The Quantum Buddha Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava: the Second Buddha who turned the Vajrayana Wheel of Dharma
The Vajrayana Wheel of Buddhist Dharma that Guru Rinpoche brought to Tibet was more than simply another lineage of Buddhist philosophy. Vajrayana teachings, and especially Guru Rinpoche’s teachings and manifestations, framed a view of reality, of the Universe, more akin to Quantum Physics than religion. Guru Rinpoche, the Lotus-Born — Padmasambhava or Pema Jungné — is honored as the second living Buddha of our age, who turned the final wheel of Dharma, Vajrayana, and brought Buddha Dharma to Tibet.
“Guru Rinpoche’s teaching is the science of the mind,” said Tulku Pasang Rinpoche.
“Padmasambhava was in touch with Quantum reality, ” explained Professor of Quantum Physics Dana Zou. “He lived the Quantum reality. He manifested the Quantum reality.” [13]
His miraculous birth was prophesied in texts by the first Buddha, Shakyamuni, the original Quantum pioneer. Padmasambhava’s teachings remain vitally relevant today, especially as the world spins from one crisis to another.
“In degenerate times, it is very important to practice Guru Rinpoche.” — The Gyalwang Karmapa, December 2010, Bodhgaya [1] A recent, wonderfully-produced documentary even proposes that the “eight manifestations” of Guru Rinpoche are none other than the “Eight Manifestations of Quantum Energy.” The entire film, produced by Shambhala Film Studios, (part 1 in full embedded below) sets out to prove this extraordinary, yet not far-fetched, theme.
Guru Rinpoche, the Quantum Physics Explorer In what way does an ancient living Buddha manifest quantum energy? Padmasambhava formalized and popularized meditation methods to help us understand the true nature of reality — the ultimate nature underlying the illusory “physical world.” Shunyata (Emptiness or Oneness of all phenomenon) is very much a theme in Quantum Physics. [For a feature on Shunyata and Quantum Physics, see>>]
Guru Rinpoche, the Great Lotus Born, was none other than the original Quantum Physics explorer. He didn’t just theorize — he experienced. He also taught us how we could likewise peel away the trap of “ordinary appearances” and experience for ourselves.
In the intriguing film Guru Padmasambhava — Searching for the Lotus-Born Master by Shambala Film Studios (embedded below) the narrator says:
“He lived in the eighth century and travelled across many regions of the Himalayas, where he appeared as different manifestations… Images of these eight manifestations are often depicted in murals, Thangkas, statues and dances across the Himalayas… Each manifestation represents a different stage in his journey to Enlightenment and spreading Tibetan Buddhism across the Himilayas.
“Is it possible that behind each manifestation there may be a coded language revealing the laws of quantum physics?”
In the preface to Quantum Emptiness: Dancing in Emptiness[15] by Graham Smetham, cites Buddhist scholar Mu Seong:
“In the paradigm of quantum physics there is ceaseless change at the core of the universe; in the paradigm of Mahayana wisdom too there is ceaseless change at the core of consciousness and the universe.”
Later, he quotes Professor Vlatko Vedral, a Professor of Quantum Information Theory (Decoding Reality):
“Quantum physics is indeed very much in agreement with Budhistic Emptiness.”
Although these concepts are Mahayana, introduced by Shakyamuni Buddha, they were exemplified in the Vajrayana teachings of Padmasambhava. The Second Buddha was the “explorer” and revealer of Quantum mysteries. His methods remain relevant and powerful today.
The Buddha for modern, dangerous times
Guru Rinpoche remains very “relatable” in our century. He remains a living Buddha to Tibetan Buddhists. Even amongst non-Buddhists, his reputation is well known. He is described as a “badass 8th century mystic” on one travelogue website. Non-Buddhist Westerners often describe him as a all-powerful wizard.
At Changri Monastery in Thamphu, Butan, there is a sign designed to discourage curious “tourists” who follow the footsteps of the great Master Padmasambhava as fans of his wizardly reputation as “mystic-missionary-magician” [Johnathan Mingle, note 7], rather than as devoted practitioners:
“Demon Subjugated Monastery. Foreigners without permission letter from the special commission and Bhutanese without national dresses are kindly requested not to enter the monastery
Supernatural hero reputation aside, one of the key reasons so many of us rely on the Precious teacher Padmasambhava is that Tantra is perfectly suited to hectic modern times. Many people lack the time and the discipline to undertake months of solitude in silent contemplation. Typically, we also lack the patience. The dangers of today’s world — pandemics, strife, environmental devastation — makes it difficult to concentrate on Sutra teachings sufficiently to attain realizations.
Tantra is an active practice, incorporating guided visualizations, imagination, concentrated chanting, inner body completion practices and other “dynamic” methods suited to a world of billions of suffering beings. It was Guru Rinpoche who introduced and taught Tantra — Vajrayana Buddhism — in Tibet, later to spread around the world. His teachings remain Perfect and relevant in modern times.
As the second Buddha, “all of samsara beneath your control” Padmasambhava demonstrated with his teachings and life the Magnetizing Power of Vajrayana. As Padma Gyalpo (Pema Gyalpo) he is described in the Wangdu prayer honoring the Padma Buddha family:
པདྨ་རྒྱལ་པོས་འཁོར་འདས་མངའ་དབང་བསྒྱུར། །
pema gyalpö khordé ngawang gyur
Padma Gyalpo, all of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa beneath your control
In fact Guru Rinpoche was a physical manifestation of Amitabha and Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara). It is to the Lotus Buddha Family — and especially Guru Rinpoche — that we turn in degeneration times. Magnetizing acitivity — and the Discriminating Wisdom of the Padma Amitabha Buddha family — is the most relevant in difficult times.
For example Padmasambhava’s own core Yidam (Heart Deity) practice was Hayagriva, the wrathful emanation of Amitabha (seen in the Wandu Thanka above top right.) Lady Tsogyal recorded:
Guru Rinpoche “arose in the form of Padma Heruka, ferocious and strong, the heruka of the secret sign.” [9]
Padma Heruka is Hayagriva, the wrathful emanation of Amitabha and the Pdama (Lotus) family. [For a feature on Hayagriva, see>>]
In addition to practicing Padmasmbhava, many modern teachers highly recommend Hayagriva in difficult, modern times. Lama Jigme Rinpoche taught:
“In today’s age, it is a degenerate time where the five poisons and negative emotions are very strong. So we need a deity like Hayagriva to empower ourselves. Also negative influences today are so strong as well, like the coronavirus.” [8]
Guru Rinpoche manifested in many forms, but his “main” appearance is iconic and well-known. From the Himalayan Art art description:
“With a steady gaze looking on all beings, one face adorned with a moustache and small goatee, the right hand holds to the heart an upright gold vajra. The left hand placed in the lap holds a white skullcup filled with nectar. The ornate katvanga staff of a Vajrayana mendicant rests against the left shoulder. Adorned with gold earrings and various ornaments, the head is covered with a lotus hat, a gift of the King of Zahor, with silk brocade topped with a half-vajra and vulture feather. Attired in various robes of different colours reflecting the disciplines of the Vinaya, Bodhisattva and Mantra Vehicles, in a relaxed posture with the right foot extended resting on a lotus cushion, he is seated on a sun and moon disc above a pink lotus.”
Guru Rinpoche’s main manifestations
His other main manifestations are, as described on Himalayan Art are [11]:
1. Padmakara
3. Dorje Dragpo Tsal
5. Loden Chogse
7. Padma Raja
9. (Padmavajra, Saraha, Virupa, Dombhi Heruka, Kalacharya)
10. Nyima Ozer
11. Sengge Dradog
12. (King Ngonshe Chen, Yogi Tobden, Tapihritsa – Mongolia, China, Zhangzhung) – In Tibet: bound the twelve Tenma, thirteen Gurlha and twenty-one Genyen
13.Dorje Drollo (at the 13 Tiger’s Nests)- taught the Twenty-five disciples, intermediate twenty-five disciples, later seventeen and twenty-one disciples. Eighty students achieved rainbow body at Yerpa, one hundred and eight meditators at Chuori, thirty tantriks at Yangdzong, fifty-five realized ones at Sheldrag, twenty-five dakini students and seven yoginis. 14. Drowa Kundrol (emanation at the time of Maitreya)
Relatable manifestations for modern times
Psychologist Preece clarifies wrathful practice with an amusing Western ‘Hell’s Angels’ example, comparing peaceful meditations (as the metaphorical pinstripe-suited man) and wrathful practices (Schwarzenegger):
“If we think of a gang of Hell’s Angels that has become totally wild and anarchic, how might their energy be brought under control? If a man dressed in a pinstriped suit with good intentions said to them, ‘Now look, you fellows, this just won’t do,’ we can imagine how predictably derisory their response would be. On the other hand, if they were addressed as a Schwarzenegger-like figure, who looked powerful and tough, dressed like a wild man, dishevelled and scarred, carrying chains, knives and other weapons, the response would be different. They might develop respect or interest and be drawn into some kind of relationship, even to the point where becoming their leader, he could change the direction of their behaviour… and their aggression would be gradually channelled.” [10]
It was the great second Buddha Padmasambhava who channeled this powerful energy, popularizing and teaching Tantric Buddhism with practices still psychologically and spiritually valid today. (Perhaps more so.) [For a full feature on the importance and power of Wrathful Deities in Vajrayana Buddhism,
Wrathful, magnetizing, active energy
Hayagriva as Yidam, and Padmasambhava as Buddha are especially powerful for removing obstacles — the most important practice for modern Buddhists. [See the Barché Lamsel—The Prayer that Removes All Obstacles from the Path at the end of this feature for a helpful practice.] [For an entire library of wonderful Padmasambhava practices in PDF form, visit Lotsawa House>> ]
Guru Rinpoche taught a complete path, but is especially famous for his active and irresistibly wrathful methods — much like his Yidam Hayagriva. It is for this reason Padmasambhava and his many emanations remain valid and desirable in difficult, modern times.
Wrathful does not mean mean or angry. It connotes activity. What Tibet needed in the 8th century — and what many of us need in difficult, modern times — was, and is, powerful, active practices.
Guru Rinpoche’s life embodied miracles
Padmasambhava’s life was a living embodiment of the miraculous. Nothing is impossible to the fully Enlightened and marvelous Guru Rinpoche — and everything about his amazing life is a wonder. Just as Shakyamuni Buddha, the first Buddha of our age, demonstrated extraordinary phenomena, Padmasambhava personified them. Why does an Enlightened Buddha display magical feats? As “Upaya” or skillful means, or upaya-kaushalya meaning “skill in means.” In simplest terms, upaya is any activity that helps others realize enlightenment.
The Lotus Born
Historically, Guru Rinpoche turned the final wheel of Dharma, popularizing the powerful methods of Buddhist Tantra. Traditionally, he is “Lotus Born” in Oddiyana, by tradition “consciously incarnated as an eight-year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha, in the kingdom of Oddiyana.” He is the Lotus Born — born fully Enlightened.
“Scholars agree that Guru Rinpoche was a real person, that he came from Uddiyana, a kingdom possibly located around present-day Swat in Pakistan, and that he arrived in Tibet some time around 760.” [7]
There is no contradiction in describing Padmasambhava’s historical versus legendary birth stories. As explained by Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche:
“There are many stories explaining how Guru Padmasambhava was born. Some say that he instantly appeared on the peak of Meteorite Mountain, in Sri Lanka. Others teach that he came through his mother’s womb, but most accounts refer to a miraculous birth, explaining that he spontaneously appeared in the center of a lotus. These stories are not contradictory because highly realized beings abide in the expanse of great equanimity with perfect understanding and can do anything. Everything is flexible, anything is possible. Enlightened beings can appear in any way they want or need to.” [2]
Buddha Shakyamuni predicted Padmasambhava’s coming and activities in 19 Sutras and Tantras, stating he would be an emanation of Amitaba and Avaloketishvara.
“Buddha Shakyamuni actually predicted Guru Padmasambhava’s appearance in several different sutras and tantras contain clear predictions of his coming and activities.In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Buddha Shakyamuni announced his parinirvana to the students who were with him at the time. Many of them, particularly Ananda, the Buddha’s cousin and personal attendant, were quite upset upon hearing this. So Buddha turned to Ananda and told him not to worry. “…After my parinirvana, a remarkable being with the name Padmasambhava will appear in the center of a lotus and reveal the highest teaching concerning the ultimate state of the true nature, bringing great benefit to all sentient beings.’” [5]
Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche
Padmasambhava’s best known manifestation is probably Padma Gyalpo (Peme Gyalpo), the Lotus King, as described in the Wangdu prayer as the Lotus Lord having “all of samsara and nirvana beneath your control.” [4] However, even his life and manifestations provided lessons in Quantum Mechanics and the “illusory nature” of our relative reality. In the film Guru Padmasambhava – Searching for Lotus born Master – Part I, the filmmaker explores a fascinating concept: that each of the eight key manifestations of Guru Rinpoche represent different energies in Quantum Physics.
The Lotus Born’s life can be viewed as a perfect exemplar of Quantum Mechanics, or as a life of miracles. He displayed countless miracles and powers, including eight important manifestations at different stages of his wondrous life:
Guru Tsokyé Dorje, ‘Lake-born Vajra’ (birth)
Guru Shakya Sengé, ‘Lion of the Shakyas’ (ordination)
Guru Nyima Özer, ‘Rays of the Sun’ (subjugating demonic spirits)
Guru Padmasambhava, ‘Lotus-born’ (establishing Buddhism in Tibet); Guru Pema Jungné (Wyl. gu ru pad+ma ‘byung gnas)
Guru Loden Choksé ‘Wise Seeker of the Sublime’ (mastery of the teachings)
Guru Pema Gyalpo ‘The Lotus King’ (kingship)
Guru Sengé Dradrok ‘The Lion’s Roar’ (subjugation of non-buddhists)
Guru Dorje Drolö ‘Wild Wrathful Vajra’ (concealing terma, binding spirits under oath)
These are not separate Buddhas.
Padmasambhava, a fully Enlightened Buddha, could manifest any characteristics suitable to the needs of the world and his followers.
12-Syllable Mantra of Guru Rinpoche
Guru Rinpoche’s mantra is a supreme and profound meditation. It’s benefits are vast, benefiting all beings.
The twelve syllable mantra of Guru Padmasambhava: (in Sanskrit):
oṃ āḥ hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
Tibetan pronunciation:
om ah hung benza guru péma siddhi hung
Chanting in melody versus for numbers
In a precious teaching, H.E. Garchen Rinpoche explained that most mantras have melodies. In a teaching on the Guru Rinpoche mantra (embedded below), he explained:
“Guru Rinpoche taught about the benefits of chanting the mantra in melody. It is more beneficial to chant the mantra slowly in melody than to recite many mantras quickly. Reciting mantras purely makes a hundred-fold difference. Reciting them in melody makes a hundred-thousand-fold difference. Thus, chanting it in melody multiples the power of mantra.
“And why is its power multiplied? It is because to the extent that you focus on the meaning of each word in the mantra that much greater will be the blessing that enters your mind stream.
“Some people think about the numbers of mantras accumulated and of course, there is benefit from accumulating a number of mantras, but it is said ‘The recitation should be neither too fast nor too slow, neither too strong nor too soft.’ The elements of each syllable should be pronounced without deterioration. Most important for mantra or any other recitation is that the elements of each syllable are pronounced without deterioration.
“This is important. Pronouncing without deterioration has an outer, inner and secret qualities.”
The meaning of the mantra
Guru Rinpoche himself explained his essence mantra to Yeshe Tsogyal [6]:
“O daughter of good family, the Vajra Guru mantra is not just my single essence mantra, it is the very essence or life force of all the deities of the four classes of tantra, of all the nine yanas, and all of the 84,000 collections of dharma teachings. The essence of all of the buddhas of the three times, all of the gurus, yidams, dakas and dakinis, dharma protectors etc., the essence of all of these is contained and is complete within this mantra. How, you may ask, does this work? What is the reason for all these being complete with this mantra? Listen well and hold this in mind. Read it again and again. Write it out for the benefit of sentient beings, and teach it or demonstrate it to beings in the future.”
The essence mantras multiple aspects
The tightest synopsis of the mantra essence meaning as it relates to the five Buddha Families, taken from a teaching by Lama Tarchin Rinpoche: [6]
OM AH HUM (or HUNG) are the sublime essence of the principles of enlightened body, speech, and mind VAJRA or BENZA is the sublime essence of the indestructible family GURU is the sublime essence of the jewel family PADMA or PEMA is the sublime essence of the lotus family SIDDHI is the sublime essence of the activity family HUM or HUNG is the sublime essence of the transcendent family. From the point of view of the aspects or bodies of a Buddha manifestation OM is the perfect splendor and richness of sambhoghakaya, the manifest body of splendor AH is the total unchanging perfection of dharmakaya, the manifest body of absolute reality HUNG perfects the presence of Guru Padmasambhava as the nirmanakaya, the manifest body of emanation VAJRA perfects all the heruka deities of the mandalas GURU refers to the root and transmission gurus and the holders of intrinsic awareness PEMA perfects the assembly of dakas and dakinis SIDDHI is the life force of all the wealth deities and the guardians of the treasure teachings HUNG is the life force of the dharmapalas, the protective deities. From the point of view of the three classes of tantra OM AH HUNG are the life force of the three classes of tantra VAJRA is the life force of monastic discipline and the sutra class of teachings GURU is the life force of abhidharma and kriya (action) yoga, the first level of tantra PEMA is the life force of the charya (conduct) tantra, the second class of tantra, and yoga (joining) tantra, the third class of tantra
SIDDHI is the life force of the mahayoga and anuyoga classes of teachings HUNG is the life force of the ati yoga, the Natural Great Perfection (Dzogchen) From the point of view of obscuration’s and poison remedies OM AH HUNG purify obscurations arising from the three mental poisons — desire-attachment, aversion, and ignorance VAJRA purifies obscurations which stem from anger GURU purifies obscurations which stem from pride PEMA purifies obscurations which stem from desire and attachment SIDDHI purifies obscurations which stem from envy and jealousy HUNG in a general way purifies obscurat ions which stem from all emotional afflictions From the point of view of realizations Through OM AH HUNG one attains the three kayas Through VAJRA one realizes mirror -like pristine awareness Through GURU one realizes the pristine awareness of equalness Through PEMA one realizes the pristine awareness of discernment Through SIDDHI one realizes the all-accomplishing pristine awareness Through HUNG one realizes the pristine awareness of basic space Through OM AH HUNG gods, demons and humans are subdued Through VAJRA one gains power over the malevolent forces of certain gods and demons Through GURU one gains control over the malevolent forces of the Lord of Death and the cannibal demons Through PEMA one gains control over the malevolent influences of the water and wind elements Through SIDDHI one gains control over the malevolent influences of non-human forces and spirits bringing harm and exerting negative control over one‘s life Through HUNG one gains control of the malevolent influences of planetary configurations and earth spirits From the point of view of the activities and accomplishments OM AH HUNG accomplishes the six spiritual virtues VAJRA accomplishes pacifying activity GURU accomplishes enriching activity PEMA accomplishes magnetizing activity SIDDHI accomplishes enlightened activity in general HUNG accomplishes wrathful enlightened activity
How to recite according to Guru Rinpoche
“One recitation of the Vajra Guru mantra will grant a physical body and entry into this world. Any sentient being who sees, hears, or thinks of the mantra will definitely be established among the ranks of the male and female Awareness Holders. The infallible Vajra Guru mantra is the word of truth; if what you wish for does not happen as I have promised, I, Padma, have deceived sentient beings—absurd! I have not deceived you—it will happen just as I’ve promised.
“If you are unable to recite the mantra, use it to adorn the tops of victory banners and prayer flags; there is no doubt that sentient beings touched by the same wind will be liberated. Otherwise, carve it on hillsides, trees, and stones; after they are consecrated, anyone who merely passes by and sees them will be purified of illness, spirit possession, and obscurations. Spirits and demons dwelling in the area will offer wealth and riches. Write it in gold on pieces of indigo paper and hang them up; demons, obstacle-makers, and evil spirits will be unable to harm you. If you place the mantra upon a corpse immediately upon death and do not remove it, during cremation rainbow colors will flash out and the consciousness will definitely be transferred to the Blissful Realm of Amitābha. The benefits of writing, reading and reciting the Vajra Guru mantra are immeasurable. For the benefit of sentient beings in the future, write this down and conceal it. May it meet with those of fortune and merit. Samaya Gya Gya Gya” [6]
Commentary on Mantra from Dr. Negi
According to an excellent commentary from Dr Wangchuck Dorjee Negi, the concise meaning of the mantra could be interpreted as:
“The syllable Om is the essence of the Buddha’s three bodies. The body is manifestation body, the speech is the enjoyment body and the mind is the truth body. The purpose of adding Om āḥhūṃ to the mantra of Guru Padmasambhava is that Guru Rinpoche is the representation of the body, speech and mind of all the Buddhas.
The meaning of Vajra—having obtained the correct knowledge of the reality of all phenomena which is of the non-conceptual nature and luminous, there will be the inseparable knowledge of all cause-conditional conventional truth. Padmasambhava is the inseparable form of the knowledge of the reality and the knowledge of convention. This is the meaning of Vajra. Another meaning of Vajra is that Padmasambhava’s body is similar to a diamond because it is the vajra wisdom body that has no suffering at all. His speech is like a diamond because it is true and irrefutable. His mind is free from both obscurations of afflictions and omniscience. Therefore, his mind is called diamond. Thus, Padmasambhava is of the nature of three diamonds. His body is adorned with thirty-two great marks and eighty sub-marks of a great man.
Guru generally is used in the sense of heavy. But here it is used with certain implications. In Tibetan, it is translated as “la-ma”. La means great. Guru (great) is the one who is endowed with all the good features in terms of wisdom and in terms of expedience, endowed with compassion, etc. According to the scriptures, the meaning of guru means to possess the self-prosperity (dharmakaya for one’s own purpose) and the other-prosperity (rupakaya and nirmanakaya for the purpose of others). Thus, one who possesses such three bodies is called a ‘guru’.
Padma is the symbol of activities. Just as the lotus born from mud is not smeared by it, similarly, Guru Padmasambhava, though they took the birth in the world, and he benefits the sentient beings and he himself remains untouched with the worldly defilement. In other ways, he is the manifested body of the Buddha Amitabha. In the five families, Buddha Amitabha is related to the lotus family. This is what Padma or lotus signifies. The Padma also signifies his activities. According to sutras, the Thus-gone One Buddha appeared in the disguise of a monk, performed twelve deeds and benefited the beings with his teachings. According to tantra, presenting three miracles, Padmasambhava took birth on a lotus flower. He became the prince of Uddiyana. He did austere dharma practice in the eight great cremation grounds, and being blessed with the knowledge of dakinis, he subdued the worldly dakas and dakinis, put them in the dispensation of the Buddha and he achieved the immortal Vidyadhara stage. With his tantric power, he defeated many non-Buddhists in Uddiyana, Zahor and Bodhgaya. He achieved Mahamudra in Yang Le Shod (Parphing), Nepal. He subdued many yakshas and yakshinis and entrusted them the responsibility to protect Buddhism. He obtained the illusory body and he benefited the world without being defiled by worldly defilements.
Siddhi is desired prayer. Siddhi is the achievement of well-cherished good qualities in our mind. There are two types of qualities—general and special. Seven qualities of heaven, eight common successes, an authority on four actions: pacification, prosperity, subjugation and wrathful actions are the general qualities. Seven qualities of heaven are longevity, cessation, beauty, luck, good clan, prosperity and knowledge. Eight common Siddhis are the ability to go quickly, medicinal tablet, disappearing, knowledge of the hidden treasure under the ground, mercury, sword and the ability to engage yakshas in work. The special quality is the achievement of omniscience or liberation. Thus, it is a prayer to Guru Padmasambhava who is able to bestow both the general and special siddhis and accomplishments.
Hūm is the mantra that inspires the mind. Hūm is the seed mantra. Thus, Hūm is known as the mantra that inspires and provokes the mind. It means ‘may Guru Padmasambhava bless me and may he consider me’.”
“This mantra means – May Guru Padmasambhava, the one who possess all those above-mentioned qualities and is able to bestow worldly and transcendental qualities upon sentient beings, give a boon to me. I pray to you. Considering me, benefit me.” [5]
The Seven-Line Prayer to Guru Rinpoche
The simplest way to honour the magnificence that is Guru Rinpoche, is to chant the seven-line prayer daily:
HUNG ORGYEN YUL GYI NUBJANG TSAM
At the northwest border of the land of Uddiyana,
in the pollen heart of the lotus,
YATSEN CHOK GI NGÖDRUP NYÉ
you achieved amazing supreme siddhi.
PEMA JUNGNÉ ZHÉ SU DRAK
You are widely known as Padmakara, the Lotus Born.
KHOR DU KHANDRO MANGPÖ KOR
You are surrounded by a retinue of many dakinis.
KHYÉ KYI JESU DAK DRUP KYI
I follow your example in accomplishment.
JINGYI LAP CHIR SHEK SU SOL GURU
I pray that you come here to grant your blessing.
Why do we call the Precious Master the Second Buddha?
As an Enlightened Being, Padmasambhava is a Buddha, yet why do we call him the second Buddha when there are many Buddhas and manifestations of Buddhas? At the ultimate level, all Buddhas can be considered One, yet they manifest in relative terms in countless forms to assist suffering beings. Most Buddhas who manifest have worked to alleviate our suffering for many ages. The affectionate term, “Second Buddha,” refers to a living person, in our age, who becomes Enlightened.
Guru Rinpoche, the ‘Precious Master’, is the founder of Tibetan Buddhism and the Buddha of our time. While Buddha Shakyamuni exemplifies the Buddha principle, the most important element in the sutrayana path, Padmasambhava personifies the Guru principle, the heart of Vajrayana Buddhism, and he is therefore known as the ‘second Buddha’.” [3]
Yeshe Tsogyal — Guru Rinpoche’s famous Dakini consort Guru Rinpoche’s main wisdom consort was Yeshe Tsogyal.
“Yeshe Tsogyal …appear[ed] in treasure literature as the consort of Padmasambhava and the recorder of the treasures, assuming the title of ḍākinī, khandro (mkha’ ‘gro) in Tibetan.” [13]
Many of the teachings of Guru Rinpoche come to us from his main consort Yeshe Tsogyal. Yeshe Tsogyal is venerated by Tibetan Buddhists as the embodiment of wisdom.
To see some of the teachings of Padmasambhava as recorded by Yeshe Tosgyal, see our previous features:
Padmasambhava, the Lotus Born: “giving up idling and laziness” the importance of practicing incessantly and the path to self-discipline ; as recorded by Lady Tsogyal
The tens of Padmasambhava: ten foundations of secret mantra; ten faults of being unsuccessful in Dharma practice; ten key points for practicing. Guru Rinpoche teaches Lady Tsogyal
Padmasambhava Guru Rinpoche’s condensed “all teachings into one — which is concise and easy to practice”at the time of death: as requested by Lady Tsogyal
Padmasambhava: The Eight Great Qualities of Taking Refuge; Taking Refuge in the Three Precious Jewels, the Defining Practice of Buddhism, and How it Can Rescue Us From All Dangers.
Guru Rinpoche Tsok (Tsog) Days
“The 10th day of the lunar calendar is connected with Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) who is revered as the Second Buddha.” [1]
In addition, we celebrate the important annual celebration on the anniversary of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava. In 2021, this will be celebrated on June 20 (which is also a monthly Tsog day — doubly auspicious!)
Merit for practices on these days is multiplied auspiciously. The converted dates in the 2021 western calendar are:
January 23, 2021 February 22, 2021 March 23, 2021 April 22, 2021 May 21, 2021 June 20, 2021 July 19, 2021 August 17, 2021 September 16, 2021 October 15, 2021 November 29, 2021 December 29, 2021 For other lunar Dharma practice dates in 2021, see>> For a feature on Tsog, see>> Twenty-five Disciples of Padmasambhava 1. Trison Detsen (mnga’ bdag rgyal po khri srong lde’u btsan) 2. Yeshe Tsogyal (mkha’ ‘gro ye shes mtsho rgyal) 3. Pagor Lochen Vairotsana (lo chen be+e ro tsa na) 4. Nub Sanggye Yeshe (gnubs sangs rgyas ye shes) 5. Gyalwa Chogyang (ngan lam rgyal ba mchog dbyangs) 6. Namkhai Nyingpo (dge slong nam mkha’i snying po) 7. Ngag Yeshe Zhonnu (gnyags lo ye shes gzhon nu) 8. Drog Palgyi Yeshe (‘brog mi dpal gyi ye shes) 9. Lang Palgyi Sengge (rlangs dpal gyi seng ge) 10. Dorje Dudjom (rdo rje bdud ‘joms) 11. Yeshe Yang (slob dpon ye shes dbyangs) 12. Sogpo Lhapal (grub chen sog po lha dpal) 13. Nanam Yeshe De (sna nam ye shes rdo rje) 14. Karchen Palgyi Wangchug (mkhar chen dpal gyi dbang phyug) 15. Danma Tsemang (ldan ma rtse mang) 16. Lochen Kawa Paltseg (lo chen ka ba dpal brtsegs) 17. Shudbu Palgyi Sengge (shud bu dpal gyi seng ge) 18. Gyalway Lodro (‘bre rgyal ba’i blo gros) 19. Khye’u Shung Lotsawa (grub chen khye’u chung lo tswa ba) 20. Dranpa Namkha (dran pa nam mkha’) 21. Odran Palgyi Wangchug (‘o bran dpal gyi dbang phyug) 22. Ma Rinchen Chog (rma rin chen mchog) 23. Lhalung Palgyi Dorje (lha lung dpal gyi rdo rje) 24. Konchog Jungne (lang gro dkon mchog ‘byung gnas) 25. Gyalwa Changchub (la gsum rgyal ba byang chub) [12]
Barché Lamsel—The Prayer that Removes All Obstacles from the Path
revealed by Orgyen Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
ཆོས་སྐུ་སྣང་བ་མཐའ་ཡས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༔
chöku nangwa tayé la solwa deb
To the dharmakāya Amitābha we pray!
ལོངས་སྐུ་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༔
longku tukjé chenpo la solwa deb
To the saṃbhogakāya—the Great Compassionate One—we pray!
སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༔
tulku pema jungné la solwa deb
To the nirmāṇakāya Padmākara we pray!
བདག་གི་བླ་མ་ངོ་མཚར་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ༔
dak gi lama ngotsar trulpé ku
Wondrous emanation, master of mine,
རྒྱ་གར་ཡུལ་དུ་སྐུ་འཁྲུངས་ཐོས་བསམ་མཛད༔
gyagar yul du kutrung tö sam dzé
In India, you were born, you studied and you contemplated;
བོད་ཡུལ་དབུས་སུ་ཞལ་བྱོན་དྲེགས་པ་བཏུལ༔
böyul ü su shyal jön drekpa tul
To the heart of Tibet you came, to subjugate its arrogant demons,
ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཡུལ་དུ་སྐུ་བཞུགས་འགྲོ་དོན་མཛད༔
orgyen yul du kushyuk dro dön dzé
In Orgyen you dwell, accomplishing the benefit of beings:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
རྒྱལ་བའི་གདུང་འཛིན།
Gyalwé Dungdzin1
སྐུ་ཡི་ངོ་མཚར་མཐོང་བའི་ཚེ༔
ku yi ngotsar tongwé tsé
When we gaze on the wonder of your perfect form,
གཡས་པས་རལ་གྲིའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་མཛད༔
yepé raldri chakgya dzé
Your right hand forms the mudrā of the sword,
གཡོན་པས་འགུགས་པའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་མཛད༔
yönpé gukpé chakgya dzé
Your left in the mudrā of summoning.
ཞལ་བགྲད་མཆེ་གཙིགས་གྱེན་ལ་གཟིགས༔
shyal dré chetsik gyen la zik
Your mouth held open, with teeth bared, you gaze up into the sky.
རྒྱལ་བའི་གདུང་འཛིན་འགྲོ་བའི་མགོན༔
gyalwé dungdzin drowé gön
O Gyalwé Dungdzin, Protector of Beings:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
སྨྲ་བའི་སེང་གེ
དམ་ཆོས་རིན་ཆེན་གསན་པའི་ཚེ༔
damchö rinchen senpé tsé
When hearing the priceless teachings of Dharma,
སྐུ་གསལ་འོད་ཟེར་མདངས་དང་ལྡན༔
ku sal özer dang dangden
Your body shines with a dazzling radiance of light,
ཕྱག་གཡས་སྡེ་སྣོད་གླེགས་བམ་བསྣམས༔
In your right hand, volumes of the tripiṭaka,
གཡོན་པས་ཕུར་པའི་པུསྟི་བསྣམས༔
yönpé purpé puti nam
In your left, the texts of Kīlaya.
ཟབ་མོའི་ཆོས་རྣམས་ཐུགས་སུ་ཆུད༔
zabmö chö nam tuk su chü
All these profound teachings have infused your mind,
ཡང་ལེ་ཤོད་ཀྱི་པཎྜི་ཏ༔
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
སྐྱེས་མཆོག་ཚུལ་བཟང་།
Kyéchok Tsul Zang
དམ་ཅན་དམ་ལ་བཏགས་པའི་ཚེ༔
When placing under oath the protectors who abide by their vows
དྲི་མེད་གནས་མཆོག་ཉམས་རེ་དགའ༔
In that supreme place of power, immaculate and enchanting,
རྒྱ་གར་བལ་ཡུལ་ས་མཚམས་སུ༔
gyagar béyul satsam su
On the very border of India and Nepal,
བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབས་ནས་བྱོན་པའི་ཚེ༔
jingyi lab né jönpé tsé
You grant your blessing, and as soon as you arrive
དྲི་བསུང་སྤོས་ངད་ལྡན་པའི་རི༔
drisung pö ngé denpé ri
The mountain becomes fragrant, a sweet scent wafting through the air,
མེ་ཏོག་པདྨ་དགུན་ཡང་སྐྱེ༔
Even in winter lotus flowers bloom,
ཆུ་མིག་བྱང་ཆུབ་བདུད་རྩིའི་ཆུ༔
And there flows a spring called ‘Nectar of Enlightenment’.
བདེ་ལྡན་དེ་ཡི་གནས་མཆོག་ཏུ༔
deden dé yi né chok tu
In this supreme and sacred place, inundated with bliss,
སྐྱེས་མཆོག་ཚུལ་བཟང་ཆོས་གོས་གསོལ༔
kyechok tsul zang chögö sol
O Kyéchok Tsul Zang, clad in Dharma robes,
ཕྱག་གཡས་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྩེ་དགུ་བསྣམས༔
chak yé dorjé tsé gu nam
Your right hand wielding a nine-spoked vajra,
གཡོན་པས་རིན་ཆེན་ཟ་མ་ཏོག༔
yönpé rinchen zama tok
Your left holding a jewelled casket
རཀྟ་བདུད་རྩིས་ནང་དུ་གཏམས༔
Brimful of the elixir of rakta.
མཁའ་འགྲོ་དམ་ཅན་དམ་ལ་བཏགས༔
You bind under oath the ḍākinīs and guardians who keep their pledges,
ཡི་དམ་ཞལ་གཟིགས་དངོས་གྲུབ་བརྙེས༔
yidam shyalzik ngödrub nyé
And you attain the siddhi of beholding the yidam deity face to face:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
བདུད་ཀྱི་གཤེད་ཆེན།
Dükyi Shéchen
རྒྱལ་བའི་བསྟན་པ་བཙུགས་པའི་ཚེ༔
gyalwé tenpa tsukpé tsé
When you establish the teaching of the buddhas,
གཡའ་རིའི་ནགས་ལ་སྒྲུབ་པ་མཛད༔
yari nak la drubpa dzé
And practise in the Slate Mountain forest,
བསྙེན་ཕུར་ནམ་མཁའི་དབྱིངས་སུ་འཕར༔
nyenpur namkhé ying su par
Your ‘kīla of approach’ soars into the wide open sky.
རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱས་བླངས་ཤིང་བསྒྲིལ༔
dorjé chakgyé lang shing dril
You catch it with the vajra mudrā, roll it
བསྒྲིལ་ཞིང་ཙནྡན་ནགས་སུ་འཕང་༔
dril shying tsenden nak su pang
Between your hands and hurl it into the Sandalwood Forest,
མེ་འབར་འཁྲུགས་ཤིང་མཚོ་ཡང་སྐེམ༔
Which bursts into flames, evaporating its lake.
སྲིབ་ཀྱི་མུ་སྟེགས་ས་གང་བསྲེགས༔
sib kyi mutek sa gang sek
In an instant, you burn the land of the tīrthikas to ashes,
ཡཀྴ་ནག་པོ་རྡུལ་དུ་བརླག༔
And crush their dark yakṣa lords into dust.
འགྲན་གྱི་དོ་མེད་བདུད་ཀྱི་གཤེད༔
dren gyi domé dü kyi shé
O peerless Dükyi Shéchen:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
འཛམ་གླིང་རྒྱན་མཆོག
Dzam Ling Gyen Chok
སྲིན་པོའི་ཁ་གནོན་མཛད་པའི་ཚེ༔
sinpö khanön dzepé tsé
When overpowering the rākṣasas,
ཁྱེའུ་ཆུང་སྤྲུལ་སྐུའི་ཆ་ལུགས་ཅན༔
khyé’u chung tulkü chaluk chen
You appear as a youth in nirmāṇakāya garb,
ཡ་མཚན་གཟུགས་བཟང་ཁ་དོག་ལེགས༔
Your amazing, beautiful form, with its lovely hue,
ཚེམས་འགྲིགས་དབུ་སྐྲ་སེར་ལ་མཛེས༔
tsem drik utra ser la dzé
Perfect teeth and golden hair, gorgeous
དགུང་ལོ་བཅུ་དྲུག་ལོན་པའི་ཚུལ༔
gunglo chudruk lönpé tsul
Like a youth of sixteen years,
རིན་ཆེན་རྒྱན་ཆ་སྣ་ཚོགས་གསོལ༔
rinchen gyencha natsok sol
Wearing all the jewel ornaments.
ཕྱག་གཡས་འཁར་བའི་ཕུར་པ་བསྣམས༔
Your right hand grips a kīla of bronze,
བདུད་དང་སྲིན་པོའི་ཁ་གནོན་མཛད༔
dü dang sinpö khanön dzé
Subjugating māras and rākṣasas.
གཡོན་པས་སེང་ལྡེང་ཕུར་པ་བསྣམས༔
yönpé sengdeng purpa nam
Your left hand holds a kīla of teak,
མོས་པའི་བུ་ལ་སྲུང་སྐྱོབ་མཛད༔
möpé bu la sung kyob dzé
Granting protection to your devoted sons and daughters,
མགུལ་ན་ལྕགས་ཀྱི་ཕུར་པ་བསྣམས༔
Around your neck you wear a kīla of iron—
ཡི་དམ་ལྷ་དང་གཉིས་སུ་མེད༔
You and the yidam deity are inseparable,
གཉིས་མེད་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་འཛམ་གླིང་རྒྱན༔
O Dzam Ling Gyen Chok, manifestation of non-duality:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
འདྲེ་ཡི་ཡུལ་དུ་དགོངས་པའི་ཚེ༔
dré yi yul du gongpé tsé
When you choose to go to the ‘Land of Phantoms’,
མེ་དཔུང་ཤོད་ཀྱི་ས་གཞི་ལ༔
mepung shö kyi sashyi la
The ground on which the blazing pyre is lit
མདའ་རྒྱང་གང་གི་མཚོ་ནང་དུ༔
da gyang gang gi tso nang du
Turns into a lake, the width of an arrow shot,
པདྨའི་སྟེང་དུ་བསིལ་བསིལ་འདྲ༔
pemé tengdu sil sil dra
Where, on a lotus blossom, you appear, cool and sparkling.
པདྨའི་ནང་ན་དགོངས་པ་མཛད༔
pemé nang na gongpa dzé
Within the lotus, you display your realization
མཚན་ཡང་པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་ཞེས༔
tsen yang pema jungné shyé
And win the name of Pemajungné, ‘Lotus-born’.
རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་དངོས་སུ་བྱོན༔
dzokpé sangye ngö su jön
You come in person as a completely realized buddha—
དེ་འདྲའི་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་ཡ་མཚན་ཅན༔
O wondrous nirmāṇakāya, such as you:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
ཁྱད་པར་འཕགས་པའི་རིག་འཛིན།
Khyépar Pakpé Rigdzin
བོད་ཀྱི་ཉི་མ་མཛད་པའི་ཚེ༔
bö kyi nyima dzepé tsé
When you shine as the sun over Tibet,
དད་ལྡན་འགྲོ་བ་འདྲེན་པའི་དཔལ༔
deden drowa drenpé pal
An awe-inspiring guide for any with devotion in their hearts,
གང་ལ་གང་འདུལ་སྐུར་བསྟན་ནས༔
gang la gang dul kur ten né
You display whatever forms each being needs to be tamed.
གཙང་ཁ་ལ་ཡི་ལ་ཐོག་ཏུ༔
tsang khala yi la tok tu
High up on the Khala mountain pass in Tsang,
དགྲ་ལྷའི་དགེ་བསྙེན་དམ་ལ་བཏགས༔
You place the genyen of the dralas under oath.
ཡུལ་ནི་ཚ་བའི་ཚ་ཤོད་དུ༔
yul ni tsawé tsashö du
Down in the valley of Tsawarong,
ལྷ་ཡི་དགེ་བསྙེན་དྲེགས་པ་ཅན༔
It was the arrogant genyen of the gods,
ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་གཅིག་དམ་ལ་བཏགས༔
nyishu tsachik dam la tak
Twenty-one of them, you make swear fealty.
མང་ཡུལ་དེ་ཡི་བྱམས་སྤྲིན་དུ༔
mangyul dé yi jamtrin du
In Mangyul, at the temple ‘Cloud of Love’,
དགེ་སློང་བཞི་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་གནང་༔
You grant attainments to the four bhikṣus.
ཁྱད་པར་འཕགས་པའི་རིག་འཛིན་མཆོག༔
O supreme Khyépar Pakpé Rigdzin:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་མཐུ་ཆེན།
Dzütrul Thuchen
དཔལ་མོ་ཐང་གི་དཔལ་ཐང་དུ༔
palmo tang gi pal tang du
On Palmotang’s plain of glory
བརྟན་མ་བཅུ་གཉིས་དམ་ལ་བཏགས༔
You give the twelve tenma goddesses their binding oath.
བོད་ཡུལ་ཁ་ལའི་ལ་ཐོག་ཏུ༔
böyul khalé la tok tu
Up on the Khala pass of Central Tibet,
གངས་དཀར་ཤ་མེད་དམ་ལ་བཏགས༔
gangkar shamé dam la tak
You bind the white snow goddess Gangkar Shamé under oath.
འདམ་ཤོད་ལྷ་བུའི་སྙིང་དྲུང་དུ༔
damshö lhabü nying drung du
In the marshlands of Damshö before Mount Lhabüi Nying,
ཐང་ལྷ་ཡར་ཞུད་དམ་ལ་བཏགས༔
tanglha yarshyü dam la tak
You swear Thangla Yarshu to a solemn vow.
ཧས་པོ་རི་ཡི་ཡང་གོང་དུ༔
High up, on the peak of Mount Hépori,
ལྷ་སྲིན་ཐམས་ཅད་དམ་ལ་བཏགས༔
lhasin tamché dam la tak
You place all the devas and rākṣasas under oath:
ཆེ་བའི་ལྷ་འདྲེ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས༔
And out of all these great gods and demons,
ལ་ལས་སྲོག་གི་སྙིང་པོ་ཕུལ༔
lalé sok gi nyingpo pul
Some offer up the very essence of their life force,
ལ་ལས་བསྟན་པ་བསྲུང་བར་བྱས༔
lalé tenpa sungwar jé
Some are turned into guardians of the teachings,
ལ་ལས་བྲན་དུ་ཁས་བླངས་བྱས༔
lalé dren du khelang jé
Others take the pledge to act as your servants.
མཐུ་དང་རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་སྟོབས་པོ་ཆེ༔
tu dang dzutrul tobpo ché
O mighty Dzutrul Thuchen:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
རྡོ་རྗེ་དྲག་པོ་རྩལ།
དམ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བསྟན་པ་ནི༔
dampa chö kyi tenpa ni
When you plant the teachings of the sublime Dharma,
རྒྱལ་མཚན་ལྟ་བུར་བཙུགས་པའི་ཚེ༔
gyaltsen tabur tsukpé tsé
As if hoisting a victory banner,
བསམ་ཡས་མ་བཞེངས་ལྷུན་གྱིས་གྲུབ༔
samyé mashyeng lhün gyi drub
Samyé is completed spontaneously, with no need to be built,
རྒྱལ་པོའི་དགོངས་པ་མཐར་ཕྱིན་མཛད༔
gyalpö gongpa tarchin dzé
And the entire vision of the king is fulfilled.
སྐྱེས་མཆོག་གསུམ་གྱི་མཚན་ཡང་གསོལ༔
kyechok sum gyi tsen yang sol
Then, you bore the names of three supreme beings—
གཅིག་ནི་པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་ཞེས༔
chik ni pema jungné shyé
One was Padmākara, ‘Lotus-born’,
གཅིག་ནི་པདྨ་སམྦྷ་ཝ༔
One was Padmasambhava,
གཅིག་ནི་མཚོ་སྐྱེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཞེས༔
chik ni tsokyé dorjé shyé
And one was Tsokyé Dorjé, ‘the Lake-born Vajra’.
གསང་མཚན་རྡོ་རྗེ་དྲག་པོ་རྩལ༔
sang tsen dorjé drakpo tsal
O Dorjé Drakpo Tsal, now we invoke you by your secret name:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
སྐལ་ལྡན་འདྲེན་མཛད།
བསམ་ཡས་མཆིམས་ཕུར་སྒྲུབ་པ་མཛད༔
When you practise at Samyé Chimphu,
རྐྱེན་ངན་ཟློག་ཅིང་དངོས་གྲུབ་གནང་༔
kyen ngen dok ching ngödrub nang
You ward off harmful circumstances, and grant attainments.
རྗེ་བློན་ཐར་པའི་ལམ་ལ་བཀོད༔
jelön tarpé lam la kö
You set the king and ministers on the path to liberation,
གདོན་གཟུགས་བོན་གྱི་བསྟན་པ་བསྣུབས༔
Destroying those teachings of the Bönpos that conjure evil spirits,
ཆོས་སྐུ་དྲི་མེད་རིན་ཆེན་བསྟན༔
chöku drimé rinchen ten
And showing the dharmakāya, precious and immaculate.
སྐལ་ལྡན་སངས་རྒྱས་ས་ལ་བཀོད༔
kalden sangye sa la kö
O Kalden Drendzé, you lead us fortunate ones to buddhahood:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
རཀྴ་ཐོད་ཕྲེང་།
Rakṣa Tötreng
དེ་ནས་ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཡུལ་དུ་བྱོན༔
dené orgyen yul du jön
Then you leave, and for the land of Orgyen,
ད་ལྟ་སྲིན་པོའི་ཁ་གནོན་མཛད༔
danta sinpö khanön dzé
Where now you subjugate the rākṣasa demons;
མི་ལས་ལྷག་གྱུར་ཡ་མཚན་ཆེ༔
mi lé lhak gyur yatsen ché
Great wonder—surpassing any human being,
སྤྱོད་པ་རྨད་བྱུང་ངོ་མཚར་ཆེ༔
chöpa mejung ngotsar ché
Great marvel—in your phenomenal enlightened actions,
མཐུ་དང་རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་སྟོབས་པོ་ཆེ༔
tu dang dzutrul tobpo ché
Great might—with all your miraculous powers:
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
བདེ་ཆེན་རྒྱལ་པོ།
སྐུ་གསུང་ཐུགས་ལྡན་འགྲོ་བ་འདྲེན་པའི་དཔལ༔
ku sung tukden drowa drenpé pal
Endowed with wisdom body, speech and mind, you are our glorious guide;
སྒྲིབ་པ་ཀུན་སྤངས་ཁམས་གསུམ་ས་ལེར་མཁྱེན༔
dribpa kün pang kham sum saler khyen
You have freed yourself of obscurations, and so know the three realms with vivid clarity;
དངོས་གྲུབ་མཆོག་བརྙེས་བདེ་ཆེན་མཆོག་གི་སྐུ༔
ngödrub chok nyé dechen chok gi ku
You have attained the supreme siddhi, and so possess the supreme body of great bliss;
བྱང་ཆུབ་སྒྲུབ་པའི་བར་ཆད་ངེས་པར་སེལ༔
changchub drubpé barché ngepar sel
All the obstacles to our enlightenment—eliminate them for good!
ཐུགས་རྗེས་བདག་ལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔
tukjé dak la jingyi lob
With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing!
བརྩེ་བས་བདག་སོགས་ལམ་སྣ་དྲོངས༔
tsewé dak sok lam na drong
With your love, guide us and others along the path!
དགོངས་པས་བདག་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་རྩོལ༔
gongpé dak la ngödrub tsol
With your realization, grant us attainments!
ནུས་པས་བདག་སོགས་བར་ཆད་སོལ༔
nüpé dak sok barché sol
With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all!
ཕྱི་ཡི་བར་ཆད་ཕྱི་རུ་སོལ༔
chi yi barché chi ru sol
Outer obstacles—dispel them externally,
ནང་གི་བར་ཆད་ནང་དུ་སོལ༔
Inner obstacles—dispel them internally,
གསང་བའི་བར་ཆད་དབྱིངས་སུ་སོལ༔
Secret obstacles—dispel them into space!
གུས་པས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི༔
güpé chaktsal kyab su chi
In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you!
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་ཐོད་ཕྲེང་རྩལ་བཛྲ་ས་མ་ཡ་ཛཿསིདྡྷི་ཕ་ལ་ཧཱུྃ་ཨཱ༔
om ah hung benza guru pema tötreng tsal benza samaya dza siddhi pala hung a
oṃ āh hūṃ vajra guru padma tötreng tsal vajra samaya jaḥ siddhi phala hūṃ āḥ
ཞེས་པའང་རྩོད་བྲལ་དུས་བབས་ཀྱི་སྤྲུལ་པའི་གཏེར་སྟོན་ཆེན་པོ་ཨོ་རྒྱན་མཆོག་གྱུར་བདེ་ཆེན་གླིང་པས་ཟླ་ཉིན་ཁ་ལ་རོང་སྒོའི་དཔལ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཞབས་འོག་ནས་སྤྱན་དྲངས་པའི་བླ་མའི་ཐུགས་སྒྲུབ་བར་ཆད་ཀུན་སེལ་གྱི་ཞལ་གདམས་སྙིང་བྱང་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུ་ལས། ཕྱི་གསོལ་འདེབས་ཀྱི་སྒྲུབ་པ་ཁོལ་དུ་ཕྱུངས་པ་སྟེ།
Without any question, the great treasure revealer Orgyen Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa manifested specifically for this time. From below the foot of the Great Awesome One at the door of Danyin Khala Rong, he revealed the ‘Quintessential Manual of Oral Instructions: the Wish-fulfilling Jewel’ from ‘The Guru’s Heart Practice: Dispelling All Obstacles’—Lamé Tukdrup Barché Kunsel. This prayer forms the outer practice of this revelation.
འདིས་ཀྱང་བསྟན་འགྲོའི་བར་ཆད་དང་རྒུད་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཉེ་བར་ཞི་ཞིང་དགེ་ལེགས་ཀྱི་དོན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོངས་སུ་གྲུབ་པའི་རྒྱུར་གྱུར་ཅིག། །།
May this prayer become the cause for pacifying completely all the obstacles and degeneration for both the teachings and beings, and accomplishing all the aims of virtue and goodness! Maṅgalaṃ!
| Rigpa Translations, 2013. Revised 2016, 2017 & 2020. With many thanks to Hubert Decleer for his clarifications concerning place names, and to Erik Pema Kunsang for his pioneering translation of this text.
NOTES
[1] Karma Triyana Dharmachakra website>> https://kagyu.org/resources-guru-rinpoche/
[2] “Padmasambhava” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmasambhāva
[3] “Deepening your connection with Guru Rinpoche” https://treasuryofwisdom.rigpa.org/deepening-your-connection-with-guru-rinpoche
[4] Wandu Prayer
[5] Guru Padmasambhava: His Miraculous Life Story and the Meaning of His Sadhana, Dr Wangchuck Dorjee Negi https://www.sahapedia.org/guru-padmasambhava-his-miraculous-life-story-and-meaning-his-sadhana
[6] Teaching by Lama Tarchin Rinpoche on Lotsawahouse.org https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/karma-lingpa/benefits-vajra-guru-mantra
[7] Encounters with a Badass 8th Century Buddhist Mystic https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/on-the-trail-of-himalaya-s-badass-8th-century-buddhist-mystic
[8] Hayagriva teachings by Lama Jigme Rinpoche https://padmarigdzinling.org/2020/05/17/a-brief-explanation-on-hayagriva/
[9] Lady of the Lotus Born: The Life and Enlightenment of Yeshe Tsogyal, Changchub, Gyalwa. Lady of the Lotus-Born: The Life and Enlightenment of Yeshe Tsogyal (Kindle Location 1243). Shambhala. Kindle Edition.
[10] The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra, Rob Preece, Snow Lion, ISBN-13 978-15559392631.
[11] Himalayan Art: Forms of Padmasambhava https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=2608
[12] Himalayan Art https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=2442
[13] Himilayan Art bio of Yeshe Tosgyal https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=5619
[14] Guru Padmasambhava documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imsNlk446NU&t=171s
[15] Quantum Buddhism: Dancing in Emptiness, Graham Smetham from Shunyata Press ISBN 978-1-4452-9430-8
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