A Song Rapidly Invoking Blessings

By Lama Gyalwa Kalzang Gyatso, the 7th Dalai Lama

In the year of the Water dog, Lama Gyalwa Kalzang Gyatso visited Gaden Monastery. Inspired by the extraordinary vibration pervading the place and filled with marvel at the strength and kindness of Omniscient Lord Tsongkhapa, who had founded Gaden, His Holiness Kalzang Gyatso was moved to write this song.

Above, in actuality pristine awareness
Manifest as a radiant Buddha mandala,
The pure land of Tushita, the Joyous Abode
Blessed by Buddhas past, present and future.

Mountains of herbs blanketed in sweet aromas,
Flowers blossoming morning, noon and night,
A forest of trees with turquoise leaves:
Reminders of the splendid body of Je Rinpoche.

The murmur of a river swiftly flowing,
The stirring songs of birds,
The majestic sound of a Dharma teaching:
Reminders of the gentle voice of Je Rinpoche.

The blue sky freely hovering,
Clear, white clouds scattered abstractly,
The young sun casting beams everywhere:
The wisdom, compassion and power of Je Rinpoche.

Body adorned with the marks of a Buddha,
Speech raining down vast and profound Dharma,
Mind seeing all things in the sphere of clear light:
I recollect Je Rinpoche, Lobsang Drakpa.

Fulfill your vow to benefit beings;
Descend, grant protection and power.
To you I offer an ocean of all-good things.
Enjoy them within your great bliss.

On the Mighty Nomad Mountain, quiet, easy,
A land made pure with goodness and strength,
Stands your Gaden Monastery, prophesied by Buddha:
A monastery producing limitless Awakened Ones.

Your mind on Bliss and Void inseparable,
The flow of events appeared as a rainbow.
One body sends endless clouds of emanations
To set this world ablaze with joy.

Your profound teachings bridging Sutra and Tantra
Are jewels for those truly seeking liberation.
Even the words you used are perfect,
Nakedly pointing the way for the ripe.

O Je Lama, because of your infinite kindness
We can understand all Sutras and Tantras as precepts,
Can see the entire path leading to perfection
And can correct all delusions and mistaken concepts.

O Master, merely hearing legends of your deeds
Can place a man on the enlightening path;
With thoughts of your greatness, with heart
Trembling, I fix mind upon you.

Invisible father gone to Bliss,
Listen to this plaintive song
Of a boy still in Samsara’s quicksands,
Of an ill-fated son cut from his Refuge.

In terms of external appearances,
A monk is easily proud of his robes,
But if his thoughts fall only on the transient
Are his lusts not worse than a layman’s?

The masses revel in black actions
And through evil gain their ends.
Flashes of a degenerate age
Crash in the depths of my heart.

How glamorous and exciting to go
Through the motions of practising Dharma,
And to hear the profound teachings;
But the mind, hard as wood, is slow to change.

The spirit, weak and uncontrolled,
Staggers under the three psychic poisons
Whenever an object appears to it:
A golden vessel filled with urine

Precious humanity, the chance to be a Buddha;
But we create only misery with it
And throw away all hope of actually
Benefitting either ourselves or others.

I, born so late, unfortunate,
Pass my time amid negativity and confusion.
Father Lama, look upon me;
Hold me with hooks of compassion.

In this life, the bardo and future lives,
Pray, be my guide.
My Refuge, forsake me not.
Omniscient One, be with me always.

Care for all beings as a mother for her son.
Spiritual Father, to us who are children,
Reveal visibly the mandala of your body
Magnificent with every mark of perfection.

Bestow upon us the oral teachings
Which render every experience meaningful.
Bless us to make our minds at one taste
With great bliss and unapprehendable wisdom.

Life is impermanent like the setting sun.
Wealth is like dew on morning grass,
Praise is like wind in a mountain pass,
A youthful body is an autumn flower.

Bless me to understand the shortcomings
Of constantly turning on the wheel of becoming
And to fix the depths of my mind
On the path leading to ultimate knowledge.

Bestow upon me transforming powers to fill
My mental continuum with love and compassion,
To see the beings of Samsara’s six realms
As mothers who have forever helped me.

Bestow upon me transforming powers
Quickly to realize the way things are,
To understand images viewed by the mind
As paintings created by the mind itself.

Help me attain Enlightenment in this very life
Through the yogic methods of Tantra’s two stages,
To see external events as the sport of Buddhas
And the mind as satiated with Bliss and Emptiness.

And when, to fight delusion, meditation’s enemy,
I retreat to a cave on a distant mountain,
A place to give birth to serenity and joy,
Bless me to penetrate the innermost profundity.

Grant me powers swiftly to annihilate
All inner and outer negative forces,
And power to cleanse the stains of having dwelt
Far from the limits of Dharma’s three bonds.

O Manjushri, who reveals himself magically
In peaceful, wrathful and protective forms,
May your auspicious deeds reach fruition
And you remain a constant Refuge to the world.

Bestow upon me the powerful blessings
Of your mysterious body, speech and mind,
That my every physical, verbal and mental
Movement may benefit beings and the teachings.

May the thunder of the Sutras and Tantras shake the earth,
May the sun of Tsongkhapa’s “Practice Lineage” rage,
May all practitioners attain the power
And all sentient beings realize their wishes.

 

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7. Song Of The Mystic Experiences Of Lama Je Rinpoche
By Jamyang Choje Tashi Palden (1379-1449)
Written at Drepung Chokyi Dechen at the request of the two meritorious Drungtrapa Palzangpo brothers, by Lama Tashi Palden, a Buddhist monk and teacher who had searched many hundreds of thousands of scriptures with the lights of his wisdom.

O sun-like Prince of the Conqueror,
Whose wisdom, vast as the heavens,
Has the brilliance of knowledge
That sees what ultimately is
And what merely seems to be;
O Venerable Lord of Dharma, Most Perfect Guru,
The dust of your feet I place
On the crown of my head.

Even the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,
Who fill the ten directions,
Cannot describe the excellence
Of your body, speech and mind;
Yet out of passionate inspiration
I shall sing of them; pray,
Listen for but a few moments.

As a blossoming garland of flowers
To adorn the necks of the clear-minded,
And as a precious jewel
To enhance the force of conviction,
This song in praise of your oceans of splendour
To delight all sages, I have composed.

Like a cloud, the merit of your superb deeds
Releases a torrent of rain that swells
The virtue of those to be trained,
And proclaims with a dragon’s thundering roar
The sweetness of the vast and profound;
O glorious, powerful, billowing Lama.

Foremost of tantric adepts, the mighty yogi
Who mastered the many millions of samadhis,
Composed faultless expositions,
And made true effort in practice,
Most resplendent of Lamas,
You tower over the heads of all.

At Vajrasana in a former birth,
To the Victorious One you offered
A rosary of one hundred crystal beads.
Thus you acquired the fortune
Later to attain the perfect view;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

At the age of seven you directly perceived
Dipamkara Atisha, the great Path Clearer,
And Vajrapani, Lord of the Secret.
The exhortations of both the sutras
And tantras dawned upon you;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

O Jetsun, Lord of phenomenal existence,
You directly perceived Manjushri,
Bodhisattva of the wisdom of emptiness,
Seated in a radiant aura as blue
As the colour of a perfect sapphire;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

From this time onward, O High One,
Whenever desired, you could invoke
Manjushri, Treasure of Stainless Wisdom,
And constantly listen to the teachings
Of both Sutrayana’s Transcendent Wisdom
And Tantrayana’s Secret Assembly;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

When practising the seven-limbed ritual
Of the thirty-five Purification Buddhas,
Continually and clearly you beheld them
And all their forms, mudras and symbols;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Seated in the auspicious posture,
Hands in the Dharma-teaching mudra,
Buddha Maitreya prophesied that,
Just as the Sugatas who possess the ten powers,
You will one day perform the twelve acts
Of a supreme, universal teacher;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Victorious Master of both life and death,
Truth visions you received
Of Amitabha Buddha, the Medicine Buddhas,
And that teacher of men and gods,
Shakyamuni, Prince of the Shakya Throne,
Each with a retinue vast as the oceans;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Saintly Tara, source of all siddhis,
Ushnisha Vijaya, the one exalted and radiant,
Ushnisha Sitatapatra, dispeller of obstacles,
And other such mystic female Buddhas
Again and again you directly perceived;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Holy Buddhapalita,
Magnificent Chandrakirti and the mighty yogi Nagabodhi
Appeared, then constantly cared for you.
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Exalted Asanga, who delights the three worlds,
The Brother, Vasubandhu, a Second Buddha,
And Dignaga, child of Manjushri,
Appeared, then constantly cared for you;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Dharmakirti, a moon amongst teachers,
As well as Gunaprabha, Shakyaprabha,
Shantideva and the glorious Abhaya,
Appeared, then constantly cared for you;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

All the mahasiddhas of India and Tibet,
Such as Indrabudhi, Saraha, Luipa,
Krisnacharin, Tilbupa, Tilopa and Naropa
Appeared, then constantly cared for you;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Clearly Manjushri prophesied
That, relying upon these lineages,
You would produce colossal spiritual boons
For yourself and for all sentient beings.
Great Bold One who spontaneously
Fulfills the wishes of the world;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

When the samadhi of the yoga combining
Mental tranquility with cognition of emptiness
Increased like the waxing moon,
You beheld the form of the Destroyer
Yamantaka, “Opponent of the Lord of Death”,
Complete with all mudras and expressions.
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Having touched your heart
To the wisdom sword of Manjushri,
A stream of undefiled ambrosia
Flowed into the depth of your being,
Spontaneously arousing the propitious
Absorption of highest joy.
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Prayer for Rebirth in the Land of Bliss
And An Eulogy of the Perfect Intent
Of the Dauntless Protector Maitreya Buddha
As well as their graduated levels of meaning
Manjushri lucidly conveyed to you,
Who recorded and skillfully presented them;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Whenever you consecrated a religious image,
The Wisdom Beings actually entered
Into the Symbolic Beings.
This host of deities that you summoned
Still generates fields of merit within beings;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

One night you dreamed of Nagarjuna
And his five spiritual sons
Amongst themselves discussing
The fabric of dependent origination.
From their midst came Buddhapalita,
Who touched you with a scripture.
The very next day within you
Rose the mind of a High One;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

By focusing on the pith of the six branches
Of Kalachakra, “The Wheel of Time”,
You directly perceived his Buddha-form.
He foretold that soon you
Would equal even King Suchandra;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

When for the first time you led
The Great Prayer Festival of Lhasa,
A hundred magical omens appeared,
At your making this joyous offering,
The Buddhas and their sons in the ten directions
Were filled with supreme delight.
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Generating the form of a great-bliss deity
Through the yoga of the non-duality
Of profound luminosity and illusory appearances,
You attained the vajrayoga body;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

By practicing the mantric science of inhaling
And exhaling OM AH HUM on the lotus heart,
The vital energies entered the central nadi,
Rested as breathing stopped, and then dissolved.
Thus you experienced the clear light,
Mahamudra, the great seal,
Attaining the vajrayoga speech;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Raising the navel chakra’s mystic heat
Which rests at the base of the central channel,
The letter HAM at the crown of your head
Melted and fell to your heart
As simultaneously the experience
Of the blisses dawned upon you.
Thus you attained the vajrayoga mind;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Having been invoked as witnesses
To your pure and perfect aspirations,
All Buddhas and Bodhisattvas came forth.
Only when you had summoned each of them
Into his respective position
Did you honour them with offerings;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

While contemplating the principal mandala
Of Manjushrivajra, Guhyasamaja,
You dreamed that Maitreya and Manjushri,
Who were speaking of Dharma, passed down to you
A jeweled vase brimming with water,
Portending that you would master all teachings.
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

On a throne adorned with precious gems
Sat the omniscient Kargyu Lama
Buton Rinchen Trub.
A text of the Guhyasamaja Root Tantra
He gave to you, exhorting
You to be its keeper;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Accepting this responsibility
With mudras and mantras thrice
You touched the text to your head.
By its blessings it became obvious
That the tantra Separating and Mixing,
Obtained by Marpa of the Southern Hills,
Is the true oral tradition of Exalted Nagarjuna;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Your mind absorbed in the mystic circle of Heruka –
Chakrasambara, the Wheel of Perfect Bliss – myriads
Of dakinis of the outer, inner and secret placesMade you offerings of vajra songs,
Transporting you in ecstasy;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

In meditation destroying the forces of darkness,
You beheld the radiant Buddha, Mighty Demon Tamer,
Having an aura as pure as burnished gold,
More brilliant than a million suns.
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Your being having become indivisible from
The body, speech and mind of all Buddhas,
The might of the power of evil was subdued.
As the Dharma protectors crushed the demon families,
Shrieks of the defeated satanic forces
Resounded across the universe.
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

These multitudes of Dharma protectors,
That you brought under control,
In a previous aeon had been subjected
By Buddha Vajradhara to guard your doctrine.
With profound reverence they work this still;
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

That you would, after entering parinirvana,
Sit in the presence of Dauntless Maitreya
In Tushita, Pure Land of Joy,
And would be known as Wisdom Essence
Was, O Lord of Life, rightly prophesied
By both Manjushri and Vajrapani.
O Illustrious Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

By the strength of this eulogy
Sung from the depths of pure love,
May the afflictions of beings
Limitless as the sky be extinguished.
In this and all future lives
May all be nurtured by true teachers
And embraced by the sacred Dharma.

May the innate wisdom of great bliss
Rain throughout the world;
May the stains of erroneously grasping
Mind and its objects be uprooted;
And may all be inspired quickly to become
Like you, a Jetsun Lama.

May the wisdoms of learning, contemplation
And meditation overtake the earth;
May the arts of deliberation,
Debate and composition flourish;
May the ordinary and supreme siddhis
Come to each and every practitioner;
And may all be inspired quickly to become
Like you, a Jetsun Lama.

By the limitless oceans of merit
Of having presented, like Samantabhadra,
Clouds of offerings spanning the skies,
Of having bared every negative imprint
And downfall accumulated since infinity,
Of having rejoiced in the spirituality
Of those on the paths to enlightenment,
And of having beseeched the Lamas
To turn the Wheel of Dharma
And not to enter parinirvana.

May all beings experience peerless samadhi;
May goodness swell like the waxing moon;
And may the doctrine of Omniscient Tzong Khapa
Thrive until time’s end.

Footnote: Extracted from the Life and Teachings of Tsong Khapa (Edited by Prof. R. Thurman)

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