་འདི་ཡང་རིག་འཛིན་ཚོགས་དྲུག་རང་གྲོལ་འཇའ་ལུས་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྩལ་གྱིས་རང་གནས་བདེ་ཆེན་འོད་གསལ་གྱི་ཁང་བུ་རུ་སྐད་ཅིག་གིས་གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པའོ༔ ཡི་གེ་པ་ནི་ཚེ་དབང་འཇིགས་མེད་ཀྱིས་བགྱིས་པའོ།
This text was instantaneously laid out by Rigzin Tsogdruk Rangdröl Jalu Dorje Tsal in his hut at Dechen Ösal. Tsewang Jigme acted as the scribe.
༄༅། ། འཕགས་མཆོག་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་ཡང་ཟབ་བཅུད་ཀྱི་ཐིག་ལེ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Bindu of the Subtlest Quintessence:
A Sādhana of the Sublime Great Compassionate One (with supplemental prayers)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abstract
The Bindu of the Subtlest Quintessence is a Drukpa Kagyu sādhana based on the deity Avalokiteśvara. The root text was revealed as a terma by Togden Śākya Śrī (1853–1919), a master renowned for his deep realization of both Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen, as well as for his unique teaching style through which he guided thousands of students in disciplined meditation camps. In addition to the root terma, the present text contains translations of several supplemental prayers and liturgical elements that facilitate its practical use.
AUTHOR
TRADITION
Drukpa Kagyu
Nyingma
INCARNATION LINE
None
HISTORICAL PERIOD
18th Century
19th Century
TEACHERS
TRANSLATOR
༄༅། ། འཕགས་མཆོག་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་ཡང་ཟབ་བཅུད་ཀྱི་ཐིག་ལེ་བཞུགས་སོ།།
Bindu of the Subtlest Quintessence:
A Sādhana of the Sublime Great Compassionate One (with supplemental prayers)
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